My MSE Wedding and Pics

angelavdavis

We saved money as follows:

1) Printed own invitations (cost £6 for cards bought from local warehouse store)
2) Booked Local Authority venue for ceremony (Hastings Museum and Art Gallery)
3) Made own bouquet, buttonholes and all floral decorations using M&S white roses and foliage from garden
4) Used M&S for cake and decorated with a silk floral garland ourselves
5) Hired tables and chairs for reception/evening
6) Had late wedding so only buffet required, not separate wedding breakfast
7) Used own house and garden for reception
8) Bought two gazebos from eBay for garden, thank goodness it was a gloriously sunny day
9) Decorated tables, etc ourselves.
10) Got dress new from eBay
11) Bartered for car hire
12) Got friend to do photographs
13) Got relative to do video
14) Bought all wine/champagne through Tesco wines and quidco (got £50 worth of Tesco clubcard points and £42 cashback)
15) Booked honeymoon via quidco for cashback
16) Bought shoes and bridesmaid dress from BHS
17) Bought underwear through pigsback for piggy points
18) Printed own order of service
19) Did own music for ceremony and reception (use IPOD and set up playlists, although did treat ourselves to a disco glitter ball from ebay!)
20) Used local caterer for buffet, etc. Although not really cheap, we had nearly 100 guests so did not want to be cooking or clearing up ourselves.
21) Asked for vouchers for presents so we could use these over the next few years while we are trying to pay off our mortgage to cover us for household items we might need to replace.
22) Printed own photos and thank you notes
23) Hired men's outfits from company that provided discount through local Authority agreement
24) Looking to sell wedding dress and silk wedding garlands on ebay now to get some cash back.

Here is a photo so you can see the results for yourself.

black-saturn

So how much did it cost altogether? I'm getting married on a budget in september.

Miss_Penny_Pincher_2

Congratulations on your wedding! Your wedding photos are gorgeous!

Lots of great MSE tips there I got married last year but some of these would have definitely been useful for me!

black-saturn

OK, as an exercise for myself (or anyone else who wants to look) I'll put in red what I've already booked or planned for my wedding:

1) Printed own invitations (cost £6 for cards bought from local warehouse store) Made own invites with embellishments (sp?) and glitter cost abotu £20.
2) Booked Local Authority venue for ceremony (Hastings Museum and Art Gallery) Local registry office costing £103 followed by a church blessing costing £210.
3) Made own bouquet, buttonholes and all floral decorations using M&S white roses and foliage from garden MIL made flower arrangements for the tables, bouquets, button holes and church from some artificial flowers from the market costing £35.
4) Used M&S for cake and decorated with a silk floral garland ourselves Using tesco cakes and decorating with personalised ribbon (ebay), flowers and edible glitter.
5) Hired tables and chairs for reception/evening In with venue.
6) Had late wedding so only buffet required, not separate wedding breakfast I'm doing that too.
7) Used own house and garden for reception garden not big enough to swing a cat so am hiring the club room of local holiday camp.
8) Bought two gazebos from eBay for garden, thank goodness it was a gloriously sunny day What if it rained?
9) Decorated tables, etc ourselves. Bought fish bowls, coloured gels and floralights which cost about £30 in total.
10) Got dress new from eBay New dress from ebay too costing £125.
11) Bartered for car hire Hiring 1 limo for the use of bride, groom and bridesmaids. All others will have to get lifts or taxis.
12) Got friend to do photographs Having a photographer at a cost of £450 but consider it to be worth it as a momento of the day.
13) Got relative to do video Relative doing my video too.
14) Bought all wine/champagne through Tesco wines and quidco (got £50 worth of Tesco clubcard points and £42 cashback) People buying own drinks.
15) Booked honeymoon via quidco for cashback Booked honeymoon with Travelscope. 1 week in Hong Kong for £400 each including flights.
16) Bought shoes and bridesmaid dress from BHS Havn't got these yet but it's next on my list.
17) Bought underwear through pigsback for piggy points Will wear normal underwear, it won't be on show!!
18) Printed own order of service I will do that.
19) Did own music for ceremony and reception (use IPOD and set up playlists, although did treat ourselves to a disco glitter ball from ebay!) Booked a disco costing £75 but he will play our MP3's mixed in with his own music.
20) Used local caterer for buffet, etc. Although not really cheap, we had nearly 100 guests so did not want to be cooking or clearing up ourselves.Catering is free with the hire of the hall so having a sit down meal for about 32 people.
21) Asked for vouchers for presents so we could use these over the next few years while we are trying to pay off our mortgage to cover us for household items we might need to replace. Toying with the idea of asking for vouchers or cash. MIL has made it clear she doesn't like giving cash.
22) Printed own photos and thank you notes Comes in with the price of the photographer
23) Hired men's outfits from company that provided discount through local Authority agreement OH's suit was from charity shop costing £10.
24) Looking to sell wedding dress and silk wedding garlands on ebay now to get some cash back.

knithappens

wow you did amazingly, both of you , I am planning my wedding/vow renewal for April 09

so far i have Booked my reception room £60 for the day, Catering is £9 per head x 60 = £540


The venue for the wedding is £350, not very MSE, but a place i have always wanted to get married.

Looking at photography £380, getting a real photographer, as our marriage , the pictures went AWOL so want a real memento of the day.

Dress of ebay £160

this is as far as i have gotten, pretty good considering i only started planning 2 weeks ago

mmsparkle

Congratulations and good luck to all those brides-to-be!

I also had a budget wedding - it was beautiful!
Just back from honeymoon. Have realised that thanks to much help from friends and relatives, the actual total cost to ourselves was around £630.

We paid for church service, £388.
We paid for 1/2 deposit for hotel, £250.
My parents paid for the rest of the hotel bill - £1650 approx (including sit down meal for 42 plus evening buffet for 75)
His parents paid for the evening entertainment (salsa dancing) £350
My dress came from Oxfam bridal, Mum paid, £95
His suit - sadly bought in advance as needed for funeral - used for two funerals and one other wedding before ours.
Flowers - from ebay - silk, £80 total.
Bridesmaids chose and bought their own dresses - still a bargain at 70 for a dress they can wear again. Was reduced to 35 just after they'd chosen, sadly not all could take that offer up!

Friends made cake, church decorations, floral table decorations for hotel. They also made cakes and served tea and coffee for us after the church ceremony! Family drove us, so no car hire. Friends took photos, and sent us cd's. I understand there are over 500 photos in all - haven't seen them all yet!

Some pictures available here http://vwilson.zenfolio.com/p201658610/

All this moneysaving meant we were able to splash out on our honeymoon - £710 each for 16 nights in Sri Lanka, all inclusive!



Next step - saving for deposit for a house!

mmsparkle

oops forgot about the rings... splashed out a bit there too! mine was £350 (yellow gold with diamonds) but his was only £34 - well he wanted titanium!

perhaps not such a budget after all....

invitations - I bought card and envelopes 50 for £5 (x2) from card warehouse, or some such cheap stationery shop. A friend helped us design them and my husband (I love saying that!) printed them at work....

Thank you notes - also cheap stationery but very prety. £5 for 20 ...

mmsparkle

and still more...
make-up - booked make-up session at Bobbi brown counter in John Lewis for morning of wedding. 2 bridesmaids came with me. It was free! They just showed you what they were doing and you could buy products if you wanted to. Not too much of a hard sell. well worth doing!

hair - we went to a very local independent hairdressers - cost £38 for all 4 of us to have hair straightened / curled. my brother had given me some money to use specifically on 'something girly you would otherwise do without', so thank you Mike!

black-saturn

I forgot the rings too. We got 2 for £260 in H Samuels. I won't have to book a make-up artist as I am one so I can do my own

HariboJunkie

Wow Angela!! That's amazing :T :T :T

And BIG Congratulations on your wedding!:beer:

Your photos are beautiful.

Of course some people spend far too much on weddings and then there are those who refuse to spend any spare cash on it. I think you have got the balance just right.

Black-saturn has been very lucky to get all her wedding costs in for so little. I think she said on another thread that her wedding would cost less than £2000 including the honeymoon though looking at that post above maybe I was wrong. Seriously moneysaving eh?... :money:

MushyPeas

Wow, congratulations angela, the photos are fab and you looked beautiful!