Hi ladies, I've been talking to my mum about how realistically we'd be able to save enough to get married next year and as much as I'd like a sit down meal, I can't afford the 4000 price tag! (I'm hoping to get my entire wedding for under that if I can!)
Is anyone else planning their wedding for later in the day to avoid the cost of a sit down meal? What are you doing in place of it? I'm not sure I want to get married too late but then guests will be hungry if we get married too early and the only food is the evening buffet?
Planning to perfection <3
CommentAuthorSLC86
Hiya! We are getting married at 4pm, we did want 3pm but we could only choose from 12noon or 4pm on the day we wanted, so opted for 4pm as like you, we don't have the funds for a sit down meal. Our budget is around £5500. I have a planning thread in the big day if you want to look. I'm going to make all my decorations myself and with help from friends and family. My mother in law is making our cake :) Our only big expenses are our photographer - which is still only 750 which ain't bad (perks of getting married later on in the day!) and the wedding rings xx
CommentAuthorVelcro
im getting married at 4pm too, we will be going straight into a hot buffet, then later on in the evening, there will be bacon butties dished out, wasnt even gunna bother with those, but some how got rail roaded into it!! interfering families eh!
Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey
*Kelbel* is my wedding twinny!
CommentAuthorVictoriaL46
My wedding kicks off at 3pm and though we are having a sit down meal we're keeping it cheap by having canapés served as the "starter" right after ceremony during photos/cocktails and then a carvery Sunday roast for the meal with no dessert as the evening will have a sweetie bar with a chocolate fountain. The canapés and carvery is totalling to under £1500.
Met in Nov 2005
Engaged 13th June 2013
Becomes Mrs Stewart on 10th Aug 2015 Honeymoon in Florida!
My Diary Thread: My Alice in Wonderland Wedding Diary
CommentAuthorRachelE118
HI- I really begrudged paying for a 3 course meal that very few people actually eat so instead our wedding breakfast is afternoon tea with Pimms. Works out so much cheaper, and people aren't sitting through a heavy meal.
We get married at 17:30 (I wasn't aware the Registry Office performed ceremonies that late!!) But it's ideal for us because by the time we've had photo's etc after the ceremony, it'll be time for the evening do and buffet :-)
CommentAuthorWelshBrideBethan2015
I have been looking to do similar thing so far the timing goes like this : 2-3pm wedding ceremony 3-4:30pm photos and getting to reception 4-5:30pm again allowing for pics and drinks reception with canapés 5:30-7 pm (ish) sit down for speeches and maybe something like afternoon tea style such as welsh cakes , more canapés drinks and sweets kinda thing 7-8pm change over and move to different level 8pm onwards dancing and hot buffet and fun times
That is just estimate but I will warn guests that there will be actual breakfast meal but more snacks etc timings maybe slightly off as some bits may last longer than others. However this does save us over £4000 !
Somehow always connected , finally became friends .
Friends became soul mates :)
Engaged 6th July 2013
<3 <3 Married my best friend 11/7/2015 <3 <3
CommentAuthorLauraY27
Our ceremony is at 2pm, we are having a hog roast at 5:30 costing £750 and a finger buffet that will be topped up during the evening, made by my nan. We're also having a dessert table full of homemade cakes.. Saving us about £4000 xx
CommentAuthorbarbie86
I think for it to work your ceremony needs to be late enough, and you need to provide something a bit more substantial that just a buffet.
So, I'd be looking at maybe a 4pm ceremony, with food served at around 6 or 7 pm. Depending on how late it finishes, you might like to serve two 'waves' of food: one at the start of the reception, and then one a bit later on when people have had more to drink.
Reasonably priced options would be things like BBQ, hog roast, carvery etc, and you could also look at local restaurants: we had an Indian restaurant cater my parents anniversary party and it cost £1500 for a two-course meal with a veggie, chicken and lamb choice for the main (and samosas and lamb koftas to start, as well as naan and popadoms), plus cutlery and crockery and 2 serving staff, for 80 people. Obviously Indian isn't everyone's cup of tea, but a lot of restaurants will do this sort of thing so it can be worth asking around.
CommentAuthorB2B2017
my aunty had her meal at an indian and I think she paid something like £850ish? I *think*
Planning to perfection <3
CommentAuthorInDreamland
We did things very traditional and glad we did as all our guests were talking about how amazing everything was including the food, however this isn't everyone's choice for their big day.
I like the idea of doing it a bit cheaper and maybe do an afternoon tea around 3:30pm or 4:00pm to keep guests going until an earlier evening buffet at say around 7:30pm.
You may not want to start the day too late as you want to have as many hours enjoying your wedding day x
Married the love of my life on Saturday 11th May 2013 xxx
Had our dream perfect honeymoon in Hawaii!
CommentAuthor*KelBel*
If it helps to keep the costs down then it could be the perfect solution for you. We're doing the whole thing from 1pm just because we wanted to be able to savour the whole day x
Velcro...my wedding day twinny! The Two Kel's!
Got engaged 14/10/12 in Central Park NYC!
Became Mrs Macdonald 13th September 2014
Mummy to 4 girlies and baby blue boy Due 10/05/2016
