Can anyone help me out with my wedding budget? 11 April 2014 at 10:45AM edited 11 April 2014 at 11:06AM in Weddings & anniversaries 55 replies 5.4K views

Kayalana99

Sorry hope this makes sense I have done it in an excel sheet with what it is - and then the min we can spend and the max (but the min column turned into a more realistic figure then the min min min)

I am cringing as I thought 2.5k for the venue (we are awaiting a price quote back but I think this should be in this region of 2.3k - 2.5k max) so I thought £2,500 would be more then enough to cover all the little bits considering my Mum is putting £400 towards a dress and our honey moon place in spain is free ( I am not even sure we can afford that now as this budget is £250 for the honey moon we need flights spending money...suppose we could try and do something in the UK instead)

Ideas?? Ideally I want it to be 5k....but it just seems like we are spending 5k on my budget plan and we are only getting the cheapest things ever..this is based on not spending extra on the dress (the one I wanted was £1099 ) , doing my own hair and make up.....(150 for veil underwear shoes stuff like that not sure what that would be estimated) cheap rings that we will upgrade later..


Min Max
Wedding Dress ext Bridesmaid dresses 150 300
4 Suits 250 400
Weddings Rings 50 75
Cake 200 250
Hair & Make up on the day 50 400
Photographer 300 350
Cars 200 400
Venue 2500 2500
Decorations 250 350
Wedding Invites 50 75
Resigry Office 270 300
Flowers 100 200
Flower Girl 25 50
Honey Moon 250 500
Hotel 70 100
Gifts? 50 100
Wedding Favors 25 60
Photobooth 300 400

5090 6810

I kind of do want the photo booth as I think it would be great for memories.... I suppose decorations is way to high... not sure where the money is all going tbh!!

19lottie82

Kayalana99 wrote: »

Hair & Make up on the day 50 400
Photographer 300 350

Do you not have friends that can help here?

Kayalana99 wrote: »

Photobooth 300 400
QUOTE]

Ditch this, you'll already have photos.

Kayalana99 wrote: »

Decorations 250 350
Flowers 100 200

Reduce these costs.
Decorations is wild! And you can go to a local flower market for your blooms. Hand tied bouquet's are all the rage these days!

Kayalana99 wrote: »

Cars 200 400
!

Can this not be reduced? Do you not have a friend with a classy motor who can transport you and the groom to the venue?

krustylouise

Hi,

Please see below for my suggestions.

Kayalana99 wrote: »

Sorry hope this makes sense I have done it in an excel sheet with what it is - and then the min we can spend and the max (but the min column turned into a more realistic figure then the min min min)

I am cringing as I thought 2.5k for the venue (we are awaiting a price quote back but I think this should be in this region of 2.3k - 2.5k max) so I thought £2,500 would be more then enough to cover all the little bits considering my Mum is putting £400 towards a dress and our honey moon place in spain is free ( I am not even sure we can afford that now as this budget is £250 for the honey moon we need flights spending money...suppose we could try and do something in the UK instead)

Ideas?? Ideally I want it to be 5k....but it just seems like we are spending 5k on my budget plan and we are only getting the cheapest things ever..this is based on not spending extra on the dress (the one I wanted was £1099 ) , doing my own hair and make up.....(150 for veil underwear shoes stuff like that not sure what that would be estimated) cheap rings that we will upgrade later..


Min Max
Wedding Dress ext Bridesmaid dresses 150 300 - where are you intending to get your dress? I started off with this budget for my dress and realistically in any of the wedding dress shops I been in even the dresses off the sale rail were more. I have looked on BHS website and they have some nice ones from £150-£500.
4 Suits 250 400 - are you buying or hiring? Suit hire is approximately £80-£100 per person however some places do 4 suits and groom goes free.
Weddings Rings 50 75 - what metal are you wanting? Ensure it is the same metal as your engagement ring as one will corrode the other otherwise. Perhaps get a nectar card and use this up until your day then use the nectar points and put towards rings at h samuels?
Cake 200 250 you will get one far cheaper than this. I went into the shop asked for sponge cake {as we don't like fruit cake} our quote went from £180 down to £80 for a 3 tier {all different flavours} decorated cake. Shop about, or failing that buy one already made and decorate yourself. Youtube have loads of great tutorials.
Hair & Make up on the day 50 400 - I am doing my make up but I am buying some great make up as a treat. My SIL is a hair dresser and has offered to do my hair for free. Is there noone you know who could do this?
Photographer 300 350 Our photographer was the cheapest quote £450. She said she wouldn't charge us alot as we are only having 30 people and she said as it's a small wedding she wouldn't be taking as many pictures as a large wedding. We are also only going for disc only, but with full copyright. Shop around.
Cars 200 400 - no family/friends who can take you there? What about a nice looking taxi?
Venue 2500 2500 - what does this include?
Decorations 250 350 - what sort of decorations are you going for?
Wedding Invites 50 75 - we got all of our invites from vistaprint for £32, I created them then left them in my basket, emailed them asking for a discount {very cheeky I know!} and they gave me 30% off!
Resigry Office 270 300 - is this inclusive of giving notice? Currently it's £35 per person.
Flowers 100 200 - this depends on what flowers you're going for, make sure you tell the florist your lowest budget and let them tell you what they can do for that.
Flower Girl 25 50 - is this for the petals/outfit/thank you gift?
Honey Moon 250 500
Hotel 70 100 - is this at your venue the wedding night? Could you not haggle to get this included?
Gifts? 50 100 - parents, attendants etc, how much are you allowing per person? Gifts for Mums could be thank you bouquets and you could haggle with the florist to get these in with your flowers.
Wedding Favors 25 60 - we got our favour boxes off ebay for about £10, we are filling them with bulk bought chocolate mints off amazon and lottery scratch cards, without the scratch cards it would have come to £25.
Photobooth 300 400 - this isn't necessary and you could save this money to put to something else. If candid jokey snaps are your thing why not put disposable cameras on each table, this would probably cost £30 and you will have an extra £270/£370 to put to something else.

5090 6810

I kind of do want the photo booth as I think it would be great for memories.... I suppose decorations is way to high... not sure where the money is all going tbh!!

Kayalana99

Hiya Dress - Mum is putting £400 towards it hence low price their ideally I'd be spending £1,100 as I have found 'the dress' ...but hey ho.

4 Suits - two of them are for small children as a last resort their are £15 ones on eBay

Rings - I have white gold engagement ring...so preferably same. (again we were looking to upgrade later on I do have £20 on my nectar card aha I was saving for a free shopping trip)

Cake - Family member is making this but I want a decent cake if I can't have much else!!, I didn't no what a good price was I thought £200 would be about right & £250 would be that bit more?

Hair - should be able to find someone, not great on doing my own make up will sort somthing here but yes the £50 was more to buy in some specially, and that's not even much of a budget for that!

Photographer - We've been quoted £400 for 5 hours but she would bring it down for less hours - but I have seen some £300 deals (she is inexperienced but qualified so we are a bit unsure)

Venue - Venue it self 3 course meal, evening buffet (55/100) table clothes, DJ - don't think a drink with the meal is included I am waiting for her email!!

Decorations - Was more for chair covers, center pieces stuff to decorate the room a bit I've put this down to £150 but I was thinking '£300' as I have seen some people offering package deals who come in and do it for you.

Wedding Invites - doing them myself, the £50 is mainly for stamps and paper etc!! :-)

Registry - yes inclusive I believe it's £240 for the room £70 for notice and we have paid £40 already so £270 total?

Flowers - seen someone on facebook doing cheap possies and things hoping to get a decent deal here

Flower girl - Basket, head band kind of things

Gifts - Wasn't sure here but we had to put a budget for it..

Wedding Favors - Something to think about

Photobooth ...yes but I really want one :-) I was thinking if we have the photographer in for a few hours on a cheaper budget then this would be a nice extra for the evening...I *could* cut it off but I really would think it would be a nice touch to the wedding overall!

Kayalana99

19lottie82 wrote: »

Do you not have friends that can help here?

Kayalana99 wrote: »

Photobooth 300 400
QUOTE]

Ditch this, you'll already have photos.



Reduce these costs.
Decorations is wild! And you can go to a local flower market for your blooms. Hand tied bouquet's are all the rage these days!



Can this not be reduced? Do you not have a friend with a classy motor who can transport you and the groom to the venue?

Friend - Maybe! Only just sat down to do it sure I can find someone still need some extra bits though.

Decor - Yes I've put that down to £150 for now...but do need to spend some money on chair covers etc.

I can't think of anyone with a decent car atm...my Dad has a range rover that's pretty OK but then I still need a car for my OH to get their (we'd be taking separate cars)

Kayalana99

Gosh they have just got back to me they want 2750 for the venue.... I really didn't think it would be that much. Heart sink!

duchy

No-one really sees the groom arrive - Does the best man drive ?

Is the venue set in stone or do you have other options ?

tillyenna

Is food included in the venue?
Also are you having the ceremony at the registry office?
With 'decorations' it's probably a better idea to get a clue of EXACTLY what you want, (e.g. I'm decorating the reception venue with a LOT of tulle, and fairy lights), look at prices and then decide, rather than just deciding on an arbitrary value.


We're on a 5K budget too


Bride
Bouquet £25 (Lollipop bouquet!)
Dress £100 (Making it myself, hence the low cost)
Groom's ring £100 (Actually was under £20)
Hair Accessories £0 (just using the veil)
Hairdresser / Make-up artist £80
Jewellery £0 (Not wearing any that I don't already own)
Lingerie £100
Shoes £10 (I'm just wearing wellies, we're in a park)
Veil £0 (Was a gift)

Groom
Wedding suit £100 (admittedly, he has asked for more)
Shoes £100 (probably going to go up)
Cufflinks and accessories £0
Button hole £0 (We're having lollipops instead of flowers)
Bride's ring £20 (It's from Etsy and amazing)

Bridesmaids and Ushers
Dresses and shoes £150 (making them myself, hence so cheap)
Suits and shoes ?? (ushers are just in jeans so can wear them themselves)
Gifts for Bridesmaids £50 (A friend is making them jewellery)
Hair £0 (We'll all do our hair and makeup together)
Make-up £0
Bouquets and Buttonholes £50 (MORE LOLLIPOPS)
Gifts for bridal party £50

Fees, Ceremony and Venue
Cake £200 (total estimate, as no-ones gotten back to me yet)
Ceremony decorations £100 (ALL OF THE TULLE IN THE WORLD)
Ceremony venue £350 (estimate, based on usual Methodist prices)
Drinks after ceremony (Can't have alcohol at a Methodist church)
Entertainment £100 (Bouncy castle £75 + £25 for something else)
Favours £100 (Sweetie table)
Food £1237.5 (For 150, our invite list)
Marriage certificate £10 (I think it's £4 per certificate, I'm overestimating)
Photographer £500 (Quoted - I live in an expensive part of the world)
Reception decorations £100 (Mostly they're doing it for us, except this is for fairy lights and MORE TULLE)
Reception venue £950 (Quoted, to include champagne reception)
Notice £80
Wedding insurance £20 (It came in at just under)


Transport £0 (We live like 5 minutes from our church, and between our church and reception venue... there is NO WAY, I am not walking - we may buy scooters, but that's because my husband to be is a strange man)


Stationery (everything via vistaprint)
Save the dates £10
Invitations and RSVPs £50
Menus £0 (not doing them)
Order of service £20
Postage £50
Thank you cards £30








I don't know if that will help at all - We managed to get a really good bargin on the venue, because we didn't want a traditional wedding venue. The key is, to remember the fact that a wedding only NEEDS five things. You - your other half, a registrar/preist, and two witnesses... anything else is just icing on the cake. And by icing on the cake, I mean a stupid routine we have to go through to please our mothers...

Kayalana99

I'm a bit throwed back with the price list I would of said set in stone but shes charging us about £24 a head for the meal - when her price list was between £21-£26...and I thought we had choosen the cheaper option ...she wants 62.50 to add ballons to the table.... near £40 for the table clothes £200 for 80 chair covers

Best man does drive

tillyenna

Do you really need chair covers? I mean - chairs are just for sitting on.

piglet25

Love KrustyLousie's suggestion of paying bottom line for the flowers and then trying to get free thank you bouquets. How about forgetting the venue and putting up a gazebo? Forget the cake and buy a box of Mr Kiplings? Naturist wedding could cut more costs
Never forget - your flowers will be on 90% of your photos for all eternity so try to get the best you can afford, and for the go to the flower market and make your own, please remember that certain flowers need certain care and temperatures, different conditioning etc.
Good luck with your budget plans, I'm sure that as you start choosing items you will find that you can save money here and there