# CoffeePuffin's Wedding Journal



## CoffeePuffin

My fiance and I are hoping to get married next autumn. We're on a really tight budget so it's going to be hard to plan. 

We're thinking of having the ceremony at the town hall but I've been trying to call them for two weeks and I can never get through! I emailed and they told me to call.. 

Lots to think about and lots to plan. I want a date!


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## Mummy May

It won't be hard, you just have to be savvy! Congrats too btw :) 
Having a late afternoon wedding can bring costs down, as will just having a buffet and having it maybe in a nice pub or something. Hope you can get in touch with the town hall soon xx


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## CoffeePuffin

Mummy May said:


> It won't be hard, you just have to be savvy! Congrats too btw :)
> Having a late afternoon wedding can bring costs down, as will just having a buffet and having it maybe in a nice pub or something. Hope you can get in touch with the town hall soon xx

That's what we're planning really. A buffet rather than a sit down meal, we may even make all the food ourselves or get friends/family to help to make it even cheaper. 

And we're looking at nice pubs for reception as I'm thinking they'll be cheaper than a hotel/castle/hall? 

Something I'm struggling with is finding cheap photographers.


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## Mummy May

If you find a cheap photographer they may not be that good. Try your local college for photography students or something, you want your photos to be perfect :) 
There was someone on here recently (laura&faith if you can find her journal) and she had her reception in a lovely pub xx


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## Soph n Chris

Sometimes it pays to be cheeky with the photographer.

The one we are having usually charges 1700! We got them for 500. That's two photographers from arrival to the end. About 4.5 hours. We are having the images on a CD rather than an album.


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## Soph n Chris

They are supposedly one of the best wedding photographers in the country. Recommended by other professional photographers and won awards at the venue we are getting married for wedding pictures. They are Bristol Photography. Husband and wife team. X


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## lozzy21

Most photographers do different packages. Mine does three with the cheapest being £300 and the most expensive £800


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## Logan's Mum

CoffeePuffin said:


> My fiance and I are hoping to get married next autumn. We're on a really tight budget so it's going to be hard to plan.
> 
> We're thinking of having the ceremony at the town hall but I've been trying to call them for two weeks and I can never get through! I emailed and they told me to call..
> 
> Lots to think about and lots to plan. I want a date!

Stalking :winkwink:

Calling the town hall sounds like me trying to get in touch with our registry office, I emailed only to be told to call them. When I finally got through the wedding person was off til Monday :dohh:

I really want a pub reception, but would need a pub with a big function room which is hard to come by.


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## CoffeePuffin

Logan's Mum said:


> CoffeePuffin said:
> 
> 
> My fiance and I are hoping to get married next autumn. We're on a really tight budget so it's going to be hard to plan.
> 
> We're thinking of having the ceremony at the town hall but I've been trying to call them for two weeks and I can never get through! I emailed and they told me to call..
> 
> Lots to think about and lots to plan. I want a date!
> 
> Stalking :winkwink:
> 
> Calling the town hall sounds like me trying to get in touch with our registry office, I emailed only to be told to call them. When I finally got through the wedding person was off til Monday :dohh:
> 
> I really want a pub reception, but would need a pub with a big function room which is hard to come by.Click to expand...

Yeah.. 

My OH has a HUGE family. 70 people coming to ceremony alone, then god knows how many extra people are coming to the evening do. I'm thinking over 200...


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## lozzy21

Logan's Mum said:


> CoffeePuffin said:
> 
> 
> My fiance and I are hoping to get married next autumn. We're on a really tight budget so it's going to be hard to plan.
> 
> We're thinking of having the ceremony at the town hall but I've been trying to call them for two weeks and I can never get through! I emailed and they told me to call..
> 
> Lots to think about and lots to plan. I want a date!
> 
> Stalking :winkwink:
> 
> Calling the town hall sounds like me trying to get in touch with our registry office, I emailed only to be told to call them. When I finally got through the wedding person was off til Monday :dohh:
> 
> I really want a pub reception, but would need a pub with a big function room which is hard to come by.Click to expand...

Where in the north east are you?


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## Logan's Mum

lozzy21 said:


> Logan's Mum said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CoffeePuffin said:
> 
> 
> My fiance and I are hoping to get married next autumn. We're on a really tight budget so it's going to be hard to plan.
> 
> We're thinking of having the ceremony at the town hall but I've been trying to call them for two weeks and I can never get through! I emailed and they told me to call..
> 
> Lots to think about and lots to plan. I want a date!
> 
> Stalking :winkwink:
> 
> Calling the town hall sounds like me trying to get in touch with our registry office, I emailed only to be told to call them. When I finally got through the wedding person was off til Monday :dohh:
> 
> I really want a pub reception, but would need a pub with a big function room which is hard to come by.Click to expand...
> 
> Where in the north east are you?Click to expand...

Newcastle! X


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## lozzy21

Logan's Mum said:


> lozzy21 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Logan's Mum said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CoffeePuffin said:
> 
> 
> My fiance and I are hoping to get married next autumn. We're on a really tight budget so it's going to be hard to plan.
> 
> We're thinking of having the ceremony at the town hall but I've been trying to call them for two weeks and I can never get through! I emailed and they told me to call..
> 
> Lots to think about and lots to plan. I want a date!
> 
> Stalking :winkwink:
> 
> Calling the town hall sounds like me trying to get in touch with our registry office, I emailed only to be told to call them. When I finally got through the wedding person was off til Monday :dohh:
> 
> I really want a pub reception, but would need a pub with a big function room which is hard to come by.Click to expand...
> 
> Where in the north east are you?Click to expand...
> 
> Newcastle! XClick to expand...


Hmmm a bit further up than me, there are a few places like that in Teesside so you might find something.


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## CoffeePuffin

Well after weeks of calling the registry office 50+ times a day and never getting through. I sent them an email telling them to call me. And FINALLY I got to speak to someone! 

£175 in total for the ceremony including a £20 booking fee, £75.50 for room and 2x £35 for both our notices to marry and one marriage certificate. 

We have an appointment on Saturday to view the room and ask other questions and then if we're happy, we can book it. We have 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th September 2014 to choose from. I think we will end up going with 6th. 

So hopefully by next week we will have a booked date and can start making proper plans!

Also found out my SIL is getting married a month before us, in a beautiful castle. Because her OH's mother has plenty of money. Made me a bit depressed that we'd never be able to afford that and our wedding is going to be very budgeted.


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## Logan's Mum

Wow that's cheap! And dont think that a fancy castle equates to a nicer wedding, the best wedding I've been to was on a beach in Scotland of all the cold places. Much better than the one I went to a couple of months later in a fancy house. X


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## Mummy May

That's a good price :) just because she has masses of money doesn't mean hers will be better Hun, don't worry xx


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## CoffeePuffin

Trying to find a reception venue that ISN'T all inclusive is proving difficult. We want to provide our own catering as it will DRAMATICALLY cut costs. But everywhere we've seen it's all included and they won't let you do your own, but the prices are £5000 + .. There's no way we can afford that .


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## Mummy May

Have you tried thinking of diff places, like a barn for instance? Sounds awful but they look amazing! Xx


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## kmbabycrazy

Keep an eye on groupon as I've seen a few offers on there for photographers, but if you are confident you can always haggle. Just try and get them as low as possible. We're only having ours on disk too and thdn we can get them printed anywhere we want later on as we get the lisence to print too. 

We had thr same trouble finding a pub function room as ke and OH both have huge families. We ended up in a hotel but our families are so huge we're having to be really picky with the friends part of thr guest list as we're actually really close to our families and wouldn't want a single one of them not to come x


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## kmbabycrazy

Oh and congratulations btw xx


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## CoffeePuffin

We have officially booked our wedding! Saturday 6th September 2014!


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## Mummy May

Yeyyy! Congrats! Cxx


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## kmbabycrazy

Congrats on setting the date xx


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## CoffeePuffin

Now trying to find a reception that isn't ridiculously expensive. We're having an 11.30am wedding so will need to do a buffet for day guests and a buffet for evening guests too.


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## nic18

totally stalking this :) x


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## CoffeePuffin

I* think* we've found our wedding photographer. We wanted a disk only one as it means we get the rights to the photo's and we can go somewhere else and get the ones we want printed, and we then have all the images on our computers. 

£650. It is a lot, but also less than others I've seen. I've looked through some of his photo's, read reviews and all are good so far. He will take pictures from when I get ready, to when we get to the reception venue. 

£100 deposit, then £550 two weeks before the wedding. I think we may book him in the next couple weeks.


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## CoffeePuffin

I originally was going to have a dark red theme for bridesmaid dresses, decorations etc. But I found out my SIL who is getting married a week before me has the same colour scheme. And I really don't want to be compared. 

So I have decided to go for green bridesmaid dresses (my favourite colour) and a woodland/rustic theme for decor.


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## kmbabycrazy

We wanted the same for our photographer and she's £600 but she stays longer most basic packages that price come from ceremony to speeches, she stays from fetting ready to first dance x


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## CoffeePuffin

Our ceremony starts at 11.30am, so we have to have a lunch buffet AND an evening one. So to get him to stay until first dance would be more expensive. The ceremony and just after are the main ones we want, and hopefully we can get some of us all sitting at the tables too.


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## CoffeePuffin

I have fallen in love with the style/colour of this wedding dress but am unsure about it being velvet. 

https://img1.etsystatic.com/017/0/5664687/il_570xN.484731745_nzwi.jpg


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## nic18

this dress is so unique :)! colour is beautiful to!


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## CoffeePuffin

OH says he really wants me in a white dress, so it's a no to the purple one! I think I'll go hunting for a dress in January and hope some may be on sale. 

We went to view a function room today and I am pleased to say we booked it! £200 to hire the room, and it can hold up to 160 people. And we can have our own catering! Finally found somewhere that wasn't expensive, but also didn't look scummy, that allowed us to supply our own food. 

So ceremony and reception venue are booked. Looking into photographers now.


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## CoffeePuffin

We have a meeting with a photographer next week. £400 for the day, the cheapest we have found so far and only wants a £50 deposit rather than the £200 others were asking for. Will have a chat with him, see some of his pictures and then decide.


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## nic18

good luck with photographer :)


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## CoffeePuffin

I have just got a good deal on chair covers/sashes and table cloths/runners and balloons (and someone comes at sets it all up) - £160. Which is amazingly cheap compared to the £300 others were asking for. And she has been personally recommended by a few people so I know she's not cheap and crap. Just a good price because she doesn't want to rip people off.


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