Firstly im a budget bride so everything im Doing is at as little cost as possible! my wedding is july 2013 and ive spent weeks comparing prices with catter'ers, djs, etc.. Have you got any top tips of where i could save money..? My budget was just a £1000, already i have sepent almost double that with out buying any brides maid dresses, grooms suit, or waistcoats for the usher's and paige boy... We now are not haviung a honeymoon until the next yeat due to the unexpected cost of the wedding.. I have 40/50 day guest. with a additional 80 for the reception. church wedding then onto the venue. Any advive and useful tips would be much appreciated xxxxxx
CommentAuthorclive
Helllo luvvie! Welcome to UKB,
I don't want to sound defeatist, but if you're having 130 people that's 130 mouths to feed, just to begin with, and that alone will blow your budget straight out of the water. Best advice anyone will give you is make as much as you can yourself, invites, save the dates, floral bouquets, etc as for dresses, don't rule out things like the charity shops. The are bargains to be had. Promise!
You mention DJ's. What's wrong with plugging an ipod into an ipod dock? Thats hundreds saved in an instant!
CommentAuthorclive
Also, consider having a buffet. That will save cash again. Also, use sparkling wine for the toast, as opposed to champagne.
CommentAuthorbridalmiss
We made our own invites, emailed the save the dates, made our table planner, menus, centrepieces and I borrowed things like a friend's tiara etc. We also saved 20% by finding a videographer on this site and paying £2.50 for one month to be a Power User to get the discount when booking! Haggle on everything, don't take the first price - we saved over 25% of the original prices by just asking if they could give us a better price - check out my wall for places where you can get your veil, I got mine made as a copy of the one from the shop, for 31% of the shop price!
CommentAuthorRaggedyAnne
Our biggest money saving things was.......we were BRUTAL with the guest list..... I am NOT feeding and watering people I havent had contact with in god knows how long, JUST because they are related to me.
hence my guest list is 20 people......but thats fine because we wanted intimate.
getting a wedding cake from M & S......and as theres only 20 of us....thats smaller too.
My sister is taking me and the bridesmaids to the ceremony, so we were able to do without cars.
I have a photographer friend who is taking our pictures for Mates Rates....£100 (I did the same for her last year)
I DIYd to my hearts content and made so much stuff.....like the table centrepieces. I purposely used something I thin I have a good chance of selling afterwards.....(birdcages filled with flowers.....cost me £10 each but pretty sure I can sell them on afterwards for about the same)
I made my own bridesmaid dresses, and I know its not for everyone, but maybe if you cant make them yourself, do you know anyone who is a dab hand with a sewing machine? could save loads of money.
£1,000 is doable for a wedding, but I doubt it would be enough for a sit down meal for the amount of guests you have, unless you have something like a hog roast......which are amazing!
Look around for bargains and use the guys on here to help you achieve that! I bought my youngest Bm dress (10yrs) from a high street store when they have a blue cross sale - half price so £22 each! The BMs are also paying for their own dresses so that's a big help - call in favours where you can and don't be afraid to ask for discounts!
Like RaggedyAnne has said DIY as much as you can - it's amazing what you can save and look on the bay for your materials i've done STD and invitations for 51 day and 50 extra evening guests for less than £80 - planning on doing the same with the table plan. Also we made a 1 year rule with guests - if we hadn't seen them in the last year they weren't invited all day! It's surprising how the numbers soon come down when you stick to a rule!
Biggest tip - where you can don't mention the "w" word - its surprising the difference in price for a party!
Good luck and enjoy the planning :-)
Kelly x
CommentAuthorMrsA-J
If youve got any bridesmaids that are adults ask them to pay for there dress! And just make it a highstreet one!
And i totally agree with everyone try and make as much as possible. And Ive found the same as Kelly- Dont say the w word! Especially with prices of cakes!
X
CommentAuthorPrincess2be
Hiya,
If you are good with beauty you could do your bridesmaids and your own make up/hair/nails to save some pennys. I think sometimes its cheaper to take your own bottles of wine to the venue instead of using the venues and then just need to pay a corkage fee or something. Ask friends or family who might have any talents eg baking a wedding cake or alterations for dresses. Small savings will add up.
x
CommentAuthorMrs Stocks 2B
The Bay of E will soon become your best friend soooooo much on there and if you look about you can get fab bargins.
i got my veil for £1.50 off the bay it was £150 in the shops but i was they only bidder chacking :D also made all 65 day invites and 100 evening invites for £20 buying blank invites with enveploes out of the blue white and red supermarket in packs of 50 and all the butterflies and stick on gems from the bay. centerpieces i am doing candelabras from the hotel and just having scatter crystals minimal but looks good.
Have fun planning and everyone here has fab advise xxx
CommentAuthorOWB
I've save money in several area. My dress is a white 50s replica, not a wedding dress, this cost me less than £100. We're having afternoon tea rather than a sit down meal, this was £14 pp rather than £60+. We're holding the evening do in a private section of a vodka bar, rather than hiring a hall - no disco cost, no buffet cost, in fact a shot and food per guest is just £7.50. Because were having food there's no hire charge, or entry fees. I'm booking a hotel a hundred metres or so from the church and walking, so no car hire. We've compromised on numbers to 70ish overall.
There are lots of ways of saving, but you have to be creative.
If only life could be one long tea break
CommentAuthorAbz
Hi Everyone! so many comments and so much advice allready! Just to clarify im only having aprox 40/50 day guest's for the day, we have chosen a sit down, 3 course but buffett style so no waiters, help your self. This is comung in at £7.50 per head. Unfortunatly your not alloud a corkage fee at our venue and there cheapest champagne is £42 a bottle. So we have chosen to use sparkling or rose wine at £12.99 a bottle 1 per table and a jug of orange juice 1 per table at £5 a jug. Where hoping to either do a sweet stall, or cake stall for the evening guests where not sure but we need to make a save here, im also more than certain that there will be buffett food left over any way. Does any one have any further ideas for evening guet food as i want to offer them something.. but at as little cost as possible. I have created my own centre peices, brought my inivites,some of the gifts, decorations, and tiara from the bay (e) so saved money already but things are still costing a bomb! I cant beleive it ... My wedding dress was a great bargain new at £40! my flower girls dress new at £10! and a bridemaid dress (a former wedding dress) £10! there my bargains of the whole wedding, however i know have a size 22 moh to supply a dress for which is forming difficult not only as i would like baby pink but she spasifically wants a to the floor dress... And as all the bridesmaid dresses where brought seperatly there all diffrent, now im fiunding it hard to find her a semi- matching dress to her requirments at a low price :(
Sorry i have so many questions.. is there any amazing way anyone has saved money on cake boxes?? At £2-5 a box of 10 and i need 160 its proving to be a small fortune.... Also shoes.. by brides maid, flower girl and moh all want flats.. i do want to buy these matching i also dont have any yet as long as there white with a small heel im happy.. any good, affordable online stores??
Thanks in advance for all the comments xx
CommentAuthorLittle Kettle
Do you need cake boxes? We didn't have them? Will you not be serving the cake in the evening? If so, you really don't need them and if people don't want their piece then, then they can just wrap it up in a serviette, couldn't they? I've done that before.
