# Ways to save money



## Scamp

Hi,
We're thinking of ways to save money. So far we are
-Making our own invitations, I make cards already so I've got loads of card stock already and won't have to buy more
- My sister is making our wedding cake as our wedding present
- Making own table decorations
- Will be buying food in bulk and doing our own buffet

Got any other ideas? Our venue is quite expensive so hoping so save money and everything else
x


----------



## honeybee2

are you allowed to do your own buffet?


----------



## Scamp

I hope so lol. I'll find out on Tuesday as we're going to view the venue. I guess there is a good chance they will say no
X


----------



## Arcanegirl

Look for dresses under "evening, occasion dresses" etc rather than wedding specific. You can still find something very wedding-iy without costing a fortune


----------



## honeybee2

to be fair honey, I hate to burst your bubble but chances are they will say no- as this is how venues make their money! it would be amazing if they did though! let me know xx


----------



## Dream.A.Dream

Yeah I was going to ask that too. Where is your venue? I doubt they will let you do your own buffet, especially if it's a hotel or anything but if not you can still save money by getting married later in the day and only having one buffet in the evening so you don't have to feed everyone twice. 

When it comes to making your tablecentres try and avoid flowers because they cost a fortune. 

Use ebay for nearly everything, it will save you a fortune. 

If you don't want overly fancy favours then I did mine for 50 people for £7.50 so can give you tips there xx


----------



## superbecks

Hey, just wanted to say I hope they do let you do your own buffet. The hotel where i am getting married let you hire out the marquee, just the marquee, no food or anything from them. Also I looked at an old country hall with a barn attached and they also let you do your own catering and provide your own alcohol if you wanted. I know some of the bigger hotels might not but depends where your looking xx


----------



## honeybee2

good looking superbecks!!!!!! All the venues I looked at said their catering only :cry:


----------



## Kirsti

We are looking at a venue that is do your own catering :D

Also i just bought my wedding dress from ebay £60!!! :D and it was £850 in the shop! beautiful!!! :D 
we are also making our own invites and my grannys a florist :D xxx


----------



## superbecks

honeybee2 said:


> good looking superbecks!!!!!! All the venues I looked at said their catering only :cry:

It actually worked out cheaper to take them up on their catering offer though lol so that's what we have done! xx


----------



## honeybee2

haha! its always the way!

Just another money saving tip:

Give up a treat you buy each week in shopping or your daily coffee from starbucks and save the money you'd spend in your savings- could easily be another £500 by the end! xx


----------



## lynne192

it depends on the type of venue tbh some place will surprise you.


----------



## Scamp

:wave: 
We've found more ways.
Instead of getting a photographer we are getting everyone poss at the wedding to take pictures and we'll set up a flickr account and give everyone the password. 
We're not doing favours, instead we're doing table decs with homemade cookies and love heart sweets
Mike is hiring his suit instead of buying
I'm getting my dress from ebay. Found a gorgeous one for £60
The venue are fine with us doing our own food and we can bring our own champaign and wine for the main reception 

xx


----------



## superbecks

That's fab Scamp. You can get some really good deals on wine in the supermarkets too so will save loads of money. Marks and Spencers do some nice buffet food and I think it's reasonably priced too, they have it on their website!!

I'm having scratchcards and lottery tickets for favours! Nice and cheap too, a £1 each and also a bit fun! x


----------



## honeybee2

Scamp said:


> :wave:
> We've found more ways.
> Instead of getting a photographer we are getting everyone poss at the wedding to take pictures and we'll set up a flickr account and give everyone the password.
> We're not doing favours, instead we're doing table decs with homemade cookies and love heart sweets
> Mike is hiring his suit instead of buying
> I'm getting my dress from ebay. Found a gorgeous one for £60
> The venue are fine with us doing our own food and we can bring our own champaign and wine for the main reception
> 
> xx

Scamp! that sounds wonderful!

Praps sort around catering colleges if you can do your own food! They are very cheap and you wont have to worry about it! Home made cookies and love heart sweets are still very good favours- and people will appreciate them! 

as for champagne and wine- tesco wines and champagnes (online) are in bulk and excellent value for money! :happydance:


----------



## Scamp

Lottery tickets is a fab idea, thanks :) 

I work for Morrisons and at xmas time we always have really good offers on champs and wine :thumbup: Plus we get our 10% discount.

xx


----------



## honeybee2

woohoo! thats fab!


----------



## lynne192

i had a huge thread about this before will see if i can find link and post it had loads of great ideas x

https://www.babyandbump.com/bride-beyond/387119-yours-cheapest-wedding-6-weddings-so-far.html
https://www.babyandbump.com/bride-beyond/357521-much-did-you-spend-your-wedding.html
https://www.babyandbump.com/bride-beyond/372738-budget-even-possible.html


----------



## Mrs Liamxxs

i am finding ebay to be an absolute god send at the minute, as my budget is tighter than an over stretched elastic band at the minute xx


----------



## honeybee2

Mrs Liamxxs said:


> i am finding ebay to be an absolute god send at the minute, as my budget is tighter than an over stretched elastic band at the minute xx

haha! you will get there though
! :thumbup:


----------



## Mrs Liamxxs

honeybee2 said:


> Mrs Liamxxs said:
> 
> 
> i am finding ebay to be an absolute god send at the minute, as my budget is tighter than an over stretched elastic band at the minute xx
> 
> haha! you will get there though
> ! :thumbup:Click to expand...

I think im on course for the worlds first ever ebay wedding :rofl: xx


----------



## honeybee2

I wouldnt be too sure! I bought most of my decorations and little bits from ebay! Your certainly not the only one- and why the hell not eh? Its cheap and in this day and age, us brides need all the help we can get!


----------



## Mrs Liamxxs

honeybee2 said:


> I wouldnt be too sure! I bought most of my decorations and little bits from ebay! Your certainly not the only one- and why the hell not eh? Its cheap and in this day and age, us brides need all the help we can get!

defo agree with you on that, shame there is nothing that can help sort the guest list out for us lol that wasa nightmare, have been through and re-written it about a hundred times, and still have to go through again xx


----------



## honeybee2

i know- dont even get me started on the politics of a guest list!


----------



## Mrs Liamxxs

haha, thats how i feel everytime i see it in the wedding folder lol xx


----------



## honeybee2

there have been a few eruptions between me and OH about the guest list. Its a horrid thing to do! choosing your best and most closest friends from the rest- I cant imagine how I make people feel when they find out theyre not invited!


----------



## Heather9603

I agree with the idea of looking for a special occasion dress (or a prom dress) My dress was a prom dress and it cost me 90 bucks lol.

https://i55.tinypic.com/2v8n70z.jpg

We also did the buffet food that we cooked ourselves. I asked some women that I had grown up with if they wouldn't mind preparing some of the dishes and bringing them before the wedding. I purchased the food but they prepared it in their ovens. We did the big things though, like the meat. We had one turkey and two hams. People commented that it was "the best wedding food they'd ever had!" But we also knew someone with those catering trays (that hold the candle under it and keep the food warm, and had the silver bins) so it was very elegant looking. People really thought it was a professional caterer lol.


----------



## Heather9603

Oh and another good thing that my step brother and his wife did at their wedding to save money. They didn't use flowers as center pieces. They took clear, square vases, filled them with water, and just placed an apple and a small piece of copper coiled around it. It was a fall wedding so it was fitting, but it was still pretty cool looking and SO cheap!


----------



## Mrs Liamxxs

sometimes my OH wonders why i start to get down when we are going through the guest list...all his family is in London so i have dropped a few of my family and freinds from the ceremony list and put them on the reception only list so that we can fit all his on...and i do get a bit bad tempered when he forgets and sometimes cry and that srtarts the arguing lol xx


----------



## Dream.A.Dream

Pretty much all my stuff has come from ebay :) No shame in that. xx


----------



## Scamp

Nope definitely not! I'm going to be buying quite a lot from there, including my dress.
x


----------



## Mrs Liamxxs

Scamp said:


> Nope definitely not! I'm going to be buying quite a lot from there, including my dress.
> x

am also getting my dress from there (have seen one and fell in love with it) it seems alot easier and dare i say.....cheaper lol xx


----------



## Scamp

Plus delivery times seem a lot quicker, I don't want to buy until a lot closer to the time as I'm hoping to have a :baby: in my belly :haha:
x


----------



## Frankie

I have been the self funding Wedding lady 

So far for £600 I got me dress, shoes, tiara, veil and jewellry + one bridesmaid dress and shoes all in (this is the most expensive part.

My MIL is making my cake

I got all the Wedding invites in a shop that was closing down reduced from £4.99 to £0.39p for £0.10.

My friend is going to DJ for us including a live set 10pm-12am all for free

I have a friend doing my Wedding photographs as he is in his last year at college (might be worth asking a local college for students who need stuff for there portfolo)

I have budgeted £500 for catering which is a hot / cold buffet for around 80 guests 

The room hire is in a local football club for £140.00 from 4pm-12am (this is all paid for)

£300 for the blokes hire.

My sons Godfathers friend is driving me.

And best of all I have made over £350 just filling in surveys etc I have cashed these in for Amazon vouchers and I have brought all my table decs, balloons, cupcake stand / cake stand made £80 in Debenhams vouchers which I am using for my makeup. I just need my mirror tiles and glass vases

I used to be a florist so I am doing my own flowers so say £80.00 all in for that 

And wl be stopping at my friends house to prior.

So yeah we have cut a few corners but its about me and my partner coming together not about how much you spend etc 

Let me know if you need any tips!!! x


----------



## Mrs Liamxxs

wow frankie, you seem seriously organised hun xx


----------



## Frankie

Mrs Liamxxs said:


> wow frankie, you seem seriously organised hun xx

Ive just set myself little challenges hopefully itl all pay off May 21st will tell x


----------



## Mrs Liamxxs

[/QUOTE]Ive just set myself little challenges hopefully itl all pay off May 21st will tell x[/QUOTE]

we have the same date for our wedding frankie lol xx


----------



## cherry22

How do you ladies find a venue for that cheap?? im in suffolk but would get married els where but i must have expensive taste coz i cant find eny thing under 3 grand on the internet!! we proberley only have 2k for a wedding and as im on maternity leave my money is crappy!! 
But as im reading this its giving me more and more tips!! 
Thanks ladies x


----------



## honeybee2

cherry its all about the research and haggling. The say 3k on the internet but thats usually for a package. Unfortunately grand houses are quite expenisve and require a minimum number but think outside the box: art gallery? old school? university? village hall? 

Another place to consider is a restaurant/ bar/ club/ pub. You could pay for meals there and provide them with a free drink and because you have guests they'll let you have exculsive use and allow entertainment. Hope you find what you want!


----------



## Scamp

cherry22 said:


> How do you ladies find a venue for that cheap?? im in suffolk but would get married els where but i must have expensive taste coz i cant find eny thing under 3 grand on the internet!! we proberley only have 2k for a wedding and as im on maternity leave my money is crappy!!
> But as im reading this its giving me more and more tips!!
> Thanks ladies x

That price is normally for a wedding package. It's always worth going on seeing if you can change things around and get the price down a little :thumbup:
My venue was only £170 for the room and then little extras. All together it will come to £400 just for the venue, food, party, decoration etc. In our venue we can fit 80 people for the main and 250 for the after party. It's cheap because it's a council civic hall. Still looks very nice
x


----------



## xLaurax

Scamp all your plans sound fab :) I too am doing a budget wedding, mainly because I couldn't bring myself to spend alot of money when we've got kids to think about too.

Cherry I'm in Suffolk too, where abouts are you from? We're having a registry office £190 now (prices got up 1st Nov, typical we chose dec 3rd) and then using our village community centre. We're having a local chip van turn up and everyone is having fish and chips, then individual cakes for everyone for desert (made by step mum) she's also doing out wedding cake too, then in the evening we've got a buffet and disco. PM if you want any help Hun xx


----------



## honeybee2

laura, I love your chip van idea!


----------



## cherry22

so its better to do it all yourself (and not have a all in one thing) i wasnt sure if you get a packedge it would work out cheaper!
Laura im in newmarket suffolk everything around here seems sooo expencive!! 
i really dont want to get married in a registry office im proberly being a bit snobby but i went to one in ely and it was like a cattle farm one in one out and all that!! I know i cant afford to be picky but i know id be dissapointed if i had to have a registry office wedding!! we are not having loads of people and i want a small venue but they seem to be just as much! 
I was hoping for a small barn with a hog roast or a bbq but all the ones i can find are still a huge amount for what it is!!


----------



## xLaurax

Hey sweetie,

Ive just rang our local church just to see there prices and it isnt that much more expensive than a registry office, so i can see myself changing to church wedding :)

If you marry in your own parish, it works out£287.50 and then if you want organist etc it is all extra so you can tailor your service around you.

I'll let you know our prices when our vicar rings me back shortly xxx


----------

