MSE Blog: How to be a wedding guest on a budget

Former_MSE_Helen

"When three of my closest friends announced they were getting married this year, I couldn’t have been happier. Then the reality of going to three weddings, plus three hen dos, hit me – I had one expensive year ahead..."

Read MSE Amy's full blog: How to be a wedding guest on a budget

Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our New to Forum? Intro Guide.

Gloomendoom

One thing we did to ease the burden on our guests was to offer free camping facilities. It was almost an afterthought but we were surprised how many people took us up on it. Some made a long weekend of it and stayed several days, which was nice.

gloriouslyhappy

Consider looking at the next village / town over from the event, and instead of hotel accommodation for the hen do and wedding, have a look at House Trip, Airbnb and Holiday Lettings. For a 50th wedding anniversary party in posh Whitstable, we looked at nearby poor-cousin Margate 15 minutes away. Initially we found a double room for £69 at the Travelodge, (£40 pppn) but then booked a three bedroom flat with extra sofa bed on Holiday Lettings for £100 per night (£12.50pppn for 8 of us). Local taxi rides were only £10 each way for 4 of us, OK, we needed two taxis to get the eight of us in, but we still more than halved our accommodation bill, and had a comfortable self-catering flat rather than an impersonal cheapie hotel.

gloriouslyhappy

Wedding outfits: have a look at Oxfam Bridal, they have an extensive online range, at great prices and you're contributing to their good work too. Also check out their Vintage section for unusual outfits.

Wedding gifts: have a look in their household section, especially silver, you can often find new unused things still in original packaging, or vintage silver pieces at very reasonable prices.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/bridal

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/vintage

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/household/silver