I have been engaged for three years but after paying rent , bills and...

We booked a mid week wedding package as it came up a lot cheaper and making a lot of our own decorations. Having family members make the cake and take photos as gifts for us x

Ours is costing 2k just by doing alot ourselves and shopping about. Fake flowers etc. We just can't justify a big expense when actually all we want to do is be husband and wife xx

I’m cutting costs by reusing my friends decorations as many have recently got married. I’ve also found a lot of things in pound shops/Home bargains etc.
I’ve also got things of groupon and Wowcher.
I’m also shopping around and working out if actually need things such as wedding cars, videographers etc
Definitely makes a difference

Out of season and midweek is alot cheaper. Keep decorations simple and so them yourself.
As for saving money...all money you would use for buying takeaway, alcohol save it into an acct. Stick to a shopping list so you only buying essentials....all helps to save x

We got married on a Saturday in January which only cost us £500 for exclusive hire and use of the bridal suite. (Would of been free on a weekday) also made my centrepieces, invites, name place cards and bridesmaid flowers. Also scouted about local businesses. Had our table plan printed for £5 from local lady. We had cupcakes and a big cupcake for our cake instead of traditional, which saved us about £200. We had everything we wanted and was all personal to us

You can hire a village hall for next to nothing and make it look beautiful with decorations from buy and sell websites, eBay etc, things like that, and just hire in a caterer, a lot of people also do later weddings (4pm) then just have evening food and party rather than two separate meals x

We were going to choose September, too get Married, because that is when we met ... But after looking at our Venues Prices, it was actually cheaper in the cooler Months ... So we chose March instead. X

Due to having two children very close together, we've decided we are doing the statutory ceremony next year with just our two witnesses to save money as we've reached the point of we are getting married because of a commitment to each other not some big white wedding, i am buying a dress on the high street, partner buying suit from primark and then we are just going on a family holiday for our honeymoon x

EBay, etsy and wish are your friends as well as any anything like Shpock. Register with your local wedding dress shops on Facebook and th eyll come up if they're having trunk or bridesmaid sales.... shopping for flower girls after communion season is amazing!

Try groupon, they have great deals for wedding venues

We are getting married on a Wednesday with just our immediate family at the registry office and we will then be spending the rest of the day just the two of us with a party on the Saturday night for all our family and friends. We didn’t want a big wedding as it is about the two of us getting married so is perfect for us

Prioritise what your willing to spend on. I decided to get married in jan on a Thursday it’s cheaper. Things I wasn’t willing to compromise was my dress, makeup and photography.

Flowers, centre pieces, decorations I’m doing myself and bought the stuff to do it from the range. Invites I designed myself.

Due to being in January and a week day many suppliers could cut the cost as it wasn’t peak so we got £600 off the band just by saying our budget was lower than what they were asking.

I’m asking some students people wanting to build their portfolio for the videographer. Maybe you have some friends that might be willing to do this. A lot of recent graduate photographers or people in their final year of study that may want to do it. Xx

Same here i have 4 kids so me and my Partner trying to save is difficult, however we have decided to make a few sacrifices like giving up our take away nights, im making most of the things myself like invitations and table centre peices and flowers

Getting married 'out of season' (March, as opposed to summer) is saving us about £3,500 on the venue. Write up a budget for every single thing you need and how much you're willing to pay for each and stick to it. We started off by deciding what was a priorty (for example, my dress, photographer) and what wasn't so we could budget more for certain things. If something is over budget, find it cheaper. Browse the internet for deals. There are PLENTY. Make your own centrepieces. Don't get sucked into the whole commercial aspect of weddings. We have almost everything excluding suits and a few things left to pay off and we're still only halfway through our budget. We have everything we want including the little luxuries. It can be done for sure, you've just got to prioritise, compromise and save save save.

We only had close family and friends-11 in the end at Gretna no makeup artist (you don’t need one !) no video person (I didn’t need one) I got married on a Thursday -cheaper and I made my own centres . We were given one of those wedding bottles to save in its simple and cute we put spare pounds 50ps and any notes haha but saved just over £350 in it so an idea maybe x

Don't invite every Tom dick and harry

There’s a few good Facebook pages for preloved wedding items which are great if you’re on a budget, we found things like sweet jars/tings etc for a sweet station we want at our wedding which we will do ourselves rather than pay a fortune for an outside company to come and do it. Also, if you have any friends/family who are photographers/bakers that would be willing to do the photos or wedding cake etc that saves a lot. Or of course if friends and family have a contact who knows how to do those things at a discount

I found staying in the hotel we get married in the night before is cheaper foe us both than hiring wedding cars so we've saved that way
I am making my own invites, flowers, centerpieces, name plates, seating plan etc to save money and have gotten moat things off eBay and Aliexpress. There are wedding selling pages on Facebook of people who sell off there decorations and flowers etc so might be worth looking there.

Hey.. Drop me a message my aim is to get the best day for the best prices xx
https://www.facebook.com/lovetosparkleuk/

I'm getting married in just over 4 weeks and can honestly say with the total money spent, that if I had kids and other priorities I'd be doing a reg office mid week and then going for a drink with friends. I don't have kids and my outgoings are relatively low and I've still managed to blow thousands. I'm excited, it's for me, but the most important thing imo is marrying your partner. You have plenty more important things to spend your hard earned cash on, it's one day, I'd cut out literally everything in your situation.
However if you want a little more, I'd definitely say look into it before you pay for anything. I'm doing my own flowers but turns out wouldve been cheaper for my local florist. I did my own invites, wouldve been cheaper buying pre-done online. I've gone OCD with the matching colours, you don't need to, my dress is new, it's for one day. Im having 10 bridesmaids/page boys but not a necessity to all couples, I've bought all the crockery cutlery tablecloths chair covers sashes etc, prob would be saved a lot by hiring that stuff (I'll be selling it all afterwards at a fraction of the cost so there's another saving, buy 2nd hand, it'll have been used just once). I've asked a friend to do my photography, another to video the big bits, one friend is buying my cake as a gift, another my balloons, both our parents have helped a lot if you're lucky enough to have that help. I guess my message is, work out what and who are the biggest priorities to you personally, and remember it's just a day. Best of luck whatever you decide x

Some venues will do it cheaper midweek and will let you book in advance at the current rate (ours did) which is good as your not paying the rate that it would go up to. Also you could do things like do the invites,decor and wedding favours yourself x

Lots of ways to keep the cost down. You can do the budget legal option at the register office for under £50 then if you want lots of guests, cheapest way is to hire a village hall and serve a cold buffet. You can do food yourself or buy ready made platters from the supermarket. Ask guests to take part in a Great British Bake-off and bring cakes along. You'll be surprised how people rise to the challenge and anyone who cares for you will recognise the financial restraints of two young children. Sites like this are useful and I've picked up bits from Facebook too. Poundland/Poundstretcher etchave surprisingly good things like bunting, banners and name places. Cheapest table decs though are tealights in glass jars interspersed with flowers. Colllect jam jars, Gu desert glass containers, a bit of lace and hessian and bobs your uncle! Good luck with it all. X

Look at doing just the legal paperwork to make marriage official (my council do a thursday slot @£50 litre all just signing documents no vows with 2 witnesses) and then have a blessing on the day with vows and ask a friend to officiate.
Ive joined lots of fb wedding groups in my area and found suppliers put offers on it i got 30% discount on my photographer.
Also joined china dresses success stories so i could look at buying my dream dress for a bargin price also doing the same for bridesmaids (i went shopping for wedding dresses to find what i wanted first saves £1500 by ordering it online and you would never tell the difference plus the bridal shop i went to admitted she gets the bridesmaids dresses from same site im ordering mine but im paying £17 rather than £90 from the shop)
I found a venue that was cheap to hire and were having a Bbq instead of a sit down meal again saving money. Also not doing favours as every wedding ive attended the favours ended up left or binned.
Im also making a wedding website instead of invited and its free and guests can rsvp will only send invites to family who arnt online.
Im making a felt bouquets 💐 watched lota of youtube videos on how to make flowers orderd a boundle of felt from wish for £2 and some floural wire and a glue gun, its taking me a while but i have a year (im
Also making the mens pins same way look on pintrest for ideas)
Ask any friends or family is they have any skills u can use such as cake
Makers and ask if they wold
Make as a wedding gift.
Use your own/family cars just wash and it ribbons on.
My wedding is coating £5000 in total for a sat in August would be cheaper bit my oh wanted a church and thats coating almost £600 😫
X

Me and my partner have been together 15 years after have our children buying our first home then selling it, to buy our dream home. We finally get married next June. We opt for a registry office and a social club local to ourselves. We are decorating the room, having our own candy cart table and photo booth set up. Our family and friends will make our day special. I am trying to do as much as I can myself and spend as little as possible and still make to look good and elegant. Pinterest has great ideas you can adapt. Shop around Amazon, ebay, hoby craft , local home bargains have a wedding section x x

We have got all our wedding in for £700 I’ve gone for a blue dress, calling in favours from friends including a photographer, flowers, cake and videographer. Ask them to do stuff instead of buying you presents. Most marstons pubs just charge for the food not the room so just have a very simple buffet. Warren James always have a sale on for your rings.
We are getting married on a Thursday one county wanted £300 registry office but a neighbouring county want £124!!! It’s worth spending time shopping around

Depending on where you live, hire a pretty village hall for your reception and cater it yourselves from cost co or somewhere similar or ask guests to participate in a bring-and-share buffet/dessert table. There are some really pretty village halls with outdoor space all over the country. Or, you could do your reception picnic style in a local pretty park Or somewhere, you could have lawn games etc.

If you wanted a more traditional venue, get married mid-week - you can save thousands by doing this (we did!)

Make/print your own invitations.

You can make all your own centre pieces, favours and decorations for a fraction of the price it costs to hire them.

Have a more intimate wedding and keep guest numbers down to save even more money.

Following

You're not alone hun, my partner and I have been engaged for 5 1/2 years, together 11 years and have no money saved at all towards our wedding. We have two daughters and rent our home also. We are only planning on having around 20 guests and that includes us 4. Our issue is the expense of a venue, we want an outdoor/woodland type ceremony and aren't planning on a reception/after party at all. X

What's your budget? We are doing it on about 3000, we also have 3 young children. Weach have cut out the sit down meal so straight from the ceremony to casual evening do with buffet. Xxx

We are going abroad, we have 2 children and need a holiday so doing it the same time. Cant book till next year but booking the day free child spaces are released. The wedding itself is about £600 includes cake, a drinks package, taxi returns etc etc we are going all inclusive too if people want to come they can.

Village hall! they are generally desperate for money towards them are next to nothing you can decorate them realy well, ebay is your friend

We are still attempting saving despite having booked the wedding. (2020)I'm making all flowers myself with artificial flowers (have saved £100's) also have minimised table decorations, and been buying things here and there when on offer/discounted. I want pretty plain and simple for the cake so again price is reduced... Cake stand and knife are included in our venue package alongside room decoration and chair covers and sashes also so is food. (The room is practically decorated the way I was dreaming ) we've made changes to the drinks side of things as my side of the family don't really drink so drinks costings are halved. Also got a deal for photographer because they're recommended by our venue. Wedding coordinator also included in venue. Were not going on honeymoon because we have two young children just staying at a spa place for a few days after. Don't need to pay for travel as the venue is conveniently right near my parents. Book everything as far in advance as you can (we got mocked (by some venues and others) for starting to book things last year ... However we are now garunteed to only be charged 2017 prices and not 2020's with their extra (15% inflations per year) were not putting money behind the bar we can't afford that. Little bits here and there for the wedding such as decorations,cake toppers, candles etc have been bought from cheap places but are still beautiful (the range, b and m bargains, IKEA, Amazon and ebay have been my best friends when buying one thing a week or three a month) Hope this helps

I mean this in the nicest way but what's important to you? The wedding or the marriage? If you just want to get married to the man you love, book a registry office and then a village hall for a reception. If you want the wedding then a mid-week package may be the cheapest option. Just be careful when you say you'll DIY things, some things I have found cheaper to hire or buy than it is to make. Look for people who do things as hobbies rather than highstreet businesses, my cake and flowers are a fraction of the price they should be

Weddingbudgeter.com has some great money saving tips! Good luck!

Look on groupon for money off venues and photographers, or do a small registery service for family and then a party for everyone? A lot of places will charge less for a party than a wedding?

I’m planning our wedding at the moment.
,friend will do photographs we do handmade paper flowers(even my bouquet will be from that.
Place is a small town memorial hall,it will save us lots of money.
Good luck to you to find a solution.

Look on buy want sell for wedding items you need I bought my dress on eBay from a Chinese seller and you wouldn’t notice if I’m honest and I also bought my bridesmaids dresses there too they are dress shop quality for a lot less our wedding cost us 3500 for everything and I had a church service and a lakeside venue it’s knowing where to look xx I’ll attach a picture of my dress and bridesmaids

Find out what you most. For us we just want to be husband and wife so we booked our local registry office, got a social club for free and got a friend to do photography. The other stuff adds up to a total of 2k so it can be done. But only if thats what you want to do. I know I wont regret doing it this way x x

I get married on Saturday.. I've done my whole wedding on £6000. We originally looked at registry office but they closed ours, so had to opt for a church wedding as it worked out cheaper, using a local community centre for the reception, as it has a bar and good prices... Food is my biggest expense at 1500, but that's a hog roast for 120 and buffet for 50. I have used a local catering company who knows the venue. Local dj, flowers were 105. Artificial ones made by someone who does it as a hobby, cake is being made the next street over from me, so very local. When it's come to everything else like jewellery and bridesmaid stuff I sercahed in sales.. Debenhams 70% off sale is great for bargins. A wedding can be done in a budget... Hope all goes well...

I decided that as long as I marry the man I love, everything else is just a bonus.. Lol

Think seriously outside the box when you book a venue. We have hired a garden centre cafe. Its beautiful and different and a bargin. Dont feed people three courses. Make your own cake. As long as you practise you can create something amazing. Look at getting a dress made it sounds daft but its actually more reasonable than boutiques sometimes or buy from web2be. Amazing choice and the prices are literally fab. Kids outfits. Tk maxx and h&m were great for us. Primark do fab suits. Literally amazing for the money. But like some other comments say. If you cant afford the wedding you want right now. Just do the marriage registary weekdays are cheap. You can always do a blessing and have a reception another day then do the big wedding in a few years if thats what you guys want

Look out for groupon deals and out of season winter weddings 😁