This is the 2nd time around for me, so my partner and I will be paying for the wedding ourselves. Can anyone give me advice on how to meet a budget of £10,000? We were hoping for a maximum of 40 guests ata country hotel for the weekend. People will be paying for their own accommodation but we need to pay for everything else. At the moment my costs seem to running at approx £16,000 minus the honeymoon! Any help would be gratefully received. Thank you in advance
CommentAuthorMrs Mara Tester
Ebay!!!!! lol. xx
I can't believe we've actually done it
I am now Mrs Limara Tester
CommentAuthorcymrugal
why dont you go for an afternoon ceremony so you dont have to have a wedding breakfast? x x
CommentAuthorMrs (Dove) Pidgeon
£10K is a great budget- people are having similar sized weddings for a lot less.
Venue/catering/ceremony will be the biggest chunk of budget. this can be cheaper 'off season' and sometimes on Sundays. Photography- getting images on disc with printing rights is cheaper than album packages Flowers- either silk or only buying bouquets/buttonholes. Look at alternative ideas for centrepieces. Stationary- DIY Cake- DIY or supermarket Dresses- internet/ex-sample/high street/second hand/ ivory BM dress Suits- use own rather than hire.
Now a extremely happy German housewife and now a Mother!!!!
Islay Jean born 24th June in Hannover.
CommentAuthorMrs Mara Tester
Most people are making their own stationary and wedding cakes. Like I said before Ebay...It will become you best friend, lol. Bridesmaids and groomsmen could buy their own dresses, most of them should be fine with it but it would mean that may want to have more of a say as to what they wear. Do you know any DJs or bands (if that's what you want) that could give mates rates? xx
I can't believe we've actually done it
I am now Mrs Limara Tester
My wedding is coming to approx 12000 for 70 guest in day and 150 at night and thats not cutting any corners really!! So your budget should in theory be more than enough, easier said then done I know.
Ebay is great, other sites have some great deals. An if you search on google, or alternative search engine for photographers and things there are lots of websites with great prices around at the moment.
Have fun looking and planning, hope that helps!! xx
CommentAuthorx~Hails~x
H i ya babe welcome to the site Its my h2b's 1st time and my 2nd and our budget is £5000 with 50 day guests and another 50 for the evening. So it can be done on your budget, just stick around and get lots of hints and tips from the ladies on here and you'll be off to a good start.
UKBride moderator both on here and on facebook
For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart
It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.
CommentAuthorKizzy81
I'd just say negotiate too. It's easy to get a price for something, but if you cross quote EVERYTHING you can really chip away at prices. My marquee and table and chairs I managed to save over £1K on by keeping going back to them saying "someone has offered less on chairs, can you match...). Same with food - I'm now getting a stocked bar, and canapes and drinks service for the same price they originally quoted for just the sit down meal. Some people will just agree to shut you up!
CommentAuthorcymrugal
most of my wedding supplies ive bought via auction sites or catalogues on sale, im saved so much by doing this, and my budget is 5000, thats with 70 guests at the day and 120 in the evening, also included is the wedding breakfast, and evening buffet, honeymoon. it can be done if you look around for those bargains!!
CommentAuthorMrs fairytale
your budget is defo do able, our wedding is coming in at about £11k and that is for 50-60 for the day with sit down wedding breakfast, and 250 for the evening. have saved a fortune on doing own invites, shoes, favours, confetti cones, table plan, save the dates. some of the girls are having a late wedding that way that only have to have a buffet in the evening xx
cant wait to renew my vows, love my hubby sssssooooo much xx
CommentAuthorshellie
hi this is my h2b 1st time and my 2nd!! i had a budget of £7000 but for reasons had to lower it to just £3000 maybe pushing to £4000 and i didnt think i could do i really thought i would have to cancel but thanks to great people on here and ebay!!! i hav nearly done it all and only just hitting the £2000 mark!! i would definately recommend diy on everything you can and as luck had it i have a friend that makes cakes!!! do you hav any close friends or family you could ask a favour from?? good luck to both i hope your wedding is all you wanted and more xx
CommentAuthorMrs Alsbetty
edited
you have a great budget to work with you can do that easily, we have done ours for under £1000 so far only a few little details to do now! x
Enjoying being a wifey!!
Currently baking a small person at last, took a while :)
CommentAuthorMrsSnedden2B
Our budgets is max £2000 were cutting it down a lot by making our own invites save the date cards cake getting my dresses made abroud and not having a sit down meal having a buffet insead that is saving a lot my bridemaids r buying there own dresses and best man is hiring his own kilt xx
CommentAuthorkitten
edited
CONGRATS. you don't have to worry too much with that budget if you shop smart. scout around local hotels and find ones doing a good deal (or negotiate with the one you have in mind) I'm getting all this for £2010 at a local hotel, but i was quotes 3 times this for the same service else where. 50 at breakfast, 100 for evening. civil ceremony is £150 extra according to the brochure is. • Red Carpet • Drinks reception on arrival • Glass of wine with meal • Celebration toast drink • 3 course wedding breakfast • Top table flower arrangement • Menu’s & name cards • Cake stand and cake knife • White table linen & napkins • Toastmaster • Evening finger buffet • Disco • Complimentary room for bride & groom
Center pieces £150 (£25 a table) Money in your pocket for the bar £200 that's your ceremony and reception sorted for a quarter of your budget.
Hire your suites - allow £100 each Buy junior bridesmaid dresses on the high street - I got mine for £100 each including shoes, tights and boleros Choose your transport to the hotel carefully, cars can be expensive. If you are having grown up brides maids try high street designers but again shopping around you can get great deals on bridesmaids dresses. Hope this helps.
CommentAuthormrs pinkalice
yeah just be upfront and ask for discounts, especially if its a weekday. 10k is my original budget too but at the moment looks like its gona be 11,500 plus honeymoon about 14,000 eeek! xx
CommentAuthorshellay
£10,000 will get you a great wedding, my budget is about £5,000 to £6,000and i seem to be getting everything that i want for that price, we are having upto 150 guests in the evening as well, but we are not having a wedding breakfast just an evening buffet x
I have know my soulmate for 27 years and on the 6th August
I married him and became Mrs Garnham.
It was most definitely the happiest day of my life.
I love married life !!!!
CommentAuthorMrs Alsbetty
edited
i didn't add numbers did i silly! we having 50 for the day, then 120 for evening all for £1000 this doesn't include my dress as my dad bought it for me, but the everything else is for this price, registry office then humanist ceremony and picnic at arboretum then evening in a masonic hall with bar staff, everything paying for own drinks. and people brining own picnic for day we are providing drinks, we will be providing buffet for evening x
Enjoying being a wifey!!
Currently baking a small person at last, took a while :)
CommentAuthortrustmeimawoman
like kitten we got the same sortof things and comes in just under £3000 still have rings,cars and suits but they not that much, i wished i had your budget i would be able to invite all i want but we dont so just 60 during the day and 100 at night but will be just fab have fun and enjoy x
CommentAuthorSuz80
Hello ladies. Our budget is £5000 which isnt too bad though if we dont have to spend it all it would be good. Kitten can you please post the site for that amazing place as everywhere i've looked is either more expensive or the same price yet doesnt include half of the things yours has to offer. Thank you. x P.S. Ebay has become my new best friend (as well as ukbride obviously :) ) so many things on there i had never even thought about and soooo cheap, but good quality. Amazing. x
CommentAuthorJulie
As your venue is going to be the biggest expense, look for venues that include more than just the room hire. Like Kitten, Ours includes: Ceremony DJ All Linens and napkins Colour coordinated helium Balloons camera's on tables Suite for bride and groom floral centrepieces for all the tables Colour coordinated ribbons and bows for top table and cake table Cake stand and knife Wedding coordinator Menu Cards
I looked at loads of venues that was just for the room hire without anything included which would have cost me a fortune to pay for all the things on top. Our budget is £6k and we've been able to do loads with that budget
Hope this helps x
Master of Ceremonies Room hire from 1:30 - midnight Candles & table confetti
CommentAuthorJulie
Oops messed that post up, lol
CommentAuthormelbob
Thank you so much for all your help. I feel much better now. I work as anEvent Manager so know all about negotitian but nobody seemed to want to play ball when Weddings are involved. I will certainly try your advice and see where I get to.
Thanks xxx
CommentAuthorKizzy81
Try not mentioning the word "wedding". I did that on a few bits and then when they've quoted and agreed you can drop it in. Works a treat!
CommentAuthoreebeegeebee
I'd say the greatest bit of advice is just to decide what your priority is and stick with it!! So if the venue is most important, budget in other areas. If you want an extravagant dress, cut costs elsewhere. I bought a second hand dress for a fraction of its original cost to reduce my budget, and am doing flower arrangements and invites myself. I envy your budget, £10k is huge compared to mine!!!
CommentAuthorPuddleduck87
Our budget is £3000 and I'm finding that pretty easy! lol. You have a FAB budget! x
CommentAuthorlala "mod" bunni
my bugdet is 5k and same as you it is a 2nd wedding
for wedding related bits - tiara, veil, BM dress maybe, shoes, decorations try ebay - i have got quite bit off there so much cheaper than shops.
the venue - see if they can do a discount. dont have a wedding breakfast do a buffet at evening do instead (we doig this and saving over £200) hire suits rather than buy x
CommentAuthorgemmam99
You can always try to sell some of the bits that you buy for the wedding to make back a bit of the money - that's what I'm doing.
Also ask your friends if they can help with any of it -for example if you know anyone that is great at making cakes ask if they would make a couple for you as your wedding present - add plain white icing and a bit of ribbon plus a couple of flowers and you will have a perfect cake.
I do events too - just apply the same principles as you would to your events.
Good luck x
CommentAuthorOjsmummy
we have a budget a hell of a lot smaller than that and we have managed it by DIY most of it tbh
we are doing our own flowers, stationary, cake, decor and much more lol
CommentAuthorMrs Steer
shop around hun you can def get it cheaper, like the ladies say bay of e is a life saver. Our wedding is coming in at just over £5000 which is a church wedding a seperate reception hall, 98 to the church and then a total of 160 in evening.
:) we just paying for honeymoon seperately. You can do it xxx
Is now happily married to my gorgeous man
11-06-11
CommentAuthorSoon2beMrsHall
We have a budget of about 5000 - 6000 max and we are doing it. just have to look for the bagins and buy things in the sale
Cant wait to to marry Martyn
Wishes the wedding would come faster
XxX
CommentAuthorluvlifejen (mrs berr
our budget is 5000 ish! i'm sure you can find something cheaper xx
soon to be Mrs Berry 26.11.2011
CommentAuthorXLittleMissMe!X
10k is a big budget! That is what we have and we are having a big country house hotel and a church blessing on top of that. The wedding for 60 guests is working out as follows: insurance £33.00 Registrar £310.00 Notice of marriage £60.00 Church blessing £305.00 Wedding certificates £3.50 hotel rooms £335.00 Venue hire £4,153.50 wedding rings £225.00 mens hire (everyone) £329.00 wedding dress £855.00 flowers £109.84 cake £60.00 entertainment £500.00 photographer £995.00 transport £335.00 gifts £100.00 hair and make up £232.00 bridesmaid dresses £120.00 £9,060.84 I have to admit this doesn't include the £180 I paid for his ring and the £50 I have spent on veil, tiara, shoes, post box and a couple of other little bits.
CommentAuthoramie23
i agree with all the girls, my wedding for 80 day guests and 120 ish evening guests will cost us just over £8000 for venue, day and evening meal, drinks on arrival, drinks with the meal, cake, table flowers etc. just negotiate with the venue. we are paying around £95 a head for day guests. you should easily be able to get yours cheaper if only having 40 guests. compare prices with other venues
CommentAuthorXLittleMissMe!X
My venue includes a drink on arrival, two glasses of wine with dinner, toast, tea/coffee chocs, flowers for the tables, toastmaster, cake stand, cake knife engraved, three course meal and evening buffet. Oh and the cost of the room hire which also includes the honeymoon suite for us. If we had more guests coming on the night we would have had a free DJ as well. It pays to shop around and ask for a discount. We got 20% off our meals ;)
CommentAuthorluvlifejen (mrs berr
you sound like ur having roughly the same deal as me XjoX i negotiated big time! xx
soon to be Mrs Berry 26.11.2011
CommentAuthorXLittleMissMe!X
You have to. Its amazing what you can get if you ask. I managed to get 10% off my wedding rings as well. H Samuel were doing an offer if you buy the engagement ring from them you get a voucher for 10%. My h2b got my ring from an independent shop but I decided to be cheeky and ask them anyway. It doesn't cost them anything but means they get their sales. (mind you I shopped around and they were the cheapest for the weights) so 10% was just an extra bargain.
I think most of the money saving ideas are in another post but I've saved loads by getting my veil, tiara etc from ebay. I've also found a hire shop on ebay that does wedding suits for £50 each and then formal affair do a price match plus £5 off each suit! You can spend as much or as little as you like on your wedding. Personally even if I had more money to spend on mine I wouldn't as I have everything I ever dreamed of and more money wouldn't change the day or make it any better.
CommentAuthorluvlifejen (mrs berr
good point i've looked around and got some gr8 deals! dont think i will hit even my budget which is defo a plus in my book more money for something else! xx
soon to be Mrs Berry 26.11.2011
CommentAuthorLauraMck
I have budgeted the following for 80 day and 120 evening
Venue (wedding breakfast, evening buffet, welcome drink,toast drink, 1/2 bottle wine each, room to get married in, toast master, red carpert, cake stand) £7000 Dress £1000 BM x 4 £800 Suit hire £600 rings £700 dj/entertainment £1000 photographer £1000 Video £800 Flowers & venue dressing £1000 other (including hair/makeup/presents) £1000
Hoping to cut some costs where we can
CommentAuthorsarahuttley2b-[keera
like every1 said its easy 2 do when u av 2,ebays great,also look at bridal sales 4 ur dress,the dress i wanted was £700 in the bridal shop but i found one simular but better in the sale at monsoon and only paid £225 for it.also r bridesmaids,best men n ushes r buyin there own n we are gettin married at 3 so just avin an evenin buffet.for our honeymoon we r settin up an account at travel agent n askin guests 2 pay sumat in2 that instead of buyin a gift.we live 2gether so dont need owt 4 r house n r friends did same 4 there weddin n it was a huge hit cos it suits any budget,n u dont find out how much they v paid so is gud 4 guests who cant afford much.xx
i sarah louise duncan do take thee daniel paul uttley to be
my AWFULL wedded husband!!!!!!!!!!!!!lol
my heart is overwellmed with the love i feel for him,
my life,my love,my soulmate...forever.xxx
CommentAuthorsarahuttley2b-[keera
also cut out the drink packages a lot of guests dont like the wine,etc n r more than happy 2 just buy there own n it saves a big chunk.x
i sarah louise duncan do take thee daniel paul uttley to be
my AWFULL wedded husband!!!!!!!!!!!!!lol
my heart is overwellmed with the love i feel for him,
my life,my love,my soulmate...forever.xxx
