I'm a newby and I am in a right muddle! Myself and the hubby to be have finally set a date for next September... I know its not just round the corner but everyone has told me I have to start thinking now.
We are on a very modest budget and I cannot find a venue with food for less than £3.5K... I knew weddings are expensive but I am surely not that niave that I cannot find something cheaper?!?!
I live in Swindon, Wiltshire and I don't want a venue for the wedding itself, just the reception and Wedding breakfast.
Is there anyone out there who could shed some light on some cheap venues (preferably £1,500-£2,000) or give me some tips on haggling these venues down??
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Thank you :-)
CommentAuthorOfficially Mrs M
unfortunately the date you've set is not the best time as it is peak wedding season
there might someone in your area that can do it on that date for that price however you could look at our of season weddings or choose to do it on a weekday to save money as most venues dont have anything on during the week
to be honest if you tell a venue what you are wanting they should be able to adjust the cost
also have a late afternoon wedding and just have one buffet rather than a wedding breakfast and an evening buffet
i'll try and think of other stuff as well but thats all i can think of right now :-) some of the other brides might have some ideas
happy planning!
8th September 2012 I married my best friend
1st September 2014 our little family grew by one
Women are made to be loved, not understood. - Oscar Wilde
CommentAuthorOWB
There are ways of doing it. You could look for a venue that offers and all inclusive package, some hotel chains do the full works for £1000. You could also look at hiring a town hall and having caterers.
My reception is costing £1000, I've hired a local coffee shop/penny farthing museum and we're having afternoon tea (scones/cakes/sandwiches/homemade lemonade etc) for 70 guests.
Another option is to get married later on in the day and go straight into the evening reception, this will cut out a lot of the cost.
If only life could be one long tea break
CommentAuthorhigginszajac
How about a local sports club or village hall, then sort out maybe a spit roast or other catering of some kind, we are using the village hall which is costing us £250 to hire from fri to sun, our hog roast is £1070 for 100 guests, then we are buying wine and barrels of beer and doing the evening buffet (just a smallish one as we are eating at fourish) between us. Guess it depends what your after really xx
CommentAuthorPB
Our local YMCA costs £20 to hire so definitely if you don't mind a bit of DIY decorating etc it is more than possible to do it much,much cheaper! Another option is a smallish hotel,i live near Blackpool and the hotels are falling over themselves to offer packages of £1000-£2000 all in. You could also look at restaurants/wine bars/pubs,all might be cheaper than the 'traditional venue' Good Luck xxx
some hotels here in norfolk are doing the whole package including getting married there for 3K! which i think will be what we go for. theres a hotel i really love and if u get married in december they have dropped the price down to 2k which is even better so we may look at december next year :)
CommentAuthorElliekitty
September is a very popular time of year for weddings. Orginally we were looking to get married then but we found it really expensive, we managed to get a bargain by moving to it January, we got the evening and day do for £1500,wedding breakfast, buffet at night,DJ,room hire, drinks alsorts! x
---Winter 2013 Bride ---
CommentAuthorJennyTembo
have you got a holiday inn near you they do some good wedding packages ?? x
looking forward to being Mrs Embo :)
CommentAuthorFitchMcCombe
Besides choosing a date outside wedding season, around April-September, you can also get big reductions by getting married Sunday-Thursday, which I think is not a problem if you let guests know in advance! like Soon-to-bo-Mrs-Mann said if you speak to the venues there are also usually ways to reduce the price. We're planning to go with a scottish hog roast company and do half bbq which as higginszajac said dramatically cuts the cost. At the end of the day, if you're set on your date then it all comes down to how many guests you have and how formal you want it to be! good luck x
CommentAuthorLinzi-jo
We have had the same problem, but I'm afraid to say that I have looked EVERYWHERE and cant find anything for less than £3500 for 60 people. We are having ours at the end of August on a Saturday which makes it much more expensive. Our problem is that in order to get married at our church we are then limited on reception venues that aren't too far away, and unfortunately venues take advantage of this and charge more xxx
Got together 14.02.2008
Got engaged 31.12.2010
Will become a Mrs on 30.08.2014 xxxxxx
CommentAuthorMrsSaraParry!
i second what some of the ladies said, look at hotel chains. We're getting married at a Best Western hotel and our package was £3000 for 50 day guests and 70 evening guests, which included all room hire, champagne and canapes, 3 course meal, flowers, evening buffet, DJ and all sorts of other things! It wasn't the cheapest package they had either, and the hotel itself is gorgeous. Definitely worth a look xxx
