Weddings on a reasonable budget!

Pollycat

katy_ann wrote: »

Yes thats what were trying to do, but we are each putting £100 into a savings account to save for our wedding as we know it wont happen for a long time

I don't want to be a party pooper but I'm not sure that is a sensible idea.

You will probably be paying more on your debts than you will be earning in interest on your savings so it would make more sense for you to put that £200 per month towards your debt - unless your debts are interest free/very low interest, of course.

Martin's views of this:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/pay-off-debts

There's a very simple example of £1000 debt and £1000 savings.

There is a specific weddings board on MSE so you will pick up lots of tips by posting on there.

pinkshoes

katy_ann wrote: »

We are looking around £2500/£3000 really

That's a HUGE budget!

Mine cost £1300 including dress, rings and a sit down 3 course meal for 25 people plus bar tab!

AnnieO1234

Hi OP, I got married recently after ten years with DH. I don't think we spent more than £1,000 total.

As we'd been together so long we decided we just wanted close family with us. DH wore a regular suit, our son and his cousin (2 years and 11 years respectively) had five piece suits from amazon with change from £50 for both. They're both lovely suits btw, and cost less than hire. To that they both had new dress shoes at about £10 each.

My dress was from Hobbs but bought at boundary mill. Shoes for me were from asda at about £12. I really didn't see point in paying a lot for a shoe I would wear once maybe twice.

We got the flowers from Triangle nurseries, I had a very clear idea of what I wanted though and knew the arrangement was simple. (Calla lillies hand tied in main bouquet.) We ordered enough flowers for bouquet, corsages (quick tip on those, either triangle or hobby craft etc sell nice pearl (various colour) arm band things that you secure the flower to), flowers for cake and buttonholes. In total including flower feed and a preservative spray and delivery we spent less than £70. The bouquet alone for less flowers would have been £190 at my local florist!!!!

There are various online tutorials for flower arrangements and came decorating. We went with two tiers from M&S, one sponge and one fruit. They're quite plainly decorated in white but were perfect for the flowers I wanted. Again that was my vision for the cake which made it fairly simple. The M&S cakes are comparitively MSE! Think it was about £85.

The biggest part to our budget was the reception which was actual paid for by our parents so we don't know the final bill. Our budget for it was £650 though for seven adults and two kids. We made a choice to have a proper meal at a restaurant owned by a top chef (the best one IMHO to ever walk the earth but I'll not name names!).

We didn't bother with a photographer and got married at our local registry office. It was purely and simply about us getting married none of the rest of the worries about who to invite or not etc.

I handmade some favour bags using stuff from hobbycraft and some plastic tie bag things from waitrose. (The kind you get old fashioned sweets in.) a new bag for me came from TK Maxx, I got a jewelled headband from Claire's and borrowed pearls from my mom.

Lingerie including a garter and sixpence came from asda and ebay respectively.

Don't get sucked in to the whole "£100,000 big wedding dream" all weddings are is a license to print money for companies looking to fleece you.

Xxx

eamon

I was at a wedding reception yesterday. I think the couple paid less than £400 including the registry office fee. The wedding cake was a 3 tier pork pie. Looked ace and was tasty as well. It was served with mushy peas and mint sauce. The other food was buffet style (sandwiches, quiche, chicken drumsticks etc. The venue was a local real ale pub so the guests and pub regulars bought their own drinks and fed the juke box. Great entertainment!.

NAR

My daughter is getting married in 3 weeks. She only told us on Good Friday, but arrangements were made in less than a month.

Hire of local bowling Club £80. Approx 60-70 guests coming. BBQ food and salad etc at 5pm Sandwiches etc about 9pm Disco £150 Photographer for 2 hours £100. Bouncy castle in afternoon for kids £50 Wedding dress £50 in charity shop 3 Bridesmaid dresses and shoes £250 Flowers £290 Wedding cake being made by my other daughter

Total outlay is expected to be about £1600, so your £2500 is loads.

Buzzybee90

NAR wrote: »

My daughter is getting married in 3 weeks. She only told us on Good Friday, but arrangements were made in less than a month.

Hire of local bowling Club £80. Approx 60-70 guests coming. BBQ food and salad etc at 5pm Sandwiches etc about 9pm Disco £150 Photographer for 2 hours £100. Bouncy castle in afternoon for kids £50 Wedding dress £50 in charity shop 3 Bridesmaid dresses and shoes £250 Flowers £290 Wedding cake being made by my other daughter

Total outlay is expected to be about £1600, so your £2500 is loads.

It might be loads for the type of wedding your daughter is having - which sounds great to me! - but wouldn't be loads for a different type of event.

Georgiegirl256

Buzzybee90 wrote: »

It might be loads for the type of wedding your daughter is having - which sounds great to me! - but wouldn't be loads for a different type of event.

£2500-£3000 is plenty enough for a lot of Weddings. Weddings are as expensive or as cheap as you want them to be. If a wedding needs to be done on a budget it can be.

Person_one

Buzzybee90 wrote: »

It might be loads for the type of wedding your daughter is having - which sounds great to me! - but wouldn't be loads for a different type of event.

Its what the OP has though, so there's not really any need to discuss more expensive 'events'.

She can have a lovely wedding for that budget.

Buzzybee90

Person_one wrote: »

Its what the OP has though, so there's not really any need to discuss more expensive 'events'.

She can have a lovely wedding for that budget.

But what I'm saying is if she did want a sit down meal type wedding, then that's still achievable if she's willing to put effort/time in herself too.

She isn't completely restricted.

sedment

What I would suggest is whether you get married in a church or registrar, do it through the week. Much more cheaper on, say a friday than at the weekend. Also ebay, poundland ikea etc for table decorations and invites. I bought my dress on ebay for the grand total on £22 delivered, it was an ex display dress and the seller never put a reserve on it, it was a silk two piece and worth far more than I paid!! Debenhams and Bhs when they do 70% sale is also great for flowergirls dresses and shoes.
Halls,scout/brownie huts bowling clubs all have kitchens and are really cheap to hire, or a nightclub? Not everyones taste, but our local one has free hire and free sandwiches etc if you have more than 100 people on a friday night. Have a buffet rather than a sit down meal and provide wine for the meal and have a cash bar.
It depends as to how much you want to spend, have been at weddings when the total came to over £20.000 and mine which was around £2000! As long as you and your intended have a blast thats all that matters! Good luck x