Wedding Tips start here...

Lollie79

LouiseMarie wrote: »

Hello There! Great thread and Tips. Thought I would add some ideas. Hope they are helpful!

I am planning my wedding for August 2012 and to save money I have booked the wedding for a friday. The venue cost and registrar was alot cheaper than the Saturday price. Also as my partner is quite shy I have avoided having a big 'reception' by having a late ceremony (4pm) for 27 guests. By the time we have had ceremony/ photos/ finished the meal it will be quite late so not such a need for a evening reception. Which means less cost but I have still spent the day with the people that matter!

For the save the dates I found some postcards in paperchase which were for the 'royal wedding' but in the sale they were 20p each. The cards just had 'wedding' on but were really pretty. As many as I could I hand delivered which then saved on postage.

I have also made a FREE wedding website which people can see all the details of the ceremony, venue, food menu, schedule of the day, important info, transport details, etc people can rsvp online (saving them the cost of postage and a fancy card) and contact you online and upload their photos of the day onto the website which you can then download for FREE ! You can also have a 'guest book' page where people can leave messages saving the need for a guest book you can print these out and use them in a normal album. The site I used was getting married dot com You can set the privacy so guests enter it only by password (the info of the site I have included on the save the date).

I plan on using silk flowers which work out very economically. You can buy them in advance tailored made to your colours - see bridal bouquets dot com (they are also on facebook) this means beautiful flowers you and your party can keep as a memory of the day (saving money on party favours) and no hassle on the day for anyone needing to collect flowers. Because of the other savings I can afford to buy corsages for all the guests and they are really beautiful and bespoke which they can keep!

For tailor made wedding dresses/ flower girls dresses/ bridesmaid dresses there are many UK sites offering dresses at amazing value. You send them the exact measurements you require and make them to fit AND allow extra fabric in case you need to increase any of the measurements. Because they are tailor made there are no refunds though.

For the cake I am buying plain fruit cake and icing it myself using shop bought rolled icing. Try M&S their traditional wedding cakes are on 3 for 2 and they are lovely im doing this and works out at £46 for a three tier sponge cake!! :-)They do fruit aswell. You can order these so they can be collected day before.
If i find anymore tips I will post them on here! Half the fun is finding a bargain!

Some great moneysaving tips LouiseMarie

Kara_P

Hi, thanks for the fantastic ideas. Which website did you use to create your wedding page? Thanks!

clearing_out_my_pockets

Kara_P wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the fantastic ideas. Which website did you use to create your wedding page? Thanks!

Personally I used http://www.gettingmarried.co.uk/

MaggieBaking

Reported as spam, you bad bad man.

welshbigman_2

wench90 wrote: »

My and my OH are hoping to get married next Sept 2010. We've been together 10 years and its about time really (split up for a while and are now back together and know what we want! )We are keen to get on with it but at present we dont have much savings but I have worked out by next Sept we could have around £7000 saved, maybe a little extra with help from our families. I really dont want to spend anymore though.

I have found a venue, a gorgeous old house that can be rented out and house up to 25-35 people for weekend (Fri-Mon) for around £3505. We would have to pay an additional £750 for the ceremony but as the guests would be paying for their own accommodation (as they would at any wedding) i have figured out that my OH and I probably would only need to come up with around £2000 max towards venue hire which seems quite cheap given what some pay.

However, as this is simply a house (not hotel) we'll also have to hire everything in, which will include tables, chairs, catering, possibly bar, decorate the house as well as the normal stuff like dress, flowers, transport, stationary, entertainment, cake etc. etc. I'm not sure all this will be possible with the extra £5000 or so we have over and i just wanted to ask two things.

Firstly, do you think its do-able??
Secondly, any tips on how i can keep costs down??
Thirdly, any advice on getting a pay bar hired..no idea how this works?

Cheers :j

How did you get on with the hiring of everything, we are having our wedding in a barn and will have to hire everything in

bizliz27

Hi all!
I am getting married October 2012 and so far only have church and venue booked. I am looking to book the photographer today but have hit a bit of a query. We have opted to pay extra so that he will cover up to the first dance. Now this obviously includes the speeches and also the breakfast. But what Im worried about it whether I will be expected to feed him while we're eating!? It's probably a silly question but someone aways said that if you have a band they will need to be fed and I didnt know if it was the same with a photographer - seeing as he's going to be there nearly as long as I am!!

Thoughts?!
thanks!
Elizabeth xxx

nickki44

It is down to your photographer - some want to be fed - some dont...
but being fed doesn't mean a 3 course meal - just a meal - bear that in mind
x

bizliz27

Thanks Nickki44,
I have emailed him to see what he wants! lol. I was straight to the point and told him that I quite clearly have not been to as many weddings as him let alone planned one before (first and hopefully only wedding!) so let me know protocol etc!
Ah well, I'll see what he comes back with! haha.
thank you!
Elizabeth

MaggieBaking

We bought our photographer dinner and as he brought someone looking for experience we paid for his as well.

bizliz27

thanks MaggieBaking (cool name)
I emailed my photographer and he said that the venue we have chosen always sort him out with food. (I got him at the wedding fayre there so he knows the location really well and im guessing hes done a few weddings there!!)

thanks all
Elizabeth