Newly engaged trying to figure out costs

littlelilli

Hi, i'm newly engaged and trying to figure out where to start in regards to our budget. Both me and my partner want a budget wedding, we're thinking a registry office (assuming thats cheapest) maybe a sit down dinner with closest family and then an evening reception probably in a hall or our local social club for around 100 people. Ideally i'd like to bring in an outside caterer for the evening to do a buffet. but really getting nowhere trying to budget for this. Any rough estimates or ideas would be gratefully recieved

CompBunny

Congratulations on your engagement!

Whereabouts in the country are you? People might have some more local suggestions

littlelilli

Thank you, we're in Cornwall would love it if people had local suggestions

Bella73

How many are you including in the family but for the sit down meal?

Plus yes the registry office would be the cheapest unless you then want a "wedding car" these are expensive so might be cheaper for the registrar to go to a hotel and have your wedding and reception at the same place.

We had 80 guests for our ceremony and buffet reception and then a further 30 or so in the evening for approx £1500 plus £300 for the registrar to come out including all the gibbons with it. If we had had a sit down meal it would have been about £3500 plus £300 so really does depend on what you want.

But as it was all at the hotel we didn't need cars for either of us (that included us staying in the Bridal Suite that night and I stayed the night before as well to get ready.

Your budget depends on how much you are prepared/able to do yourselves, and on what things you deem to be essential for instance we didn't bother with favours as most people leave them behind anyway and no one missed them.

We had fake flowers but they were gorgeous but it meant we could buy them well before the day to spread the cost.

Sending you a pm as well

littlelilli

For a sit down meal there would probably be around 10 of us. Then 100 for the evening buffet. the cake and flowers I think we have covered as family members have offered to do those for us.

Relocationrelocation

Why not visit some venues and get some quotes to help plan your budget realistically

CompBunny

Hopefully people local to Cornwall will have some good suggestions

If you are having a hall or social club for the evening do, it might be worth just finding a nearby restaurant that you like that has a small private dining room, telling them how much you are willing to spend per head (and whether you want this to include wine or not) and going down that route.

If you/family don't want to cater the evening buffet yourself or buy sainsburys, waitrose or M&S sandwich platters & nibbles then there are quite a few catered options to consider that can be as cheap as sandwiches such as a hog roast (eg £575 for up to 120 guests from http://www.helfordhogroasts.co.uk/content/hog-roasts) , paella, fish and chips in cones, bacon buttys...

Its worth deciding how much food you want to offer your evening guests and then try and tally it to your budget. If I was going to an evening reception and only had to travel 30mins or so to get there I'd be happy with a few nibbles like big bowls of crisps and nuts!

For our evening do we are having a wedding cake made out of cheese (will source the cheese rounds ourselves instead of buying a ready made cake to make it cheaper) and serve it with crackers, chutneys, fruit etc - our venue is charging £3 per head to provide the crackers and condiments to go with it. I'm sure this would be far cheaper if you were able to provide a few crackers and jars of chutney yourself! x

Superseamstress

Congratulations on your engagement! If you google "little joy designs" she has a free budget planner that you can download which I've found useful? It'll help you to not forget anything when you're budgeting!

SmuggleswithStruggles

Hi

What my partner and I have done is to create a spreadsheet and just note down estimated costs for each thing. These estimates came from research on the internet or what friends paid for their weddings. Have a total column at the bottom and then a paid column to the right and then its easier to keep track. It's a bit scary to see the total amount but at least then you're more prepared.

Smuggles

Gonzo1987

We've just booked our sit down meal for 20 of us at £17 a head and no room hire charge at a local pub.

aniahill

My OH and I are getting married in less than a month. It depends where in Cornwall you are - it's a big place.

We're getting married in Launceston town hall - it's beautiful and it's also the register office so the service was about £100. £600 to hire the hall for the whole day. Bring your own wine as they have no bar so no corkage. Arrange your own local licensee to run the bar - we've got a local charity the Lions Club. Arrange your own caterer as they have a new kitchen but aren't attached to any companies. Lovely enthusiastic florists just behind the hall.

Of course there's a castle ruin just across the street for photos, weather permitting...

Might not be in the right area or even right for you, but it's worth looking at places that aren't "venues" per say.

Congrats and good luck!!