Budget Brides

[Webbykinskt]

Is anyone planning to do their wedding on the cheaper side of £1,500?

DF and I have to save up to move out before we can get married so we will be finding ways of keeping costs down. I'll add my tips and if anyone else could share I'd be grateful

- Self catering and hiring a few people (local students) to clean up and set up etc.
- Find someone you know to make a cake rather than pay a fortune to a cake specialist.
- Find someone with a nice car rather than hiring one (then you only have to pay for fuel and for someone to drive it).
- Buy a second-hand dress. Odds are, it's only been worn once!
- Hire suits for the men rather than buy.
- Buy champagne from somewhere with a good deal. Some venues charge more for 'corkage' and disposal of bottles.
- Only invite who YOU want to invite. No point inviting people you don't really want because they're usually the people who cause trouble.

I'm all tipped out now lol. Anyone else?

 

[aries5486]

hey hun i got married last year and done alot to save money lol

make your own invites
make your own favours
If you know someone that does flowers do it that way or buy fake ones some are nice!
When buying bridemaids dresses you dont have to go to a bridal shop some high street shops have nice dresses that look gorgeous!

Hope this helps
xxx

 

[Webbykinskt]

hey hun i got married last year and done alot to save money lol

make your own invites
make your own favours
If you know someone that does flowers do it that way or buy fake ones some are nice!
When buying bridemaids dresses you dont have to go to a bridal shop some high street shops have nice dresses that look gorgeous!

Hope this helps
xxx

Fab tips!!

Keep 'em coming! x

 

[EstelSeren]

Chances are your bridesmaids will know your situation and won't mind if you ask if they could buy their own dresses based on your colour scheme. That way they can get dresses that they will wear again and you save money. That's what I've done and my family and friends are happy with that!

Do you know/have any seamstresses in either your family or OH's family? Do you or OH have any relatives/friends who are currently/will be about a year before you'll be getting married studying or have studied textiles at GCSE level or higher? Even at GCSE level students can produce some absolutely amazing things and you'd only have to pay for materials, which is much cheaper. This can be for either BM dresses or even your own dress! I'm having DF's aunty make mine as she used to be a seamstress and knows what she's doing!

Forget about favours! They can be a lovely addition but aren't essential!

Consider growing your own flowers! You could then have a lovely reminder of your wedding growing in your garden every year!

At a wedding OH went to a few years ago, the couple were really strapped for cash and just bussed guests out to a pub where they could buy their own food!

Do your own music for the reception. Are you friends with any bands that would be happy to play for you, perhaps even writing a special song for your wedding? Do you know any DJs that wouldwork for free/ a reduced rate? We'll be hiring a music and PA system as most of our friends are familiar with DJ equipment through doing sets at RocSoc and are more than willing to help provide the music for us!

Consider having a good sparkling wine rather than actual champagne. If you prefer ciders and perries, there are some really fabulous sparkling perries that I'm sure venues would be happy to get and it's usually cheaper than wines.

Have a church/ registry office wedding and hire a village hall or something similar for the day. Chances are that you could then just bring in all of your own bits and peices that you can make as cheap as you like rather than having to fit in with packages, etc.

Do you know people who are studying/ will be studying/ have studied hair and beauty at college? If you don't I'm sure you could approach colleges and request the more experienced students. Do you have friends who do LARP? They're usually incredible at make up and hair.

That's all I can think of for now!

Beca :wave:

 

[PnutProtector]

in the US bridesmaid buy their dresses, and the groomsman rent their tuxes. So that's not really a budget issue for us. Although we try to keep the dress and tux choices within everyone's budget.

i don't have any tips, but i do have advice.

DON'T skimp on the photography! These are pictures that you'll be showing people for the rest of your life. You want them to be good! Also, make sure that you own your photographs once they are printed. It costs less to have more prints made up if you own the rights to them.

DON'T skimp on rings! You will be looking at it everyday, you want to LOVE it and want to show it off, not hide it and be embarrassed.

 

[polo_princess]

We are too!!

I dont have many tips to add that havent already been posted but a secondhand dress will save you £££££'s i got a £1600 dress for £60

 

[princess_bump]

oooo good thread ladies!

 

[MrsVenn]

Serve your wedding cake as pudding!

 

[EstelSeren]

DON'T skimp on the photography! These are pictures that you'll be showing people for the rest of your life. You want them to be good! Also, make sure that you own your photographs once they are printed. It costs less to have more prints made up if you own the rights to them.

DON'T skimp on rings! You will be looking at it everyday, you want to LOVE it and want to show it off, not hide it and be embarrassed.

Photography: make sure that you trust the photographer as there's no point in spending money when the service you're given isn't worth it! See samples of their work and get testimonials. Photographers recommended by friends or family are usually a good start! If, however, you are in contact with/ close friends with/ related to a good photographer who will give preferential rates then that's all the better! We're having a mate do our photos for relatively cheap and we know that he's really good!

Rings: I agree that you need one you love but shop around!! You can get some stunning rings that won't break the bank!!

I guess my main advice is: call in any and every favour from whoever you think have skills that may be useful, or if there aren't any owed just ask! Friends and family love to feel involved in your wedding planning: utilise this enthusiasm to your advantage!!!

Beca :wave:

 

[maratobe]

we are going on a budget, not a massive one but we are paying for it our selves so we have to be a little bit tight.
things we are doing to cut the cost
- cake as desert
- making our own invitations, place cards and favours
- buying things off ebay
- my uncle and 2 of my mums friends who are photographers are doing our photos
- 1 of our friends is gonna dj for us

all so exciting! but we have a bit of time so i hope we can do it lol

 

[pinkclaire]

Great post guys! I am planning a wedding for xmas, but with a LO on the way and I have just moved house we are trying to do it as cheap as we can!

The ideas are great, We are getting married on a Tuesday which has made it soooo much cheaper, but as its the 29th of Dec all my close family are not working and are around due to xmas anyway so has worked out perfectly for everyone!

 

[africaqueen]

Great tips

me and my fiance are getting married in dec and although we are having a church wedding we have cut costs by buying my dress and bridesmaids dresses frm ebay, we also had invites printed frm ebay and i am making my own wedding favours via.. yep u guessed it... ebay! lol.

my flowers are silk and so much cheaper and i am making the other flowers myself. As regards the cake we are buying it from a supermarket and i am decorating it myself, saving around £100

We are having a reception in our local pub's function room which we will decorate ourselves and we are having a hot and cold buffet for around 70 guests and the same venue for the evening party

We have a family friend that can take some pro photos for us as this is his passion and the cost is very cheap compared to other photographers.

We would love a honeymoon but dnt have enough budget for one so we are asking the guests to give us holiday vouchers as gifts and we will add money to those and try and get away in jan.

Good luck to all us budget brides ;-)

x

 

[mrsstreet0417]

DH and I are finally having a "real" wedding but we are on a small budget, and his mother actually got ordained online and she is going to be the one who will do our wedding at our house, It was free for her to be ordained and then all she had to do was talk to the county clerk to make sure that there was nothing else she needed to do, and pay $5.99 for her Reverend certificate

 

[Webbykinskt]

Great tips everyone. We'll all do fab

 

[Pingu]

Fab tips everyone