Wedding savings/saving

Tricia_Mc

My daughter is getting married next month, sounds like a similar do to yours.
We made a pact not to read or even look at any wedding magazines at all ever, so we wouldn't see lots of extras and want them. And definitely no favours. Or presents, except bridesmaids' jewellery.
She bought her dress in the sale last year for £300. The same shop has just closed down and been selling dresses from £50. Bridesmaids dresses were non-wedding dresses from House of Fraser sale last year, £30 each. Bride and bridesmaids jewellery and hair ornaments from notonhehighstreet and etsy. Bride's shoes £40. It's the right time to start shopping now.
She sent out email 'save the day', and half price photo invites through hitched.com about 90p each + stamps. You could buy some card and print your own though. Or maybe just send paper invites to older guests, or family not friends, and email the rest.
When saving money you should take into account the amount of work involved. Eg, M&S cake, you have to pick it up, store it, deliver it to the venue, probably on the morning, make sure it is put on the stand... And if you are doing the same with table decorations, flowers etc... You may think it is worth paying a little more to have everything done for you. My daughter's cake will be decorated with fresh flowers, provided and arranged on top of the cake by the florist for £30, loads cheaper than sugar flowers or whatever. The photographer and disco were quite a lot cheaper than your budget too, without being low quality. The photographer makes all the photos available digitally with no copyright restrictions, and no obligation to buy an album.
Asking for money towards the honeymoon - this may seem perfectly logical and reasonable to you but some people will find it odd, unacceptable, greedy etc, they will either be really keen to give you an actual gift and/or think that if you can't afford an expensive honeymoon you should go on a cheaper one. I'm speaking from experience here! so be prepared. Either have an alternative prepared - short gift list or specified vouchers - or just say, there is absolutely nothing we need, we would really like money but if you're not comfortable with that, that's fine, we don't expect anything. Oh, and don't write a poem begging for money.
There was a thread on mumsnet recently, updated from 2010, about the terrible things people do when organising their weddings. Might be worth a read. That's where the begging poem came from, more than one mention.
Good luck and have a great day.

Andy_89

Asking for money towards the honeymoon - this may seem perfectly logical and reasonable to you but some people will find it odd, unacceptable, greedy etc, they will either be really keen to give you an actual gift and/or think that if you can't afford an expensive honeymoon you should go on a cheaper one. I'm speaking from experience here! so be prepared. Either have an alternative prepared - short gift list or specified vouchers - or just say, there is absolutely nothing we need, we would really like money but if you're not comfortable with that, that's fine, we don't expect anything. Oh, and don't write a poem begging for money.

I haven't budgeted for anything, nor do I want to 'beg' for money.

I would hate to recieve actual gifts, I CANNOT stand a cluttered house with bullplop gifts that I do not need.

Jo_F

We had 12 weeks from booking the date till the date (it's now 2 days away), we had already decided that the marriage was more important than the day, although we did want a few traditional things.

I bought my dress from an online shop, as it wasn't a traditional dress (it's deep burgandy) it cost me about £45, £17 for matching shoes.

We went to the local garden centre (with the shawl from the dress to match colours) and bought loads of silk flowers, I made 3 buttonholes (him, the best man and my son), and two bouquets (me and my daughter)

He got a suit in the sale at Greenwoods (cracking timing, it was half price and only cost £50).

We decided that we were not going to bother with a party for people that we rarely see, so after the service we are all heading to a local pub for a meal (about 18 of us), then me and him are headin off on a train to spend a couple of nights in a Premier Inn (£25 a night deal).

It may sound like a wedding on the cheap, and I know of a couple of people that are looking down on me for not having 'the works', but it's the kind of day that will suit us, and the most important thing is the fact that we are gettin married, everything else is just window dressing

coolreb1

We are getting married this June and doing everything ourselves to save cost as much as possible.
June is the best time of year for flowers, so I have bought some seeds and some plants and am growing my own. I will supplement stuff from hedgerows and trees for greenery on the day and have everything in jam jars tied with ribbon for the tables. I borrowed a book from the library on flower arranging to get some tips too. All in I have spent £26 on seeds and small plants which are now in the garden ready for cutting (cut flowers good in June - scabious, cosmos, coreopsis, gerbera, ox-eye daisy, sweet peas)
If you do buy flowers make sure you buy in-season ones which are much cheaper than something which flowers at another time of year.
I have sourced all of our drinks using supermarket offers (although this means a house full of stuff!)
Moss Bros current offer on suits is buy 4 and the groom goes free. Cost is about £100 per suit. Bridesmaids I got from Debenhams off the peg dresses which can be worn again, they are wearing their own shoes and jewellery. Hair is being done by a local mobile hair-dresser who doesn't have a salon so is much cheaper - she is coming to the house which is also more convenient


I'm making my own cake, depends what you like but fruit cake lasts ages so won't matter if theres lots leftover. Cupcakes are really popular and easy to give away as favours, and I imagine cheaper on the ingredients.
Our rings are coming from a specialist local jeweller, they are bespoke which makes them unique but also cheaper than buying from the high-street as she has no shop costs to pay. If you want plain bands though she did advise us that ebay is the best and cheapest option, as long as you know the size.


Good luck to everyone on this thread getting married - hope you all have a wonderful day

Autumnella

You can save a lot on the dress by getting a second hand one off Ebay. When your fiancee finds the dress she wants get her to note the designer and name of the dress, then search for it on ebay from someone selling it second hand. I've found my dream dress for £150, down from £2500, dry cleaned and everything.

DomRavioli

Hi OP,

Just a quick aside - make sure they aren't charging for a half bottle of wine for any under 18's - you would be surprised how many do and don't tell you! That should cut a bit out if you have a few younger guests.

runawaybride

hi hope everythings going well. have you found any bargains yet ?

Idiophreak

DomRavioli wrote: »

Hi OP,

Just a quick aside - make sure they aren't charging for a half bottle of wine for any under 18's - you would be surprised how many do and don't tell you! That should cut a bit out if you have a few younger guests.

Last wedding my wife and I went to, we were on a table with 3 kids, one tee-totaller and a pregnant lady. Half a bottle of wine each on the table. It was GREAT!

Andy_89

UPDATE;

Well it is booked, much to my disappointment, I wanted to negotiate a package she agreed, but she went ahead and booked it this morning.

I have now eaten into nearly half of my contingency, not a happy chappy.

I have decided to hire the suits. £50/person, with the groom free, should knock a few beercans off my budget.

We have decided to have the photographer upto and including the first dance only. I hope this will save us some money.

runawaybride

im guessing she wanted the security of knowing it was booked if i waited for my H2B to book things id be waiting years (it took him 10 years to propose even though he admitted he wanted to ask me after 6 months lol) women like a bargain but we also like to get things sorted and checked of the to do list.
my ring was from amazon but it was from a seller based in the jewelry quarter and its gorgeous im very impressed for the money.
the one thing i would advise you to get sorted quickly is your cake i didnt realise how expensive they were and all the cheapest cake makers in our area are booked up so im now buying a cake to decorate myself. if you want one professionally made id research it now and work out a deal.
also i know you have a contingency and it sounds obvious but do remember to plan for non wedding related things too we have just had to replace the bath as it developed a crack and was leaking no idea how but think it was child related :mad:. anyway you never know so dont plan for every spare penny to go towards the wedding.
keep us updated :T