2014 Budget weddings

Erinnire

I am hoping to do mine on about £3k it will be quite small though. Was thinking of a church wedding but may change it to a registry office.

Although I have moved now so I am not sure if I can use the registry office I wanted to.

Stephb1986_2

Erinnire wrote: »

I am hoping to do mine on about £3k it will be quite small though. Was thinking of a church wedding but may change it to a registry office.

Although I have moved now so I am not sure if I can use the registry office I wanted to.

You can use any registry office you want to we're not using our local one as we're not getting married anywhere near where we live

Steph xx

strawberry_assassin

Some great advice

So far I have:

CEREMONY - Thursday at registry office. (Cheapest it gets)
DRESS - hopefully custom made, (will see!)
JEWELLERY - my boss has a connection so exploring this
FLOWERS - I thought of fake flowers. (Suggestions where you get these from??)
CAKE - my sis has offered instead of a present
BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES - you wouldn't expect to buy anyone else's outfit so why are you expected to buy theirs?
Hoping they can find one they like and maybe wear again, so hopefully they might buy theirs
RECEPTION - got a great deal evening-only (we have a late afternoon ceremony), so this shaves loads off the cost. Also includes DJ and room for the night
INVITES - making my own using craft shop invite blanks and just adding a bit of the colour theme with ribbon etc
RINGS - also thinking of this buy cheap, upgrade later plan. (Does anyone else have tiny fingers and have to get resized??)
PHOTOGRAPHER - hopefully a friend who will do it on mates rates
HONEYMOON - was thinking of asking guests for contributions rather than physical gifts. Has anyone else done this and how does it work? Do you delay the honeymoon for a few weeks/months?

podperson

strawberry_assassin wrote: »

BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES - you wouldn't expect to buy anyone else's outfit so why are you expected to buy theirs?
Hoping they can find one they like and maybe wear again, so hopefully they might buy theirs

Sounds like you have a plan
This is the only bit I would maybe look at. If you're expecting your bridesmaids to wear dresses that you choose then I think it's generally accepted that you will pay for them - maybe with a request for them to be returned afterwards so you can resell them and get some of the money back. If you are prepared for them to wear what they like then it's more acceptable for them to pay.
Remember you are asking them to be part of your wedding party. It's not the same as being expected to pay for your normal guests outfits. It also depends if they might be on a budget as well and might struggle to pay for it themselves.

strawberry_assassin

Thats why I am letting them choose, but just all in the same or similar colour

i_wanna_save_money!

strawberry_assassin wrote: »

BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES - you wouldn't expect to buy anyone else's outfit so why are you expected to buy theirs?
Hoping they can find one they like and maybe wear again, so hopefully they might buy theirs
QUOTE]


I'd really have a rethink about this if I were you. You are asking people to be part of your bridal party, and stipulating what they should wear, wether it is colour or style, so the bride really should pay for the dresses and they buy their own shoes (unless you want the shoes to match too then you should buy those too). If you can't afford it perhaps have a rethink if you have too many bridesmaids and downsize your bridal party.

new2saving

Hi Everyone,

I am also doing the wedding on a bit of a tight budget but it shouldn't mean you should miss out, my tip is haggle for everything! So far I have quoted.

Me & chief bridesmaid hand-making save the dates, invites etc
Church - £460
Wedding Car Hire - £150
Reception hall - £130
Sit-down meal (2 courses @ £10 per person per head x 60) £600
Cake for dessert - providing ingredients, friend making/decorating £25
Bridal dress, shoes, accessories - £150 (ebay)
Bridesmaids gowns £100 - trying to find something cheaper, any ideas?
Table centre pieces - homemade candy trees - £20
Coach for guests - £150
Favours - homemade - £20
DJ - £180 (can't seem to get this cheaper yet!)
Bouquets & boutonieres - £50 (ebay)
Grooms suits - £220
Homemade photobooth - £200
Giant jenga & connect 4 - £35

There is quite a few other bits and I do have around a 3k budget but trying to keep as close under this as possible. We are treating our wedding as more of a party, with the formal church and meal to start with then big party with photobooth, dj and party games after. We have 60-70 day guests and 100 night guests and our luxuries are the coach for our guests, our homemade photobooth and our games. Hopefully should be fun for everyone involved.:T

strawberry_assassin

new2saving wrote: »

Bridal dress, shoes, accessories - £150 (ebay)
.:T

Hi, love these ideas, especially giant jenga! Might steal that idea!

About your eBay dress, have you chosen it? I was also thinking that idea, or something custom made from one of these Chinese places, but I have had a few people telling me not to (not from their personal experience, just warning me to be careful of scammers etc).

One friend has recommended the idea though, so I am a bit torn. Really can't go over £200 on the dress!!

Also bridesmaids I had thought to ask them to pay for theirs but didnt get a great response. My sister however has asked her to pay half their dresses and that went down fine, so might try this tactic

Jessycat

My bridesmaids are happy to pay for their own dresses, well they've said they are. I bought my own dress when I was a bridesmaids. My view is that I'd have to buy a dress if I was a normal guest. I am going to have a girly night with them all so we can sort out budgets, styles and colours to suit everyone. If we go for short dresses, I think I'm going to buy shoes so they are matching

new2saving

strawberry_assassin wrote: »

Hi, love these ideas, especially giant jenga! Might steal that idea!

About your eBay dress, have you chosen it? I was also thinking that idea, or something custom made from one of these Chinese places, but I have had a few people telling me not to (not from their personal experience, just warning me to be careful of scammers etc).

One friend has recommended the idea though, so I am a bit torn. Really can't go over £200 on the dress!!

Also bridesmaids I had thought to ask them to pay for theirs but didnt get a great response. My sister however has asked her to pay half their dresses and that went down fine, so might try this tactic

Hi Strawberry_assassin,

I haven't bought the dress yet torn between doing the ebay thing or I have also heard of a bridal outlet that sell dresses that are last in the range or returned from bridal shops etc etc they are supposed to have a sub-£500 range. Not sure how much below the £500 this is so if there is nothing i like within a reasonable cost i will go down the chinese route i think.

I am torn with bridesmaids, I think I will provide the dresses, but I picked a bridesmaid i am having doubts about. She is also planning a wedding for a few months before mine and had asked me to be her bridesmaid so I asked her. But she is not really interested in anything I am planning and anything I do say I am doing she seems so eager to tell me how much more money she has spent e.g. her £450 shoes :eek:. Thinking I should have asked my sister in law as shes much more interested and helpful. Aaah there is so many big decisions isnt there?

Anyway good luck let me know if you decide anything dress wise