Wedding Forum - Any ideas to make the day cheaper!...

Hello

Please can people give me ideas to make things cheaper? ive tried knocking people down like knocked £100 off photographer got 10% off chair covers etc but want some more ideas.

look forward to hearing them

thanks xx

Thank you thats so much help!!

We have booked our venue it is at an old church hall and getting married at Leeds Town Hall.

Im rubbish at making stuff in relation to wedding invites but i will defo do my own favours and centre pieces!!

Thanks for your help.

x

ok can't post it until you accept friends request.

I'll bookmark this post, and keep you informed. A fellow yorkshire lass here, so more than happy to help :)

I got 55% knocked off my underskirt by finding it online and getting the shop to price match, 20% off my Benjamin Adams shoes by using a discount code in a wedding magazine. The BM's crystal and pearl headband I got free from a magazine promotion, and the necklace and earrings set for her I got free by spending over a certain amount on a website (bought my hair pins from there).

I'm borrowing a friends tiara, and the veil I got for £47 after buying and customising online (bridal shop wanted £145 for the same style!). Suit hire we haggled a bit in the shop so got half price suit hire and free insurance. Centrepieces we're making our own sweet trees and a cousin is making us cupcakes as favours for the guests. FG dresses I got over Christmas where the store was doing an online sale. Saved on flowers by having ribbon bows as pew ends, and my FG's are carrying stuffed toys with them (which I got in the sale) rather than flowers - so flowers for me, BM, corsages for parents and grandparents, groom and 1 arrangement for the church and another for top table all came to £270. The catering we knocked down by haggling and creating our own bespoke menu (saved over 35% from original quote) - the video we got from a supplier on here and for a £2.50 Power User discount, we got all day coverage with 2 cameras and 6 disc copies for £600. My mum is making our cake so we're only paying for ingredients, and my brother is a graphic designer so designed and printed our invites, menus, table numbers and orders of service as a wedding present. Ooh, and we emailed out our save the dates too to save on postage - if I think of any more discounts we found along the way I'll let you know!

Ooh and we got 15% off our all inclusive Maldives honeymoon by umming and aahing a bit too! :-)

Were getting married on a week day, saved a small fortune cos everything is much dearer on a Saturday.

No probs, if you want the names of any of our suppliers etc let me know and I'll put details on your wall - but the secret is, just ask if their prices can be discounted and remember - you have plenty of time to shop around! Also, see if there are any local wedding fairs going on in the next few months near your area, as a lot of suppliers have promotions on the day if you talk to them - we didn't need to do this as we'd booked a lot before we went to our first fair, but it's definitely a top tip!

done, it's called Asking venue for discount/ freebies!

Also my veil will be available after September which is a cathedral length ivory veil with crystals on which u can have if u wish? I also have a gold tiara looking for a home??

could you send me the link please banks? i've been looking for foam flowers x

Hi Janie how do i see a thread?

Wow thanks for everyones help im going to a wedding fair sunday so excited for that. ill have to look on ebay! We know someone who does flowers so hopefully can get them cheaper but Banks please could you post it on my wall and ill take a look.

Soon to be MrsMann thanks for your response. Where abouts in Leeds are you? Wow i love b&m so might have to take a trip down at weekend. I saw on ebay 12 fishbowls for £10 aswell. Do you have to have a card for country baskets? Thanks for the offer of your veil and tiara but im not going for a viel and my auntie said i can borrow her tiara so thats something borrowed.

Thanks again for your help

xx

oh thanks that would be a lot of help. well i know a lady at work that has a card so might just borrow hers and then can go look at it myself. thanks though.

Im from other side of leeds, Garforth well i just moved 1 month ago to Castleford but mum still lives in Garforth so back and forwards. This is going to sound a bit dump but the table runners do they just go along middle of each table?

thanks x

well im having white table clothes but thats a good idea cos my colour is cadburys purple and ive just seen some on ebay for £5.99 so i could just run that down the middle of eachtable.

fab idea thanks!!

x

Make what you can yourself, buy things second hand, a buffet style or a hog roast is always cheaper than a 3-5 course sit down meal, apart from pre-loved dresses you can have a copy made in China. And the most ridiculous expense in my book at a wedding are flowers - this is ofc totally personal preference but I am not willing to spend 100s or even close to £1000 on something that lasts a few hours. So we're going totally flowerfree.
My bms are all buying their own dresses.

And last but not least - ebay is the most glorious thing for bargain hunting!

little miss i agree wiv flowers, my flower bill is £295 thats for my bouqet, 5 adult poses and 2 junior bm flowers 7 mens button holes and h2b button hole and the mothers r havin wrist corsages! i refuse to buy any for church as its fancy enough and the venue i am puttin the girls pose's ont he top table after photo's and mine and one of them i am usin to throw x

if you get some pinking shears from a craft shop it won't fray :-) i've got some with a subtle wavy pattern on from the rainforest (A****n) they were cheap and will do the job

Just thought id add my 2p,

weddings can be done extremely cheaply without having to sacrifice any elegance or move too far away from your dream :)

Most suppliers and venues can be knocked down in price, don't be too pushy though!

Ask for too much and they may stick to their guns.

Also you don't have to go with their suppliers for anything (other than food maybe).

Depending on how far through you are with your booking there's plenty of ways of saving money;

(ill stick to what i know here though!)

Initially;

Choosing an obscure venue, there's plenty of venues/Land out there which can be booked VERY CHEAPLY and you can decorate it yourselves with silk drapes etc (which you can sell on) alternatively you can hire them.
You'd be amazed how any space can look if you add a bit of flair, lighting and décor into it!

If you do decide to hire, remember you can always collect from the supplier saving you even more money!
Some may let you collect a few days earlier for free, others may charge a extra,

Venues can be lit nicely for less than you think, and you'd have several £K's worth of kit to play with

If you use a venue like a village hall or Barn you wont be tied to any catering company, there are plenty of event companies that specialise in high end bars, if they sell the alcohol you wont have to pay them (sometimes) and they can be top of their game cocktail staff too!

Flowers; you can hire fake flowers.

Cakes; Your cake can double as desert! I see so much wastage after weddings and the cake is normally 50% of it!

Days that save you money; Sun - Thursday
Days that cost the same; Fri & Sat
Days that possibly cost a premium; Bank holidays, Christmas eve, New years eve & Boxing day

Hope some of that helps

everyone loves pudding :)

Well we have a french bakery in Garforth and they used to deliver to work and the deserts are to die for so nearer time im going to go in and see if they can do me a deal with the puddings.

Ive booked the reg office and village hall and booked chair covers and photographer coming tonight and i will be booking him but then i dont know when i need to start looking for a dress and booking food and caters for night and all the other stuff? what do you reccomend is the right time scale to start booking the littler things if we are getting married June 2013.

x

i know, people have such brilliant ideas... :)

I'm trying to cut down on costs as much as possible. One of the areas I am going to do that is with favours. My future sil spent a fortune on favours (she got rock candy with their names inside). She bought way too much and now we have a bag of them sitting at home! I read somewhere that traditional wedding favours were five sugared almonds that all meant something different. I think I am going to do a little organza bag up with almonds inside and a little note explaining them. I'm making my own invites as well, I got everything from an art shop for less than 25 pounds!