I'm getting married! The DFW way of course and need HELP!!

sparvar

Please feel free to PM me if I can assist further, I got married a few months ago.In a nut shell the main expenses to think about (and possible suggestions) are :Venue - Much cheaper to buy it off peak times (eg. during the week) and remember you pay for location, also you have a stronger negociating position with other companies you're getting married out of peak season as they have less work.Ceremony - Registrar is non-negociable!Jewellery - Borrow it or look at Swarovski which is reasonably priced especially in the sale!Clothes - You're sorted!Wedding Decorations - Consider cheaper alternatives, rope family into it and remember you oay extra for getting companies to arrange what you can do yourself.Photography / Videographer - Do not scrimp on this unless you really can't afford it, if you want get get a friend with a nice digital SLR camera to do the shots but you need to give them strict instructions on what you want and make sure they have a proper flash as most of the shots will be in dim lightTransport - Borrow a friend's car? Get a taxi?Flowers - It's far cheaper to get a relative to buy and put in place, eg. from M&S than to order it.Stationary - You can produce yourself on your computer, blank cards can be bought from confetti.comEntertainment - DJ / Band?Hair and beauty - Get a friend to do itWedding Cake - if you buy it, but a birthday cake, the same cake will be half the price, trust me they bump the price up as soon as they hear the word weddingHoneymoon - try getting a 'package' deal off-peak?...and finally do not beat yourself up if you go over budget, they always cost a lot more than you think but hopefully it's only once you get married so make sure it's a day to remember!

sparvar

Please feel free to PM me if I can assist further, I got married a few months ago.In a nut shell the main expenses to think about (and possible suggestions) are :
Venue - Much cheaper to buy it off peak times (eg. during the week) and remember you pay for location, also you have a stronger negociating position with other companies you're getting married out of peak season as they have less work.
Ceremony - Registrar is non-negociable!
Jewellery - Borrow it or look at Swarovski which is reasonably priced especially in the sale!
Clothes - You're sorted!
Wedding Decorations - Consider cheaper alternatives, rope family into it and remember you pay extra for getting companies to arrange what you can do yourself.
Photography / Videographer - Do not scrimp on this unless you really can't afford it, if you want get get a friend with a nice digital SLR camera to do the shots but you need to give them strict instructions on what photos you want and who to photograph - make sure they have a proper flash (not the build in one) as most of the shots will be in dim light.
Transport - Borrow a friend's car? Get a taxi?
Flowers - It's far cheaper to get a relative to buy and put in place, eg. from Marks and Spencers than to order it.
Stationary - You can produce yourself on your computer, blank cards can be bought from confetti.com
Entertainment - DJ / Band?
Hair and beauty - Get a friend to do it
Wedding Cake - if you buy it, but a birthday cake, the same cake will be half the price, trust me they bump the price up as soon as they hear the word wedding
Honeymoon - try getting a 'package' deal off-peak?
...and finally do not beat yourself up if you go over budget, they always cost a lot more than you think but hopefully it's only once you get married so make sure it's a day to remember!

sparvar

Ooops, nearly forgot, Alcohol, but it when there are sales on! I bought all my champagne from marks and sparks for £10 a bottle when they had a promotion on about 6 months before the wedding.

HBFS

Sorry to come in so late, but congrats! And kudos on trying it the DFW waY! *thumbs up*

pandapaws

This might not help you much if you're looking at having the reception in the Hilton, but maybe worth mentioning anyway!

We had our reception in a gorgeous old 14th century barn/hall, which incidentally was the church hall for the church we got married in, and therefore cut out travelling. We decorated it ourselves (with loads of friends!) the night before the wedding with about a billion fairly lights that we'd bought in Netto - £50ish, and our Asda flowers in wine bottles! It really was beautiful.

Because it wasn't a licensed venue, there was no formal bar but at the same time nothing to restrict us handing out free alcohol! So we waited for every single cheap booze deal in the supermarkets for months beforehand, and got a friend in Kent to go to France for us to get wine/champagne (cava actually, but nobody noticed!) and beer. We got a friend's student son to be 'barman' for the night, handing out free booze as and when anyone wanted it, and put a box at the side for any donations towards the cost, without badgering people - they were happy to contribute as they'd been expecting to pay hotel bar prices. We reckoned that it cost us about £1,000 for all the booze, and at the end of the night there was over £800 in the box, plus there was loads left over.

The best thing about it was that we had total control over what happened at the venue - no know-it-all banqueting manager trying to arrange things for us and no restrictions at all on what we could and couldn't do. We could have spent less money if we'd wanted, or we could have spent loads more but it was entirely up to us.

We've been to weddings since, where it's been a fiver for a lousy glass of chardonnay at the bar, and you come home sober having spent a fortune. So as well as saving us money, it saved a fortune for the guests as well!

caeler

Recently got married myself the MSE way. First thing decided what money you do have to spend and stick to it!

Call in your friends and family to help you, great if you know any cake makers and crafty people!

Join this forum as they are amazing with lots of others on a budget – you are not alone! http://www.hitched.co.uk/sbforum/forum.asp?forum_id=2

On eBay there are adverts for beautiful wedding dresses for £50 from Asia, these are worth taking seriously quite a few people on the forums went with them and were very happy.

I made all my own invitations, table plan, favours and orders of service which definitely kept costs down.

For paper, card and stamps I used these people, it was £7 for an A4 ream, great value and it did everything!

http://www.thepapermillshop.co.uk

We decided on the must haves, church wedding, etc. Then decided on the nice to haves but no essential and you can then make decisions.

Also, we brought our bridesmaid dresses for the younger from the Asda range, in the Christmas sale for £15 each, they were fantastic. Asda’s wedding dresses are also very nice. We brought the grown up dresses from Debanhams, in the sale and I took it out on account so we got further discounts, I think they cost £40 each instead of £110.

I thoroughly enjoyed money saving!

Hope all goes well!

Catw0man

Hi all, just a quick update on a bargin I got for my favours (for day guests only). I got packs of nine candles in peach and cream colours - similar in size to tea-lights but in little ceramic pots, I'm going to put them in some net with ribbons (oh they also came in a box done up with 2 lengths of ribbon, about a metre long each - handy for my craft projects!!). Oh yes back to the reason I was writing this, they were in Tesco reduced from £7 to £1.75 a box!!!!! I thought that was a really good price, the satin ribbon used on the packaging alone would have probably cost about that in a craft shop!!! I bought 4 boxes - so a £7 spend for 36 favours!!

snappy_badger

OK, so I'm biased (I'm a wedding photographer!) but you wouldn't believe the number of people I meet at weddings fairs that complain about the photographs taken of their wedding by a family friend because they couldn't afford a professional.

Your photographs are THE only lasting reminder you will have of that day and cannot be re-created afterwards. There are better places to scrimp in my mind (i.e. the ring - you can always buy a nicer one when you can afford it), the flowers (they'll be dead anyway), chocolate fountains (waste of money and you wouldn't want one if you'd seen how they operate them!).

It is not easy to photograph a wedding. It's very fast paced and you can't ask people to stop in the middle of things like the ceremony and do it again because you missed it! Plus most venues (especially in the winter months) will be dark and you'll need very good cameras and lenses to deal with it. Just because a friend has a posh camera and takes a nice pic doesn't make them a wedding photographer!

OK, rant over. I know we are expensive - but you do get what you pay for. Plus I'd like to clarify that I don't charge over the top prices because its a wedding (my prices for portraits are actually higher) but when you only get paid to work on 30-odd days out of the whole year you need to make your money!

Caroline

Catw0man

snappy_badger wrote: »

OK, so I'm biased (I'm a wedding photographer!) but you wouldn't believe the number of people I meet at weddings fairs that complain about the photographs taken of their wedding by a family friend because they couldn't afford a professional.

I also know plenty people who have been very disappointed with their wedding photographer, prefering photos taken by friends and relatives.

Your photographs are THE only lasting reminder you will have of that day and cannot be re-created afterwards. There are better places to scrimp in my mind (i.e. the ring - you can always buy a nicer one when you can afford it), the flowers (they'll be dead anyway), chocolate fountains (waste of money and you wouldn't want one if you'd seen how they operate them!).

My ring will cost £0 - I'm buying it with my Tesco clubcard deal vouchers. Doing the flowers myself using a couple of bunches from Tesco @ £10 each. And as for having something like a chocolate fountain - wouldn't dream of splashing out on something like that.

OK, rant over. I know we are expensive - but you do get what you pay for. Plus I'd like to clarify that I don't charge over the top prices because its a wedding (my prices for portraits are actually higher) but when you only get paid to work on 30-odd days out of the whole year you need to make your money!

We have worked out what we NEED and what we want, we've worked out what we can afford. The only things we are really spending any money on, are our reception, band, and a piper for the ceremony. I think if we could afford it I would consider a photographer, but after speaking to photographers at a wedding fair, I know there is no way we could get the photos we want at a price we can afford.

jayprent

God i so agree about the 'W' word as with flowers, dresses anything the price jumps up so much. i wanted my dress dry cleaned i mentioned the W word - they wanted £55, went back again the next day and said 'evening dress' only £15!!!! Hmmm?

My savings = Dress £50 (i designed it / mum made it) Flowers £0.70 per big rose as we sweet talked a street flower seller and picked them up 2 days before.

Friends were dj's so no cost there and i got everybody to give me money instead of vouchers or a wedding list and bought a sofa!

Made square mirror cubes from 5 mirrored tiles (just stuck them together with silicon so they were waterproof), stuck roses just peeking out the top and looked great with good old ikea tealight holders reflecting against the glass, bit of glitter and hey presto!

Photos - brother took (bit disappointed though - wouldn't do that again!)

I enjoyed saving money - a big difference to a friend who spent £4000 on just the dress then got divorced 8 months later!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy!

Catw0man wrote: »

Our parents are contributing too, I think part of my reasoning for keeping the cost down is that I think companies charge ridicuolous amounts of money for anything that involves the word 'wedding'!!:D
Really the only things we are really paying for (professionally) is the reception, band and piper, we're doing everything else ourselves!
Good luck with your wedding too Lemon Tree, you have longer to plan & save! We've been engaged for 7 and a half years, I think it's now reached the point where if we don't do it now - we'll never do it!:rolleyes: