Great 'What I wish I’d known before my wedding' Hunt

RainbowDrops

For anyone trying to justify overspending on a wedding dress by planning on selling it on afterwards - do your research first.
By all means, get the dress of your dreams if you can afford it, but most tend to sell for a fraction of their origial price on the likes of eBay, and don't forget extra costs such as having to clean it first, and paying ebay / paypal fees.

Re: Weekday weddings.
I have to say that although it will save you some money, it's a big ask for some guests - they may have to take more than one day off work to attend, and if it is midweek, you may find that the party fizzles out early as people slope off early to be ready for work the next day.
Don't forget that your guests have a big contribution to making your day special, so don't forget to give them a thought!

gloriouslyhappy

I don't much enjoy haggling so I set up an email account in a made-up name and used that to get quotes - it's amazing how the price rockets when you mention the 'w' word! When I got quotes that sounded decent, I then emailed them from my real email saying a friend had passed on the info, and that way I didn't have to bother dealing with lots of pushy, expensive tradespeople or be spammed forever more - after the wedding, I simply shut down the fake name account.

Car - I asked a friend who's diabetic and doesn't drink, to be my wedding driver. He was delighted to be of help on the day and although his own car is quite nice, he actually borrowed a friend's Jag to drive us - his friend, not ours, we don't know such posh people! I'd bought a 50m roll of silver ribbon cheaply off ebay for decoarating the local community hall we hired cheaply for the reception, and he used some of it to decorate the car too. Was fantastic having him drive us around from home to registry office to reception hall then back home at the end of the evening, not only was he completely reliable - and sober - but he said he'd really enjoyed having a role to play rather than being the newly-single again 'spare'.

So ask your friends, you'll be surprised at how much people really want to be involved and how much they can do as their contribution, and if like me you don't enjoy haggling, you can get round that easily!

lillianni

We were lucky enough to win our wedding in the Bahamas last year, this included my dress, rings, cake, flowers and all the usual, even photographer who also did us a video.

What I would say to all brides to be is don't get caught up in all the extra detail, at the end of the day, IT IS NOT A DISASTER, if your flowers are not quite right, or something isn't exactly the way you want it. If you are getting married for the right reasons then once you are standing at the alter next to the man you love you could be anywhere and wearing anything!!

We had a reception when we got home and money was extra tight. We booked a decent size room at the local tennis club for £50 which included a barman and the drinks were a reasonable price. Luckily our caterer was the daughter of a work colleague who had just gone into business for herself so we got a really good price per head and a free wedding cake, she had a friend who was a DJ so we also got a good deal on that. With regard to music I would say make up some sort of playlist or do's and don'ts for the DJ, for instance, if like me, the last thing you want to hear is the birdie song followed by the Nolans then tell him. Unless songs are requested, we put a space on invites for guests to request something when they RSVP'd. We got most of our centrepieces from places like poundstretcher and e-bay, there are plenty of bargains to be had out there so long as you don't mind putting in the work and creating the room yourself. Our centrepieces doubled as favours, featuring flowers that could be worn as a brooch, hairslide or bobble, these went down extremely well with the ladies and they were in our wedding colours and looked really fab. Don't be afraid to be cheap, you don't have to spend a fortune to impress, so long as you can create something that is unique to you then no-one cares if it came from e-bay or bargain shop. Shop around is my biggest tip, second biggest is don't care what people will think, its YOUR day and all about YOU :beer:

lillianni

OMG I forgot about that, I went around all the big department stores and "let slip" we were getting married, the make up girls fall over themselves to give you a free makeover and free samples

lillianni

MrCarrot wrote: »

The car is an awkward one - I find it hard to justify several hundred pounds for a car that (for us at least) is going to be making a 2 minute journey.

If it's that close then WALK, we did that after my cousins wedding, they went first followed by all the guests, it was lovely

lillianni

Sorry, me again, there are also specialised second hand websites where you can get lots of goodies. Bride to bride is one of them, I can't remember the other, check out on-line wedding blogs too, hitched.co.uk can give you some good ideas (I was bride of the month last August)

MrCarrot

lillianni wrote: »

If it's that close then WALK, we did that after my cousins wedding, they went first followed by all the guests, it was lovely

It's probably 15 minutes or so on foot and I can't see the bride wanting to walk through an estate in her wedding dress :rotfl:

74jax

MrCarrot wrote: »

It's probably 15 minutes or so on foot and I can't see the bride wanting to walk through an estate in her wedding dress :rotfl:

Mines a 10 min walk, I can't wait!

bobbibrowngirlie_2

Seriously.... my wedding was done on a budget because there was no way I was paying for !!!!!!!!!!s to come and scoff food, give me a present I didn't want and wouldn't see them again afterwards anyway. Cost to marry £1,500. Cost to divorce 5 years later £5,000! :rotfl:

boggie40

We spent approximately £260 buying the cameras and getting them developed. 26 cameras produced less than 40 "KEEPERS" !! The youngsters and boozers must have got hold of them and they were a major disapointment.
What I would advise is to put a little note on the tables asking your guests to use their phones and cameras and forward all photos taken to an e-mail address of your choosing.