Hello everyone! I'm new to the site! We have been engaged for 5 years and now think it's time to tie the knot! But my question is... how did everyone save or afford their weddings?? Everywhere I've looked it's so expensive and I just don't see it happening for another 5 years!
Try going out of season. We are having a winter wedding. As its nye it doesn't really apply to us but if we had of had another winter date it was exceptionally cheaper. xx
The Richardson's 31/12/16
CommentAuthorKatieW528
Thank you! Yes I have seen some places are cheaper different times of the year! Also if we were to get married at 5pm onwards it's cheaper too! X
We're just paying what we can as we go along, rather than having a separate pot, as it were, for the wedding. But yeah, everything is so expensive. You may find that most venues will let you put down a deposit then pay in instalments and same with a lot of suppliers. After all, if you haven't paid up by the day they just won't deliver. Hope this helps.
CommentAuthorKatieW528
Thank you... I'm trying to get bits as I go along... the venue is my main worry as it just seems so expensive... thank you x
If you can budget you income and figure out how much you can put towards it every week or month, you can pay off as you go along! The deposits are the most expensive thing starting out, maybe some places will be more flexible than others. With ours we have one deposit covering most aspects of the day, and can pay off and add on as we go. Suits us perfectly as our wages are likely to change in the future :)
CommentAuthorMrsMaherToBe
Like super said save for the deposits and pay as you go, we paid everyone so much a month and it was paid off before the 4 week deadline. Also a lot of venues do a reduced rate on a Sunday some including bank holidays so it's work checking that way a lot of people would be able to attend without taking time off work ect
2009 met my boy.
2011 had our baby girl.
2013 had our baby boy.
2016 we'll live happily ever after.
CommentAuthorsamantha.hopgood@icl
i am getting married in 2018, we got engaged in Dec 2015, we are saving hard and reducing our spending, we also got good deals, which has helped and found booking 2 years ahead gave us a discount on some things.
CommentAuthorEmily17
Look for bargains, enter competitions
How about setting up another bank account and transferring £XX over each month on payday. That way you don't see it and its 'hidden' so you cant touch it x
Met in 2009
He proposed Jan 2014
Will become Mrs P 7th October 2017
CommentAuthorShellbell
We set our date for 2 years time to give us the chance to save. We have separate envelopes with the names of everything that we want ie venue, décor, cake etc and each month put money in them. Once we have the amount required in each envelope we will transfer it to our savings account. xx
Met 2004 lost contact after a few years
Met again 2013
Engaged July 6th 2016
Married July 14th 2018
CommentAuthorFlossie
We also set our date 2 years in advance to give us a chance to save. I did what Emily did - on pay day I'd transfer a minimum of £250 over to my ISA without fail, it's amazing how quickly it all mounts up, and because I never really had the money in my current account as I transferred it out so quickly, I never really saw a difference. We also saved all of OH's tips and cashed them in every couple of months - again it's amazing how much you can save by just putting away your spare change!
Do you think any of your family would contribute?? We planned the whole day as if we were paying ourselves, but our parents have ended up contributing a lot which has made it so much easier for us xx
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorShellbell
We also do what flossie said about the spare change. Anything we have at the end of the day goes into a sealed tin and when its full we will change it over. We have a tin for 1ps, 2ps & 5ps and another tin for everything else inc £1 & £2 coins xx
Met 2004 lost contact after a few years
Met again 2013
Engaged July 6th 2016
Married July 14th 2018
CommentAuthorEmily17
I have done that with £2 coins and now have £700
Met in 2009
He proposed Jan 2014
Will become Mrs P 7th October 2017
CommentAuthorShellbell
Ours is all in 1 of them sealed tins from the £ shop so don't know what we have in there yet, Although it is quiet heavy and has a saggy bottom lol xx
Met 2004 lost contact after a few years
Met again 2013
Engaged July 6th 2016
Married July 14th 2018
CommentAuthorLeanneF96
We are paying as we go along and also set up a standing order each week into my savings. Ive recently had a clearout and listed things on €b@y which all mounts up and goes straight into the wedding pot. We always have spare change laying around so i might get one of those pots myself i didnt even think about that :-)
CommentAuthorShellbell
The tins are great Leanne I used to just come home and leave my loose change lying around and would lose half of it but now its a matter of putting it in the tin each night I get home and its all mounting up. Don't get me wrong makes me wondering how much I have lost before now by just leaving it lol xx
Met 2004 lost contact after a few years
Met again 2013
Engaged July 6th 2016
Married July 14th 2018
CommentAuthorSusanM34
It's worth looking on places like &r0up0n. They sometimes have some amazing venue deals on there.
Became Mrs Maunders on 22nd October 2016!
CommentAuthorMrsPtobe
edited
We set ourselves a budget of how much we'd like to spend on the day and worked out how much we could save each month making sure that in 20 months of saving (that's how far ahead we booked our wedding) we'd have enough saved with a few thousand extra for unforeseen circumstances like not being able to save as much some months etc. Each month we've sent over our agreed savings into our 'wedding account' and if we have any left at the end of the month that goes in too. We used to eat out a lot, so we've cut back on that and we're trying to save in other areas like that amd doing cheaper alternatives like going for a quiet drink instead etc As long as you. Urgent it you will be fine - nothing has to be paid in full until nearer the wedding, and apart from the venue, the deposits aren't usually too big. Xxx
Also there's other ways of making cuts like getting things secondhand, eg tiaras, wedding hoops etc buying bridesmaids dresses in the sale and from department stores rather than bridal shops....
CommentAuthorLynseyH10
We have a spare change jar which is nearly full we also have a wedding fund jar which only £1 or £2 coins go into. We plan breaking it open the week before. Unknown to me my h2b has been saving for the last year for the wedding so had a little nest egg ready for deposits. I'm lucky that my parents are contributing.
Our venue asked for a £500 deposit, £1000 needs to be paid 6 months before the wedding and the full balance 10 days before.
CommentAuthorSamanthaW362
you can buy some equipment by online. it's more cheap
CommentAuthorNicoleW665
We are just budgeting where we can, our venue gave us 10% off because we gave out day up for somebody who desperately wanted it (would have been the grooms mums 60th birthday) and the package that the venue provides is fantastic! We are making invites ourselves, H0me B@rg@1ns is a great place to look for little bits, our postbox cost only 3 pound from there. We have booked our wedding for September next year and I am buying all sorts of little bits in now such as, save the dates (made by a friend at a very reduced rate) cufflinks, garter, place cards, bubbles, candy cart accessories, just little things that can be easily stored which could be forgotten about. Bigger stuff will be purchased closer to the time for me, we have been saving up and putting everything into a bank account made especially for the wedding and everything we have spare at the end of the month goes in x
When we met: August 2009
When we announced engagement: December 2015
When we will get married: September 2017
CommentAuthorKatieW528
Thank you everyone all the advice has helped!! I'm going to set up a separate savings account and do money tins and use OHS tip money too... my dad has said he will help as it's tradition but I wanna do most of it ourselves! Thank you again ladies big help xx
We just put whatever money we had spare at the end of the week/month into savings account. Some weeks/months were better than others but don't stress, you will get there
21st May 2016 xxx
CommentAuthorMaxineP89
My OH has just had to take another pay cut, and is now down by around £250 per month - he had already lost £100 per month prior to this. This has crippled us as, his money paid for everything in the house, food bill etc, and then my money was being used to save for the wedding.
I am now having to use a fair portion of the wedding savings to help towards the household costs.
I have no problem with paying this, as we have a lovely home, I'm just worried that we will have to cut back on the wedding. Neither of us are any good at DIY or crafty things, so making our own invites etc is out of the question.
We have already cut back on lots of things, we no longer take a holiday, and only have 1 take a way meal per month.
To try to combat this we have resorted to putting things on the credit card, and are now keeping an eye on balane transfer deals with the banks/credit cards.
We are managing to pay £200 per month off the credit card, and are currently on a interst free balance transfer. I have also started saving £2 coins and all the spare change - every little helps. At least most of our deposits were paid in cash before this happened.
Looking forward to becoming the 3rd and last Mrs McLauchlan
CommentAuthorShellbell
We have also started to buy little things as we go along. Our biggest deposit that we have to pay is our venue. Its only £500 mind you but still a lot of money at the one time. Just put away what you can weekly/monthly and it will soon add up. If you also buy little things as you go you wont be stressing about them nearer the time as you will have them put away. Good luck you will be fine you will be able to do it xx
Met 2004 lost contact after a few years
Met again 2013
Engaged July 6th 2016
Married July 14th 2018
CommentAuthorJoanneM8473
Hi me and my partner set up a savings account and transferred whatever we can afford each month into it, at the moment we are putting about one hundred pounds away each and if there is any money spare from our bills that also goes into it alongside any money we have been given by our parents! it all adds up and you'll soon have enough. We got engaged September 2014 and didn't start properly saving until 2015, we get married May 2018 and have already paid deposits to our Venue and florist. Another thing I also found helpful is to write down the minimum you will put away each week/month and times that by how long you want to save for so you can see what your minimum budget is it makes it look more realistic and then you can allocate the money to things. Don't stress it will work out and you'll be fine x
CommentAuthorLoz K
I saw a savings thing on FB over Xmas where you put away £1 x whatever week of the year it is, so week 1 we put away £1, week 2 £2 and so on....We're now up to week 24 and we've got just under £300 saved. December will be an expensive month but we're swapping the second half of the year around so it wont be so bad. By the end of the year we will have just under £1,400 which is a nice chunk towards it. We had to pay a big deposit for our venue of £1300 so now we only have to pay for the catering and drinks nearer the time.
We also have a savings tin where all our spare change goes and once we've finished saving for a house (hopefully the end of this year) all our savings can then go on saving for the wedding!
CommentAuthorAnikaM60
Me and oh are doing some serious wedding budgetting as were payibg for it all ourselves. I opened an isa and both me and oh pay into it on pay day. We also have alot of new/barely used items were taking to car boot sale and were paying deposits on things and paying down each month. Were also asking talented family members for help. My mom is baking our cake. I have a friend who dresses venues for a living and shes going to do ours.we also have a family friend whos a dj whos offered to play our wedding at no charge. If you know someone thats really good at something ask them to help and that could be their wedding present or they may discount their services for you. Were diying somethings too. Like the sweet cart and wedding favours. Ebays a good place to get the little things for a cheaper price. You could diy your invites; Vista print also do wedding invites a fair bit cheaper than other places.
