To try and plan a wedding for 1500 or under

[Themrmen]

Seriously having trouble trying to organise a decent wedding that is still nice and keep the budget that low, anyone got tips, ideas, experience. Doesn't help I'm Surrey based which seems to be one if the more expensive areas.

Finally on laptop so can reply properly. I see that you're planning on Registry Office - which should keep things relatively cheap :) We're actually marrying in our local church but as we're regulars there anyway we have massively reduced fees.

What we've done so far is:
Church ceremony - minimal fees as churchgoers
Cars - Dad is driving me to the ceremony and DP's Dad is driving him. We still need to figure out how to get to reception, but I'm sure there'll be at least one person with space in their car.
Flowers - I'll be getting a supermarket bouquet but a friend got married in the Summer and just picked them so cost her nothing
Rings - Argos, £155 for the two - DP has a plain band and mind is slightly more decorative but still only £90
Dress I got brand new delivered off eBay for £70 (though my parents paid for it)
Shoes I managed to win on eBay for £11 - worn once but in excellent condition
Jewellery I'm borrowing off a neighbour
Hair and makeup I'm doing myself, but I'm keeping it fairly simple
DP's suit was from primark - £45 (trousers, waistcoat and jacket) and shirt/tie from Tesco for £18
Best man's suit is the same
Bridesmaid Dresses - £70 brand new off eBay for the 2 though you could just not have bridesmaids

After the ceremony we're have tea / coffee / cake in the church hall - hire is free but only £30 if you don't go to the church or you can look into cheap village halls. My sister hired a village hall and did the decorations herself and it looked fab. Cake we're buying from costco - I think it's something like £16 for a 45 portion cake! We have around 60 guests so will probably buy 2/3 as the 45 portions are quite small so will buy extra just in case. Can always take it to the evening do if there's much left over.

Then the evening do is in the local sports and social club for £265 including DJ. We're getting married at 4pm so tea / cake should be fine until evening buffet around 7pm. We're doing the catering ourselves - with a lot of help from family to make sandwiches etc. You could also look into local rugby clubs

We've decided to not bother with a hotel and just go home that night. Invitations we're making ourselves, has cost us about £20 for the materials. Photographer we're using someone my sister knows, it's costing us £400 for the ceremony and formal photos but I'm sure you could get it far cheaper if you asked local colleges / friends / even put out a shout on one of the wedding sites.

If you want to do drinks yourself check out deals in supermarkets and buy when they have offers on. Also Sainsburys do glass hire and you just pay for any breakages. BHS are also pretty good for bridesmaid dresses and i know my friend got the sandwich platters from M&S for pretty cheap, though I can't remember the exact cost.

Have fun planning the wedding :) It's very exciting!

Wedding: There are some lovely registry offices in Surrey.

Reception: Many smaller pubs will allow you to have a function room for the reception for free if you promise a minimum spend - when all your friend and family turn up and start drinking, the minimum spend is easily met. Food-wise, many of the same size places will let you do your own buffet food if you just ask and, if not, they may allow you to have a reduced price for a higher commitment to minimum spend in the pub - again, not usually hard to meet with loads of guests.

Dress: Ebay - you can get them made to measure for fairly little money.

Photographer: Just ask all of your friends and family to bring a camera!

Other stuff: Make what you can yourself and don't feel that you need to have all the extras like fussy invitations, posh cars that take you all of 3 mins down the road, brand new decorations (just get some balloons or use what you have at home - you obviously like things enough to have them in your home so make them into table centrepieces etc!) or stupid shabby-chic knick knacks that nobody cares about or remembers anyway

Getting married in may, registry office at 11:15 am weekday, is the cheapest time.

Dp.will hire a suit, I am being extravagant and.having a dress made for £200. A friend is making my bouquet so paying her. Cake is £150 a friend of a friend. Another friend is making dds dress and fudge as a 'favor'.

We have been REALLY cheeky and said in leui of presents please join us for a meal in pizza express after. My guests are happy to do this and buy own meals.

Simple and easy and child friendly :)

Ours was quite inexpensive. We made our own invitations, got our outfits in the sales, hired a village hall, paid a friend (who does catering on the side) to make an amazing buffet. My friends decorated the hall for us. We had a pay bar. I think we had about 60 guests and more later on. It was really lovely.

I got married last year for around £2000 and that included a church service, a cocktail singer, DJ, night venue, dress etc.

My advice use what you have available to you. Friends and family are a fantastic source. For instance the wedding car was borrowed from a friend who had a very nice American style hummer. The wedding was late on in the afternoon, so instead of a meal afterwards we went straight to night party. My dress was made by a friend. I didn't send any invites, call people. Thankfully my night venue was gorgeous so I didn't need any decorations and I went for table clothes that were free. For the table decorations we used jars collected from family and friends and picked fresh flowers and ribbons. The list goes on and on.
I hope that advice helps :)
My wedding day was absolutely epic, it was completely stress free and relaxed.
My biggest expense was food at the evening party.