Married on the cheap?

falko89

We have been engaged 15 years now, the reason we haven't got married is the cost, my OH works part time, myself I work for min wage.

We want something that doesn't look cheap as we would be talked about, I mean if its registry office out for a meal then something in the local pub lounge its not gonna do.

I've been looking around local hotels, cheapest I can find is £20pp minimum 60 people, so that's £1200, and I suppose other bits and pieces its gonna be at least £2k

Could it be done any cheaper and still be respectable? £2K isn't much in the grand scheme of things, but it is for the like of us who have been living together for 10+ years who have kids and a house to keep.

duchy

Why not get married abroad- take the kids (comes out of holiday budget) and have a party at home for everyone when you get back ?

A wedding for 60 guests is likely to be more than 2K though. Dress, suit, kids outfits, cost of registrar , transport , cake , disco at reception etc etc before you even think of feeding your guests and providing something sparkling to toast you.

Getting married isn't expensive.......having a wedding is !

ruby_eskimo

When the actual cost of the legal bit is about £450 (can't remember the exact figure) then you won't get much change from £2k if you go down the hotel route. That being said, sometimes venues will do amazing last minute deals, so it might be worth looking out for them if you have your heart set on a more "traditional" wedding.

How about a local village hall? OH's sister is getting married in the local church and then having her wedding breakfast and reception in a local hall. They're catering it themselves (well her in laws are) and they're decorating the venue with various bits and pieces they picked up on ebay etc.

One of the best weddings I've been to was a register office ceremoney followed by a hog roast in the local pub garden on the river. Everyone enjoyed themselves because it was lovely and relaxed, so there's nothing bad about a more casual wedding.

Owain_Moneysaver

falko89 wrote: »

We want something that doesn't look cheap as we would be talked about, I mean if its registry office out for a meal then something in the local pub lounge its not gonna do.

Whyever not? I think you should be proud of how cheaply you can do a wedding.

arbrighton

ruby_eskimo wrote: »

When the actual cost of the legal bit is about £450 (can't remember the exact figure) then you won't get much change from £2k if you go down the hotel route. That being said, sometimes venues will do amazing last minute deals, so it might be worth looking out for them if you have your heart set on a more "traditional" wedding.

How about a local village hall? OH's sister is getting married in the local church and then having her wedding breakfast and reception in a local hall. They're catering it themselves (well her in laws are) and they're decorating the venue with various bits and pieces they picked up on ebay etc.

One of the best weddings I've been to was a register office ceremoney followed by a hog roast in the local pub garden on the river. Everyone enjoyed themselves because it was lovely and relaxed, so there's nothing bad about a more casual wedding.

Legal bit, bare minimum to give notice then have a weekday quick thingie in the register office is £50 for us, plus £35 each to give notice. So under £200.

falko89

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Whyever not? I think you should be proud of how cheaply you can do a wedding.

There is cheap then there's cheap. We average about 2 wedding per year, they are always fairly fancy affairs in a hotel etc.

Mojisola

falko89 wrote: »

We have been engaged 15 years now, the reason we haven't got married is the cost, my OH works part time, myself I work for min wage.

£2K isn't much in the grand scheme of things, but it is for the like of us who have been living together for 10+ years who have kids and a house to keep.

Do you understand the possible problems of not being married?

Is 'what people will think' really more important than protecting your family?

You can't afford a 'wedding' but you can afford to get married. Why not do the basic legal stuff (you two and two witnesses) so that you have the legal protections and plan for a 'do' when you can afford one - 5th anniversary/10th anniversary?

lexilex

I can't offer a lot of advice, I have just started wedding planning myself. We was hoping to have a cheapish wedding (5kish) but I quickly realised that wasn't going to happen. That's not to say it can't be done though. I have found the biggest expense is venue and food. If you can find somewhere you can hire for a relatively small amount and then arrange your own catering, it's definitely doable. I would be staying away from hotels, in my experience those sort of places all insist on their catering which most of the time is price. Village halls and that sort of thing would be a good idea. We are having a barn wedding, and whilst our hire isn't particularly cheap I know there are lot's available cheaper outside of our area - I came across a couple for our £500. Decorations can all be done on the cheap too, as can dresses, suits etc. It's just a case of shopping round and looking out for bargains.

[Deleted User]

I'm not a big expert, but have some ideas:

- smaller guest list
- venue that doesn't have minimum number (e.g. private room at a restaurant)
- get flowers, a dress etc, not WEDDING flowers WEDDING dress.
- ask friends with any creative talent to give you some of their time as a present, e.g. make a cake, table decorations, take photos.
- use your kids as an excuse to stay down to earth! Tell any snooty people it is a celebration of your whole family, and you are keeping it fun, local, less formal for that reason.

Try not to worry too much, the people who really care about you will just be happy to share in your day regardless of the venue.

arbrighton

Cherry_Gale wrote: »

I'm not a big expert, but have some ideas:
dress etc, not WEDDING flowers WEDDING dress.
- ask friends with any creative talent to give you some of their time as a present, e.g. make a cake, table decorations, take photos.

Yup my dress was under £300, not technically a wedding dress but I love it.

Friend is icing the cake for me after I make it and another friend will be doing photos, but she will be paid at her professional rate

Wellyboots6

We have managed to do ours very cheap so far, and it doesn't look cheap at all!

All the legal stuff was £75 to give notice, £95 to get married. We are having the wedding ceremony in a registry office, but using the smaller of the rooms and also having it on a Friday so it works out very cheap but we can still have 20 guests. We have gone for the registry office in the next town along as it is quite nice compared to our local one.

We are then getting a mini-bus (paid for by in-laws) to a council office building not too far away where we will be meeting the rest of the wedding guests for the evening reception. The council offices are in a lovely old building, and they hire out the ballroom for £595 for the whole day and evening, which also includes a bar and bar staff who will pack away for you at the end of the night and store your belongings for you to collect the following day. The ballroom has a sprung dance floor, chandeliers etc so doesn't look cheap!

Check out any local authority buildings as they often hire them out very cheaply as people don't think to use them, and also you can often only use them in an evening due to people working there during the day.

We have a band (paid for by my parents) and the DJ is the grooms brother.

The booze for the toast was half price in M's the other day £5.95 (for some decent prosecco), and the venue charge £6 a bottle corkage which includes glass hire and staff to take a tray round to ensure everyone has a drink for the toast.

We are having a hand-fasting ceremony at the reception venue, so those who missed the 'legal' bit still get to see a wedding of sorts! The officiant for that is the grooms best friend.

Food will be a buffet partly catered for by my work as a wedding gift (I work in a bakery) and partly catered for by friends and family who are bringing their 'specialty' item!

We have made the bridesmaids dresses, and did make a wedding dress for me although I have changed my mind so got a plain dress off ebay which I will be jazzing up to suit my tastes.

Flowers I have hand-made from paper, felt etc so that they last and can be done in advance. This includes bouquet, button-holes, hair accessories etc.

Groom has made the table decorations out of odds and ends we have been saving over the year (jam jars, bits of wood, string etc).

We have made the wedding cake and frozen it ready to defrost on the day.

Groom made the cake stand himself too.

Venue decorations have been made out of bits we got from an army surplus store and charity shops.

I am currently making bean bags out of scraps of fabric and chick peas for a coconut shy, which groom is making in the shed.

Oh and my brother and my friend are brilliant photographers and so are doing it for out wedding present.

It is easy to do things very cheaply if you know people who will help you out with things like food etc. You can hand-make certain things such as invitations, decorations etc and there are plenty of youtube videos with ideas and how-to's. If you give yourself enough time then just make something each evening and it soon mounts up the amount you get done.

We haven't felt stressed really at all and only have 7 weeks to go now!

Everyone is saying how much they are looking forward to coming, and how they are intrigued by what we have planned! We asked for hand-made or second-hand gifts on our invitations, which has meant a lot of people have offered their services for wedding presents which is useful.

If you keep the theme relaxed then people won't expect a big bling wedding and will be able to chill out and enjoy the day for what it is rather than scrutinizing your lack of unnecessary debt!