October 2015 wedding advice on where to start

krustylouise

Hi all,

Just after a little advice, in which direction do we go. We know roughly when we would like to get married, we know that we would like to get married (ceremony reception and night do) all in 1 place. We have opened a banking account to start saving, and have bought a file to keep everything together we're very excited and luckily OH is just as involved and excited as I am!

Thanks in advance

Kellym82

Hey there!

I'm in the same boat - looking at an October 2015 date! Congratulations on your engagement

We're actually looking at non-traditional venues to save money. For example my fiance's ex school has offered us a beautiful old, high ceilinged hall for £500, including chair & table hire, and labour costs to help set the room up however we like! Definitely worth looking off the beaten track, and staying away from a lot of places that actively offer 'wedding packages'!

Other than that, I'm looking to try on dresses then fine the one (or similar) that I like online. I have a friend who is a florist, and a friend who is a photographer, so we are asking them.

I'm also not having a traditional wedding cake. Instead (as I have several friends who are incredible bakers!) we will be asking 3 or so friends if they would like to be a part of the wedding by making cupcakes. Then we will just be buying a small fruit cake to keep with tradition.

Let me know any other tips you come across! :beer:

krustylouise

Hi! Thank you, and congratulations to you too!

We live in the Lake District and would love to take advantage of the beautifully scenery our place has to offer. We visited a hotel at the weekend and would love it there. I'm just wondering what I should book first, do I have to have a maid of honour or bridesmaid? Given that we're not having a very small wedding I would prefer just 2 junior bridesmaids. Who would be my witness? Stupid questions but I've never been married an my mum passed away so I have no one to ask!

That school hall sounds amazing! My friend got married in a school hall and they had an amazing time!

Kellym82

The Lake District is one of my favourite places, you're very lucky!

So we are having about 80 people, therefore I'm having a few bridesmaids, but if (and this may still happen!) we decide to downsize, I would just have my sister as my bridesmaid, and a Maid of Honour.

I've always been told to get the approximate number of guests, and your budget done first, then find a venue that suits and book it asap! Particularly if you're having it all in one place, as you don't need to worry about church availability or anything like that.

Once the venue is booked, then you can work on all the smaller things

krustylouise

Is 80 to the day and night or more at night? I'm not close to my sisters so won't be asking them. I am having my daughter and my brothers daughter as junior bridesmaids. OH is asking his Dad to be best man. Don't think we're having ushers or anything. We have approximate numbers. We have a rough budget of 8-10k in mind, obviously this will depend on what we can save, and we are starting at nil! So will be a lesson for sure!

Kellym82

during the day - about another 40 or so in the evening I think! Although we're currently in 'discussions' as there are loads of family arguments on his side, and the last thing I want is a tiff at my wedding! So we're debating who it is worth inviting, and who we really want to be there.

We don't really have a set budget yet - I know my dad is contributing something, but we don't know what! He wants to speak to the mother of the groom first as he is an only child and (rightly or wrongly!) he has 3 weddings to pay for, so was wondering if his parents can help out too! I don't think that sounds too unfair for me....

But ultimately we want to do it on as small a budget as possible, as we're saving for a deposit on a house, and that is really important to us!

AndyBSG

The first thing to decide really should be the venue and theme.

Until you've got those two sorted it's going to be really hard to decide on anything else because everything will be dictated by those two.

I know it can seem a mammoth tasks but you just really need to break it down into little tasks such as

Venue
Theme
Marriage Licence
Pick Best Man and Bridesmaids
Food (Buffet or sit down meal? Food supplied by venue or outside caterers?)
Drink (Free bar? Table Wine? Reception Drinks?)
Wedding Rings
Flowers
Table Decorations
DJ/Band/Entertainment
Hair and Makeup
Photographer
Wedding/Bridesmaid Dresses(Hire or Buy?)
Groom/Best Man/Usher suits(Hire or Buy)
Invites and Save The Date Cards
Guest List
Table Plan

That's pretty much my check list from my own wedding in March and I think it covers everything I needed to worry about.

krustylouise

Oh thank you so much, that is so incredibly helpful! I will write that down!! Thanks alot!

PRINCESSX87

Another 2015 bride here. Seems weird saying that. OH & I have been engaged for 8 years (This year) and we’re looking at October 2015 too. Mainly because my birthday is on the 9th & OH is on the 11th. So we’re thinking the 10th. Its easy to remember and keeps everything in the one month! LOL.

We’re in a bit of a panic, Because neither of us knows where to start. Ideally we’re hoping to keep the budget down as much as we can. Purely because we don’t want to over spend. So we have a tiny budget of around £2k.

We’re the kind of people who are DIY’ERS anyway and wouldn’t want something so special any other way.

Our biggest issue atm, Is deciding whether we want a church wedding (Both really for this idea) or a registry office.

Kellym82

Nice list, thank you so much!

PRINCESSX87 - aww nice that you will be getting married at last! Church is aroun £450, so if you could find a free room to hire (or per hour e.g. local hall) for the after party, you could definitely get friends & family involved and put on a buffet!

PRINCESSX87

Thanks for the information Kellym82, At the risk of sounding rather silly, Do you happen to know whether that fee of £450 is every church? Or do they have different prices? x