Deciding what you want?? Help!

[Snow Owl]

We are constantly going around in circles here! We have a few things we know we want / have decided on.

* We've set our heart on having the quick 15 minute legal ceremony at the registry office with just our bridal party and then doing a blessing at our venue after with the rest of the guests. This means we can have the ceremony we want, outside and is dramatically cheaper!

* I love the whole vintage feel as am a keen cupcake maker.

* We love our venue choice. We don't think we're going to look at anywhere else. It's not your normal kind of place but has a large modern function room, a huge patio area, in a stunning location, accommodation on site and a roof top terrace with the best view for our ceremony!

* We've found a date that works well due to a number of constraints. May 29th 2015.

But here come the ramblings...

Our bridal party is big due to a big family / big group of friends. We're looking at 5 bridesmaids, 4 groomsmen and then 4 family members in suits (oh and 2 pageboys). We've worked out we can just give the men ties and bridesmaid dresses were looking at £40 max per dress.

For the guest list siblings and bridal party comes to 24 people. That's the bare minimum.

Now if we extend this list to include my aunts, uncles and cousins (this is second time for me and I didn't invite them last time, something I regretted!) it's 50 people. So we're looking at 74 day guests

Here's the problem tho, we've seen ideas we like but it all seems too much. We really wanted to prove it could be done for £2.5k. Which it just can't!

I love the cream tea idea, but am worried about the practicality of it.

We also loved the idea of a med grill (basically recreating nandos). Chicken, chips, sweet potato mash, corn on the cob and salad.

For the evening were known for hosting pizza parties for all our friends and thought we could get loads of dominos in for the evening with wedges and salad. It's so us and actually very cheap.

The whole thing is getting to me now. We have ideas we like but I really don't want to spend that much. I'd rather use the money elsewhere but that isn't going to happen at this rate.

We just don't know what we want. We want something simple and relaxed, not spending thousands

 

[missk1989]

We simply have no choice. We can't really afford a big wedding or a small one to be honest but getting married has become so important to me since having lo that i too will be trying to do it in under £2.5k. I'm cutting back on a lot! We won't have a photographer, oh uncle is great with a camera so will ask him to take a few. We won't have flowers just plenty balloons and some fake flowers for button holes. Wedding breakfast will be a BBQ followed by a candy buffet which I will do myself and a cold buffet in the evening. Our menu requires no place cards and no seating plan, invites I will do myself. I am getting my makeup done but not hair and telling bridesmaids if they want it done they will have to pay themselves. My dad has a posh car so I am asking him to drive us between ceremony and reception which is a 2 minute walk to my house. Thinking of getting a live band for a couple of hours but if they are expensive then just a DJ. I'm really looking at what is important to me rather than what others expect. If having them there is what matters then cut back on other things like decoration.

 

[Snow Owl]

This is the thing, our photographer is a friend, all stationery ill do myself (graphic designer). We seem to have got rid of all the small things but its still £3-4k.

I know food is the biggest outlay but I'm unsure how to feed 75 people in the day and 120 at night for less than £1000!

 

[missk1989]

yeah that is alot of people! For a start i would do no dessert in the evening and just do cake. Other than that i can only suggest you have a word with your venue and see if you could perhaps get a deal, or if you havent chosen your venue you could always choose a village/church hall with a kitchen and do your own food?