Wedding Tips start here...

lilacgroovy_chick

i've been quoted over £1000 for my wedding dress, but buying it direct from america and a supplier there its costing me £300 a saving of over £700 who's a happy person. i've managed to save all in all i've saved over £1k on my wedding attire and albeit will be happy walking up the aisle as a bargin bride!!!

laracroft2707

Sonjblamonj wrote:

Congrats on your engagement! My friend got married in Crete last year and it was fantastic as we spent a whole week getting to know her family and other friends so no ice-breaking to be done on the big day. They were there for 10 days before the wedding so they sampled a few tavernas before finding one with a courtyard that could be reserved for the 35 guests at the reception. The staff had never done a wedding before and were a bit late getting everyting ready but the food was fab and they were all really friendly - they let us stay really late playing music and dancing and even gave us free drinks! I don't know how much it cost, but must have been cheaper than anything similar in Britain! One thing I would say is to avoid getting married in July or August as the flights and accommodation will be more expensive and we were so hot on the day it was unbelievable. If you are having a civil ceremony you will be probably be getting married in the town hall at around 1 o'clock and you don't want guests standing around for photos in 30 degree heat! I am busy planning our wedding in Sardinia next September so I'll pass on any more tips I think of. We went on a reccy out there in June and sent out postcards as Save the Date cards - everyone loved them and they were only 20p each. Had to do my best writing though! Good luck!

I too am getting married in Sardinia. Luckily my dad is Sardinian so if I get any tips I'll let you know. I haven't started planning as yet so I am finding this thread a great help.

leni

I use a site called https://www.hitched.co.uk and it's bee invaluable! The people on there and brilliant and give you some fantastic help and knowledge!

For wedding invites, my top tip is studio catalogues or https://www.24studio.co.uk, they currently have a sale on where all the invites and some other personalised wedding stationnary and other stuff is half price!

Also can recommend https://www.vistaprint.co.uk for cheap "save the date" magnets or invites.

IKEA is great for table centre's such as vases and tea tree candles and lights!
Near christmas they also have battary fairy lights (as do asda) that make great centre piece decoraions.

Don't have favours if you can't afford them, or have cheap one i.e. we are having toffee apples with a name tag attached as the place name for each person - making these myself too!

JazzHat

Becles wrote:

Have you tried this site?
http://www.mobilediscodirectory.co.uk/

It's professional DJ's, so they might not be the cheapest but they will offer a quality service. Many have decent lighting rigs, digitally stored music (no scratched CD's!), and the relevant insurances such as PLI and PAT tested equipment.

A Disco? Well Ok if you like that sort of thing but hire a Ceilidh / Barn Dance Band and all of your relatives of all ages will get to dance with each other and kick start the merger of the two families. Much better than little clumps of dancers jiggling to Dancing Queen ..

Money saving tip:
Rather than have a band and disco, make sure the band has a CD player in their PA (most do) and make up your own CDs of tunes you love and the classic wedding tunes like Dancing Queen (we love it really), Hi Ho Silver Lining, YMCA, Come On Eileen, Oops Upside your Head, D.I.V.O.R.C.E etc (Ok leave out the last one unless your family has a well developed sence of humour). Then the band can play the CDs for you before they play, in the food break and after. Much better than having some local radio wannabee prattle on between the same tunes ..

Stress saving tip:
Apply the British Wedding Time (BWT) algorythm to everything during the day: Alloted Time times 2 for everything except the speeches by the men, then it's Allotted Time times 3 or 3.5. Allow loads of time for people to natter and catch up on family goss, change the baby, get lost, re-do makeup for the pictures, have a crafty fag, txt sum m8s, get the soccor results, get some air etc. This wll reduce your stress levels and make the whole day a lot more enjoyable for you. After all, you only get married a couple of times in your life so you want your wedding days to be fun and stress free don't you? :rotfl: And ... the bottom line for us wedding musicians is that we get to start on time

Websites:
Loads of rocky ceilidh / barn dance bands arranged by county:
http://www.webfeet.org/county/index.html

Bands and other musical things for weddings
http://www.wed2music.com/

Radio 2's Website of the Day "top tunes for wedding disco" list and discussion
http://www.websiteoftheday.info/2004/11/name_artist_chi.html

Good source of all sorts of things wedding related
http://www.weddingservices4u.co.uk/


Cheers,
JazzHat

Becles

JazzHat wrote:

A Disco? Well Ok if you like that sort of thing but hire a Ceilidh / Barn Dance Band and all of your relatives of all ages will get to dance with each other and kick start the merger of the two families. Much better than little clumps of dancers jiggling to Dancing Queen ..

Much better than having some local radio wannabee prattle on between the same tunes ..

A professional DJ/disco company would never perform like that.

It's a very skilled profession that requires more than slapping your fave tunes on and prattling on.

Before the event, the DJ will have spoken with the organisers and been given a rough idea of must plays and don't plays, and have a general idea of what the crowd want. Request slips left on the tables and handed in by guests help too, especially when you get multiple requests for the same track. Guarenteed dance floor filler!

A skilled DJ will read the dancers throughout the night and work out what genre is working with groups of people. They'll mix styles every 2-4 tracks so you never isolate a group of people. That way the dancefloor stays full and you don't get groups of people sitting bored. eg - if you play a Motown tune and the dancefloor starts to empty, you don't play anymore Motown!

A professional DJ will bring club quality sound and lighting equipment with them, and high quality digital music. There is no way you can recreate that experience by sticking your fave tunes on a CD player.

We did a 18th birthday gig last night, where the age range was early teens to OAP's. The dance floor was full all night, and they complained because they had to take a break for the buffet! The birthday girl was chuffed to bits, as everyone left in high spirits and clearly enjoyed themselves.

At the end of the day you get what you pay for. Cheap entertainment is rarely good. Quality entertainment is priceless.

Incidentally my brother had a Celidah band for his wedding and I found the night boring. The dances were too complicated for my children to join in, and I didn't have a partner so was unable to join in as most dances were for couples.

alison6692

[QUOTE=JazzHat

Radio 2's Website of the Day "top tunes for wedding disco" list and discussion
http://www.websiteoftheday.info/2004/11/name_artist_chi.html

JazzHat[/QUOTE]

Good site thankyou !!

Debbie_S

Ok I'm getting nervous now. I've only got 2 weeks until the big day! Any tips for nerves?
We are to be married in Disney Florida. It's the ultimate dream wedding for me in the white wedding pavilion and we get to combine the wedding and honeymoon. We are having a large reception for 150 family and friends when we get home. Here's our money saving tips:

Handmade wedding invites (I made 100 pop-up Disney castles)

Printed A4 folded Thank you cards.

An Argos wedding list (they send out lovely cards with your number on)

We are having a disco and I found 50 spinning led light balls for the children for £1 each on ebay. If the children are happy then the parents are.

Tesco wedding cake with handmade icing flowers (Tesco ready made icing and food colouring). It's like playing with plasticine.
http://www.wilton.com/decorating/basic/roses.cfm

Handmade wedding favours (cinderella clear acrylic shoes with dolly mixtures tied in a square of net)

Handmade veil (just and oval of white net gathered onto a comb) with 100 hand sewn swarovski crystals (Mum's doing that bit)
http://jillybeads.co.uk/acatalog/

I'm wearing smooth white trainers under my dress. You only ever see the toe, if that!

I plan to make the bouquets of flowers but need to know how you stop a ribbon tied bouquet of fresh flowers from ruining your dress. I think you put some kind of vase under it. An idiot proof set of instructions would be great.

Debbie

JazzHat

Becles wrote:

A professional DJ/disco company would never perform like that.
Snip

---

Incidentally my brother had a Celidah band for his wedding and I found the night boring. The dances were too complicated for my children to join in, and I didn't have a partner so was unable to join in as most dances were for couples.

Sorry. I didn't mean to upset the Pro DJ community. I am not a "live music at all costs" bigot and I've been to great nights with a really good DJ.
However, sadly, my experience of many wedding DJs, where I am sure cost has played a major part, is largly of the insensitive, unprofessional type who have their bass and ego turned up way too loud, play the same tunes as on Miles Mendoza's list plus a few chart hits, and are seldom inventive, original or entertaining.

And yes a ceilidh can be very boring and not cater for all types when the caller and/or band are not sensitive to the needs of the client and audience.

So .. my advice covers both types: Go and see them do it for real before booking them and make sure they do what you want. There are at least 57 varities of Ceildih/Barn Dance band and I am sure as many different types of DJ.

The benefit of the ceilidh remains though - everyone gets to dance with everyone else thus introducing the families to each other, and you don't usually need a partner if you are not shy about joining in. Oh plus it's a contact sport.

JH

Debbie_S

I think I may have worked out how to make your own wedding and bridesmaids bouquets. I have bought the "Bouquet oasis holders" from ebay. They are a ball of oasis on a handle. You soak it in water and dry the outside with a towel. I plan to buy the lovely (already arranged) flowers from Tesco. You cut the stems into a very sharp point 1 - 1.2 inches longer than the final look and starting from the bottom just stick them into the oasis. You can wire the flowers to the holder if you are worried they wont hold. Then you tie a ribbon around the handle and you're done. I hope this is right and would really appreciate any corrections or help at all.
Thank you.
P.S: I only have 2 weeks to go!

spikeage

In Cosmo Bride this month there is a voucher for a 15% discount on Pronuptia's entire range including bridalwear, menswear, bridesmaids and accessories.

I bought it yesterday (costs £2.99) and I think it is the
October/November issue 2005. The voucher is valid until the end of December this year.

Sorry if this has already been posted I had a quick look and could not see it.