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Wedding savings/saving
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you seem to have a lot in your package which is good. does it include room decor table cloths etc? depending on the style of wedding you want and personal preferences you could think about silk flowers. usually much cheaper and you can keep/sell them afterwards. im having silk flowers for the bouquets. but fresh flowers (bought from supermarket and displayed in decorated jam jars nicer than it sounds lol) for the tables. if you have facebook lots of local businesses use it and sometimes offer deals. also keep a check on groupon and wowcher as iv seen good wedding photography and photobooth hire deals although we arent having them if you are you might get a bargain and they often have hair and beauty deals which could be useful.iv done 3 things right in my life and their all perfect
:grouphug:DS1 (1993) DD (2011) DS2 (2012):grouphug::j married 16 june 2014 12:30pm :jcc: 266.89holiday still to pay: 549.900 -
Idiophreak wrote: »Meh, when you think about it, the old rule used to be that the engagement ring alone should cost 3 months wages...1/3 of salary for a year is only 4 months' wages....and that's for the whole wedding. Sounds like a bargain when you think of it like that
OP - maybe if you share your high level budget with us we can advise on ways of cutting down.
Likewise, if you post your SOA on the DFW board, people will advise if there's anything in your day to day spending you could get a better deal on - which might help save up that little bit faster
The engagement was only a months wage
My budget is as follows;
Package (50 guests Day and Night) £ 5,500.00 Additonal day guests @ £110/head £ 1,980.00 Additional Evening Guests @ £15.50/head £ 1,550.00 Flowers £ 500.00 Cake (may be free) £ 500.00 Dress and Bridesmaids £ 1,450.00 Suit and bestman ushers etc £ 1,000.00 Hair and Beauty £ 250.00 Rings £ 1,000.00 Shoes £ 150.00 Veil £ 100.00 DJ £ 500.00 Photographer £ 1,000.00 Gifts £ 250.00 Table Arrangements £ 150.00 Hen and Stag £ 1,000.00 Invitations £ 150.00 Honeymoon £ 5,000.00 Contingency £ 2,000.00 Total £ 24,030.00
Sorry copied it from my spreadsheet.
As I said high level at the moment but let me know what you think, alternatively if I have missed something let me know.
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Just some quick thoughts:Package (50 guests Day and Night)
£ 5,500.00 Additonal day guests @ £110/head £ 1,980.00 Additional Evening Guests @ £15.50/head £ 1,550.00
Wow, 168 people is quite a lot...gonna be a big wedding!
Flowers £ 500.00
Probably fair...have you decided how many bouquets/button holes/corsages etc you're having?
Cake (may be free) £ 500.00
You can do < £300 for a cake and get practically anything you want.
Dress and Bridesmaids £ 1,450.00
Don't forget to budget for *everything* the bride's gonna wear... lingerie, garter, jewellery...Do you know how many bridesmaids there will be?
Suit and bestman ushers etc £ 1,000.00
As above...are you gonna need new pants, a new watch, a nice hot towel shave...You should be able to get suits around £100/person to hire if you shop around...again, how many do you need?
Hair and Beauty £ 250.00
Probably OK...if you're expecting all the bridesmaids to be cut and made up, this may be tight.Rings £ 1,000.00
Definitely money to be saved here if needs be...mine was palladium from the jewellery quarter, the wife's was platinum from tiffany...total around £700 iirc
Shoes £ 150.00 Veil £ 100.00
DJ £ 500.00 Could save here if you wanted. We hired some speakers and lights for about £150 for the weekend...plugged inthe ipod with some playlists, nobody really knew any differentPhotographer £ 1,000.00
Very much a piece of string...you can get them for £300, we paid > £2000...think about what you want to keep from the day...we have a dvd of images, a beautiful album, we had little ones made up for the parents etc....we also had 2 photographers covering everything for 12(ish) hours....You can save money if you rush everything...I've been to weddings before where they "do" all of the photos at the start...so the bride and groom cut the cake for the photographer, do their first dance for the photographer...then the guy goes home and the wedding carries on as usual. Saves cash, but is...weird.
Gifts £ 250.00
This got a bit out of hand for usWe gave gifts to parents, ushers/best men and bridesmaids.... about 12 gifts in total...around £30-50 each, so probably spent £500+ in total...And that's excluding our gifts to each other...and we won't talk about how much they cost.
Table Arrangements £ 150.00 Hen and Stag £ 1,000.00
Good to budget for this, but you never know. I didn't spend a penny on mine - not for want of trying, the guys just took care of everything...and I've done likewise for every stag I've been on.Invitations £ 150.00
For 170 people this on the low side...I guess you'll have to send out the best part of 100 invites...a stamp's 50p, so you're down to < £1 per invite...which is easily doable if you're happy to print them off, look for offers online and stuff...but some of the invites I've received have been £8 each....then there are save the dates etc :eek:
Honeymoon £ 5,000.00 Contingency £ 2,000.00
It's good you have this in...amazing how much little stuff adds up...parking every time she goes to try on the dress or shop for flowers...meals out the week before the wedding (when you're too busy to cook)...have you thought about cars, btw? Little things like seating plans, orders of service, confetti... Are you going to want more nice stuff for yourself around the wedding? I ordered a bottle (well, 5, but shh) of my favourite whisky liquor to enjoy in the days before...A couple of bottles of bubbly for the day...I got some of the aftershave I'd been hankering for...have you thought about favours? Other decorations, losses and damages at the venue (it happens...), tips, etc etc...just so many little things...My one piece of advice...contingency is goood
Total £ 24,030.00
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wow hen and stag £1000 :eek: what have you got planned.iv done 3 things right in my life and their all perfect
:grouphug:DS1 (1993) DD (2011) DS2 (2012):grouphug::j married 16 june 2014 12:30pm :jcc: 266.89holiday still to pay: 549.900 -
I'm getting married this year and we've managed to find a few good prices for things. Bridesmaid dresses were from BHS and were 27.50 each. They have a sale online at the moment with a few colours and styles.
If your fiance finds a dress from a well known designer in a shop, she may be able to buy it second hand to save a few pennies. My veil was 6 pounds from ebay and is exactly the same the shop had for 125! My shoes were from debenhams and were about 30 pounds I think.
Our mens suits were ex-hire for 10 each jacket and we got trousers from matalan for 7.50 a pair in the sale.
I'm having my mums ring but my OH got his ring for about 70 from h m samuel. It may be worth a look there as this would give you a huge saving on your budget.
I'm sure you've considered it, but there's quite a difference in price between day and evening guests. Is there any way you can move some people to the evening only?0 -
Thanks for the advice guys.
I went to visit the venue and they pretty much added £1,500 to my bill, so we cut £1,500 of guests.
I may have to can the excessive stag/hen do's things are looking to close for comfort, even though my contingency is still intact.
There is no need for a car as we are getting married on the same site as the reception etc.
The DJ, my suit and the Photographer are the only places I can see savings to be made. My main problem is I have nothing concrete.0 -
My budget is as follows;
Package (50 guests Day and Night)= £5,500.00
Additonal day guests @ £110/head = £1,980.00
Additional Evening Guests @ £15.50/head = £1,550.00
Flowers = £500.00 You can get flowers alot cheaper than this, artificial is alot cheaper but if u want real flowers then bunches from local supermarkets hand tied in nice ribbon are beautiful! lucky for me my friend is a florist
Cake (may be free) = £500.00 M&S are amazing! we got a quote for the cake i wanted and it was £450 but M&S do plain white or ivory fruit or sponge in all different sizes, i have been quoted £56 for a 3 tier top being fruit the other 2 sponge and i will just buy roll out icing and a heart shaped cutter and stick the hearts on myself so £65 all inand everyone raves about there cakes
Dress and Bridesmaid = £1,450.00 Ebay is an amazing place we went to loads of wedding boutiques and found a style we liked and fond one on ebay for a fraction of the price, the bridesmaids did the same and we found ones exactly the same on ebay for £24 each
Suit and bestman ushers etc = £1,000.00 Hiring them is alot cheaper although i havent properly looked yet
Hair and Beauty = £250.00 Have you a friend or a family member that is good at hair? my friend is doing ours
Rings = £1,000.00 don't be afraid to haggle
Shoes = £150.00 Again ebay or pre loved even gumtree
Veil = £100.00 again ebay preloved or gumtree
DJ = £500.00 Is this not included in your package? if not do u have a friend thats good with laptops? lots of songs on a laptop or gig stick and set on random for the night
Photographer = £1,000.00 Local college near by? we got a quote from 3 hobby photographers and they wanted £30 each for all 3 of them to wonder around all day taking lots of pics and they upload all the pictures onto disks
Gifts = £250.00 Photo albums are a special gift that everyone loves either pictures of them over the years yuve known them or deliver the gifts after the weddingphoto albums can be found as cheap as 50p each on ebay and go on all the sites on the web like snapfish ect and they offer free prints when you first sign up, i managed to get 350 pictures free for photo collages for xmas presents
Table Arrangements = £150.00
Hen and Stag = £1,000.00 we are doing a spa weekend for my hen and im just paying for travel costs the girls are paying for the accommodation and the spa break, ask around local spas dont mention hen do when asking for prices as they tend to hike prices up as soon as "weddings" are mentioned and dont be afraid to haggle the men are sorting the stag but it will be the same idea
Invitations = £150.00 Make your own, ive managed to make all mine for about 50p each again ebay for all the stationary
Honeymoon = £5,000.00 we have put poems in all the invites saying as we have lived together for goodness knows long so we have everything we need and suggested them making a donation towards our honeymoon as a wedding present
Contingency = £2,000.00
Total = £24,030.00
hope this helpsWedding Is Booked
Saturday 11th July 2015
Almost sortedCant Wait
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:0 -
"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue".
So the dress could be the something old or borrowed, it is "allowed".
Same applies to any other expensive item.
Have a wonderful day!Deal with things as they are, not as they should be.0 -
Maybe not for you (especially if it's a church wedding) - I remember seeing pics from a wedding where money was tight and the first thing to go was big spend on outfits. The couple suggested everyone hired - so the theme was superheroes -if i remember, WonderWoman married Batman.
Could still consider hiring/charity shopping to a theme (like the decade you were both born)?
Re stag and hen - can you DIY something you'll enjoy? paintballing, storytelling party, strictly discothon, glamming up and getting a takeaway (meal in the absence of a named celeb), it's a knockout, again a theme can make it interesting and celebrating in a garden with giant kids games or supersoakers, (Garden Olympics featuring egg and spoon and three legged races), - get each of your friends to come up with a game. you can set a modest budget (remember the clean up), nothing too dangerous though. Bet if everyone contributes you'll have a really great time that everyone will remember.
It's just the beginning of a journey, not an end in itself (and happy ever afters need resources too!) Be happy!0 -
Wow your budget is huge! I am planning my wedding for May next year, (booked and half the organizing already done, I am a bride on a mission). My wedding all in (except honeymoon) is coming in at £8k, this is for a traditional church wedding then venue in a beautiful stately home with a sit down wedding breakfast for 80+ people and evening reception. We have four bridesmaids and 6 in the groom party (including dads) so I have a lot of flowers and suits etc.
For the venue I haggled! I managed to get two hire fees knocked off because I kept saying it was out of my budget, this saved us £1,500. Then for the evening buffet my OH wants stodge so we opted for bacon and sausage butties with wedges and dips, the cheaper option and perfect for us.
For the flowers, as I said I have a lot. My bouquet, bridesmaids, flower girl corsage, 6 men button holes and 2 MOTB button holes as well as table decorations! I went to my local florist and got all this in at £260! The flowers I have chosen are not the most expensive so this made it a bit cheaper but she was great on cost as she is a local florist.
For Save the Dates, I designed them and made them myself and everyone is really impressed with them. They cost me £20. I am doing the same for the invitations.
I have made all of the table decorations myself too.
My mum is making my wedding cake as she is pretty awesome at doing them and it will be so nice having her make it.
My dad has a Morris Miner car which I am having as my wedding car as I think it is beautiful.
Also my friend is doing my make up so that is a saving.
You want to get onto the facebook group, brides to be on Facebook - items for sale. There is so much good quality stuff on there!
Also get ideas of lots of things on Pinterst!
Depending on where you are based I am happy to share any of my suppliers with you?0
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