Wedding budget help needed

floss2

Please don't take this the wrong way, but have you thought about eloping, and having a blessing & reception on your return?

blossomsuz

Me and oh are getting married this Sept in Cyprus and its costing about £2500 including our weeks holiday and a wedding co-ordinator out there.

I could not justify spending so much money on one day so told everyone that this is what is happening and your are all invited but no freebies and that we would not be offended if they couldnt afford/make it. I am actually surprised at the amount of people that are coming!

At the end of it all its yours and your oh's day and you should do what you want. I hope you work it all out in the end

ashbart

Thanks Dan Thunder - it is my wedding and I will have to find a polite way to make that known. My OH and I have said we will agree beforehand what WE want in terms of certain aspects and we will just have to stick together when she's here! Thank you for your advice!

Hi floss2 - haven't thought about eloping and I take your point however, despite what my mum wants, I really do want a church wedding and a wedding breakfast, etc. You're right - eloping and having a blessing on return would be a much less stressful option but, it would upset a lot of family and that is not just my mum! Thanks for your post!

ashbart

Hi blossomsuz - Congrats on your upcoming wedding! We have also thought about getting married abroad but, lots of people that I really want at my wedding wouldn't be able to make it and I really want everyone there to celebrate with us.

You're right - spending so much money on one day is ridiculous and I think the wedding suppliers of the world really take advantage once 'wedding' is mentioned! If only I knew someone with a massive house that I could rent for an evening.....! That is where most of the cost goes, afterall!! Thanks for your post. I hope you have a fantastic wedding in Cyprus!

squashy

Gosh, your mum sounds like a complete nightmare!

ashbart

squashy - you have NO idea!!! Despite that, I still love her! Afterall, she is 3000 miles away so, it's not often she drives me insane!!

Just had a thought - imagine what it will be like when we have kids.............

floss2

ashbart wrote: »

squashy - you have NO idea!!! Despite that, I still love her! Afterall, she is 3000 miles away so, it's not often she drives me insane!!

Just had a thought - imagine what it will be like when we have kids.............

Imagine what it might be like if she came to live 30 miles away, not 3,000......

Hope it all works out & you don't have a major fall-out,
Love Floss xx

ashbart

Floss2 - I may need to see a psychiatrist re: the nightmares you have now given me!

Thanks for taking an interest in my post! xx

Whooly007

Hi there

I got married 2 1/2 years ago and the whole thing including the honeymoon cost £6500. The biggest outlay were the wedding breakfast which my Dad paid for and the photographer which my Father in Law paid for. We also had 3 bridesmaids and 10 men in morning suits.

You need to be more up front with your Mum regarding how much she is contributing otherwise you are going to get so stressed. It might be worth finding some articles highlighting how much a typical wedding costs today.
My Wedding dress, shoes and tiara cost over £1,000 and I wished I had hired as the dress is now stuck in the wardrobe waiting to be cleaned which incidently costs £100! Don,t be talked into buy shoes from the bridal shop as they are usually overpriced and you can get far nicer more comfortable ones from the likes of Debenhams or BHS.
We made our own invites on the computer, just buy good quality paper and envelopes we saved at least £150 by doing this. We visited a few wedding fayres locally to get ideas for them, we settled on scrolls tied with ribbons, posted in white tubes.
I also made the favours, I bought everything on ebay and again saved heaps. We also created our own seating plan which was the same theme as the invites. If you have many children in the day which we did, I made them all goody bags with colouring pencils, colouring book and sweets which were given to them when the speeches were going on.
With regards to venues do you know anyone that has club membership as you can often get a big discount. My family and I decorated the venue the night before over a couple of bottles of wine and had a great laugh doing it. On the day the balloon lady put the finishing touches.
Our honeymoon was found on the internet and booked over the phone, was advised to mention at the airport that we were on honeymoon, we got upgraded flying over to Vegas and upgraded at our hotel, not bad for £499!

My husband and I took much pleasure knowing that we had created so much of our special day, everybody commented on the work that we had put into it.

Good Luck!

Whooly x

ppolly

The thing to cling onto is that it really is up to you what you want. When we married both sides of the family had firmly contrasting ideas about what we ought to have. We ignored them and had what we wanted. It sounds rather brutal, but if they want to come and be part of it they have to remember it is your day they are contributing to (financially or otherwise). We ended up with a fairly budget wedding and I will always remember it as the happiest day I've ever had - but that was because we designed it that way! If you have it for other people, however dear to you, then it won't be your day.