Planning a Wedding

lucy_w86

My partner and I are going to look into setting a date for 2 years time.

We have been engaged for 2 years already and in two years time, it would be 4 years.

Can anyone give any advice on a money saving wedding? About how to save? How much to expect to spend? Should we get a loan?

etc etc etc

THANKS!

crazy_chick_573

my cousin is having a wedding and to save money she has made her own invites and bought her own alcohol e.g wine from cheap shops such as lidl. her fiancee has done all the overtime he can and they have also done car boots. look on ebay for those little things you can still get them new. try not to get a loan but if you have to make sure you get the cheapest! hope this helps.

Justie

there's a whole forum on weddings here... http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=142

loads of advice and ideas - and no don't take out a loan! It's one day so don't spend more than you can afford.

lucy_w86

Can anyone recommend any wedding reception venues in South East London / Kent which are reasonably cheap?

Also, which allow you to choose your own wedding breakfast as my fiance is diabetic and VERY fussy!!!

scubaleopard

Get all your family and friends involved--- people love to be part of the happy day.

This is especially true of things like the flowers. I went to a friends wedding and the tables were decorated with beautiful sprigs of hydranga which had been picked from the garden and a friend had made the bouquets using beautiful summer flowers like sweet peas the smell was heavenly and they looked beautiful.

I went to a winter wedding and the place cards were all written on ivy leaves with a gold pen and that looked really stylish especially as the colour scheme was red and green.

Just think realistically what something really costs before you go to a wedding outlet. They just treble or more the price thinking everyone is carried away with wedding mania and everyone wanting to copy the extremes we see in Hello etc.

Dan_Thunder

My wedding came to around £10,000 give or take. That's actually below the average price these days which is between £15,000/£20,000. Funny thing is though you wouldn't have thought of it as a 'cheap' (pfft!) wedding.

We actually had our reception at Langley Castle in Northumberland which, although a bit more expensive than hiring a function room in a hotel, added so much more to the day that the slightly higher cost was well worth it.

The point I'm trying to get across is that there's a difference between being frugal and being cheap. We managed to save costs by choosing pretty much the cheapest menu they had and by being ruthless with the guest list. There were a lot more people initially marked down for the daytime reception i.e. the wedding breakfast, but when we worked out the cost per head we shifted a great big wodge of them onto the evening menu instead where the costs were 80% cheaper! It would have been nice to have them at the day do, but given the cost we couldn't justify the extra expense of inviting people we hadn't seen in a year or more.

As mentioned above we (well, the wife and her friends!) made all the invites. Why don't you make an evening of it? Get some friends round have some food and a few drinks (not too many or the invites will look cack!) and make the invites together, plus it'll be yet another good memory of the whole wedding experience. The same applies to the order of service, my Mother-in-Law made all our orders of service bless her.

Whilst you can get your wedding dress from a 'proper' wedding store why not get Bridesmaids dresses from high street retailers, we got ours from Monsoon and they were significantly cheaper than ones from the wedding store. Same with shoes and accessories, who really notices them that much!?

You could also easily avoid getting people favours. I've never been fond of them and, let's be honest, who really remembers them after the wedding?

If you want a photographer for the day then perhaps the local camera club may have some willing to do it at a cheap rate? A professional wedding photographer alone will cost an average of £1000, sometimes less, sometimes more.

Pink_butterfly_3

It all depends on what you want.

Where do you want to get married? Have you checked out the local registry offices in your area? Some tend to be very beautiful and of course will be much cheaper than hiring our a hotel/castle/country house.

What about your dress? Instead on spending £700+ on a dress in a bridal shop, go to Monsoon. They have some beautiful dresses for £150, see here http://www.monsoon.co.uk/icat/bridal

Also places like BHS do lovely bridesmaid dresses for reasonable prices.

Check out ebay for things like favours and shoes.

Be careful when it comes to making your own wedding invitations as it can sometimes be a false economy!! My SIL made their own invitations and she worked out that it was more expensive per card than it would of been to order them from a stationary shop! Clintons have a lovely range of wedding invitation and they are about £3.50 for 12.

Go to Debenhams for your wedding list. They offer a free £50 voucher for setting up your wedding list with them. Use this £50 to buy you jewellery and wedding guest book.

Go to ikea for things like tea lights and lanterns for decorating tables. There is a website called https://www.confetti.co.uk which is great for everything to do with weddings but it tends to be expensive. Get your ideas from there and then go somewhere cheaper.

Your wedding breakfast is likely to be the most expensive thing you get. It'll probably be about £35 a head so if you want to be moneysaving then try and trim down your guest list! You should be careful also as alot of venues insist that you have to hire the place for the evening as well as the day, and thats when it starts getting really expensive. My SIL hired a big barn for the day and evening and it cost them about £8000.

We held our wedding reception in my in-laws garden. They have a beautiful big garden and it was free! Can you do anything similar? Do you have a local pub or something that you can hire out cheaply?

Your photographer, flowers and cake are also likely to be quite expensive. A decent professional photographer will cost you anything from £700+. You need to shop around for these things and get loads of quotes. Get a trusted family member/friend to do your wedding video. Try waitrose or Marks and Spencers for wedding cakes as they both sell tiers for around £12 each. Our wedding cake cost £500!!!!!!!

Drinks is also another fairly large expense. The venue that we got married at charged £15 a bottle of wine and £8 corkage if we wanted to bring our own!! We had two bottles per table and if people wanted any more they had to buy it themselves.

We hired the mens outfits from Pronuptia. It cost about £85 per outfit. I don't really know how you could get around this cost - we just accepted it as a necessity really. Maybe someone else might have an idea!

Do you want a posh car to drop you off at the venue? We paid £250 for a limo to take us to our wedding reception. Do you know anyone that has a posh car? You could always coerce them into driving you?

My final tip is the INTERNET!!! I spent hours on the internet finding the best deals. You will find hundreds of websites with lists and lists of venues most with reviews from other couples. I can't remember one part of our wedding that wsan't done through the internet, lol!!

lucy_w86

Can anyone provide a step by step guide as to what they did, how long in advance and how much it costs?

I am such an organised person but am so scared I am going to get it wrong. The other half is pretty useless at this kinda stuff!!!

We will be planning to wed in two years time so what should we start planning now etc...

BIG THANKS

Pink_butterfly_3

Ok Lucy give me a few mins...

Pink_butterfly_3

1. Set a date.

2. Go to your (where you both live) local registry office. You CANNOT book your wedding date more than a year in advance so be careful if you want to get married during June/July/August. You need to make sure your either standing at the door when it opens or your calling first thing. You will be required to pay about £30 each and will need proof of your identity.

3. If your not getting married in your local area then you also need to contact the local registry office to your venue.

4. Draw out a budget. Work out how much you have to spend and try and allocate amounts - something like -

1) Registrar Costs -
2) Venue Hire Costs -
3) Catering Costs -
4) Drink Costs -
5) Brides Dress -
6) Bridesmaid Dresses -
7) Grooms Outfits -
8) Male Attendants Outfits -
9) Brides Bouquet -
10) Wedding Flowers -
11) Wedding Cake -
12) Table Decorations/Favours -
13) Reception Venue Costs -
14) Evening Buffet for Reception -
15) Wedding Rings -
16) Transport -
17) Brides Accesories (i.e. tiara, jewellery) -
18) Photographer -
19) Night After Accommodation -
20) Wedding Insurance -
21) Wedding Invitations (and postage costs) -
22) Presents for attendents and Mums -
23) Contingency -

Also draw out your guest list so who know roughly how many people are coming and how many you need to cater for.

4. (You can start doing this now, the further you book in advance the better)Arrange your venue. Check out as many places as possible. Get written quotes and be VERY specific as to what you want. Speak to them about food and mention that your DF is diabetic. Check that they have your date free to avoid disappointment and then book!! If you want to have the evening reception venue there too then great if not then make sure your chosen venue will actually allow you to have just the ceremony and wedding breakfast there.

5. Start checking out photographers. Make sure you see a portfolio and get a written quote. Try and book early as popular months get booked up fast!

6. Ask the relevant people (if you haven't done already) to be best man/bridesmaids/ushers etc.

7. If you've decided to hold your wedding reception elsewhere now would probably be a good time to start thinking about a venue and booking it a.s.a.p. Remember to think that all your guests will have to travel here from the ceremony, so make sure its not to far away. You may have to arrange transport, especially if people are drinking at your wedding breakfast!

8. What theme do you want for your wedding? Ivory and Red? Lilac and White? Fairytale? Classic? Modern? Have a look round - get a few wedding magazines for ideas. Maybe you already know? Just a hint - if you choose a very unusual colour then you will struggle getting 'off the rack' bridesmaid dresses to match.

ABOUT 6 MONTHS TO GO....

9. Think about your flowers now. Go to florists etc. and get quotes. Remember your bouquet and the flowers for the bridesmaid and pin holes. You will also need to order two bouquets to be presented to the mums during the speeches.

10. Transport - If you want a fancy car to drive you then book one now.

11. The fun part - DRESSES!!! Start trying on dresses and the same for your bridesmaids. If your having it made then you'll need to arrange fittings etc. Drag your OH into a mens hire shop and tell (ask) him what your having for the mens outfits. You need to get everyone measured so they can pre-order the sizes in for your day. You'll probably be asked to pay a deposit at this point.

12. If your going to order your invitations or make them yourself then nows the time to start thinking about it. Depending on what your doing you might alos need o think about place cards, menus, order of services and table planners.

13. Think about your music. What do you want to walk down the ailse too etc.

14. Favours and table decorations. Make sure you keep to your budget here and its easy to get carried away!!

ABOUT 3 MONTHS TO GO

15. Think about the cake. If your having it made its probably a good idea to book now.

16. Take out wedding insurance. Think about how much money you would lose if something happened on the day.

17. Do your wedding list.

18. Get those invitations out (don't forget to include your wedding list info.). Especially if people have to travel a long way, take time off work or arrange babysitting. Make sure you write RSVP in huge letters otherwise you'll have to chase people round to confirm whether there coming or not.

19. Go to your venue and start thinking about the day. Decide where you want everything and how you want the place to look. Discuss with the wedding planner.

20. Buy your wedding rings.

THE LAST FEW WEEKS

21. Confirm everything with everyone. Make sure everyone knows where they stand.

22. Finalise your music and give a CD to the venue so they can play it at the right moments.

23. Go for your final fittings and arrange when you will pick up the dresses.

24. Make sure all your favours are made up and rady to go.

25. Make your seating plan and make sure you have corresponding name cards. Give this to the venue the day before so they can set out for you.

23. Get a facial and go to the Estee Lauder counter in Debenhams so they can show you how to do your make-up.

24. Make sure you have a hair appointment booked for the morning of your big day!

25. Make sure you DF knows what hes supposed to be doing, lol!

lucy_w86

My biggest worry is finding somewhere who will be flexible with their menu and doesnt cost an arm and leg.

Anyone know anywhere is SE London / Kent?