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UKbride Member Request 15 Nov 2019

Low cost wedding

I’m looking to get married August 2021 and would ideally like to get married in a church .So was wondering how did you save money on your wedding ? How did you do yours on a budget? Thankyou in advance x

21 Comments
Michaela Sharp
Michaela Sharp 16 Nov 2019

Most wedding items are only used for a few hours so buy second hand where possible. I am doing all my decorations myself so I can sell them on afterwards too

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

2nd hand or ordered from abroad to save money where we can.

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

I bought my wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses off eBay. Suits from primark. Bought my flowers off eBay and making them myself along with my bridesmaids. I’m buying my cake from a bakery (cooplands 3 tier) and getting my aunt to decorate it. There’s loads of ways to save xx

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

You can save biggest amount by doing during months of October to March huge huge saving of you wanted winter wedding

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

Texted save the dates, no wedding favours, afternoon tea for wedding breakfast, high street bridesmaid dresses, DIY table plan and centrepieces

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

Bought bridesmaid dresses at everpretty website. Excellent quality. Flower girls dresses through
Amazon. Jewelleries and hair
Accessories amazon.

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

Look on pinterest for ideas on DIY's for your wedding. You don't need to do favours or do something simple you've made. Look in charity shops for things you can use for table plans ( an old mirror or old picture you can re-cover to suit your decor)

Don't be afraid to shop local or supermarkets for things. It needn't be expensive to be beautiful! Get little bits as and when you can each month until the date, because you won't notice it as much as a big chunk of cash going all at once.

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

I made all of my centrepieces, bouquets, cakes, decorations. Bought loads of stuff on fb marketplace and eBay. Start early and you can save a lot. We spent around £10k on everything, but it would have been closer to £20k if I hadn’t done it all myself.

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

we wanted a church wedding, but it was so expensive! (almost £700!) Instead we are doing the legal part at a registry office the week before (£45) and then doing a "blessing service" for the actual ceremony in the church on the Saturday (for less than £300), so we only pay the building cost! :)

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

I'm buying decorations fro. Home bargains and place like that. We have also put together a wish list for people to buy us for xmas and birthdays to help as well.

We put away all of out expendable money each month its hard going but I know it will be worth it in the end

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

Work out what your priorities are. Don’t mention wedding when asking for prices. My dress & adult bridesmaids dresses are evening gowns. Check out local pubs - we have the free full use of ours for a minimum spend which includes food & drink - no brainer really. Use family & friends skills.

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

Biggest money drains on a wedding; venue, dress, rings, food.
As your wedding band/ring is generally plain anyways go Argos and get them (£120 women’s, £80 men’s) or go to a pawnbrokers. If you want nice fancy ones you can get them later.
Second hand dress (I got a £4.5K dress for £60 from Facebook Marketplace)
Venue& food; look at your guest list and then look for venues that have the space and provide food or will let you bring in caterers.
Go for a late afternoon/ early evening wedding so you only need to do Buffett.

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

I'm getting married later in the day so I don't have to feed people twice!! I've bought my dress from an online retailer (asos) I'm having fake bridesmaid bouquets which were 20quid each on ebay. my own bouquet is made from brooches which I've made myself sourcing brooches and materials from eBay and craft shops. I've made my own invites which are not fancy but do the job!! I've bought my shoes on ebay I'm going to treat myself to having my hair and make up done on the day but I've gone with someone who I know and she's very reasonable I would definitely shop around for this!! I'm trying to source wedding rings on the cheap to!! We are not having a dj just putting a playlist on the in house speakers in the social club where the venue is!! The venue actually decorate at a reasonable price to!! When you put your mind to it you can definitely make it cheaper I'd write everything down thats important to you and budget accordingly I felt a "proper" wedding dress although looked amazing wasn't for me! It's the compromise xx

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

Do everything you self by bits each month set budgets by second hand ebay joom amazon all brilliant for making own centre pieces and boquets and more x

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

Im currently using bridebook app and hicthed.co.uk to plan my budget spends

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

I spent just over 5 k but was worth it xx

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

We are getting married in a church in august 2021
In total our church wedding is around £600 mark. Dress will be from wed2b, flowers will be artificial for arpund £100 for 5 bridesmaid/myself/7 buttonholes. Food we are doing ourselves and friends are xhipping in with extras:)

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

https://friends.withplum.com/r/rNzN26

I used plum which takes a little bit of money every 4/5 days and saves it for you. You can access it whenever you want. I let it build up to a total which I can pay something off. You don’t notice the money coming out and can set it to whatever mode you want. I’ve sent an invite link if anyone wanted to join 😊 best thing I did. Or message me any questions 😊 good luck!

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

A few ideas:
1. Get your cake from M & S or Waitrose or somewhere. Ours was an M & S cake decorated with flowers and it looked beautiful without spending a fortune.
2. I did pay the money for flowers at my wedding but if real flowers isn’t a big deal for you I’ve had friends that have had paper flowers which has looked really effective.
3. Don’t go to bridal boutiques for bridesmaids dresses. Use somewhere like Wed2b as they are just as nice for a fraction of the cost. I also know people that have got nice dresses from Amazon and ASOS.
4. See if you can get a discount by paying things off early. It might not always be possible but our venue gave us a bit of a discount for paying it off early.
5. Make your own invitations, table plans and any other props you might want for the day I.e. table numbers etc.

UKbride Member 18 Nov 2019

A lot of DIY: We made our own stationery and table centrepieces, and anything we bought, we got from ebay or Facebook.
Comparing prices: we shopped around a lot, comparing prices and using it to lower prices for some of our suppliers.

UKbride Member 19 Nov 2019

I didn’t buy flowers for the church, churches are beautiful I don’t see the need, a friend of ours played their piano rather then paying for the church ones, we also didn’t pay for the bells as they were so expensive... you don’t really miss them to be fair, and all the guest weren’t trying to hear instructions from the photographer above them. I gave myself three months to plan so we didn’t have time for all the budget killers x

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