Hi, my partner and I got engaged a couple of months ago. Wasn't something I had expected so with no savings and a house to pay for where do we start?? From what I've seen and heard its quite pricey to get married how do you all do it?! I didn't really want to wait too long to get married but to get the sort of money together to have the 'dream wedding' would take years. I'm sure I'm not the only one in this position so any tips I'd be soooo grateful.
Thanks x
CommentAuthorloola_hoop
hey, congrats on your engagement, weddings dont have to be so pricey if you get creative, but it just depends on the kind of wedding you want, venue etc. there are LOADS of invaluable tips on ere, have saved me loads lol! maybe a case of searching through the forums, or just keeping an eye out, but always bargains to be had! do you have a rough idea for your budget? xXx
CommentAuthorkatie&dougie
Hi thanks for the advice, not really sure on budget. I dont want to go too mad but I do want a fairly traditional wedding. Dont want anything too big so that will cut the costs for food etc. Is setting a budget the best place to start then as I've just been talking to friends and family who have all spent well over £12,000 which to me seems too muchx x
CommentAuthorloola_hoop
i started by looking at the things i wanted and looked at the kinda prices they were, to begin with my budget was £5000, but then i soon discovered this wasnt enough for what i wanted, and my budget soon rose to £14,000!!! but with some creativity i got it down to £9000. but it does depend on what you want, obviously a registry office wedding, with an evening buffet is gonna be cheaper than a church wedding with a wedding breakfast and evening buffet (just for example not saying that either are bad!) what kinda ceremony do you want? so you want the wedding breakfast? you can spend stupid amounts of money on a wedding, and easily too, but Ebay is a great source of bargains!!!
CommentAuthorMrs Vineer
hi congratulations! you may be able to get friends and family to help, when my mum got married she had her brother (whos a chef) make her cake as a wedding gift, a friend with a nice car drove her to the church for her wedding gift etc. but what i have done is look on the high street for alot of things, for example my shoes are from new look £20! its funny just because something has the word wedding infront of it the price seems to double! have fun with it though! xx
a huge budge isnt the be all hun. Some of us have managed on less than 5grand. its all about shopping around cutting back on what you dont need and making stuff you can yourself. we have all done bits ourselves. 99% of my wedding is from ebay
im not seeking attetion i just like everyone looking at me
im married
im now Mrs Dove
no more wedding planning LOL yer right
CommentAuthorStevie_Dee
Lots of brides try to make as much as they can themselves which more often than not saves a fair bit. Do you want a church ceremony or civil ceremony in a hotel/castle etc or in a registry office? Lots of brides have the ceremony and reception all in the 1 place and this can save quite a bit.
I think what you need to do first is draw up a guest list so you have a rough idea on numbers. This is an important first step and the amount of guests you have really dictates what kind of venue you go for or vice versa. No point going for a small intimate location with a capacity of 40 - 50 if you plan on inviting over a 100 and no point going for a huge location if you only want to invite a small number as the place will look empty. Once you have decided on guest numbers you can then work out what kind of food would be most practical. Would you want a sit down meal with many courses + evening buffet or like many brides on here are doing a buffet/hog roast or something else, Dont feel like you have to have the works just because someone you know had it all. xx
I have a gorgeous husband!
2 brilliant wonderful boys, a wonderful life
in Cornwall. Happiest woman ever!
Now making our house a home. Blessing 2014.
CommentAuthorMrs (Dove) Pidgeon
You can get married for one or 2 grand- £12 grand is big budget! Its a case of working out how much you can afford to save and how long you want to save for. This gives you your budget. Theres loads of ways to save money- DIY, ebay, off season, weekday, utilising friends talents.
Now a extremely happy German housewife and now a Mother!!!!
Islay Jean born 24th June in Hannover.
CommentAuthorChrissy
I agree with everything the girlies have said, such a wise bunch they are, listen to them and you won't go far wrong luvvie. Congratulations by the way, enjoy all the planning xxx
JD is taken so I'll settle for being Mrs Marge :o)
CommentAuthorRags
I'm in pretty much the same situation, I need to do my cellar up - so I can dry clothes down there and not get upstairs damp again, I need to replace the bathroom so the bath doesn't leak and fall through the floor, I also need to replace the kitchen as it was a stop gap to get me by till I had more money and its blood awful, oh and I have a wedding to plan and pay for.
It is hard but I think I can do it in the 2 years I have planned. Originally I was after a July wedding to go with when he proposed - but now I realise summer weddings are far more expensive, you can't guarentee the weather, so I am opting for an October wedding and I'l be happy whatever the weather.
We don't earn much and he is self employed so every penny counts - can't wait for the penny jar to fill thats our deposit for the savings account and hopefully it will grow from there :)
Oh and congratulations and welcome :)
I'm now a married woman
I have a gorgeous husband
Whats to do now
Theres no more wedding planning to do
CommentAuthorlala "mod" bunni
autumn wedding will be fab hun , dont worry bit by bit it will come together
you can do a lovely wedding on not so big a budget just look around for deals xx
soon to be Mrs Berry 26.11.2011
CommentAuthorCowChop
Congratulations! We are only spending about £4000 and ours is exactly how we want it so you can do it fairly cheap, u just have to shop around and be qute strict with yourself. x
CommentAuthorRachie :D
Hi hun - we're putting so much money away a month to pay for everything my parents are giving us some money towards and have said at least 2k but it will depend on their shares and bonds and we wont find out until may - so we're trying to keep it under 4k
9th June 2012 when two worlds collide
The Crazy Cat Lady and the Transformer Man!
CommentAuthorLaticschick Holland
It doesn't have to be expensive hun. Our wedding is coming in at around 2500!. Firstly decide a budget and an idea of what you want. Then look at Venues. The reason our's is good is our reception is at local cricket club. the price is really good and they are giving us room for free. Venue's that can work out expensive are big hotels etc
CommentAuthorlinzi
you just need to decide what you can afford and go from there. When we first got engaged, we thought £6000 was an ok amount to spend. But then started adding it all together and looked at a few venues and the budget shot up to £14000! So we divided that amount by 24 months to see if we could save that much and 2 years and voila, we had our budget and our date!
however since then we have changed our minds (as you will too a million times, what seemed SO important once can seem totally not important a few months later!) and slashed our guest list and brought the wedding forward a year. Its still costing us about £10000 tho.
so work out what you can save a month, and see how many months it will take to afford a venue and a wedding that you will be happy with. If it takes 3 years hun, then it takes 3 years. x
I don’t repeat gossip so listen very carefully!!
Started Slimming World - 23/03/2011 - 2 Stone to lose!
Total Loss = 1 stone 7 lbs.
As at 23/11 - 3 days before the wedding.
CommentAuthorMrs Hinch2B
Congrats on ur engagement hun! like others have said, the most important thing is to sit down with h2b and honestly decide what you can afford. Me and H2b are skint, I finished uni last years - hence why we're waiting til 2012 to get married! There are some fab money saving ideas on here hun and so real bargins to be had a venues etc. good luck xx
Bridezilla.... Me?? I have no idea what your talking about!!
We met 30/01/2005 (H2B's Bday)
Got Engaged 23/07/2010 (My Bday)
Getting Married 08/06/2012 (can't wait to be Mrs Hinch)
CommentAuthorchani
congrats! we worked out what we wanted first - sit down meal or buffet etc, worked the numbers and an estimated cost per head etc and built up the budget from there. once we knew how much we needed, we worked out how long it would take to save it!
the best tip i can give - mates rates! we've been really lucky with having very talented friends who have all stepped in and helped us keep the costs reasonable.
just have a chat about whats important to you both and build up from there x
CommentAuthorfee21
ongratulations on your engagement hun.. well we started saving right away and we have been engaged for 3 years now but still quite differcult at the moment.. and i'm still worried we'll come up short soon.. i hope not though xx
CommentAuthorNuttytart
Congrats on engagement. Decide in the type of wedding that you want and when. Then look at ways to save money like time of year, friends family etc.
CommentAuthorlinzi
oh yeah and know that if you get married during the week then its SO much cheaper. We didnt really know this when we first booked. And haggle with the venue, we didnt do that either. Although now we have moved our date forward we have got a better deal!
I don’t repeat gossip so listen very carefully!!
Started Slimming World - 23/03/2011 - 2 Stone to lose!
Total Loss = 1 stone 7 lbs.
As at 23/11 - 3 days before the wedding.
CommentAuthorkatie&dougie
Thank you guys soooo much for all your advice, you have no idea how much its opened my eyes to where to start. Had planned to get married in August (same date we got engaged) but thinking I quite like the idea of an Autumn wedding. We both want a church wedding and h2b has a church that means alot to him, its quite a small church which is perfect as I dont want a huge wedding. Now let the saving begin\1 Thanks again you've all been a massive help I'm really grateful x x
CommentAuthorFuture Mrs Henderson
Hi and congrats We are in a similar situation. We have our engagement party on Saturday and jst hoping our parents come up trumps lol. My mum has said she will help out wher she can but the not knowing wher she will help out and with how much is hard. I have a gr8 bunch of friend who have said thy will help out wher possible with things like favours etc. Bay of e looking lyk a great place to start for all the extras needed for a wedding xx
CommentAuthormummyto2
hi and welcome congrats on your wedding
im a married women now
mrs carson-moores
i love my hubby and my kids with all my heart and soul
CommentAuthorMrs Rebecca Hossfeld
Heya, congrats to the both of you on your engagement, the ladies here are a godesnd to bounce ideas off of.
Once you have sorted out guest numbers, theme colours for wedding it's just things like his suit, your dress, flowers etc etc, trust me you can save so much just by looking around.
Although I got married in Canada it cost me & the hubby way less than £1000 to get everything!
