Wedding Tips start here...

mical001

Wow This is HelpFul For me
B'coz I m Planning to Marrige

Hex_2

I am getting married in six weeks. Given that it is the second time for both of us and that we already live and have children together I cannot see the point of spending silly amounts of money on a wedding. At the same time we want to celebrate our decision in style!
With this in mind in true MSE fashion we have concentrated on getting the best deal we can for the money we have to spend and splurging on the odd luxury to give the day some class.
My favourite saves to date include drying my own rose petals for confetti, etc. Luckily we have seven free flowering mature rose bushes of the right colour. You spilt the flower into petals on a baking tray then keep them out of sunlight, stir them about with your hands once day for a week till they are all dry. Dark colours work best. Scent remains but the petals shrink by half. Makes the kitchen smell nice too.
Lots written on cakes - but Sainsburys now do a three tier decorated cake for £35 so no worrying about what to buy in decorating shops. From a cost and stress perspective this is a no brainer for me.
Flowers - mine are coming from a local garden centre who have just opened a floristry department and have come in miles under budget. Kept it simple and stuck to roses which are in season. Sainsburys (again) have just introduced a range of hand tied flowers by a famous florist from £10which look really lovely.
Favours etc - Tescos stock basic boxes and organza pouches cheaply. Some of the nicest things I have seen are cellophane bags of nice chocolates fastened with curling ribbon and place tag. At least then the bulk of the cash goes on the contents - bags are pence each.
Balloons - Asda do helium cannister for £17.50 - up to 30 balloons. £35 most other places.
Hope this helps.

Slinky

Thanks for that about Asda and the helium. We don't have an Asda near us, but they're building one which will be open before we get married next year. Will check this out.

sezdav

i am getting married in july next year and am keen to hear what the latest money saving tips are for making my wedding more wonderful than it will be anyway (as long as my fiance is standing in the church) on a smallish budget!

VickyA_2

Congratulations sezdav! My wedding is also in July 2006 and I can't wait! The best deals that we've got so far is going through friends that might have used the supplier/know of someone to do something cheap.

At the end of the day, like you say, so long as your fiance is standing in the church at the right time and says the right things.....................

shykins

just spent an hour goin thru this lot and thanks for all the great ideas and thought i would add couple of myown

bouquet... tescos finest.. they are gorgeous.. great big lilies and dark red roses for about a tenner.. shorten the stems and voila a bouquet

invites... birthdays cards do some really nice ones 10 for £3.70 and matching evening ones.. golin to write on them with a gold pen

only been planning our wedding for 2 weeks (lol dont like too much planning).. he has bought his suit in the sale and i am off to get mine wednesday.. meeting the people from the castle to book a date next week.. we are goin to have the wedding at the castle with wine and canapes for an hour then all back to ours

dont know wot the cost will be but will report back when i do

thanks again for all the tips and keep them coming.. good luck everyone

sheng719

Dear Shykins,
I just recently got married money saving expert way (well, most of it and at the best that I can). Friends' tips and reading through the money saving expert forum really helped a lot. Here are some tips that could be of help to you:

Dress - you could look around your local shops for sale items (Debenhams is one during theri blue cross sales). Ebay is another place to look for wedding dresses. I bought mine at Ebay(custom made to fit me) for £134 pounds, which I was chaffed about. I was a very lovely dress.
Cake - Go to some local bakeshops and compare prices. Some bakeshops would let you have a taste of the cakes that they make. But the ideas on Asda, Sainsbury's, or Tesco cakes aren't too bad. My other half was really fussy about cakes that's why we had it made from a local bakeshop which cost us £150 for 3 tier cake (Fruit cake).
Flowers - there has been a last minute decisions with regards to this...We asked a local florist for a quote for 50 Dark red roses, 50 white roses (big headed roses), 3 bunches of gypsophillias, 5 bunches of white chrysanthemums and 5 bunches of Dark red chrysanthemums and other foliages....and they said that it would cost us £250 for all it flowers alone no arrangements whatsoever. I made a reaserch through the internet of local wholesalers of flowers and luckily had one...and I paid£80 for the same amount of flowers , including pots and oasis to arrange the table decorations.
Venue - choose a venue that would allow you to decorate it, the way you want it. We used our local community centre and we paid £97 for the venue plus sound system. Do check whatever is included in the price .
Invitations - doing your own invites is fun and less expensive. All you need is a creative mind, a computer plus printer, ribbons and glue...
*It is always important to have friends and family who are eager to help to make the money saving scheme work. My gay friend did a fabulous job in doing my hair and make up, some of my friends decorated the wedding venue for me the way I wanted it, and the whole family helped in the cooking of the food.
Photography - we had a friend who was a photographer by degree and wasn't practising at that time...We gave her the big break and she did our wedding photographs which turned out really good. She spent £150 for all the films, developing and album and we just decided to give her £200 as her professional fee. She gave us all the negatives and the photos (tons of them) that she didn't put into the wedding album. Also, I followed a suggestion with regards to the use of a disposable camera, which was given to some of the guests and then returned to us. Unfortunately, photos did not turn out right. but it's always worth a try. Try your local University for Photography students who wants to eran a bit of extra cash. My work colleague is actually getting married soon and I suggested my wedding photographer, but she said that maybe by the time she gets married, I might be a qualified photographer myself. (I am currently doing photography lessons and i am geared towards wedding photography).
My wedding has been a labor of love from me and my other half. It made us closer together...the memories still linger on who has done what and what problems that we have encountered and solved in the nick of time. Some memories that we sit and cherih and laugh at every now and then.

Have a great time!!!and Good luck!!!

P.S. I can proudly say that we have only spent £2,000 for our wedding with around 50 guests and full banquet of food to goo around...

miss_mac_soon_to_be_mrs!!

hallo
i am currently on count down to my wedding on 15th of october.Ihave a few tips which could be of sum use
**like mentioned b4 i too got my wedding dress from debenhams along with bridesmaids,my dress was in the sale and with a 25% discount weekend i got my dress and 2 bridesmaids and stools for 399.00
**my cousin is making my cake as a present
**my sister is purchasing us a digital camera for a wedding present and a family friend who is a keen photographer is taking wedding photos on the day
**we will also have somebody video recording the day(be able to edit it after the wedding,catch all those drunken moments!!!!)
**a work colleague is doing all my flowers (i will only pay for actual flowers)
have saved an absolute fourtune by using ebay and various internet sites i purchased all my wedding stationary,disposable cameras,helium balloons,champagne bubbles,wedding ribbon for cars,favours
**we are having only 30 to the meal and then to local village hall for night reception (which will all be decorated with helium balloons,confetti,candles)
**our local pub is doing our bar(supplying glasses as i wasnt keen on having plastic glasses),we are having a bbq at night with burgers and sausages,salads,chips.also we are having hot soup for the more mature generation!!(decided we were too young for traditional buffet)this is being done by a friend we only have to pay for meat/food
**i am using local bus for transport of day and night guests at a fantastic deal as i put business his way through my work
**my fiancees work colleague is driving me and 2 bridesmaids to church in his jag

im sure i have so much more tips to share but a bit brain dead as i am trying to find a good company to supply inscribed wedding candles for the tables!!!

debbiebissett

Hi all

Don't know if this post helps but a friend of mine and I have created a website for people who have bought and worn wedding dresses and then want to sell them afterwards to recoup some of the cost back. We've specifically kept the advertising price really low as we've been in this position oursleves. The web adress is https://www.sharethedream.co.uk

Also, if you're looking for a dress, there are some fabulous designer ones on there at much reduced costs and you could save some serious money!

I know this could be seen as a plug for the site (which in a round about it is) but I've saved a fortune form Martin's site and and hope we can help in some sort of way.

Hope this helps

Debs

shirlyn

I'm getting married in July 2006. Does anyone know any good websites or books to help? Also I'm trying to get hold of the wedding readings and voes book by confetti. Where is the cheapest place to buy this?