I started out with a 'small budget'of £8000 in mind, but what with our band...

My second wedding too . And I had in my head a little cheap do . But now I keep thinking want it to be perfect think we are looking 10000 not even looked at a dress yet . Our wedding is July 2018 . I try not to think about the cost . But is scary xx

Yes, everything seems to be more expensive than you first estimate!!!

There are things you can do yourself to help keep the costs down. For example I made my bridesmaid bouquets from artificial flowers, so instead of costing £35-40 per bouquet they cost me £17.95 for all 4!! It's just about doing tons and tons of research and costings of everything to see where you can save money. Don't be afraid to ask family if they have particular talents too, a family friend is making our wedding cake, so it's only costing us the ingrediants, which is saving us hundreds of pounds compared to having a cake made by a professional. Plus all those little handmade touches will make the day so much more personal and special to you both I'm sure. Good luck with your planning! Xxx

Small budget??? My whole wedding is costing about £3000 less than that!! And even that is the higher end of my budget!

Buy all yr decor bits off eBay
That helped me out massively

I have found that doing stuff myself seemed like a great idea until now. It's a few days before the wedding and I have spent 2 years collecting everything. It's a lot to organise when you do it yourself and it is stressful! There are always things you can save on like stationary, wedding favours and all the last minute things that you don't think about.

Snap both our second wedding so we are keeping it small (25/30) but we are still looking at 5-6k. Even though it's 2nd time around i still want it to be beautiful!

Your not alone there, we don't get married until April next year but figured if we can afford to splurge in certain areas, why not? I had planned an outlet wedding dress, registry office etc but ended up with the complete opposite! Just do what you want, it's your day 😘

My tips would be don't be afraid to ask for discounts from suppliers, we've negotiated reductions from almost all ours. Don't get blinded by pintrest... before you do something think do I really need this, would my wedding be ruined if I didn't have it. Dont do save the dates and I got beautiful wedding invites from Hobbycraft for fraction of cost, don't have excessive amounts of bridesmaids and ushers, consider a posh buffet instead of sit down...go through ur guest list and really analyse if they need to be a day guest. Look at alternative venues and consider using someone to dress it instead of usual hotels etc. Start buying little bits & pieces now from 'normal' money not wedding savings. Look on eBay, preloved and confetti for things like birdcages or other centrepieces.

Don't spend what you can't afford, its one day that will be special either way. Come to a figure, get quotes and go from there. There are always places to cut back. People get wrapped up in having the best wedding and it almost becomes a competition with all this needless stuff. As a guest I don't remember the expensive flowers, the 3 course meal I ate or wedding favours. In fact I can't remember any wedding favours or any of the food. Some of the best weddings I have attended are the small, lower budget ones. Ultimately it's about getting married.

Join local fb wedding selling sites, amazing how cheap people sell things for.
Shop around for deals, but remember "you get what you pay for" so prioritise the important factors such as photographer before skimping on other areas.
Invitations can be very expensive, but lets face it, they end up in most peoples bins so why pay over the odds for them. Same with favours, keep them simple. Look at buffet options instead of sit down meals. Really think about your guest list, do you need your second cousin, that you have only met once?

We have used a lot of local suppliers or suppliers who are friends of friends. A lot of them offered discounts or freebies without us even asking because, as a small business, they're fighting for business. Bigger companies tend to stand firm cos they can!

Write out a budget, income, outgoings and figure out what you can honestly afford then stick to it, shop around a lot. I know people that have got married on £2000 so £8000 isn't really a small budget to begin with. Ours will cost about £9000 all in, while I know it's less than what many spend I've never tried to say it's small.

Yeah ebay is the way to go. My bridesmaids dresses were originally from monsoon at 135 and I got them for less than 15 each. They are being altered and cleaned. They will look fab. My 2 flowergirls dresses cost 10 each ebay/China and the baby has a bespoke dress that the bottom cost 5 quid of eBay. My dress was 350 BRAND new in a sale from a beautiful bridal shop and originally 1250. I got a crystal bouquet of eBay for 65 and the other 3 bouquets 11.99 all off eBay. 6 mens ties for 17 quid of ebay. They ain't wearing suits my h2b hates them. Why does it have to cost a fortune. Friends are doing 3 cakes and cupcakes as it's my birthday also. My chief bridesmaids fiance is a photographer. Basically sorted. Evening reception and bucks fizz after ceremony is less than 2 grand including DJ and 2 rooms for 2 nights. It's all paid for no debt. Sorted. I'm gona look like a princess on my 50th my wedding day for slot less than 3000 quid xxx

My Nan is making our invites and stationary - saved us about £300! I feel the same! Stressing already about money! x

I feel for you vicky im in the same boat!! Our budget was £11,000 then £6000 now its on £12,000 i get married in 4 months. I paid as we went aling so drew up a spreadsheet of everything i wanted andceverything i needed, big difference, then allocate a monthly amount you ca spend after all normal bills out then keep a little bit back and save a little each month even if its £10. Then follow above tips, make your oen, find on line, hire s nd a tip from me, dont use hotels they have hidden costs. We are lucky in yhat we are borrowing barn off my h2bs boss so no venue costs. I skashed out on my dress because last time round it wasnt my choice and i regretted it it was boring plain no train. Ive also spent lots on flowers £1400, i love them. But making menus name place cards , etc. Half the fun are the personal touches you find or do yourself. Good luckx

I have a spread sheet going for our wedding budget lol. I've got a list of everything we want/are having, the deposits we've paid and what's left to pay. They both have sub totals at the bottom and then a final figure of what we would have spent come the day. It's helped alot with keeping track of everything. Most places ask for deposits and then nothing else until nearer the date, so as long as you know what you need to save for, you can put money aside as you go. Try and get friends and family to help where you can. My lovely bridesmaids helped me make our invites which saved alot of money. And my mother is making favour boxes for us. Make use of your contacts :P x

We're spending very little on decs as we're recycling bits and bobs, nothing on transport, and not doing 'favours'. The venue cost over £3k (we are getting married there and having the reception there plus we have use of it for the whole weekend - 3 days). We are having to factor in chair covers etc as they're a bit tatty but it is the right venue for us. I think £10k ish will be the more likely figure (which I suppose is nothing compared to the average £25k wedding). I'm sure it will be worth it but it is a scary amount of money x

I got married on a budget of £2500 and i wouldn't change a thing. My main advise would be to use the talents of friends and family and call in favours. My friends Dad did photography as a hobby- he was our photographer and the pictures are amazing. A close friend is excellent at arts and crafts- she made us cake pops as table decorations which were also the favours.(and her wedding gift to us) I posted on my fb page about a cake maker and an old friend from school makes them as a hobby with her mum. It was affordable and she advised me to have the main bottom tier as a 'fake' cake. It made the cake look fantastic and tiered but we didn't waist money or cake. I used Ebay for decorations and even got my bridesmaid dresses from China. (Just thoroughly research the company etc first) have fun planning but remember it's about what you and your h2b want, not about pleasing everyone else. :-)

I have a spreadsheet but ways I've saved money are doubling up my favours as place names by adding a hand written luggage tag (the favours were really cheap too from favourfairy.co.uk, they come flat pack so you DIY, I'll attach a pic), and my invitations are DIY too. I got them from pureinvitation.co.uk and you choose the design and it gives you two prices, one for them to make them or one for them to print them and send you the bits to stick together yourself and the second option is half the price! My bridesmaids are fab and are paying for their own dress/hair/make up. We've decided to also save money by not putting wine on the table as people will already have a drink in their hand when they sit down from whilst they were waiting for us to have the photos done. We are providing a toasting drink though. We had wanted a candy cart but our favours contain love hearts sweets so we got that element in in a cheaper, different way and have scrapped the candy cart. I'm also making my own centre peices - taking empty baked beans tins, spraying them copper and wrapping lace and ribbon all around them to put flowers in instead of vases. It works for the rustic theme! I'll add my inspiration pic for that too! My bridesmaids dresses are off the high street too and I'm wearing shoes I already own seeing as my dress will be covering them up... I'm sure there is loads more tips out there but they're just a few things I've done. My cake will also be from M&S rather than a bakery, saved myself about £200 on that according to some quotes! xxx

Andrea BuckInn Flynn

My wedding isn't over the top but the cost is still 12000