Anyone Done Or Doing A Wedding For Under £600

[LeoTheLion]

Me & the oh have been together for 6 years, we have DS who is 2.
OH is in the army & we have been living separately for the last year with OH coming home once or twice a month.
In order for us to move with him & get marriage housing (we would rent but he's just outside London so can't afford them prices) we have to get married. It's never really been something we wanted but since taking about it I'm beginning to love the sound of being married ) but we don't have a big budget at all & will be doing it in under 5 months eek!
So any info from others doing it on a low budget would be great

 

[Alyssa Drough]

If you have a (don't take offence) fairly normal shaped body then get a dress from Chinese wholesale!

Most of the dresses you'll get in a bridal shop - even ones with designer names - are stock dresses usually shipped in from China and then the bridal shop alter them for you.

My dress was advertised on the Alfred Angelo website. I got the exact same dress from a Chinese wholesale listing on Ebay for £65, plus another £20 for the hoop underskirt. It was a lace up corset style back so it fitted on top, and I just bought a pair of heels to match the length of the dress.

So for less than £100 I got a beautiful dress which you can see in my avatar picture.

 

[Alyssa Drough]

Also....

The biggest (and sometime surprising) costs were:

The food and drink - we had a 3 course meal with wine and champagne toast with an evening buffet - all cost over £1000, and that was only for 40 guests.

We had to pay over £500 for the registrar because it wasn't a local council endorsed venue.

DJ's are expensive Luckily our friend is in an awesome band and they played for free!

Suit hire - we hired 5 suits for the men and it cost us £400. Just to HIRE them.

Professional photos are nice but everyone has smartphones nowadays and there's some great photobook websites. We have a friend who is doing a photography degree so he did our photos for free and gave us all the pics via email.

 

[LeoTheLion]

Thank you, I have had a good look on eBay & seen a lovely tea length I like. Think we would probably go for a registry wedding but would like a good party to invite all friends and family too as it will be a kind of leaving party too

 

[chysantheMUM]

It can be done if you're smart.We are actually spending between £1 - 2K but thats because OH was adamant about some things which he didn't want to compromise on. But in general, yes the dress can be bought on Ebay , I have done this too for less that £100. Next have suits from £79, so that will do for the groom. We have decided not to have ushers and bridesmaids to save further costs. If you look around you can find venues which are free. And go for a buffet instead of a sit down meal. I have also put together my own playlist for the disco on my ipod, so music won't cost us anything. And get friends to muck in whether possible, making invites, the cake, decorations, providing transport, taking photos etc The extra, unnecessary expense for us (as far as I'm concerned) was that we are providing 2 buffets (one for day and one for evening) and champagne and wine and OH is spending more on his suit than I would have liked. But without those extras it would probably have cost us less than a grand, so like I say you just have to be smart and get creative

 

[modified]

If you're careful and depending on where you live. Some registrar fees are close enough to that on their own.

My dress was custom made for me, to my measurements, from etsy. Measured, made and sent to me within 6 weeks from New Zealand for £158.

 

[missk1989]

One great way to save is to have a late wedding and then a buffet a few hours later that you can invite everyone to instead of a breakfast then an evening buffet.

 

[lilyd]

Where are you intending the ceremony to take place? We are getting married at our venue and the registrar (along with a fee for giving notice of marriage) has cost £460 alone.

I would do a list of essentials - registrar, venue, etc, followed by a list of desirables and then a list of 'nice to haves'.

Work through the lists in order and see how far you can get your budget to take you x

 

[lozzy21]

You might struggle unless your only having 10 guests. We are classed as having a budget wedding and it still cost us 6k. The registra and venue cost £500 alone and that was a council run property.

 

[LeoTheLion]

We have found a venue for free perks of oh being in army .. They provide food but we are thinking of doing a cold buffet ourselves because by time everyone had had a drink they don't care what they are eating lol, our friend is in a band and had said they will play so just going to do a playlist on iPod too. We are goin to have a registry wedding & go for a meal with close family and friends in the day (everyone pay for them selves) .. As for dress Im looking at second hand & ebay, will decorate the room myself with some flowers/balloons ect so I'm pretty sure we can do it for that price or a little bit over )

 

[Camlet]

We have found a venue for free perks of oh being in army .. They provide food but we are thinking of doing a cold buffet ourselves because by time everyone had had a drink they don't care what they are eating lol, our friend is in a band and had said they will play so just going to do a playlist on iPod too. We are goin to have a registry wedding & go for a meal with close family and friends in the day (everyone pay for them selves) .. As for dress Im looking at second hand & ebay, will decorate the room myself with some flowers/balloons ect so I'm pretty sure we can do it for that price or a little bit over )

Aww that's great news! Glad it's all working out so well for you xx

 

[joeybrooks]

It can be done, it depends on what you want. OH and I are together 15 years, engaged for 3 and have a 1 year old son. We wanted to get married but not spend an absolute fortune on it, the money we have worked hard to save is for our future, not for one day, so whilst we could splash all of our money on it, we are not willing to.

I will say that costs do mount up, but if you decide what is important to you, you can do it.

I had considered having my ceremony early evening, around 4pm and just having a drinks and buffet reception, but I actually found somewhere where it was cheaper for me to actually have a 3 course meal for 100 guests, including the red carpet, table seating plan, white linens, cake stand and all the other standard things they give you for free, for £495.

The venue is a place that has only started to do weddings but by the time mine comes along, not only will they be a lot more experienced in it (I've heard great reports so far) but they have also just renovated it all, and put the prices up.

As for your dress, if you don't decide to go to eBay/china, try going to the wedding dress shops and ask to see bridesmaid dresses that also come in Ivory, that can save a lot of money and is perfect if you dont want an OTT dress.

My photographer is important to me as the pictures will be with me forever, so that is the one area where I am willing to spend a little more, but rather than going for their full package, I have asked for prices for just a few hours and will do my photobook myself on photobox.

The flowers I am getting from eBay, £20 for the bride, £15 for the bridesmaid, they are from China and they are beautiful.

I think if you can make a list of what you really want and what you dont really need and can stick to it then you can definitely do it.

Oh, and one last thing, from watching Four Weddings, I've realised that regardless of what you do or how much you spend, you cannot please everyone.

 

[Snow Owl]

Sounds great!

One way we're saving money (plus making it better for us) is to have the 15 minute legal ceremony at the registry office which is the cheapest one they do (about £45).

This is just paperwork to us as after at our venue (non lisenced) we will have our wedding (non legal). This is free as the venue arnt charging us any extra plus we can have it outside and say what we want

 

[Kizzy454]

My dress was from JenJenHouse and cost me £186 and OH suit is from george and is about £50! xx