Ideas for low cost weddings?

Juliav_2

Hi all

My friend is getting married in Ipswich and she is looking for some ideas on weddings in general. They are on a low budget and I would love to be able to offer her some fab ideas on moneysaving ideas on a wedding day.

They want to have a low key event and then a big party and spend on going away.

Would love to hear from you

PinkLipgloss

Hi Juliav,

Welcome to the MSE wedding section!

There are lots of excellent tips on these threads:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=41608

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=405712

and this one has a fantastic planning list with date guidelines:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=411686

Generally is best to get the bride and groom to do as much as they can by themselves and rope in friends and family to help - match tasks to peoples skills!

It will take a long time to go through those threads however they are well worth the effort - I picked up lots of great advice.

Happy reading!

Lipgloss

dianadors

As it seems to be the reception that costs the bulk of the budget, you need to either keep the numbers very small and have a restaurant meal etc, or (and I think this is the better idea) hire a village hall and get back to weddings like they used to be before people decided to throw ridiculous amounts of money away on them. I saw a lovely article in last years Country Living magazine where someone had hired a village hall and the theme of the wedding was "village fair". Instead of an expensive cake, they had a "cake stall" like you would get at a village fair with all the aunty's making their own speciality cakes and cupcakes. The "tea" was a typical ham or salmon salad salad afair and they had games of skittles etc before the evening disco. They had decked the hall out with bunting and nice table cloths on the tables and it looked great fun and could have been achieved for very little money. The very worst weddings for me are the ones in hotels where they have a "wedding planner" to help you organise (or help you part with as much money as possible) your day. These same people organise "corporate" events, and the two end up looking very similar. The last thing you want when invited to a wedding is something that looks like a "works do". The best weddings I have been to have been ones that didnt have a load of money thrown at them - ones where the bride used her imagination and involved friends and family with the organisation - ie getting someone to make the dress, flowers, food etc Hope your friends wedding goes well, and I hope she doesnt break the bank.

ellionic

Hi here are a few ideas

get wedding cake from m&s and decorate yourself

make you own invite/placecard ect

get as many friends and family to help as possible (ask them to bring there own cameras for photos)

before you buy anything try on ebay and use a cashback site to save more

there is a great thread on here were people have got the dresses off ebay thats well worth a look thats where i am getting mine save hundreds of pounds

when you choose the flowers try and pick what is in season to save even more

has anyone in the family got a nice car that can be used as a wedding car and just decorate with ribbon

hope this helps

sallycinnamon99

I am also trying to have a money saving wedding and think I have done quite well so far. I got bridesmaids dresses from coast - half price in sale, maids shoes from faith, almost half price in sale and my dress less than half price from U.S. site, though you take the risk of paying duty at customs with this.

Am going to do own bouquet, bridesmaids bouquets and favours etc. I have been to a florists cash and carry called Country Baskets which is great for things for making tiaras, hair accessories, bouquets, table decorations, etc. Could maybe try that if there is one nearby,

Sorry if I am going on too much, get a little over-excited about wedding things!! Hope it helps.

Younggrandmother

Hi,
I am getting married next year and like your friend we have a low budget. I thought I'd share with you how we have kept the cost down so far.

We fixed a date off season (November). It works out much cheaper.

We are having both the ceremony and the reception in the same venue.

The Elizabethan hall we have hired is council owned and they have a single fixed hire charge (£350) for the whole day and evening.

The council has also agreed to put up its Christmas decorations two weeks early so that we don't have to spend alot on making the venue special.

I bought my wedding dress from ebay for £100

Instead of blowing a fortune on bridal slippers, I bought a pair of lovely evening shoes in the sale for £20.

We have chosen not to have matching bridesmaids outfits, instead my daughter's are eagerly awaiting the January sales for evening dresses of their choice.

We will be buying the wedding cake with our tesco vouchers.

The flowers will also be purchased with tesco vouchers.

I got several old style glass cake stands from freecycle.

My soon-to-be inlaws have offered to pay for the photographer as a wedding present.

Instead of providing a formal wedding breakfast and an evening buffet, we are getting married later in the day and will offer all our guests a hotpot supper.

We have roped in all our family and friends to help create the decorations, which will consist of candles (bought at £1 shop), pine cones and ivy.

I bought the table linen in the January sales for a quarter of its origional price.

We will be making our own invitations and instead of paying for postage on RSVP cards, we will ask our guests to reply via email.

One of our friends has offered to lend us his ipod, so that we don't have to fork out for a DJ.

My best friend has offered to come up with some Elizabethan style games to keep everyone amused. ( I have no idea what's in store, but she is thrilled to be contributing to the day!)

I hope this list gives your friend some ideas. We chose to keep our wedding small and involve all our family and friends in the preparation, not only to save money, but to make the day very special. In my opinion, huge white weddings are impersonal and starting your married life in debt is never a good idea.

Juliav_2

Such great ideas, thanks very much.

Good luck for you all on your big days :0)