# Tips for weddings on a budget



## polo_princess

What with the "recession" and all, more and more people are having to do their wedding on a smaller budget so i thought we could use this thread to share money saving tips and tricks to help keep the cost down.

Feel free to post yours :thumbup:


----------



## Kirstin

Some I did, some I found when looking but didn't need to do as my wedding was small anyway.

- Off peak season date or a day other than Saturday
- Serve wedding cake instead of desert
- Later wedding breakfast so you wont need a buffet or big buffet instead of a meal
- I got one of my bridesmaid dresses brand new from ebay for £45, they were in Debenhams for £90
- Silk flowers instead of real ones 
- I got loads of things from ebay from wedding shops, usually cheaper than proper shops
- Lottery tickets as wedding favours so they were only £1 each
I'll post some more when I remember them :lol:


----------



## redberry3

-ask a family photographer to do your pics
-hold the ceremony in the backyard of a friends home
-instead of a midnight lunch, serve your cake then
-have a dollar, two dollar bar....this not only helps with paying for the liquor but also helps keep consumption lower so you don't have a ton of drunks....
-make your invitations, centerpieces and favors

thats a few things we did....


----------



## Sovereign

Use students to do jobs that you would normally get a professional to do, like student photographer, make up artist, hairdresser, florist etc! x


----------



## Kirstin

My table was decorated with rose petals and candles which worked out so much cheaper than it would have done to have flowers on every table.

Flowergirl outfit was bought in the sale in BHS in June (usually after all the prepared people have bought their things:lol:) for less than £20, the dress alone was £45 before the sale.

Didn't have a DJ - we picked music ourselves and made several CDs to play


----------



## binxyboo

we saved money by....
* buying my dress from a prom dress shop - it was an ivory ball gown rather than a wedding dress (it didn't have a train)
* My aunt made our cake as a wedding present
* had fake flowers (2 bouquets, 2 corsages, 7 buttonholes = £90 - Florist wanted over £250 for exactly the same, but fresh)
* Only had one bridesmaid - only one bridesmaid dress to buy
* bought my Pageboys outfit from ebay
* bought my jewellry and tiara online (tiara cost £12)
* made my own centrepeices (wrapped sequins around some candles and put them on mirror plates)
* got a freelance photographer friend to do our photos
* got married on a friday

in hindsight, I wouldn't have bothered with favours. Most were left behind at the end of the night, so it was a waste of money.


----------



## Mynxie

make things yourself.

Easy things to make yourself are boquets and posies, invitations, thank you cards, button holes, favours, those kinds of things.

Unusual favours are cool - people remember your wedding if it's a bit different!

You can buy a cake from Asda for under £50, plain white icing fruit cakes, 3 different sizes (the 3 together total about £35/£40!) Then decorate it using ribbon and a topper.

If you want proper pictures, don't skimp on a photographer, but remember some of the best pics (as in the ones that will hold alot of sentimental value) are the ones that your friends take, so ask your friends to give you a copy of the pics they take and maybe put some cheap disposable ones on the tables too!

The "W" word can add a hundred or more pounds onto something, so when you book somewhere, ask how much it will cost for a party ;)


----------



## sarah1989

Our entire wedding was 2,000$ CAD and here are some ways we saved money:

- Family member made our wedding cake for us
- Purchase Decorations from a Dollar Store (as we call them here), cheap doesn't necessarily mean ugly :)
- Student photographer
- Student hairstylist
- Bridesmaid & Maid of Honour, purchased their own dresses from lightinthebox.com
- Flowers were fake and cost 65.00$CAD (4 bouquets, 6 corsages)
- My wedding dress was only 135.00$ CAD with shipping, and then 35.00 for alterations (lightinthebox.com)
- Offer vendors advertising of their services, where in turn you get a lesser cost from them.
- Don't spend alot on wedding invitations, most people throw them out after the wedding anyways. We had 100 save the dates and 100 invitations and it only cost us 113.00$ CAD


----------



## princess_bump

good thread holly :thumbup: we're actually cutting costs by doing it abroad, and getting parents to help ;)


----------



## stephwiggy

My wedding cost £700 ha ha ha 

We got married in a small church (on base) 
We had the photos done outside a nicer church lol 
The drivers and cars we a favour for me making cakes (yes i am that good lol ) 

My dress was Debenhams (100 pounds) and i put beads on myself 

Reception was at the familys club and we put a bit of money behind bar the rest they had to buy for !! 

Ummm Flowers silk off ebay from Hong Kong 

Food - again local businsess 

Cake !!! We cheated and got from tesco and i decorated and made into towers 

and we stayed in the local hilton 


We did not go on honeymoon till this year and we have been married since 2005 

Think thats it !! xxxxxxxxxxx


----------



## Kimboowee

This is what we've found/done so far
- Most places give you 10-20% discount for booking in 09 for a 2010 wedding
- Buy a plain cake teirs and decorate them with fake flowers yourself
- Shop around if you have the time
- Ask bridesmaids to buy their own dresses!!
- Hire suits instead of buy
- 'Wedding' shoes are normally more expensive than just normal white/ivory high st ones!
- DIY centrepieces
- Do your own stationary, menus, table plans & place cards
- Reuse flowers from ceremony in the reception


----------



## princess_bump

how about dress in sales? i've been looking lots and there seems to be looks of sales on bridal dresses :D


----------



## jenstar

Get your bride's shoes in Next (they also do good bridal lingerie at a good price.)

Restrain yourself with the beauty prep- do you and all bridesmaids need a professional fake tan and nails? (Well maybe YOU do!)


----------



## QueenMummyToBe

I've got my dress from ebay, it is my dream dress and in stores it cost £1200, but I got it for £200.. 
I asked if I could go and try on the dress first and she was fine with this.. :cloud9:

Village halls/church halls are cheap to have receptions, and you can usually decorate any way you want to.. 
If you want to have waiters/waitresses go and talk to the local college and ask if you can 'hire' some of the catering students. 

Look in places like Asda Living for centre piece ideas.. My mum found me some candles in vases for £4 and I'm going to get some beads to put inside the vases in our colour scheme! 

xXx


----------



## ALY

We used the same car for me and the bridsmaids it took them 1st and then came back for me and my dad x (it was £180 cheaper than having another car )
we hired a a private room in a pub instead of somewhere expensive 
the dj was a friend so asked him to do it x
bought bridesmaid dress for holly and robyn from BHS 
get married as late as you can that way you jusr pay for a buffet 
hire suits 
my nan bought all the drinks of cham for the toast 

just dont do what i did and buy 3 dresses :blush:


----------



## Lil_Baby_Boo

Well made a list of what we wanted and a list of what we could do with out............

We're making our own invites, favors and doing all the venue dressing ourselves. Use ebay for chair covers as companies that come in a do them for you can charge over £2.50 per chair, where as you get them off ebay and they send you a few sizes to try and then they'll send enough for the day and out works out at £1 per chair (but just for white)

A car was on our 'do without' list but we managed to get a really good deal and the company are picking grooms party up, then my bridesmaid and then coming back for me and my dad and also doing OH and me a drive after the ceremony. 

Also asked friends for recomendations and its suprising who knows who....one of my friends recomended a cake maker who is doing us a 4 tier (proper professional cake) for £100!! Another friend works for a craft centre where they make bouquets out of silk flowers so we're getting all our flowers made there for a bargin price......plus they can be kept.

We're buying crystal type candle holders for table centres but we're also going to give them (once finished) as keep-sakes to our parents, nan's etc. 

Be prepared for things to jump off your 'do without' list on to your 'I want' list..........I didn't want chair covers but having seen the room dressed without it just doesn't look right where we're getting married.



OOOHHHH - I love taking about my planning :happydance:


----------



## Sarahkka

We did everything (ceremony then reception) at the same venue, which was a big savings. We had ours at the Zoo in the botanical gardens. I didn't spend a penny on decorations as the site was one big spectacular garden! We had a small break between ceremony and reception for pictures (about 30-45 mins as the rest we did ahead of time), so none of our guests had to leave the site and figure out what to do with themselves and we had no transportation costs.
We chose a buffet, as it was not only cheaper, but I liked the idea that there would be less waste. People only took what they wanted to eat.
We made a donation to the Zoo in lieu of favours. I find favours are one of those really pointless traditions. Very few people keep them and I just hate creating more clutter and junk if I can avoid it.
I just asked each of my bridesmaids to wear a little black dress, rather than try to make everything match exactly. That worked really well. Noone had to spend cash on something that would never be worn again.
That's all I can think of at the moment.

Oh, one thing that I think is important is to question all the dozens of traditions and see if they are relevant to you and your OH or not. It's not just about saving cash - it's also about creating a meaningful ceremony for yourselves. It feels much better to choose the things that matter to you and leave out whatever feels like an empty ritual. Who cares what any of your guests think if you don't have favours or you want a backyard BBQ as your reception? If it feels right for who you are as a couple, it will be a genuinely lovely event for everyone. The wedding industry puts some powerful pressure on brides, in particular - be strong and don't be afraid to say no thank you! :)


----------



## danni2609

we bought an ordinary red prom dress from a local shop cost way less...
hired part of local pub and paid for food for just close friends and family think we only had about 30 people in total there
we made our own cake
got my dress from debenhams


----------



## charlieann

got my dress 2nd hand off ebay.... £60
shoes 2nd hand off ebay.... £5
grooms and bestman's suit asda... £20
bridesmaids dresses ebay... 3 x £20
cake m&s plain 3 tiers... bogof £50
favours, made shortcake and wrapped them up with s-i-l, approx £5 for ingrediants/ materials
boquet, wedding present from aunty
buffet, wedding presnet from other anty
tiara, gift from OH grandma
car, driven by OH cousin in his posh car with added ribbon... free/gift
venue and meal was gift from parents
biggest expense photographer, originally £300 for ceremony and group shots with images on cd and we own the rights (so meny photo places offer 50 free prints as inroductory offer). upgraded to £400 package which included getting ready and reception shots, with 60 prints + rest on cd


----------



## subaru555

We're saving by having only ourselves at the wedding ceremony! (other than witnesses from the hotel)
The whole thing includes a photographer (75 photographs and cd), evening meal reception style for two!, wedding cake, certificates, ceremony etc

Having a reception with buffet and disco when we get home which costs £220.

I loved a certain brand of dresses (Hollywood Dreams) They start from £2,700. Phoned and found out the designer and found she designs for another company virtually the same dresses although they started at £1200 with that company so bingo! (Tiffany Bridal)

I got my bouquet to be made in artificial flowers so I can take it with me abroad and keep it as a beautiful centrepiece in my lounge for memories.

I'm wearing either heels I bought for my sisters wedding but never wore or flip flops if it's on the beach. (I can adjust the height of the bottom of my dress with the hoops) You'll never notice either way as you can't see them! 

Tiara on eBay.

Jewellery will be about £100 but spending that as we have extra money due to not taking family.


----------



## BabyHaines

Our wedding cost £1,500 and we had 300 people there and provided all the food and drink!!

Here's a rough outline of what we did:

*My dress - was lucky that my nan bought mine, BUT I had a fairly cheap one anyway - always ask wedding shop if they happen to have any ex-display dresses??
*Hubby's suit - again, his mum treated him, BUT he did have the offer of a loan from at least two friends.
*Ceremony - was at a registry office :)
*Food - we had a lunch afterwards and booked a restaurant, but everyone paid for their meals.
*Party - we hired a local scout site. We just made a donation and used there field. They already had a block of outdoor loo's, (which I painted and spring-cleaned before hand) and we borrowed their party marques.
*Party Food - My stepdad LOVES to BBQ, so we had a massive BBQ that ran for several hours, with salads, pastas, desserts etc.
*Music - I asked around and it turned out that a friend of mine was a keen amateur DJ in his spare time, so he happily did they music (and did a very good job!!) for £100 and a bottle of drink ;)
*Tables & Chairs - Again, all borrowed from Scout Hut.
*Decorations - A friend asked if she could do my table decorations as our wedding gift and I bit her arm off!! Yes Please!! So I learned how to tie balloons and decorate nicely and did the rest of the marques.
*Drink - went to Tesco's a week or so before and bought £500 worth of beer and boxes of wine (and had tonnes left!!)
*Cake - Bought from M&S for about £30-£40. They sell tiers of iced fruit cake and it was decorated with some fresh Gerbera's (to match my £30 bouquet) !!....

Because our wedding was outdoors and *thankfully) we had glorious weather, we even had a seperate play area for kids and later in the evening, we had a bonfire.
Our wedding went on until about 4am and I have never seen so many happy drunk people!!
I was terrified people would think we were tight, and wouldn't enjoy themsellves, but they LOVED it and we got soooooooo many compliments for weeks and weeks after :)

If we got married now, we could probably be a bit more lavish, but I don't think I'd change anything, apart from maybe paying for all the meals after the R.O. xxxx


----------



## Linzi

I got buttonholes from Sarah's Flowers. Very good quality and the amount I needed would have cost a bomb from a florist.

I didnt ahve a professional photographer for my wedding either, my brother and dad did the 'official' ones, and my friends took hundreds too as wedding presents. See my facebook if you like :)

Our wedding cake was from asda and I decorated it myself. Wasnt the best looking or anything but it was only looked at for a few minutes. So pleased as it was £350 cheapest for a professional one!! A lot of money for the sake of a few minutes.

Second hand dress (I have one for sale ;)) or also a sample one (cant remember the word) that they keep in the shop that people try on. Theyll have it dry cleaned for you knock off a couple of hundred and it looks no different.

We didnt have a wedding car, we got a corporate taxi. It was a Chevrolet 300 (I think? baby bently). £35 return, compared to £250 for 2 hours for a BMW. Or even if you have a friend with a flashy car (which I guess you do considering you work for a car company!) get them to take you in that. 

Also for favour I had a sweet buffet which went down brilliantly. Still the only thing anyone talks about. Not me, oh no, my pick n mix table! I bought plain party bags, printed stickers at work and stuck them on. DIY!!! Then put them at each place setting.

xxx


----------



## hopesanddream

Here's we i did:
- made all my own center pieces
- made my own favors ( sugar/butter cookies decorated, but i am a cake decorator)
-bought deocorations at dollar stores
-did our own late lunch, bought meat, veggies, fruit and arranged the trays ourselves
-had a friend make my bridesmaid dresses
-used white christmas lights to decorate the hall

mostly kept my eyes open and bought stuff when it was off season or the stores were blowing it out, but i knew what i wanted way ahead of time.


----------



## GersPrincess

For our wedding, we got married at the end of September, so just "out" of season, but we had perfect 22 degrees weather, it was beautiful. We also

* spoke with a local hotel which overlooks the forth bridges who do a 3 course carvery on a sunday for £10 a head.. we bargained with them, and got them to do the same thing for us, but on a saturday for the £10 a head. There was a choice of 3 starters, everyone had a carvery (with a choice of 4 meats) and there were 3 puddings... total bargain! We fed 70 people a 3 course dinner for £700 and the hotel even threw in wine/beer with the meal as a good gesture!! Our guests were all mega happy I can tell you!

* We had the obligatory evening buffet also, but the hotel did us a such a good deal we had a buffet for 150 people (which also fed us and our whole family for about a week afterwards!) for £280 and it was great.

* the hotel owner had a few great contacts where we were able to hire a bouncey castle for the kids (and us!) for all day for £40, we had the DJ for 5 hours for £100, and as the hotel had it's own on site hair/beauty place, I had a full body massage, acrylic nails, make-up and hair done for £60.

* I handmade all the invitations, place cards, menus etc

* I did all the flowers myself.. I bought loads of loads of roses from Tesco and Asda a couple of days before the wedding and used these to make the button holes and bouquets.. so much cheaper than buying the flowers from a florist.

* We asked around till we found someone who knew someone who worked at M&S and we ordered their chocolate roses cake using their staff discount and saved a small fortune!

* I made all the table decorations myself, by purchasing the fishbowl vases from an online floristry supplier, at a fraction of the cost of normal shops and filled them with cala lillies.
I was also able to buy my balloons and my own canisters of helium so I could fill all the balloons myself. It gave me something to do on the morning of our wedding when I couldnt sleep, and a couple of nights afterwards, caused me and my hubby much amusement!
I bought small boxes to use as the weights for the balloons and filled them with love hearts (very popular with the kids!)

* we hired all the kilts for the day and made sure hubby got his for free as we were hiring so many

* we also organised with the hotel that we got my stay the night before the wedding for free, and the night after our wedding for free also, as all my family had to travel up from england and all booked with the hotel.. they also got a 30% discount as all the rooms were booked.

* we hired a bus for the day to pick up all our guests from various locations before the wedding, take them to the wedding, pick them up and take them to the venue and then take them all home again when the evening was over - it didnt cost us a penny as we asked our guests to contribute a £5 per couple which was a fraction of what a taxi would have cost them there and back, and saved them worrying about finding a sober person to drive them home.

* My hubbys parents bought our wedding rings as our present

* we paid a photographer £150 for the day, and got a cd with every photo he'd taken plus 20 printed out ones for that.. we've printed off others in boots as and when we've wanted them.

There's loads actually, but I wont bore you with them all!!


----------



## Mum2b_Claire

Brilliant thread! OH and I will need to use a lot of these tips!

I work in print, so have some tips about invites etc. 
Get the printers designer to design a simple invite for you. Tell them your total budget before starting out. Don't design your own invites unless you really know what you're doing. So many clients design invites to save money, but they often do designs that are really expensive to print!
Give them all the correct info before starting, saves time as well as money.


----------



## toseland13

i made my invitations myself so with all the amterials and ink cost us £47.

my dress my dad has kindly paid for and the bridesmaids dresses. the bridesmaids are buying their own shoes as they can use them again.

we are having our reception in a leisure centre which is council run so they dont make a profit on things, we had a great deal and he recommended an awesome Dj for the night.

i have bought balloons as im not having flowers and so i dont need centrepieces. 

for favours i bought organza bags from ebay and some chocolates from ebay also.

the car is a friends and he said he would drive us for free.

our rings, OH's parents paid for.

Oh's parents also paying for evening buffet.

my cake is being made by OH's auntie who does it as a hobby and she doing it as a present.

best thing to do is ask people to lend their car, mines not posh just a bmw but i dont mind or if someone can make a cake or anything really. my wedding is nxt month so hope it goes well :happydance:


----------



## Nic1107

* I got my dress from a bridal shop for less than $400 USD because it was "last season's" style. It was gorgeous!
* We went with all fake flowers, and my aunt arranged them for us.
* My step-dad asked a friend of his from church to do the photography, but it turned out that the best pics of the day were the ones my DH's dad took! 
* My super-sparkly jewelry looked fancy but it was really just $8 clip-on earrings from Claire's and a $10 rhinestone necklace :)
* We had a late buffet-style heavy hors d'oeuvres dinner instead of a sit-down dinner that would have cost a set (and steep) amount per plate. 
* Instead of having the rehearsal dinner at a restaurant, we had a casual dinner/party at my parents' house, which turned out really nice because our families were meeting for the first time and they had a really nice chance to get to know one another :)


----------



## pinkclaire

Thanks for all your tips! There is some great ideas, got anymore send them to me I would love to hear!


----------



## Frankie

This is what I plan on doing!!!

My own flowers - As I worked 3 years as a florist 

Designing my own invitations - sometimes the simpler things are better 

With me being on the clubbing circuit all these years I have friends who are djs who knows i might grace the decks myself for a few tunes

Also if you look on clubbing websites dontstayin.com is a good one you can check out some clubbing photographers, check out there photos and contact them for prices!!


----------



## QueenMummyToBe

Frankie said:


> This is what I plan on doing!!!
> 
> My own flowers - As I worked 3 years as a florist
> 
> Designing my own invitations - sometimes the simpler things are better
> 
> With me being on the clubbing circuit all these years I have friends who are djs who knows i might grace the decks myself for a few tunes
> 
> Also if you look on clubbing websites dontstayin.com is a good one you can check out some clubbing photographers, check out there photos and contact them for prices!!

Ooo a florist in lincoln.. My new best friend :winkwink::dance:

Have you looked into venues in Lincoln? I'm finding it impossible to find anywhere that is beautiful but not stupidly priced! Darn lincoln and it's historical features!! :dohh:

xXx


----------



## Frankie

QueenMummyToBe said:


> Frankie said:
> 
> 
> This is what I plan on doing!!!
> 
> My own flowers - As I worked 3 years as a florist
> 
> Designing my own invitations - sometimes the simpler things are better
> 
> With me being on the clubbing circuit all these years I have friends who are djs who knows i might grace the decks myself for a few tunes
> 
> Also if you look on clubbing websites dontstayin.com is a good one you can check out some clubbing photographers, check out there photos and contact them for prices!!
> 
> Ooo a florist in lincoln.. My new best friend :winkwink::dance:
> 
> Have you looked into venues in Lincoln? I'm finding it impossible to find anywhere that is beautiful but not stupidly priced! Darn lincoln and it's historical features!! :dohh:
> 
> xXxClick to expand...

Im looking at the Lincoln hotel in the bailgate or the golf club or the place on newark road cant remember what its called. Its all full of daft building lol 

On the other hand double wedding, half for a shindig at Branston Hall lmfao :shrug:

If you need any ideas re flowers n stuff let me know - Most florists rip you off like


----------



## Stef

Good thread, we have been planning our wedding on a budget kind of, saving money where ever possible any way. 

We are getting married on a Friday, Much cheaper than the Saturday

Have the reception at a hotel if possible, they usually discount the rooms for your guests, they have somewhere to park and no body has to mess around with taxis etc when your evening reception had finished. 

I havent but if you are not bothered about gettting married in church have the ceromony at the reception too as its cost us £500 to get married in church as apposed to the £250 they charge to hold the ceromony at the hotel

Chris and I have lived together quite some time and we don't need to set up home so instead we asked some of our close family IE parents if they would make a contribution to the wedding rather than buying a wedding present we will have no room for... By this we have saved £360 on the cake as my parents are paying for it and £450 on our wedding cars as OH parents have paid for it

I made my favors myself but I did cheat partly as I bought 2 trays of foiled heart truffles from Thorntons because they are just goregous

My mother had her ceromony late in the afternoon and had a hot buffet instead of wedding breakfast and then the hotel did a BBQ later on, saved her loads of money

Ask around to see who knows who, friends neighbours etc. Our neighbour is doing our photography and we are only paying £125

I havent invited +1's with single guests, I dont beleive I should pay for guests to have a day/night away with the man/woman of the moment. 

Keep the ceromony/wedding breakfast to close friends and family only.

Keep an eye out for sales in Bridal shops, designers tend to change their range towards september/october for the following years so most bridal shops have big sales in autumn. 


Hire suits, dont buy.

If youre going for fresh flowers, see whats in season they tend to be cheaper (I made the mistake of going for one of the most expensive options)

For your grooms mens thankyou gifts buy them all a nice set of cufflinks for the day (you could do this for your bridesmaids too, hair accessories jewlerry etc you would like them to wear on the day)

I bought my wedding shoes from Debenhams, the ones I really wante were £200 and I just couldnt justify that so I bought some from debs for £35 just as nice and ill only wear rthem once so the £200 would have been such a waste

Have a DJ on the night rather than a band

I have had a mental block now, if I think of/remember anything else ill add it :) 

xx


----------



## polo_princess

Some great ideas girls :thumbup:

I cant beileve what a little treasure trove it is on there, i was looking at personalised chocolates and id seen 60x for around £55 ... on Ebay you get 100x for like £20 :shock:


----------



## Linzi

ebays brilliant :)

our wedding cost us under £3k (including a £900+ dress, £140 suit hire, an evening buffet & DJ for 80 people, minibusses for 40 people)

I spent so much time sourcing things, getting loooooads of idea, looking on hundreds of websites, theres some good wedding forums with for sale bits in that have got either brand new left over stuff, or stuff in excellent condition which is where I got a lot of our stuff from. 

Look hard for whatever you want, set a budget for everything and stick to it. 

I was so proud of myself for organising my whole wedding myself it was a brilliant day and almost makes me want to become a wedding planner lol

x


----------



## JessiHD

A few tips:
*Many of your friends and family have useful skills that you can put to use! I had my stepdad (an artist) design the invites, my brother take take the main wedding photos, my MIL do the flowers, SIL made the cake (will post pics of that if you want because its a simple but gorgeous design) and my other SIL played the viola. My parents friends do fireworks displays for events and they did fireworks for me as a wedding present.
*Where possible try to avoid telling people it is your wedding. Especially hairdressers as they double the price. 
*Look around for venues that don't cost too much. Sometimes a simple church hall can be done up beautifully with flowers, tealights or fairylights.
*Go to a florist wholesalers and pick the flowers yourself. I was very lucky as my MIL does beautiful flower arranging but you can do more simple arrangements yourself. Lillies and roses are good for simple arrangements. Either borrow vases or buy some from Ikea.
*If you want to have a cold buffet why not order from Marks and Spencer party food.
*Get the wine, champagne etc from a booze cruise to France. I think Threshers and other offies do beer kegs. You can get boxes of glasses for free from offies and only pay for the damages.
*Everyone has digital or phone cameras now so instead of getting a photographer which will cost you over a grand, ask friends and family to take photos. Another option is to put disposable cameras on each table.
*Top runway on ebay https://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/TopRunway__W0QQ_armrsZ1 make custom made dresses in China amazingly cheap. I think if you send them a photo of what you want they can pretty much make anything. I haven't actually used them but have heard great things about them. I got my dress from www.whirlingturban.com which does custom made vintage style dresses and it was worth every penny!

Anyway, hope these tips help!

Jess xxx


----------



## Suz

:headspin: I havent read all the posts, so some of these may be duplicates but here is how we saved money when I got married...

* Went to bridal Shows... got huge discounts on my DJ and photographer
* Ordered my wedding cake from the grocery store rather then a bakery
* Ordered my flowers through the grocery store rather than the florest
* Shopped weekly at the craft store using the 40% off 1 item coupon they put out once a week.
* Bought blank invitation kits and printed my own invitations
* Made my own center peices
* Made my own Arch
* Bought stuff that looked perfect for wedding decorations but werent in the wedding section of the store...
* Looked through alot of bridal magazines to get ideas and made things myself.
* Limit the number of guests
* limit the number in your bridal party


----------



## mrsraggle

-got married on a Friday
-had a very small ceremony and wedding breakfast (24 people)
-really searched for my venues - we had the ceremony at the registry office £45, we had the breakfast somewhere that offered complete flexibility i.e. no room hire, no set drinks packages etc and our party was held in a council owned hall so was ridiculously cheap (anyone looking for venues in Torbay, Devon or Lichfield, Staffs should contact me!)
-had my Nan do the flowers etc
-made our own stationery
-didn't worry about the small things like favours etc
-handmade our gifts
-bought my dress from a store that had a ex-sample sale so a £1100 dress was £650.
-only had one bridesmaid and got that dress from ebay for £25
-really searched around for the blokes suit hire - got them for £40 each

I'll come back if I think of anything else.


----------



## mrsraggle

oh and my Nan made our cake too!


----------



## Sooz

M&S do some lovely wedding cakes, really tasty too. We brought ours from there and they were on 3 for 2 so we got a three tier sponge cake for £63! I paid £25 for some black & white sugar calla lilies to be handcrafted by a lovely lady on eBay (they were gorgeous and so well packaged for delivery) plus about £3 for some black lace with burgundy ribbon running through it to use as our cake ribbon.

The cake looked simple but stunning and got quite a few appreciative comments from our guests. :)

We also went out on a limb and used a hobbyist photographer who has just started to do weddings. He cost us £290 from 12:30pm until 8:30pm including travel and was fantastic (found him on eBay too). We got all the images on a disc to make our own albums from (my request as I wanted to do my own) and a complimentary slideshow set to music. He is based in Oxford but will travel so if anyone is interested drop me a PM. ;)


----------



## firstLO

Make your own wedding invitations. 
Choose a venue where room decoration is included.
Buy your cake from M&S or if you buy a plain one from hampsons (like I have) they will ice your names and date on it as well in your chosen colour and will put the same colour ribbon around. Mine cost £40.
Local florists on the high street tend to be cheaper.
Do your own make up on the day.
If a friend or family member has a nice car then ask if you can use it as your wedding car.
Most men have a black suit so get the groom and ushers to wear their own and then just hire the waistcoat and ties (Debenhams £20 waistcoat & £5 tie).
That's all I can think of for now!


----------



## Pinkgirl

polo_princess said:


> Some great ideas girls :thumbup:
> 
> I cant beileve what a little treasure trove it is on there, i was looking at personalised chocolates and id seen 60x for around £55 ... on Ebay you get 100x for like £20 :shock:

ooooooooo me would love a link please my bride to be buddie lol.
I have found a fab webbie...
https://www.personaliseyourwedding.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
thought they were ok value.

Great tips girls. I definatley like the idea of making own invitations, undecided at the moment.

My friend just asked around when her and OH got married like for D.J.s and that. They got family members to alter dresses.
Brough things direct of supplies and so on 
x


----------

