Talk to me about your low budget weddings

[hotpotlover]

Hi,

me and my boyfriend want to get married this year. We have our giving notice appointment in May and if Covid allows us, will do a small wedding ceremony in the registry office.

We want to keep it low key, partly because we don't have a lot of spare money for a big, expensive wedding. We had a baby August last year, my partner is once again on furlough and I'll most likely be made redundant at the end of my maternity leave ( employer put my job at risk - bastards).

But even in better times I wouldn't like spending lots of money on a big, lavish wedding. Seems a bit of a waste of money to me spending 20,000 pounds on one day even if you have the money, but I can totally understand if that's your thing - do you.

So I was thinking of a budget of 1000 pounds. We don't want to invite many people - maybe 10.

I already found a wedding dress I like, 250 pounds.

Has anyone else had a cheap wedding like this? How did you make it special?

Our wedding was about £2000, we had 30 guests.

We got married at a registry office, my dress was bespoke but only £250, and had a meal after at the Marriott hotel. We did all the table decorations, and chair covers and stuff like that. £500 for a photographer.

Honestly I wanted it much lower key, with just a meal at a restaurant after (rather than a set Wedding Breakfast) but my mum gave us money.

We had a registry office wedding last year, 4 guests and a pub meal after.

What made it both low budget and special...
I had a dried flower bouquet that now lives in a vase and i get to look at it every day.

My mum took some lovely photos, we were quick to get a few printed online and hung up so again get to enjoy them every day.

We couldn’t take our planned honeymoon abroad but had 2 weeks off work together doing local walks, day trips, picnics, lie ins, board games. We made a list of fun things to do and just picked from it depending on weather and what we fancied. Dressed up a bit nicer than normal and took lots of photos. Drank champagne in some incongruous places

Instead of a wedding night hotel I spruced up home with new bedsheets, nice toiletries, coffee, etc. All a level more ‘fancy’ than we would usually buy (M&S!).

The best bit and cheapest of all was cutting the wedding day short around 4/5 pm, retreating home for a cup of tea and decompress together. We called some people who couldn’t be there, opened cards and gifts, listened to the playlist for our original (cancelled) reception. It made for better memories of the day as we quit before we were over tired/drunk!

@MustardMitt

That sounds like a lovely wedding and I'm sure it was very memorable. 30 guests also sounds like a reasonable amount, you just have your nearest and dearest there.

@BeastOfBODMAS

That sounds like my kind of wedding. It just shows that you don't have to do something fancy on your wedding day and that it can still be beautiful

My second wedding was four guests and meal in pub
Third on beach In Tenerife
That cost £1000 and we had 25 guests
Wasn’t that keen on the first with 100 guests
Wasn’t terribly expensive 45 years ago either

@Dowser

Thanks for your reply. May I ask you how many years ago you got married in Tenerife?

25 guests on a beach in Tenerife for 1000 pounds seems unattainable nowadays.

Eloped on a student budget - about £200. For special, we both wore blue so we adorably matched and after the meal at a small restaurant, we went to a local art cinema which was showing Spirited Away which we now watch every year on our anniversary. I'd also bought a nice-for-the-budget cake & cherry fizz that I'd left for us all set up for us to have when we got home after the movie.

One of our 3 witnesses did photography as her present to us, and I usually recommend photos/videos and comfortable shoes as a spending priority on low budget wedding threads -- I love the photos & am so glad she did that for us and wearing 'nice' but not comfortable shoes is my one regret about my wedding.

Hi @BiBabbles,

thanks for your comment.

Yes, it makes sense to spend more on photography and comfortable shoes, we will do the same.

I love how much you spend - 200 £. Would love for our wedding to be that cheap, but I don't think it's possible. My dress alone costs 250 pounds.

Registry office, 10 of us, late morning on a weekday. I wore a dress I already had but had my hair done (my nails are always done). We went to our favourite local restaurant for lunch afterwards. SS and DH's best friend paid for everyone to have Champagne. The cost to us was the 10 lunches, the fees for the ceremony and my hairdo. It was a lovely day 5 (I was just looking at pictures earlier)

Registry office for ceremony at 11am, 14 guests. Then we went to a nice pub/bar for a couple of drinks, then we went to a local high street restaurant for lunch at 1, nothing fancy.
My dress was about £50 (and not actually a wedding dress, or even white), I think DH wore a new shirt. Rings were probably the most expensive thing, although I didn’t have an engagement ring so went for a wedding ring with diamonds.
I’m not sure of the final total in cost though.

My friend just had her, their children and 2 friends. A registry office and Pizza Hut for lunch. No one wore anything fancy. It was a lovely relaxed day and very her

Registry office wedding then hired a local hall. Decked it out with paper bunting (These days it's £1 from Tyger). My mum and two of her friends made the food. DH's dad bought some crates of wine so there was no pay bar - I didn't want people to have to pay to be at my wedding.

Afterwards we pushed back the tables and had a ceilidh. We hired the cheapest ceilidh band we could find locally and they were great. I wanted grannys and kids all dancing together, and DH's glam friends from the film world mixed up with my mates from school, so the ceildh got them mixing. A friend who is a theatrical costumier made my wedding dress for a fraction of what it should have cost.

On the morning of my wedding I ran down to the local greengrocer and bought some roses then hand tied them with some left over scraps of silk from my wedding dress as a bouquet. Did my own makeup. Some friends sang and read poems. We didn't do 'favours'. It was a baking hot day so we bought some Poundland paper fans and scattered them across the tables. They were very welcome.

I had the reception in my parents garden and cooked most the food myself (buffet) or bought from macro in the morning. Cake made by mums friend. "Marquee" was cheap sheeting and a hot potch of poles tied to fence either side, seats and tables borrowed from everyone. Car was friend of my dad's. I had a church (was cheap then) but organ played by my cousin's friend. Dress was discounted in sale for £99.

For less people I would simply book a morning service and an independent restaurant, chains are less obliging, so one of your guests can pop in before the ceremony and decorate.

Oh and for photographs we used a student we knew.

Looking forward hopefully I'll remarry at some point but will keep it simple with a church service and pub meal probably

Ours was under £200. Registry office with our kids and 2 witnesses. Not the nice registry office but an actual office where you were only allowed your witnesses, no guests. Had to be 9am on a weekday - £50. After, nice lunch at PILs. Then we had a night in a local country hotel. It was just lovely. I've been to several weddings since which were all nice but don't regret ours at all. It didn't need anything to make it special. It was special because we were getting married. The registry office is actually near my work and I smiled every time I walked past for months.

I did. Registry office was I think 50 quid. Over 20 years ago though so I may be misremembering.

Clothes I just bought an outfit from Evans. I'd be amazed if it was more than 50. Husband stent more on his suit. Couple of hundred I think.
Lunch in the pub, everyone paid for their own.
Party in the local pub in the evening. Mates with landlord so room was free. Everyone bought their own drinks. We got the local college catering students to do a buffet. They were really pleased to get to do it, we saved a fortune. Win win.

I made it special for me just by it being me getting married. I wanted to be married, I didn't care about a wedding. I'm not romantic at all though.

We did ours by using the registry office then took family for a meal in a local restaurant. Bought a £100 dress from Debenhams and had my hair & nails done locally.

It was a fabulous day and I'd do exactly that again

We had nine weeks to plan ours because I was pregnant and it was a second wedding for both of us so we knew what was important, ie getting it done and having a party ASAP.

We’re doubly glad we did it quickly because it was only a couple of months before Covid.

Had a room above a pub, family made a cake, got M&S buffet catering and bought my dress off the Internet. Used a Spotify playlist and honestly had a great time.

I would’ve been happy with a run off to Gretna tbh as even organising that ended up being quite stressful while pregnant, but I’m really glad we didn’t overspend because honestly it isn’t important to have chair covers and favours and all the other “Wedding” shit.

We had a buffet in a community centre for 40. Friend did photos as couldn't afford a photographer as the rates started at nearly £1!

We have Our wedding planned in August next Year. Have managed to do it on a very low budget. We are prioritising what We care most about and forgoing extras we dont feel We need.We got a great deal on a woodland as Our venue and Family are helping with food
. We contacted local business for main meal, bar etc and have booked them as they were lovely and got a very reasonable price. We have 33 Guests in the day with about 7 in the evening. I managed to find a non traditional boho full length lace dress for £50.