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!!

Get married in a registry office then have a small party at your house afterwards.

Find a twilight package. 5pm ceremony and straight into buffet and party. Saved us a fortune. We also got a deal on decorators, sweet cart etc by using the same company for all.

We booked the registry office first, on a weekday. Only invited our (adult) kids and partners. Total cost for ceremony under £200. Went for an all-you-can-eat chinese after. Total cost (8 people) £150.

We then booked a hall in a local sports club (free) for the following Saturday. Hired a DJ for the night £200. Catered ourselves, including a glass of fizz on arrival, for approx 150 people - about £600.

There are a couple of budget hotels in the area where friends travelling were able to get double rooms for about £30 - think Travelodge, Premier Inn etc with a reasonable amount of notice. They were fine paying for this themselves as we didn't ask for presents.

A friend made the cake as our present. A couple of friends took photos with decent cameras. We asked for no presents but quite a few people slipped a few £ into cards too which helped.

Re the honeymoon we were March so out of the main holiday season - I found us a cheap all-inclusive break to Lanzarote which was our main holiday for that year.

So yeah, cheap and cheerful for us. Maybe not what everyone would want but we had our closest family with us for the actual ceremony and then all our wider friends and family for the celebration. It worked well.

Got married last year it cost around £8000 which is still a lot of money I appreciate but we didn't feel like there was anything missing.
Main thing do not invite people because you feel like you have to! X

Don't buy a "wedding cake", we went to my local bakery who make the most amazing Victoria sponges. Got a few diff sizes and ordered a cake stand off amazon (we then had extra cakes out back to cover everyone). We then wrapped lace ribbon around the outside of each and decorated with fresh fruit and flowers. Every last piece of that cake was eaten and it's cost us less than £100
If you really want favors do something homemade. I made fudge and put it in cellophane bags, finished off with pretty ribbon and a handmade with love sticker. Again didn't cost me a fortune and everyone loved it (most was eaten before they left).

We got married in September and it came to less than £1000 including food, outfits, venue etc. My tips would be:

• Don't get married on a weekend or during school holidays. We saved half the cost of the venue getting married on a Tuesday.

• Get your dress from the prom/formal section rather than the wedding section of a shop. Likewise you can get a decent suit from ASDA or Tesco for less than £100 - there is absolutely no need to spend loads of money on an outfit.

• we did afternoon tea afterwards, the cost was just over £100 for six people. That didn't include champagne as 3/4 of our guest don't drink. Don't get sucked into hiring a whole venue, just a table at a restaurant or cafe is fine.

• keep guests to a minimum and don't go down the road of bridesmaids, best man etc. We had four guests plus ourselves - I appreciate that's very small but DH has such a big family that we couldn't afford to go down the road of inviting siblings/partners/children because the costs would have been astronomical. It was just ourselves and our parents and it was lovely.

• registry office venue - again this depends on size but it was really cheap and they had lovely flowers and we took photos just outside afterwards. We also didn't hire a photographer or anyone to do hair and make-up. We also didn't bother with a wedding cake - we just had posh afternoon tea and brunch the next day.

• our honeymoon was a week in a cottage in Scotland. Out of season so pretty cheap but it was absolutely gorgeous. We spent more money on the honeymoon than anything else but it was so worth it to have a week to ourselves to celebrate/enjoy being married, IYSWIM.

I wouldn't change a minute of it. It was magical.

I was married 16 years ago and made savings by

Buying a simple wedding dress for £79
Getting a London cab to the venue
Friend (admittedly a professional sports photographer) did the photos for us
Another friend (admittedly an events organiser) lit and prettied up the venue for us

Use your friends!!!

I spent ££ on the tunes though as that was important to me

Just be aware that getting married on a weekday saves you money but passes some costs onto your guests as they then have to take leave, often more than one day.

Thank you lovely people. I'm going to write a list of all your tips :) keep em coming.

Where are you based OP? If it's viable, suggest getting married in Scotland - the person, not the venue, have been licensed for so long it's just not got the same 'wedding industry' vibe as in England. We got married for 7k (although this was 10 years ago). Hired house usually used as film set for ceremony, flowers from the local garden centre, hired restaurant out for reception, wedding dress had been a 'shop model'. Spent more on wedding rings as figured would wear them forever.

Just be aware that getting married on a weekday saves you money but passes some costs onto your guests as they then have to take leave, often more than one day.

Nobody is obliged to attend a wedding if they don't want to.

I agree Adaline but obviously the couple can't then get cross if people choose not to attend.

I agree Adaline but obviously the couple can't then get cross if people choose not to attend.

Oh yeah, I definitely agree with that :)

Don’t bother with ‘favours’, most of them it would seem get left behind anyway.

Can you or anyone you know make a cake? This rose swirl icing is incredibly easy to do, looks good and even when you make mistakes, looks good when you are trying to fix it.

I did 3 tiers and had only learnt how to do tiers (stick bits of plastic straw in) from watching Bake Off. Cost me ingredients, piping bag + rose thingy, box of straws + my time. All got eaten.

iambaker.net/rose-cake-tutorial/

Oh, clothing. My dress was a Jacques Vert from Debenhams sale, very cheap. About £25 I think. DH suit with waistcoat to match my dress from Matalan, about £30. Everybody else wore whatever they wanted.

Second vote for getting married as late as you can, you then just need to do one meal...and we did bacon sandwiches at 10pm. We also had ‘big nibbles’ (sausages on sticks, bruschetta etc,) whilst photos were being taken and saved by not having a starter.

We hired a barn/Oast House, but because we got married at the end of October the hops were still up and we paid nothing for them. They looked lovely.

We also hired a Juke box with our selection of sounds which saved on DJ or band.

Marks and Spencers plain cakes with our own decoration added were great (and you could always do this instead of dessert).

I got married last year and I would say as long as people are fed and the food does not run out that would be key. My venue was one I stayed at for both ceremony and evening so no cars needed.
I did not bother with a wedding cake, we had cheesecakes instead.
And a mobile bar so less hassle and money.
I bought my dress from a charity wedding boutique shop which worked for me as I lost a parent to cancer and the charity shop was a cancer charity.
Lots on Etsy that's indivdual and a good price.
Enjoy your day and get others to help with the planning ( I didn't so would recommend)!

Do invites on Vista print, saved a fortune

Dress was from high street, Monsoon, Debenhams etc.

Fake flowers, cheaper and can be a memory to keep - can get lovely paper/silk ones

Spend the money on rings and photographer as this is what you are left with for years to come xx

Get married in the smallest registry office room, minimum guests there. No "wedding" dress, no bridesmaids. Then have a lunch or a buffet to which you invite people. Weddings have got really silly, you'll enjoy the day even if you don't spend much.

We did a late wedding and buffet only for all. My dress and bridesmaid dresses were hand made - although we didn't have wed2be when I got married or those other cheaper places. Now is the time to buy those cheap Xmas party dresses for your bridesmaids.

A friend needed a cheap wedding and asked for guests to pay for a two course meal in lieu of presents at £15 each. I don't think anybody minded at all - the only thing I minded was being told we might not make the list due to space as bigger venue for the wedding (rather than registry office) would cost £200 more) then in same conversation being told she spent hundreds on a dress (I think it was about £1,000).

Finding the reception venue is key to keeping costs down. Barns are often expensive as weddings are usually their main income.

Wherever you go, don't get sucked into unnecessary wedding tat - bows on the chairs, favours, big table flowers, fancy cars etc.

Just think what you enjoy/remember as a guest - food, drink, company, music.

Have one grown up bridesmaid and let her choose a normal maxi evening dress from the high street/internet that she can wear again, she will love you if you let her choose it.

Spend the money on a quality meal, good bouquets (these will be in all the pictures). Get your hair done but do your own make up. If you like a restaurant near the register office but they don't do evenings/dancing, relocate to a hall or somewhere for a party later.

Don't have a wedding. Just get married. There is a difference between the two.

We wanted a cheap wedding with lots of guests.

Result was registry office (lovely building) then village hall. Spent most of the budget on food and alcohol.

Spent virtually nothing on:
new clothes and shoes (wore things we already had)
Flowers (very kind friend sorted this - brought bunches from a market then arranged in jugs)
Photography (camera phones are not as good obviously, but we couldn't afford a photographer!)
Cake (we made our own)
Tablecloths etc (got paper ones)
Music (ipod disco)

It's not what lots would like but it worked for us!

We had a "big white wedding", cost us £6000 (including a two week honeymoon in Gran Canaria).
We got married in a church which has a standard cost (not much), didn't have organ etc just a CD, picked wild flowers and put them in the church ourselves.
Then we had our reception in a village hall - cost £150 for the whole weekend (friday to set up, Sunday to tidy away).
We had a fish and chip van for catering.
Literally did everything myself, bought a M&S cake and decorated it myself, bought a dress which was "last season" cost £180, didn't have cars, had cheap bridesmaid dresses which I sold on eBay afterwards.