# What's your budget?



## toffee87

Hey all!

We're not engaged as yet, two reasons: money and OH's parents have split...wrong timing!

However, we're starting to think when and where etc 

I just wanted to know what's your budget:

Dress:
Bridal accessories:
Venue:
Reception:
Flowers:
Cake:
Catering (if seperate to the reception venue):
Bridemaids dress(s) if you're paying:
Photographer:
Honeymoon:
Insurance:
Car(s):
Make up:
Hair:
Suit(s):
Rings:

Total: 

We can't really plan properly as yet, as I'm currently working at Subway and we're just not earning enough! However OH gets just under £4000 after his first year of teaching (next autumn). Providing I get on a PGCE course for next September we can plan better! As we'll know money will be coming in eventually  I don't want to spend more than £12,000 in total! Which may mean waiting til 2012.

I especially would love to hear from those who are planning on a tighter budget!

Thanks,

Jen x


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## africaqueen

Hi there  me and OH are getting married on dec 12th and this is our budget...

Bridal accessories:Dress,underskirt, faux fur jacket, Veil, Tiara, bodyshaping underwear, shoes, dimante earrings, necklace and bracelet. Total Cost= £180

Venue:£220 for our little local church and that incs organist, flowers and registrar

Reception:Free, as we are having it in the function room of our local pub and we know the landlady very well 

Flowers:Flowers are inc at church and i have used silk roses and white feathers to make bridesmaids bouquets myself and silk flowers for decorationg each table at the reception. my bouquet is beautiful ivory silk roses with dimantes and i got that frm ebay.
we are not having button holes for all guests, only the wedding party(ie my parents, groomsmen etc)

Total cost= £30

Cake:We are buying a 3 tier cake from m&s , 2 layers sponge and 1 layer chocolate for £75 i have bought ceramic bride an groom for it and a gold snowflake plus gold ribbon and fairy lights to wrap around with pearls attached to decorate it 

Total cost=£120

Catering (if seperate to the reception venue):We hired a outside caterer to do a hot and cold choice buffet inc all cutlery, tableware etc for the wedding breakfast for 70 ppl for £450 and we have a friend who is a ex chef doing the evening food for 100 ppl for £100 

Total cost = £550
Bridemaids dress(s) if you're paying: I got my 4 bridesmaids dresses off ebay and chose diff dresses in black as they are all diff ages and sizes etc and that way they can wear them again as they are evening dresses. I have bought ivory shawls to go with them from a local market too to keep them warm as its winter 

Total cost= £60

Photographer: We could not afford a pro so we have a family friend who is a very good amatuer doing it as he has done weddings before and is very good.

total cost = £80 to the guy and then we pay for whatever prints we decide we want.

Honeymoon: We cannot afford a honeymoon straight away as we are marrying close to xmas etc so we have asked guests for thomson holiday vouchers as gifts and then we can add money to them and try and get away in feb/march 

Insurance: We didnt bother with this as most things we are doing are low budget and the caterer is insured.

Car(s): We are having 1 white 7 seat daimler limo as the ceremony and reception are so close to eachother, the driver will make 3 trips to the church, first collecting groom and groomsmen, then my mum and the bridesmaids and then me and my dad 

Total cost= £180

Make up:Well i have a friend who is a ex beauty therapist so she will be doing my make up as she is also my bridesmaid. I have bought the make up for her to use.

Total cost=£10

Hair: I am having my hair done at my local saloon by my usual hairdresser early morn.

Total cost= £30

Suit(s): OH's suit is a black tux with red bow tie and cummerband to match my dress and a white ruffle shirt. He bought it from a online suit company. His shoes are being sent from italy as a gift from his mother.

Total cost = £130

Rings: The rings have been made in Italy and engraved with our names and are future MIL's contribution towards the wedding as she cant make it so they are costing us nothing 

Extra costs... the cava we bought for the toast(£60) table cloths, napkins, centre peice etc(£40) favours( made myself and cost £35) cake table decoration(£5) DJ and wedding singer (£250 for both right through the day and nite) bridemaids gifts and groomsmens gifts, plus flowers for my mum and as thank you to landlady of pub(£70) wedding invitations(we had printed from a ebay seller and cost £30 for 80) cake cutter and slice £10

Total cost= £500

Total cost of our wedding=£2100 our budget was £2000 so we did quite well by only going over by £100 

Goes to show u dnt need to spend a fortune xx


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## pinkmummy

Dress: Dress = £485

Bridal accessories: Veil, tiara and underwear = £45

Venue and Recpetion: Venue includes 60 people for wedding breakfast, 100 people for evening buffet, room for ceremony, registrar and our room for the night = £4100

Flowers: I spent £40 in dunelm mill and hobbycraft and OH's aunty is arranging them for us. This is for my boquet, button holes and bridesmaids boquets = £40

Cake: A friend is making it and charging £150 but we are looking into asking her to lower the price as we think it's a bit expensive = £150

Bridemaids dress(s) if you're paying: Paying for their own

Photographer: £250 for a wedding album of 40 photographs, a CD with 500 pictures on and the photographer from 10.30am to 8pm = £250

Honeymoon: Mum and dad are paying

Insurance: None yet dunno if we're gonna bother

Car(s): £300

Make up: Body Shop manager is doing it for free will buy her some flowers = £20

Hair: Not sure yet still working on this one

Suit(s): Being hired but OH's will cost £70 to hire and then he gets £30 back I think.

Rings: We've budgeted £100 and have found a jewelers who will make my funyn shaped ring for £70 and OH's for £70 and give us a discount so we're hoping to make it £100 for both = £100

Total: £5490

Budget: £5000 but we will be getting some money from OH's parents but they aren't sure how much yet so we're not much over budget really xx


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## Babydance

hey hunny ive just qualified as a wedding planner i did our wedding for under £5000 , i am specialising in budget weddings so PM me if you want some pointers


xx

Updated post

Thought i'd add in my costs too 

Dress: £90 online (pic below)
Bridal accessories: veil £6 online and used SIL tiara
Venue: £2100 (pic below)
Reception: as above
Flowers: £90 online again (pic below)
Cake: free friends Dad was a baker
Catering (if seperate to the reception venue): included in £2100
Bridemaids dress(s) if you're paying: £30 for 3 (online again) (pics below)
Photographer: £600 (used a trainee)
Honeymoon: bought for us
Insurance: didnt use any as was too late really lol
Car(s): used DH's car for photos but we were married in the venue
Make up: myself with help of bridesmaid who was a beauty therapist
Hair: £40
Suit(s): free as the company forgot to charge DH for the kilts
Rings: £400
Band: £700

Total - £4056 

There are other extras like favours etc that made the total a bit higher than that though
 



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## Mynxie

Make a list of what you really want, what you'd like but don't have a set in stone ideal about, what would be nice but you're not fussed on and what you don't want.

If you plan carefully, you can do it at silly low prices.

What I would advise to anyone though, - only have the people there that you really want there. Don't be pressured into inviting people that you don't want there - it's your day!

Oh - and don't be afraid to ask for help - chances are people really want to be involved in your day and are quite chuffed when you ask them to do something - no matter how small!


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## toffee87

We're getting engaged at Christmas :cloud9:

I know it's different to the typical proposal, but this way we know it's coming at such a special time


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## WhisperOfHope

Dress: Dress = £0 got given for free by weding tv

Bridal accessories: Veil, tiara and underwear = around £100

Venue and Recpetion: church £500 reception venue 500 roughly 

Flowers: I spent £40 in dunelm mill and hobbycraft and OH's aunty is arranging them for us. This is for my boquet, button holes and bridesmaids boquets = £40

Cake: m&s cake for £50
Bridemaids dress(s) nothing as were used for my friends wedding 3 years ago:)

Photographer: £995 and get every photo taken on the day and full copyright

Honeymoon: havent got one

Insurance: None 

Car(s): £245 for mine and 220 for bridemsiads and mum car

Make up:nothing my sister is doing for free

Hair: £50

Suit(s): Being hired £350 for 5 suits

Rings: bens was 29.95 and havent got mine yet so no idea on that part
videographer: 895 for full days coverage


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## QueenMummyToBe

Dress: Paid £200, got it second hand.. it is my dream dress as well 
Bridal accessories: Less than £100
Venue: registry office - £100 total (that is including notice of marriage)
Reception: £300
Flowers: £50
Catering (if seperate to the reception venue): Budgeting £300
Bridemaids dress(s) if you're paying: £80
Photographer: Free
Honeymoon: Being mostly paid by my mum and dad, will be getting a last minute deal. 
Car(s): Not having
Make up: Doing my own
Hair: £50
Suit(s): £90
Rings: £150
DJ: 160


We have budgeted £2000 for our wedding.. and we will stick to it. There is no reason to go over budget as long as you don't give in to the unnecessary. 

xXx


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## buttonnose82

Dress: £700
Bridal accessories: £100
Venue/Reception: £300 church and £5000 reception (for room hire, 100 wedding breakfast, 160 evening buffet and our room for the night, should have been £6500 but we just asked for discounts here and there and got them, we have 23 kids eating & drinking for free as well)
Flowers: not sure yet as got a friend doing them at cost
Cake: my mummy is making it
Bridemaids dress(s) if you're paying: £200 for 1 adult & 1 child, both being designed for us
Photographer: £950 for 12 hours and includes £400 towards albums
Honeymoon: £4000 (what we have allocated for it)
Insurance: £35
Car(s): using a friend
Make up: sister doing it
Hair: £50
Suit(s): £600
Rings: £800 - £1000 ish
DJ: £100
Favours: £200 (what has been allocated)
Invites/stationary: £300 (what has been allocated)
Gifts for people that have helped out: £300 (what has been allocated)


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## kayleigh&bump

we got married in may just gone an spent around £10,500 on the whole thing. to be honest i thought that was quite good as we did all the invites, table plan etc ourselves and budgeted on everything, but everyone else posted so far has spent so much less :blush: x


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## Helabela

Dress: £250 ebay
Bridal accessories: approx £60 (shoes, earrings, rental of underskirt, tights)
Venue: Church, not sure of cost
Reception: local social club, free as members
Flowers: £150 for my boquet, and two bridesmaids plus wand for young bridesmaid (Calla lillies)
Cake: M&S £102.00
Catering (if seperate to the reception venue): BBQ in day time cost around £300, hog roast in evening cost around £300
Bridemaids dress(s) if you're paying: bought in debenhams sale, prom dresses, £15 each
Photographer: free, used friends
Honeymoon: £500 spend for 5day trip in our campervan to wales
Insurance: none taken
Car(s): £450, stretched beetle
Make up: done own, aprrox £20 spent
Hair: £150 for me and two bridesmaids
Suit(s): £80 each (groom and two best men)
Rings: £30ish each from argos

total spent approx £4,000 with cost of church and other bits and pieces (table decs, gifts etc)


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## Whisper

I thought getting married was mega expensive! I was thinking around £20k :blush:
Not that i have that kinda money laying around!!


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## lucy_x

right we never got married in the end...his parents caused lots of problems so i told him i would nt marry unless he changed his name :)

anyway i will keep it short and sweet,

I got it down to £2.5k (including accessories tables dec and favours etc)

Dress was from ebay brand new, Only had 30 guests planned, Got church and venue with catering, 

borrowed a friends car

Suits wre brand new from ebay

Rings wre family herlooms..

florists wasnt too much

a friend took photos

:)

Everything we bought was lovely, 


just a shame his parents ruiend it :)

will get married after the baby is born,


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## Sooz

Our budget started at £3k but ended up at about £7k by the time everything was brought and paid for. Our parents did help out quite a bit too. In relation to the bits you asked about our costs came in at:

Dress: £400 plus £50 alterations
Bridal accessories: £50 shoes, £15 tiara, £15 jewellery, £8 garter, £30 undies & stockings, £10 bag
Venue: £350 room hire, £210 RO fee
Reception: Probably in the region of £3k all in.
Flowers: £211
Cake: £60
Catering (if seperate to the reception venue): Included above but £1000 on food
Bridemaids dress(s) if you're paying: £160 for 2
Photographer: £290....our bargain!
Honeymoon: £1000 plus £500 spends
Insurance: Nada
Car(s): £250
Make up: £280
Hair: included above
Suit(s): £230 for 3
Rings: £100

and in the words of mastercard: Our day = Priceless. :thumbup:


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## hayley x

We got married last weekend and this is roughly what we spent (it was very budgetfied cause we didnt have much at all to spend but so wanted to be married!

Dress: £160 + 30 for alterations for all 3 dresses

Bridal accessories: Sister bought my tiara and borrowed veil, probs about £100 on makeup tights underware etc

Venue: £550 (church we sooo wanted cause its where we had our sons funeral so thats one thing we didnt um and arrr about price wise)

Reception: £120 - we had it at local club with a disco

Flowers: £80 for my flowers bridesmaids flowers and button holes (used sarahs flowers which someone on here recommended )

Cake: £50

Catering (if seperate to the reception venue): £250, had buffet for 50 people then about £80 on favours

Bridemaids dress(s) if you're paying: £75 each

Photographer: Prefer not to say as a lady on here was so lovely and did it for a very generous price

Honeymoon: Didnt have one - had a 4d scan instead :haha:

Insurance: Didnt bother :blush:

Car(s): My grandad drove me down, I'm so glad I didnt spend £200+ on a car cause I only live down the road

Make up: Did it myself but bought myself some lovely foundation

Hair: £15 + £10 for practice

Suit(s): £55 hired for grooms and best man paid for his own :thumbup:

Rings: £300 ish

Total:


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## princess_bump

slightly different for us as we're doing it in disney, florida, but here's what we've spent thus far;

Honeymoon - hotel, flights and upgrades 9.5k
Dress: 1.5k
Bridal accessories: not budgeted yet :blush: 

Venue:Flowers:Cakehotographer:Car(s):Make up:Hair: all inc in our wedding package for 1k! bargain if you ask me!!

Reception:Catering (if seperate to the reception venue): unsure, as small amount of people it will be a meal and champer's afterwards, with champagne reception on the beach :cloud9:

Bridemaids dress(s) if you're paying: around £150 - just for maddi, with shoes and head piece

Insurance: £100ish for the 3 of us
Suit(s): looking around £700 
Rings: not sure yet! OH has seen something lovely, but i haven't priced mine

total - 14kish, but on top of that we need park tickets 3x£200 plus all food and spending money

you can do it so much cheaper abroad, it's just the destination we've chosen


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## Vici

Is all as a guesstimate at the min :) 

Dress: £200
Bridal accessories: £50 (veil, underskirt, shoes were free with dress :))
Venue:
Reception:
Flowers: Free - mums is doing them
Cake: £50
Catering (if seperate to the reception venue):
Bridemaids dress(s) if you're paying: £200 for 4 adults and £50 for 3 littluns (NOT each - total)
Photographer: £500
Honeymoon: £4000 all in (although this will also be our gift list :))
Insurance: £0
Car(s): £0
Make up: £0 cousin is doing it :)
Hair: £0 my hairdresser is doing it for free
Suit(s): £325 for hire of 6 tails suits 
Rings: £100 for both :)


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## Pingu

This is a rough guess as we have not booked everything yet -

Dress: not got but have budgeted £700
Bridal accessories: not got but have budgeted £100
Venue: £6500
Reception: included in venue cost
Flowers: not booked but have budgeted £400
Cake: £288
Catering (if seperate to the reception venue):included in venue cost
Bridemaids dress(s) if you're paying: not got but have budgeted £300 (2 adults, 1 child, 1 flowergirl)
Photographer: £450-750
Honeymoon: not sure we will have one
Insurance: £60
Car(s): £0
Make up: not sure but budgeted £75
Hair: not sure but budgeted £150
Suit(s): not sure, OH is wearing his uniform but have budgeted £300 incase
Rings: not sure, have budgeted £800 for both

I am hoping some of the above will be cheaper!


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## kitty1987

Ours is going to cost me and OH £2000 then my mum is paying £350 for a chocolate fountain and my dads best friend is doing the disco, saving us £150


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## Pinkgirl

We havent booked everythin yet...havent really set a budget but going with what we want as we go along.
I am guessing we will spend at least 10k, wedding reception is costing around 6/7k as we have big families so numbers are high. Saving money by making own invites, centerpieces, using friends and family who are in the trade and so on. Who knows how much we will spend in the end. 
One tip...buy as you go along...i bought all my wedding favour boxes off confetti in the sale and also with a code and saved a fortune on them and also pink cone party poppers.
xx


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## Kess

I'm getting married to my sweetheart April next year. Budget below.

Dress: £270 (made to measure by Milly Bridal to my design)

Bridal accessories: I only need shoes and a veil, so not too much.

Venue: Church £280 + £70 for organist + ? for bells

Reception: £3160

Flowers: Don't know yet, but we're using paper things for decorations so not too many flowers.

Cake: Approx. £100. Possibly a M&S one, decorated ourselves.

Catering (if seperate to the reception venue): included in reception costs

Bridemaids dress(s) if you're paying: They're buying their own, but we're picking something reasonable together.

Photographer: £800

Honeymoon: Whatever's left at the end!!

Insurance: £20

Car(s): Not having one.

Make up: My sister will do it.

Hair: My sister will do it.

Suit(s): The ushers etc all have their own already, just groom's to hire - approx. £100

Rings: Going shopping in January in the Jewellery Quarter.

Total: £4800 + rings, honeymoon, flowers, and bells.


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## Welshie

Hi, 

We are getting married in orlando next year, 

Holiday, wedding (flowers, photos, cake etc etc), park tickets - £3000

Spends for holiday - £1500 

Wedding party inc food, disco, decs etc - £1000 

Dress and accessories - £400 

Suits - Linen trousers and white shirt - £80 

Rings - £400 

Total - £6330 

We are getting married on 1st oct, easy date 01/10/10 :cloud9:

So not too expensive seen as it includes holiday at disney, this is for 2 of us. 

OH brother and his family are coming too as they are getting married same time. 

My parents are paying for it all :happydance:


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## stephwiggy

We spent £750 and it was amazing - not including the hmoon


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## mumof2girls

We got married last year and it cost way less than £2000 even though this was our budget.

My dress £75 off ebay (brand new ex display and gorgeous) £25 alterations.
My shoes £15 from ebay new again
My tiara £10 from ebay brand new
My veil £10 from ebay brand new
Decorations for venue £30
Bridesmaid dresses £30 each from catalogue but so lush!
Hair £15 +£7 practise
makeup £75 including 3 bridesmaids and my spray tan
Underwear for me £14 from ebay brand new of course!!!!
mens suits free as they all wore there own.
Rings £60 we bought the cheapest argos did 
Flowers £25 had silk ones from ebay
Bridesmaid accessories £40 from claires
Presents for wedding party £100 for everybodys
Reception venue £50 for function room at a pub
Ceremony was registry office so about £150 including fee for giving notice.
Catering £100
DJ £100
Photographer free brother in law did it with our camera and we printed out about 500 for the price of an ink cartridge and they are fantastic!
car was free as my mate got me a limo as a suprise
Honeymoon.... didnt have one as had 3 kids at home but we now have a wedding night baby!!! 
As you can see mine was a true ebay wedding but it was not tacky in any way and I wouldnt change one single thing! I loved it all!!! Went to a friends wedding who got married at a very grand hall and they spent about £25000 and everything went wrong! It was the worst wedding I had ever been to and everything was staged and acted out, my wedding was not formal and our photos were so natural it was beautiful


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## kitjos

Whole wedding cost was under £800 ... But our honeymoon to Japan is £6000 :winkwink:


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## Trying4ababy

My hubby and I did ours for $500. We both are bargain hunters.


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## Frankie

Im budgeting 2-3 K on ours which will include church fee's, catering etc at the end of the day I couldnt justify paying 12k + 

So far weve brought our invitations from a shop which was shutting down in town it cost 30p for a pack of 10 (bargain) My OH's mum is making our cake, my aunty brought a brand new dress which has not been worn which i absolutely love which i may be able to wear, il do my own flowers which will be £50.00 for my bouquet, 2 poosies for the bridesmaid, button halls and corsages + glue gun, florists wire and tape (im a qualified florist)


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## toffee87

Yeah, I can't justify spending £300 on a cake, it's unnecessary. So we'll either get a family member to do it,or get a plain one from a supermarket and jazz it up ourselves :)

I'm going to get artificial flowers, I know some one who is a florist, so I'll ask her to sort them for a low price, rather than paying hundreds for fresh ones hehe. We'll try and find a venue where we can have the ceremony and reception so we don't have to worry about cars, although I'd happily go in a normal one hehe. 

My bro says he will do all the paper stuff: invites, table labels etc cause he works for a company who does them


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## Frankie

broody21 said:


> Yeah, I can't justify spending £300 on a cake, it's unnecessary. So we'll either get a family member to do it,or get a plain one from a supermarket and jazz it up ourselves :)
> 
> I'm going to get artificial flowers, I know some one who is a florist, so I'll ask her to sort them for a low price, rather than paying hundreds for fresh ones hehe. We'll try and find a venue where we can have the ceremony and reception so we don't have to worry about cars, although I'd happily go in a normal one hehe.
> 
> My bro says he will do all the paper stuff: invites, table labels etc cause he works for a company who does them

I think its more personal that way were doing the same by jazzing up his mums cake with our own little bits and bobs


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