Very small budget wedding ideas!

[OrlandointheWilderness]

My dad has pancreatic cancer - it’s now spread and we have been told he has a year max. I’m engaged, we had hoped to have a small wedding in 3/4 years, but obviously I want my dad at my wedding!! We will have a tiny budget, luckily we only wanted something low key anyway - but ideas for a low cost wedding very very welcome. I’m happy with second hand dress etc. the only important thing is my dad is there.

Some charity shops have special bridal shops. I know someone who got a gorgeous dress for £200, brand new end of line donated by the manufacturer. Original price was over £1000.

I really hope you can have the day you want. What it comes down to is that the people you love are there and everything else is just bits on top. Hold on to that thought.

The best photos at our wedding were the ones taken candidly by friends - that's the ones we have up. You don't need a photographer. A bunch of flowers from the supermarket top of the range with a ribbon (look up how to make them last - basically you dunk them in water for a couple of hours).

My dress was from a high street store and was in the sale - it was £79.

Our local golf club does a lovely wedding!

ETA - also be a bit careful of doing lots of stuff yourself unless you have a lot of time spare - it might be nicer to spend that time with the people you love rather than making decorations and the like..

I’m so sorry to hear about your dad.
The best weddings I’ve been to (and I include my own!) have been low budget and relaxed. Things like having a late afternoon wedding and straight into an evening reception/party. This not only cuts out the expense of a seated reception but also all the hanging around you typically get with having a seated reception then evening event (with the added bonus of removing the hassle of making seating plans).
Depending on your budget and where you’re holding your wedding, have a buffet, jacket potato or pizza van etc. The number of people you are inviting will obviously influence your decisions but food and drink could be your biggest expenditure. We provided a first drink but people paid after that. However, we’d made that clear on the invitation and also asked for no gifts.
If your budget doesn’t stretch to hiring a band or DJ, you could make a playlist and just play it through a speaker. We did something similar and it worked really well. We made four playlists for different times in the evening (arriving/buffet/dancing/later). We obviously didn’t insist on people only e.g. eating or dancing at those times but thinking broadly about when these things might happen and tailoring the music accordingly worked really well. We didn’t have formal speeches but we did take time to stop the music and say our thanks to everyone.
Do your own flowers, ask people to take photos on their phones and upload to a shared place. Have a high street, borrowed or second hand wedding dress. My friend had an equally relaxed wedding and as she got married after me, and was the same dress size she borrowed my (high street) dress. I loved seeing her get married in it and was pleased that it was being worn again. Let bridesmaids wear what they already have. Oh, and email invitations - you can design nice ones and they’re free. We had cupcakes instead of a wedding cake. They were loads cheaper and you could make them yourself. We borrowed a cup cake stand and they looked amazing.
You’ve already identified the most important thing - that your lovely dad is there along with the people you both love. It’s the people and love that make a wedding special. Focus on that and you’ll have happy memories of a wonderful day with your dad ❤️

We used taxis as wedding cars. Asked for silver taxis. Got the cake from M&S decorated with flowers. Shared the cost of flowers at the church with other wedding on same day.
didn’t bother with favours. Had a buffet/self serve as our meal.
we decided what we wanted was friends and family to see the service then a party afterwards.

married 22 years. Wedding cost £3,000. Most weddings at that time were costing £15 - £20,000

family member made dress fabric cost £60. Didn’t bother with fancy hair or make up appointment. Had a hair up done at hairdresser and did my own make up.

think we had about 80 guests?

you will absolutely be able to do this with your budget. All that really matters is sharing your “I do” with the people you love. Anything else is extra.

I am so sorry about your Dad. There are so many ideas here and I am sure it will be a beautiful day.
As someone with experience of this, PLEASE have the wedding really soon. Even the most informed of timelines can be incorrect. A friend of ours was promised a year but only lived six weeks. I really would do it ASAP.

Sorry to hear about your dad. We did low budget wedding. I got my dress for £189 on Monsoon. It was 25% more vit I googled and found a discount code. I also bought flowers on Etsy.

For the cake you can have a small cake, think we paid £150 for ours. Then the Madeira cake from supermarkets hidden and that’s actually then what’s served. Used to work at weddings and so many people did this! Top tier is cake for the cutting and then other tiers are fake!

my friend also had her reception in a rugby club and paid £150 for the venue! But depending how small scale your wedding is maybe a family member with large house and then a buffet could work

Sorry to hear about your dad.

In your shoes I would have a registry office wedding and put some money behind the bar at a pub and get them to do some food (not a sit down meal). A wedding I went to like this was one of the most fun I've ever attended. If everything is walkable no need to worry about transport. Get your friends to take photos and send them to you (or a friend can organise this and make a photo book for you).

Re flowers on tables, for DD’s wedding I covered some jam jars with hessian (John Lewis IIRC) made labels (with table numbers) from plain brown gift tags, and just used a few white flowers with greenery in each. I’m not at all naturally artistic but they did look really nice and cost very little.

Afternoon tea is cheaper than a full meal reception and could be quite easy to cater as places like Waitrose and M&S food to order do them or a local catering company. All you need are sandwiches scones and cake plus tea and fizz - if you can I'd go for cremant rather than prosecco.

My best mate had a budget wedding - charity shop dress, borrowed some of my jewellery, vintage shawl (February in scotland) rather than a veil, Afternoon tea with a mate playing the harp for a bit and then a background jazz playlist. I think she recruited some local 6th formers to bring the tea round and do the washing up.

She borrowed a load of table clothes from a local church hall and got the station florist to order a load of tulips for her which were then just put in jam jars on the table. Her bouquet was a sheaf of arum lilies with a ribbon to match her shawl. (Ribbon was bought from John Lewis....)

Her wedding cake was 3 different sized white supermarket christmas cakes and she hired a cake stand which she decorated with trails of foraged ivy and put a few white roses on the top.

It was a very pretty wedding and didn't feel as if it had been done on the cheap.

Thank you so much everyone. I really appreciate all the lovely ideas. Xx

@OrlandointheWilderness what size dress are you?

I’m a 16. Far too plump 😂

Ah that’s not too plump but the dress I have wouldn’t fit (if you’d have wanted of course) I would have passed it on as it is a designer one and my parent has the same diagnosis. Sorry you are on this journey too.

Oh that is stunning, thank you for the offer it is very kind of you! Maybe I could cut a bit off 😂 😂
I’m so sorry too. It’s crap isn’t it.

Also had budget wedding- dress from monsoon, we had a buffet evening meal and everyone brought salads, bread, a bottle… it was great!
my biggest tip is ask around if you know someone who has recently got married. My best friend got married the year before (expensive wedding) I was her MOH.
she was mine in my MOH dress and she saved all the decorations- landed earns, vases, bunting etc so it was all free.
i got flowers from the local market stall, people lent folding tables,
everyone wanted to DJ
local scouts hired us their marquee for £100

So sorry to hear about your dad.

Hire a local hall (village hall, community centre, rugby club etc, depending on what you've got in your area).

Instead of a present, ask guests to bring a bottle of wine and a plate of food for the buffet. I think most people would be fine with this, I know I certainly would.
For the cake, do a tower of store bought cakes - fondant fancies, jam tarts, etc.

Dress - preloved.

Flowers - ask a friend to sort, or do them yourself.

Do some DIY decorations yourself, or have a hen night of making decorations, practising makeup, trying out hairstyles, getting in a takeaway, and having pamper evening.

Car - if you know anyone who has a decent car, ask if they'll drive you for a donation to charity.

Photos - just ask friends and family to take lots of photos and send them to you after - you can make up some albums yourself.

Suits for men - ask them to wear one they already have, or hire them

Bridesmaids - preloved, or ask them if they would mind buying their own, or wear something suitable they already have - just go multicoloured, rather than have a set colour, so they have more choice about what to wear.

DJ/music - borrow or hire a sound system, or decent speakers. Or splurge for a DJ, depending on cost, if you want a full disco/party in the evening.

Hire some plates/glasses/cutlery if you need to, or just stick to paper plates etc.

I hope you make some lovely memories xx

That should say lanterns

Y sister hired a village hall had a company in to do catering and a ceilidh band, she had an honesty bar which ended up making money!

Also a lot of ready made dresses from shops such as Debenhams are under £200.
Bridal | Debenhams

I already posted up thread, but when I got married, I used this site lot for inspiration, money saving ideas etc. www.hitched.co.uk/

Coast have some lovely wedding dresses

Try Etsy for favours, or for ideas that you can DIY. Table centres can be really simple, you can probably do your own flowers, keep simple, hand tied. Maybe stick with white and some greenery? The range have wedding type garlands etc. Do a shout out for fairy lights. Any friends or family who will be able to help or have any special skills?
Get the main things sorted first, little things have a way of adding up
Another vote for sooner than later.

I made my sisters and have done wedding flowers a few times. It was 2 years ago, she had roses and sea thistles mainly, I picked greenery and herbs from my garden.The cost for her flowers and two buttonholes was £30. She collected jam jars and tied a ribbon round them and had just a few simple flowers in them. She did buy some little wooden hearts and put their initials on them for each jar.

Where I live there is a dedicated charity bridal shop run by the counties hospice service, I just looked and there is one in Lincolnshire, I sold a lovely veil in the charity shop I work in recently for a fiver, our wedding dresses are about £50 and some are new.

I am very sorry to read about your Dad.

I went to a lovely wedding just like this. It felt like we were properly part of it rather than props standing about for hours while photos were taken. One of the best I've been to.

I would get something booked in a work out the logistics of how you do food etc later.

Ultimately it's about bringing people together. No one remembers what colour the chairs were or what canapes they were served. You remember dancing and laughing and that's as fun in a village hall as in a five star hotel (and often easier to get home from).

Strip it down to what really matters to you and do it while your dad is well enough to really enjoy it.

The suggestions for a later ceremony are good so you can go straight into a party.

If you want favours (not essential) does anyone make fudge or sweets near you? These are often very reasonable.