To ask for your 'cheap' wedding tips

[InTheBirdBox]

Me and DP have recently gotten engaged.

I hear that the average wedding costs around £17,000.00 which I just find incredible (and we have no where near that much to spend on one).

Does anyone have any tips on keeping down costs? Things that worked for you maybe?

I want it to be a nice day to share with family and friends but I'm not overly extravagant so I'm hoping I can easily do it for less!!

Don't get married on a Saturday.

Find a lovely registry office for the actual ceremony. There are some with gorgeous historic buildings that are really lovely. (My friend got married in Edinburgh at a registry office and it was gorgeous).

People want to be fed and hosted. No one will judge you for having a cheaper dress or more simple flowers for example

Look at council owned venues like old town halls. Often grand panelled rooms and usually pretty cheap (ours was about 1k including bar, corkage, use of kitchen and crockery etc).

Find family, friends and colleagues who have skills to help...cakes, invites etc, bargain with wedding dress shops, look in sales for bridesmaid dresses etc, I got my flowers from m&s.
Where are you based/looking to get married?

I think spring and autumn is probably cheaper than summer.
Don’t buy any wedding magazines or go to wedding shows!

I bought a pretty but non weddingy dress for about £40 from Debenhams. ASOS also have some gorgeous ones.

Did my own hair and make up and made the wedding cake. DH wore a suit he already had.

A friend had gorgeous table flowers we made up from supermarket flowers. Saved a fortune and they were really pretty.

Have few or no bridesmaids and ushers. If you have any you need to budget for everything they need so don’t ask anyone you can’t afford to pay for.

Only invite people you both really love. At the least only have people you’d happily have over for dinner. If you don’t choose to see them usually don’t bother having them for the wedding. If you have over a certain number you won’t be able to “catch up” with them anyway.

Keep hen and stag dos sensible for your own sake and your friends and family.

Work out what really matters to you and don’t get pushed into the wedding of anyone else’s dreams. You want to enjoy it, not go into debt or kill yourself trying to make it extraordinary. You’re celebrating your love and your commitment, it’s one day. Make it meaningful for the two of you.

Don’t bother with favours! No one remembers them and if it doesn’t fit in my handbag I’m leaving it on the table.

If you're going to have a honeymoon, decide that first, which fixes the date.

The guest list is what increases the expense. If you're going to have a lot of people, think barbecue or afternoon tea.

Cut all the 'wedding' stuff down. Have a party instead. Register office, second hand dress/suit or outfits you already have, small bunch of flowers to carry, walk to the venue, have that barbecue, sale or return drinks, free glass hire from the supermarket or Majestic. I personally would get a cake from a shop rather than a friend - M&S and other places do standard white-iced cakes you can then decorate.

For the hen/stag do, have a pool tournament at the local - possibly the same one...

Things that you then don't need: bridesmaid's dresses, presents to thank family for all their hard work, £1000 spent on a dress for one day, £800 on a chocolate cake that looks better than you do, professional hair and makeup (why??), some excitingly special form of transport, stag and hen weekends for £500 each, corkage at £7 a bottle, three course sit down meal for which you pay £25 a head including kids who will eat a biscuit, full service bar, dj, band etc etc etc.

Think what really makes a wedding for you, and just have that - ignore the rest.

I get married next august my wedding, including a branded dress (wed2b) and photographer and cake will cost exactly 1,670

I'm also having a make up artist and hair dresser.
No bridesmaids so have saved there and having 3 seperate cars to take me, immediate family and groom to the venue. Its easily done if you shop arouns

Get married as late in the day as possible and don’t do food for evening only guests. Just feed those coming to the wedding.

The most expensive part of my wedding was my flight & hotel. We went to Vegas, just the two of us. Actual wedding, car & photos were less than £500.

Thanks all! I have found quite a nice registry office that we are considering.

Someone asked, we are in Derbyshire so there are a few nice locations.

Risky but we didn't book ours until six weeks before and a four star hotel gave us a free venue and heavily discounted food and drink as they knew they wouldn't get another booking at that notice and it was better than no booking!

Buy plain iced Christmas cakes now as they'll be cheap - can use them as wedding cakes with fresh flowers as decoration.

We also got married at Christmas so didn't need to decorate the venue as already beautifully decorated. Family made the cake (used the one already made to be the Christmas cake ) and the invitations and I had a dress from Coast.

Local/small business cake maker and wedding invite designers , flower arrangements etc. I have heard of people who do this as a side hobby in addition to their full time job so generally keep prices lower

We got married the day before mother’s day so flowers were extortionate. Instead of arrangement on the tables I had hurricane lanterns on mirrored plates with church candles in.

Top table, dining table and a big prominent window sil had displays of greenery.

The displays, 4 button holes, 2 corsages, 1 brides bouquet, 2 bridesmaids and 2 Mother’s Day bouquet/arrangement was around £450 from a RHS Chelsea winning florist.

Signing not dining 🙄

Where would you suggest for receptions?

I went to a reception in a barn which was done beautifully and looked really natural and pretty but was surprised at the price of hiring one when I actually looked into it especially considering it is literally a barn, no tables, bar, catering etc.. included so that's a no I think!

We have a lovely restaurant near us which seems like a possibility. Thinking meal for ceremony guests only with drink on arrival/maybe wine on table and then pay as you go after that including evening guests?

Lots of smaller wedding dress shops sell off their samples to clear space for the new season. Mine was £300 instead of £1100.

We're not bothering with save the dates or favours. We're going to get seasonal flowers for bouquets etc from a local supplier.

Congratulations

Don’t have bridesmaids/groomsmen, go for alternatives to flowers/buy second hand silk ones, get your dress from high street or off the rack rather than ordered in especially, delay your honeymoon if you want one for your first anniversary so you have a year to save separately, have buffet food rather than sit down 3 course meal, Asti/Prosecco instead of champagne if you want bubbles, get married mid week. Don’t save on the photographer or rings as they will last a life time!

Pay as you go bar is perfectly normal as far as I'm concerned

Remember, apart from some basic legal stuff 99% of wedding traditions are entirely optional.
Meeting everyone or anyone in the pub for a drink or takeaway pizza at yours is absolutely fine and anyone telling you otherwise is just a greedy grabby so and so.
Do what you want.