my big free wedding?

mrsHall2b

or as close to as possible anyway..

as i said on another post me and my partner don't have a huge amount of money between us, and a while back we heard of someone attempting to have a freecycle wedding. most of their items they where given or borrowed.

now i would love to try this, and i'm currently only just beginning to plan, we've not even got a definite date yet.

are there any websites you know of which do freebies for weddings? samples?

i know that the legal main bit has to be paid for. and i may possibly buy my dress new as ive found a lovely one for £40 and i send my measurements so it *shouldn't* need too much altering.

also any ideas how to go about asking companies for various things? just small bits & bobs samples etc.


i am a beauty therapist so will probably do my own makeup, my younger sister (chief bridesmaid/maid of honour kind of role) is brilliant at makeup so can do her own & my other sisters, then i have my 2 daughters & my step daughter whos hair i will do (all too young for makeup!)

photography i plan on having disposables on tables, i (somewhere) have a link to a website where if bought in bulk they work out at about 3p per camera. and my uncle is a brilliant photographer with his own camera and took my grandads wedding pictures (incase i end up with hundreds of feet photos from the disposables)

wedding stationary i plan on printing or using mismatched samples.

im not really a very big flower person, the smell gives me raging headaches (not what you want on your wedding day!) so not sure what to do as bouquet instead (unless i have silk or fake flowers)

reception will either be in OH's local church hall (theyve had all the kids on his side of the family christened there and his mums wake was held there last year) so we would get it pretty cheap (if not free)

food wise i plan on making alot of it (but in advance and freezing it) but i will also get my mum to help and my grandads wife is amazing at making sweets/desert type bits and will help there.

these are the main bits ive considered already for quite a minimal amount.

anyone point me in the direction of more cheap wedding stuff or stuff which will be simple to do?

Kayalana99

I don't think people are ignoring you, more they just don't no what to suggest!


You won't be able to get free things (well maybe samples but a sample wedding invite isn't going to get you far is it lol) but if you see something you like youtube how to make it yourself is always a good option.

I have decided to do sweet trees for my centre pieces and I am making them!! Can't wait for all the stuff to be delivered (I'm making the first one now the rest later lol)

You can get some (artificial) bouquets made for about £20-30 on facebook I can put you in touch with someone if you don't have it (pm me)

Is their actually anything else to add to your list that you need?

duchy

I'd suggest starting a blog -detailing your quest and progress in diary form.
If you are reasonably internet savvy you could even add google adsense.
The more people know you're looking for freebies the more you are likely to be offered-especially if you are prepared to write about them !

mrsHall2b

Kayalana99 wrote: »

I don't think people are ignoring you, more they just don't no what to suggest!


You won't be able to get free things (well maybe samples but a sample wedding invite isn't going to get you far is it lol) but if you see something you like youtube how to make it yourself is always a good option.

I have decided to do sweet trees for my centre pieces and I am making them!! Can't wait for all the stuff to be delivered (I'm making the first one now the rest later lol)

You can get some (artificial) bouquets made for about £20-30 on facebook I can put you in touch with someone if you don't have it (pm me)

Is their actually anything else to add to your list that you need?

i dont have facebook no (just twitter but i dont even use that much..) so if you could that would be lovely and of course i understand that not everyone will have any idea on any of it and weddings are very personal so what one person thinks is brilliant another with think is tacky so i dont mind at all, any suggestions welcome

i really need to go through and think what else im going to need really! should have better ideas of dates next week (waiting on registry office to get back to me) so will be able to start looking at real possibilities then.

duchy wrote: »

I'd suggest starting a blog -detailing your quest and progress in diary form.
If you are reasonably internet savvy you could even add google adsense.
The more people know you're looking for freebies the more you are likely to be offered-especially if you are prepared to write about them !

ohh this is a good idea! ive been wanting to start a blog for ages but never know what to write about, me & my babies ones are so similar they surely get boring! but yes i think i will give this a go. thank you

Kayalana99

mrsHall2b wrote: »

i dont have facebook no (just twitter but i dont even use that much..) so if you could that would be lovely and of course i understand that not everyone will have any idea on any of it and weddings are very personal so what one person thinks is brilliant another with think is tacky so i dont mind at all, any suggestions welcome

i really need to go through and think what else im going to need really! should have better ideas of dates next week (waiting on registry office to get back to me) so will be able to start looking at real possibilities then.



ohh this is a good idea! ive been wanting to start a blog for ages but never know what to write about, me & my babies ones are so similar they surely get boring! but yes i think i will give this a go. thank you

I will ask a few for emails and get back to you with them x

runawaybride

hi one thing im doing is swagbucks and other survey sites to earn vouchers for amazon etc so far iv managed to get my shoes, artificial flower bouquets for me and bridesmaid, my earrings and other little bits and pieces all free. if you have time to do a couple of surveys each day it soon mounts up. also for table decorations im decorating jam jars to use as vases if you dont want flowers you could put tea lights in them. invitations can be quite cheap if you make your own. a pack of 50 blank cards and envelopes can be bought for about £5. keep checking pound shops, home bargains, B&M etc for stuff you can use iv just bought a card post box to decorate yourself in home bargains for £1.99.
i hope you have a beautiful wedding without the nasty price tag lol.
oh and if your going to make stuff i would recommend going to some free wedding fairs fantastic for ideas. good luck.

mrsHall2b

runawaybride wrote: »

hi one thing im doing is swagbucks and other survey sites to earn vouchers for amazon etc so far iv managed to get my shoes, artificial flower bouquets for me and bridesmaid, my earrings and other little bits and pieces all free. if you have time to do a couple of surveys each day it soon mounts up. also for table decorations im decorating jam jars to use as vases if you dont want flowers you could put tea lights in them. invitations can be quite cheap if you make your own. a pack of 50 blank cards and envelopes can be bought for about £5. keep checking pound shops, home bargains, B&M etc for stuff you can use iv just bought a card post box to decorate yourself in home bargains for £1.99.
i hope you have a beautiful wedding without the nasty price tag lol.
oh and if your going to make stuff i would recommend going to some free wedding fairs fantastic for ideas. good luck.

i signed up to them all the other day but didnt even consider doing it to make money for the wedding! i must go an ensure all of my initial surveys etc are done! thankyou for reminding me about that, hopefully i will make a few extra pennies to put towards some bits & bobs

themull1

I got loads of things second hand off ebay. Maybe try there. What is your colour scheme?

mrsHall2b

themull1 wrote: »

I got loads of things second hand off ebay. Maybe try there. What is your colour scheme?

i think bright pink/fuchsia (sp??) and turquoise so ive got a bit of leeway trying to get 5 BM dress' because of the age group differences.


i love the 2 colours together.

wiggels

I got married 3 years ago on the cheap. We got married at the register office £60 on a Friday. Before that we paid £33 each for our bands you have to do that anyways. I had no cars, we booked a photographer for £100, she uploaded all the photos on a disc for us. I got a new dress off ebay, rings from Argos.


Our do was at our local conservative club for free, we know the owner. We had no day do, just a night do. Our parents arranged the food and wedding cake as our present. My friend was the dj, our favours where mini love heart sweets, 100 packets for a £5 then £2.50 for sweet wrappers with our name on to cover the packets.

Overall it came together and was a good do.
Tbh I think less is more, Good Luck xxx

tillyenna

One thing I would say - is on the 'things I wish I'd done/hadn't done' board loads of people mention that they wished they'd not spent any money on disposable cameras - hardly anyone uses them, apart from kids (so you just end up with all the 'feet' pictures), they cost money to develop. Plus everyone has camera phones now


A free alternative would be to sign up for a wedding website, the one we use (mywedding.com) gives you a free app, which your wedding guests can then download, and add their phone photos to - so you'd have all the pictures in one place... totally free!