To think it's impossible to have a wedding on a budget?

[SicknessStillness]

Long time lurker, first time poster. Currently going through fertility treatment so don't want to spend a lot on the wedding as hopefully at some point we'll have a baby to spend on... Tips on how you saved money on a wedding? I thought £2000 would be fine but it seems impossible!

Thanks

It's photography and feeding everyone and that sort of thing which worries me.

Don't invite all the people you need to feed then. I had 6 people at my wedding and I don't regret if for one moment and I'm no less married for it.

A friend told me that if you want to save then get married as late in the day as possible that way you aren't feeding people twice.

Actually afternoon tea sounds like a great idea.... we could always order some pizzas or something too? ( I hope that'D come off as quirky and fun rather than were super poor!)

We had a gorgeous afternoon tea in m &s last week, macaroons, profiteroles, little cakes etc and it said on a sign that everything they served could be bought to take home in the food market bit if that's any help

I saw a lovely wedding in a park a few years ago. They'd strung bunting up around a load of picnic blankets and were all playing rounders and having a large picnic. Charming scene.

It'd be very popular with anyone with children!

Your people will be there to help you celebrate - they will be excited and happy for you. Frankly, every sane person will much prefer a nice time with some informal food, to the horrors of a sit-down meal of boringly bad courses, so you're already ahead, but even if you forget about comparisons, you know that no one will dislike good, simple food like pizza or afternoon tea.

I've been to weddings done on a shoestring and weddings that cost tens of thousands, and honestly none of the expense is worth it. People won't remember what they ate, whether they got a dinky bag of sugared almonds, what the table flowers were like, or whether there was a string quartet on the lawn, and you'll never watch the video.

Why not just do the legal bit now on the cheap and have a big party for an anniversary down the line? Ime it is the food that breaks the bank. It is possible but a lot more stressful to feed everyone for less than about £30 a head which obviously really adds up. You have to balance it with how much stress you are happy to endure for a cheaper day and how much each part of the day means to you.

Don't have formal sit down. Afternoon tea is what we did, was fine. List of it, lots of tea, lots if champagne, chairs to sit on. After a church ceremony. Everyone ate masses, drank slots of tea and champagne, went away v happy.

It depends on how many people you want to invite, and which parts you are willing to forego.

My DM and DSD got married a couple if years ago for about £1,000, with close family only at the wedding, and ~50 guests at the reception.

I'd suggest pulling favours from close friends and relatives where you can. Perhaps a friend with a decent camera, and if you are able to get buffet supplies perhaps someone can bring them & lay them out on the day?
You could hire a hall - once it's decorated it will still look lovely. Invites and cake can be homemade (hobby craft has some nice decorations!).

And you can save a lot of money by getting similar things that don't have the word "wedding" attached to them - eg nice decorations, a pretty white dress rather than "wedding decorations" and a "wedding dress".

If you can limit your spending on a few areas, then a church venue can still be doable? (Though I don't know exactly how much they would cost).

Or just do the church wedding followed by a house party!

I run a reuse group, and we're always getting requests for things like vases, tablecloths, jamjars for tealights, glasses, crockery, etc for people doing their own wedding organising. I reckon afternoon tea is a great way to do it. Lots of people now have tiered arrangements of cupcakes, rather than the old fashioned wedding cake, and it looks good to me! I went to a themed wedding recently where the music was provided by friends of the couple, and several people stood up and told stories about B&G, rather than lots of music too loud to chat over. It was the best wedding I've been to - apart from my own, and there were only 8 of us at that.
If you're getting married at a church, maybe the MU or similar might run the teas and coffees for you, in exchange for a donation.

What about a church hall and her everyone to bring a dish? Even ask a few to bring wine -

Checked table cloths - bunting balloons -

Ask everyone to take pictures - bit more natural -

Supply soft drinks and as few side plates etc?

We managed a hog roast plus home pasta dishes and cold puddings cakes jelly etc - it made for a frat atmosphere rather Han a sit down wedding

There's always a few helpful aunties to bring it all together

Having the ceremony in a church needn't be any more expensive than a registry office.

And many will have an adjoining church hall which works well for a venue. My village church is very pretty, with a gorgeous thatched church hall and is busy with weddings continually. There are many parishioners who help out at some of the weddings, where budgets are tight - serving tea, decorating, providing music, bell ringing, etc...

Tell the vicar at the church you choose that you're cash-strapped and see if he has any suggestions to help.

We did it for around 1,500 as being second time around and in our 50s we'd already had the big deal do.

Registry office on a Thursday.
My outfit complete was £250, but I wore it again to dss wedding and then got £150 on eBay for it.
We had 50 guests and an ordinary 3 course soup/roast chicken/Pavlova meal in a small hotel. Food at 6.30 p.m and No evening guests or supper catered for. We hired a bus to take e everyone home at 11pm.

No free alcohol, buy your own. we provided juice
No photographer.
Cake was two tiers out of M & S with some fresh flowers to tone with my outfit.
Table decorations were silver helium Balloons.
We went away for the weekend and were back to work on the Monday.

A guy with a guitar, old th of Garth Brooks type music for dancing. A great party, didn't try to make it fancy.

Friends and family said it was the best party ever.

Planning our wedding for April. Registry office (lucky as it's stunning), sister going to be official photographer using my camera, family lunch for 11 at nearby very nice restaurant. Specified budget of £50 per head for which they will do us a very nice menu plus some wine for table and coffee. Making our own wedding cake (tower of cheeses with grapes, figs etc. Non traditional but so much more to our taste) planning a Ted Baker type colourful dress that I can wear again. Biggest extravagance is our wedding night in an extremely fancy, luxury, gothic suite in one of city's fanciest hotels. Will make my own bouquet with help from kids. Do my own hair and makeup. £100 each for wedding rings. Outfits for kids. All in, £1500-£2000. No scrimping on anything, having it exactly as we want it. The saving comes from keeping it tiny with 11 guests for food including us.

It's very possible to do. But it sounds more like 'the wedding I want will cost more than I budgeted for'.

It's down to a decision. Is it more important to stick to budget, or have the day you want. There is no right answer, it's a personal thing.

Where will the reception be?

I have friends who went to a wedding in a church, afternoon tea in the church hall and then band and pizza delivery also in church hall. Apparently a fab time was had by all.

I am getting married next year. With no guests. Not one, no party, no reception.
It's what we both want.

My DD is getting married in a couple of weeks she is having a church wedding the church will cost £700 it's just our small town church nothing fancy

There's no right or wrong answer to this one TBH. If you want a big day with loads of bridesmaids/fancy photographer/food etc then that's entirely up to you, but bear in mind that it's only one day and that once it's gone so is the money you've spent on it.

Ironically I was having this conversation with my DP/DS recentlY because me and DP are hoping to get married soon (jobs etc willing so he can move here with me) and DS was saying we should have a big wedding. I pointed out that I had no intentions of having bridesmaids and such like or even a photographer - that all that kind of stuff costs money we can ill afford and that what is more important is to be with the people we love and that it's the marriage that counts iyswim. I did follow up with the statement though that if that is what people want for their wedding then that's not wrong either, it just wouldn't be for me second time around.

I quite fancy the idea of hiring a boat on the Thames with a buffet. .

We are having a wedding in a country hall next year, so not budget as such, but I'm determined to keep costs down and have done the following:

Late ceremony so just one meal (hog roast, friends with a farmer)
Centrepieces made from jam jars and old books (literary theme)
I'm baking my own wedding cake (search naked wedding cakes)
Making our own desserts
Bouquets made from silk flowers and diy flowers make with pages from books
Sisters friend from photography course to do photos
Providing own booze

It can be done but it very much depends on what aspects are non negotiable for you.

Can you get married for under £2000? Yes. Can you wine and dine 100 guests on the grounds of a stately home, in a designer gown with an all day photographer? No.

Any friends or relatives with a big garden? If so, church followed by bbq would do nicely.

Post on facebook to see if anyone you know is handy with a camera and would be willing to take some snaps for a small fee or dinner and drinks? I'd do it as long as you didn't bridezilla at me for not being a professional and I got fed.

We spent less than £1000, and I'm sure we could have done it slightly cheaper.

Registry office, not many guests (we had 16, just parents, siblings and their families), meal at a pub afterwards. I wore a normal dress rather than a wedding dress, dh wore his suit. It was lovely.

Local photography society/clubs or college may be good for photos. I got married for £500, half of that was my dress from Monsoon, I had a bouquet of in season flowers and DH had a button hole, rest was fees for registrar and pub lunch. We did have a massive BBQ the next day for friends we didn't invite on the day which cost more! A few extended family members grumbled as it wasn't the full on wedding like my cousins but then they weren't paying as both sets of parents were loaded. As others have advised, avoid wedding magazines/fayres and focus on the essentials.

As PP have said it is perfectly possible to have a lovely wedding for £2000 or less but not if you want the full bridal magazine experience!

Our wedding was £2000 although we did have a lot of help from family and friends. For example DH's grandma made the invitations as she makes cards anyway. My step mum made the cake (Christmas wedding arranged at short notice so she just used the Christmas cake she had made in September ). Family paid for wedding night in hotel where we had reception (hotel upgraded us for free) and best friend paid for us to have spa treatments. Friend couldn't make it so very generously paid for my dress which was knee length from Coast. Other friend who is a keen photographer took some lovely shots of us signing the register but otherwise we just relied on everyone bringing their own cameras.

The ceremony was in the city hall which is as fortunately a stunning building so definitely worth looking around at your local ones (you don't have to use your most local!). Hotel was five mins walk from city hall so no need for transport. Didn't do flowers.

We booked wedding at short notice and at Christmas. The hotel knew that they weren't going to get anymore bookings at this point so waived the venue hire fees! They also offered a 15% discount on food if we chose the Christmas menu as they already had all the ingredients in. No need to decorate venue as all done up for Christmas anyway.

Meant we were able to provide a free bar (house wine, beers and soft drinks) which was awesome. We got married at 11 and just had a lunchtime reception, no evening do so only one meal required.

Our wedding wouldn't be to everyone's taste but we loved it (and our guests seemed to) and I think we got a bargain. Beautiful ceremony venue. Reception in a lovely 4* hotel. Plenty of food and drink and all really laid back. We didn't do seating arrangements or wedding favours either.

My tips would be to get married out of season. Have the wedding at a time of day that means you only have to provide one meal. Keep things casual. Accept as much help from friends and family as is offered. And if you have the balls boom at short notice to get some great deals!