If you had a seriously low cost wedding, come and tell me how!

[LittleLongDog]

How on earth do people manage to get married? The costs just spiral!

Has anyone managed to throw together a lovely wedding day on an incredibly low budget?

And if so, how did you do it?

We only spent about 4k.
Dress was £285, tiara £40, shoes £15 (wedding shop was closing down.)
Only had dd as bridesmaid - her dress was £5 from bhs when they had a mad sale on.

Had a reg office wedding, reception for 40, evening party for about 130. That included champagne / red & white wine for the daytime.

Didnt bother with a proper cake, and my DB did the photos. I did the wedding favours and the table centrepieces myself which everyone loved. Ebay good for this.

Had a lovely day - this was 12 years ago. We then had a fab honeymoon trip to Oz/NZ 2 days later which we wouldn't have been able to afford if we would have had a more expensive wedding.

Cake M&S.
Cake toppers online.
Registry office about £120 (in 2005)
My outfit from Debenhams
His outfit from M&S
Two minibuses
Pub buffet and disco for about 25 people from my dad.
No photographer, people emailed their best pics to us. We made up a memory box (box from WHSmith)
Honeymoon from PiL.
All in all about 2.5 grand.

We didn't do rings, formal invitations, suits, cars, big frock, favours, sit down meal - we did do a registry office wedding, local venue, big informal party, finished by 11, went home to bed.

Friend made the cake
Friend did the flowers so we got a slightly cheaper rate
Didn't have a "wedding dress"
One car only
Restaurant not a hotel
Only 40 guests
Invites bought online
One bridesmaid
No honeymoon

Ours was.
Hired a boat on the Thames and paid for food and the bar for most of the evening.

Friend lent us a car to take me. My mum did the cake. No favours. Only 3 bunches of flowers for me, our 2 mums and 2 buttonholes for Dh and best man. No bridesmaids, just my best friend as my maid of honour.

We booked the registry office intending to have no guests. MIL threw a hissy fit so we had less than six weeks to arrange everything. I hired my dress. My flowers were a bouquet of long stemmed roses with roses in my hair. We got married on a Monday because it was a significant date. I hate fuss so went to the hairdressers and did my own make up. I didn't want wedding cars and guests took photos. We had a sit down meal in a restaurant for 30 then a buffet for 150 on the night with a DJ. Our cake was a wedding present. No one was offended because they knew we had just bought our first home and wanted to be married before our surprise son arrived.
All in all it was less than £2,000 and we were fortunate to receive gifts for that amount in cash so essentially it cost nothing. We celebrate our Silver wedding anniversary next year.

Taxis instead of fancy cars
Cake from M and S dressed up with fresh flowers
Dress made by my Grandad
Not a formal sit down dinner (but as formal as we could make it!) had a self served buffet which meant fewer waiting staff so a lower budget.
Picked a venue that didn't normally do weddings
No wedding favours!
Compromised wherever possible
Didn't get wrapped up in "must haves"
Made the invitations myself (can do this even cheaper now with a wedding website!)
Hired Groom and best man outfits
Hired a DJ who played some Scottish music

Our wedding was on a Thursday (but October half term)
I made the centre pieces myself
I did the bouquets and flower arrangements myself out of silk flowers (still have them as centre pieces in the house)
My dress was £200 in the end of summer sale
Everyone that came to day came to night so no worries about buses/ taxis etc as most stayed over
Friend did the photography as our gift
My aunt made the cake as our wedding gift
Favours for kids were stuff your own bear things and sweets
Made my own invitations (coloured card and printer with wax and bought seal)
My sister painted our table plan (she’s an artist)

It was an amazing day at a place that generally costs around £10,000 for the same on a Saturday in summer. Ours costs way under 1/5th of that. Three course wedding breakfast for 100, with hog roast for evening and disco.

Nicest (proper!) wedding I have been to was uk, a field, a marquee, and everyone camped. Food was homemade by friends and relatives, drink was copious and I vaguely recall a bar (like you have at events -trestle table and limited choice) where most of us went in rounds after the first round or 2 or 3 (wine, privately driven over from Spain) was covered by the parents of the bride and groom. Portaloos like at a festival, and field owners were neighbours/friends of the brides parents so free. Awesome wedding. Still remember it fondly now 😍
We eloped to at the time the cheapest country that looked interesting - Austria for a ski holiday and wedding in the middle, no guests hence very very cheap 😁

Our was about £5k all in for 90 guests. It was in the village I grew up in so no cars/transport, just walked to the church from my parents house and then up to the village hall. My dad had a friend with a classic car on standby in case it rained. Village hall was £14 per hour(!!) plus a bit extra to hire a few ladies to man the bar, serve food, wash up etc. My parents and some willing volunteers spent about 8 hours the night before draping the hall in fabric so it looked like a fancy tent, it was amazing! And cost a fraction (£150 for 200 m of fabric) of hiring a marquee without worrying about weather, generators, loos etc. We served afternoon tea and home made cakes (MIL makes amazing cakes and my dad is unreasonably artist so did us an amazing decorated wedding cake) after the service, and then had a fish and chip van (£700) in the evening. Had £1000 behind the bar and the total bar bill only came to £850ish as the village hall is so cheap. Flowers were done by a family friend for about £600, plus some extra embellishments (ivy wrapped around the candelabras in the church and around the bar etc.) done by my dad. We picked up crockery and vintage table cloths from charity shops and eBay. Invitations and OOS were done by a family member. Music was a family member’s choir in the church and then Spotify playlists and the village hall PA system. Hair and makeup was done by a friend of my mum. I only had flower girls so no expensive bridesmaids gear, and I bought their dresses in the monsoon sale. They wore their own sandals. Rings were bought from another family member so we got a good discount.

Pretty much everything was done by hand or we asked for help. It was such a special and personal day, and didn’t break the bank.

And we can’t just have a ceremony or elope without upsetting people who want more.

Just returning to this thread and wanted to emphasise that this is your wedding OP. It's only yours and your fiancé's business. Other people can want more all they like, it doesn't mean you have to prioritise their wants over your own. You've mentioned your preference for eloping a couple of times on the thread, I think you should do what's right for you.

I personally wasn't interested in a big wedding, I just wanted the marriage and would happily have eloped in secret. My DH didn't really want a big do either but wanted to include immediate family, so that's what we did. MIL grumbled about her siblings and extended family and friends being excluded but she got over it. Family who love you will accept your decision, even if they are disappointed.