Can anyone help me out with my wedding budget?

Long_tall_sally

I can't really help as such & we are still in the process of getting quotes etc so don't even know the likely cost of some things but our budget/ cost is roughly like this:
Registrar £369 (£70 paid so far)
Reception at the hotel £3,000 (£500 paid so far)Includes DJ & photographer (personally I'm not too bothered how experienced the photographer is as I don't actually like having my photo taken anyway so don't even want loads done.)
My dress - £175 (fully paid) This is a bridesmaid dress in ivory - 2nd wedding so fairly plain.
My daughter's bridesmaid dress - £135 (fully paid)
Shoes for me & daughter - £70
Trousers, shirt & waistcoat & shoes for my son - £100
New suit for OH - no idea! £100-£150?
Cake - £200? Sponge cake with some gluten-free cupcakes for my son
Table decorations - £80? Weirdly I'm quite excited about these (Getting married 27th Dec so winter wonderland theme)
Chair covers - waiting on a quote but I really do love these so £200?!
Invitations - £60? Are replies really necessary? Certainly not doing save the dates!
Place cards & table numbers - no idea. Not having an order of service.
Flowers - Again no idea but hopefully not too much as only me, my daughter & button holes to get.
Hand bag & some "bling" - £80? (£48 paid already)
Cars - nothing as nobody shd see either of us arrive at hotel
Honeymoon - nothing as can't afford one. even one night in London on New Year's Eve is proving to expensive
Chocolate fountain - much as I would love one, probably unlikely to be able to afford it so therefore nothing!
Sorry to hijack your thread but thought it might be interesting to get a comparison!

Kayalana99

I was excited about the table decorations but I've gone a bit more mellowed out now with the stress of it all.

Not sure I am missing something with chocolate fountains but they seem to want £180-£300 to hire them - when you can buy them on eBay for £220 ish...the big ones as well!

I suppose you'd still have to supply all the chocolate and bits etc...but you could probs then re sell it and get £100 back or so... (or buy it 2nd hand in first place)

I love chair covers as well but can't bring myself to spend £200 on them when we have more important stuff to spend on

celticcurl

Where abouts in the midlands are you? I'm in notts and have found prices vary enormously. You can definitely get a caterer for less than £25 a head. I think you need to shop round more - for everything. And get quotes so you can create an accurate budget.

Long_tall_sally

celticcurl (love your username by the way!)- I am also in the Midlands - Loughborough area in Leicestershire.
kayalana99 - Yes I agree about the chocolate fountains. At the end of the day it's only chocolate so why does it cost so much? In fact thinking about it now, my sister used to have a small one. Wonder if she still does although of course you need someone to run it. i haven't actually told OH yet about the cost of chair covers,lol!

Adora-Bell-Dearheart

Love the Kipling cake!! Debenhams has massive sale on at present where you could try for the mens suits? Think the idea of lots of tulle and fairy lights is great to dress up tge venue! X

celticcurl

Longtall sally - thank you. I'm a chocoholic but don't fancy risking the mess that could be caused by a fountain nor the cost. So I'm having a chocolate buffet - like a sweetie buffet but all chocolates.

Long_tall_sally

Ooh that sounds interesting celticcurl! What fancy sort of chocolate or your run of the mill Cadbury stuff? Do you need someone to run it?

duchy

Sometimes with venues you need to think outside of the box.
My (last) wedding reception was held in the social club at the local council offices -it certainly didn't look like a social club by the time the caterers had finished decorating it though ! If you are in the midlands check out what you can rent as function rooms in council buildings - some are in amazing Victorian buildings -we used outside caterers recommended by the council and it was reasonable in price (whatever that means in a wedding context) and excellent quality (lots of practice over feeding the mayor I suppose )

A friend found a lovely and cheaper venue by googling weddings and her area and looking for "Off her radar" venues.

As for the the dress..... I bought mine from Ebay - wouldn't hurt to put the name of the dress in search and see if it pops up.... or even get it copied by a Chinese wedding dress company if you really, really wouldn't consider any other dress.

Kayalana99

Were in Derby but were finding our date (which is set) is booked. We want 6th June 2015,

Mackworth hotel is booked, Darley park hall is booked, River side is booked...melbourne hotel...these are just some I can remember of the top of my head.

All the reasonable priced but nice ones have basically been snapped up...

& no it doesn't come up if I ebay the dress number, even tried just the designer and looking though but no luck(not even one that isn't my size)...kind of hoping one turns up between now and next year but that would be a risky move lol

Si_Clist

Long_tall_sally wrote: »

Yes I agree about the chocolate fountains. At the end of the day it's only chocolate

Well, maybe. More likely it's a cupful of anonymous cheap'n'cheerful cooking oil to every 1kg of "chocolate" chips.

Apparently you need an expensive machine with a very accurate thermostat to get if flowing properly if you use all chocolate, whereas you can get away with a cheap one if you add the oil ... :cool: