Tips for a super cheap wedding ??

[lauraLees1990]

Does this sound ok -
My partner and I have three small kids , recently bought a house etc so can't afford an all out wedding .
We have so much family let alone his million "close " friends 🙄 anyway .
Thinking about having a late registray office wedding with 70 guests and then straight into an evening party with buffet for say 200 people . Anyone done this ?? How much did it cost . And can you give me any tips . How would I word it on invitations that it's just wedding and evening buffet so people know not to expect a fancy three course meal etc . Also would you be a bit 😳 if someone invited you to a wedding like this ? I just don't have thousands to spend on one day when I would rather buy a new kitchen or take my boys to Disneyland 😂 but feel the time has come to get married and it's the last thing we want to do to feel like a proper family . Thanks

If you have a venue where you can self-cater and are able to do this safely, you might be surprised how relatively little a portion of buffet or large-volume curry/chilli/pie and peas for one adult is, especially if you can use Costco/Macro/warehouses for ingredients.

If no one can advise, work out what you'd expect one person to eat (whether a cold buffet or a portion of large-volume chilli/curry and rice or pie and peas if that would suit your guests) then factor in scale economies and cost it up.

Call me old fashioned, but I think if you are hosting a celebration, then you do have to offer your guests... something in the way of hospitality.

If it's just "everyone bring their own food and drink to a venue I've picked, plus do me favours, like decorating the hall, helping clear up and taking photos for me" then it gets a bit...weird to call these people your guests. They are more in the vein of "unpaid staff". And you can't suggest that this is "instead of a present" since it rather assumes you would be getting a gift off everyone.

I have happily helped out at loads of weddings, but none of them were because the b&g wanted a massive 200 person shindig for peanuts.

I think if you have a wedding for 70 then a pay bar for 200 more or there abouts it’s pretty tacky.

And what are you doing with the 70? Feeding them separately? Then doing a pay bar and some cheap food later. Nah!

Small registrar wedding, then a party immediately after with nice food and loads of free flowing food. For everyone.

Church hall- decorate it yourself
Food- tapas style or mezze is simple, stylish and can be done cheaply and well
Good sound system and some great Spotify lists
Lots of beer and wine and fizz- Aldi is your friend and tell your friends when that runs out BYOB.

I had a 40th for about 150 people with food and drink and a band for about £1200. Itcan be done.

Just don’t do a two tier wedding.

Bloody hell OP only asked how to keep costs down not everyone opinion on her choices. I don't see why I wedding reception has to be viewed any differently to a regular party. You don't have to go if you don't want to and if you choose to go just to get sniffy about having to buy your own drinks (never been to a wedding with a free bar, I thought that was an American thing!) And that the food isn't up to your standard then don't bloody bother.

Couldn't agree more, Snow-white.

My sister recently went to a wedding which was in the local registry office and then a pub function room for the reception which was catered by the local chippy and they served pie and peas ( no formal seating plan) The wedding was late afternoon and went straight in to the evening party after the food with a DJ. She said it was one of the best weddings she has been to!

Ultimately the day is about your wedding and spending it with people you love. And if they love too you they won't care what you do!

Bloody hell OP only asked how to keep costs down not everyone opinion on her choices

Sorry if I came across snippy - but in my defence, I wasn't criticising the OP (who has at no point suggested she is going to ask guests to bring their own food or do jobs for her) it was more in response to some of the other posters who were suggesting that she should offload some of the major costs of the wedding onto her guests. That isn't criticising her choices - it's presenting an alternative opinion to some of the suggestions :)

We did our day really DIY quite recently and found a later time was really good for keeping costs down. Your main expense will be food and feeding 200 guests. I don’t think you can invite them and not feed them and doing a DIY buffet for 200 would be so much work so you’re looking at caterers really. Would you consider like a pizza van or a fish and chip van?

Go to wed 2 be, try on some dresses and then go on FB and find that dress second hand for a fraction of the price.

We found the Instagram @cheapweddingstuff really good for cheap decor ideas, although some of the bits they post you just don’t need but I just ignored those posts.

I've been to a wedding reception catered by the local chippy, seaside based so worked really well. I've also been to potluck style wedding reception - bridge and groom ended up with a lot of wooden cheese boards! It was lovely though, most people got it and came armed with food but it was for about 100 people, not 200 and really informal.

A friend of mine did a wedding really cheaply for loads of people and it was fab. She used her friends barn (no fire regulations or anything, literally just a massive stone barn) which she let her do for free. She had a hog roast and cream teas for food. For puddings they did a Great British Bake Off style thing with different topic ideas - local area, love, hobbies etc and asked everyone to join in. I cheated and just got a novelty cake from M and S but loads of people had made amazing stuff. Then in the evening they had a barn dance put on by friends.

I think a lot really depends on what your family and friends are like. Clearly there’s a lot of people that would be massively offended at being asked to bring food, but you know your friends. For me, I know I’d want my friends to have an awesome day. If that means baking a cake and bringing a couple of bottles of wine rather than sticking £100 towards their honeymoon it makes bigger all difference.

Are you sure that 125 people will accept evening only invites?

Not sure how much it costs nowadays - but my sister and her DH hired Jacob's Market studio and roof garden for their reception for £500 a couple of years ago (Cardiff - so not far away!) And then hired a street food pizza company for £700 to feed their guests. Pretty certain you could find a hall Swansea way with a similar set-up.

Don't forget, you also need to pay £70 to give notice as well as the registry office/ registrar costs.

Wedding dress, there's a few charity shop wedding boutiques in south Wales. You can pick up a bargain.

Booze, you can get a temporary licence for most venues from a magistrate for a party.

Music. DJs etc vary in cost. We went for a ceilidh/twmpah band as it was a similar cost and also provided good entertainment.

The guest list for the evening may be a struggle. As catering is usually the big cost. Folks coming for just the evening won't expect a sit down - but people in the day may expect some.nipples during toasts. Could you do a super cheap buffet with toasts and then have street food in the evening? Fun and doesn't break the bank.

You can do it cheaper for sure that way - find a venue which allows you to bring in your own food, or better still someone's garden and borrow a small marquee (local scouts are always worth an ask). We got food and drink from macro, people were invited to bring a bottle rather than gifts. High street wedding dress, no special cars etc and a photography student. I did have a church wedding though (currently circa £600).

I had a 4pm wedding followed by a 6pm buffet and disco for 100 people. The buffet plus a glass of sparkling wine to toast with was about £12 a head, plus the room hire and the disco, and the decorations were hired from the venue. The bill for the reception was about £2000.

No hen or stag nights. No bridesmaids or groomsmen. No favours. No accommodation (we went home). No cars (we drove ourselves, left the car at the venue and got a taxi home, then collected it the next day). No honeymoon.

Other costs were roughly:
Ceremony £200
Outfits £500
Rings £500
Photos £1000
Invitations £200

It added up to about £4.5k. You could probably reduce that by £1k if you get second hand clothes and have a friend take photos.

Be aware that many “wedding” venues won’t even consider letting you have an evening party only. They could sell that date to someone who will pay full whack for all the bells and whistles, lunchtime meal and evening do, so if they let you book it for the evening only they aren’t maximising their profit for that day. You’re probably looking at function rooms, the sort of place where you’d have a birthday party.

*nibbles. Not nipples! Oh my!

Get married with close family and friends, keeping the numbers to around 20 or 30 guests and book a favourite restaurant for a meal then have a big party for everyone else with a buffet of your choice. If that's a fish supper or sausage roll its up to you just enjoy whatever you do pick. Good luck

Oh, check out some of the Cadw approved venues. They have a fixed p ice whether it is a wedding or an event. Caerphilly castle is big, reasonably priced and you can do your own catering. Also an approved venue. Hall capacity is 200 people. Though that does include bands/DJs etc. Only snag is - you have to sue their licenced bar for drinks. But if you're just doing cash bar and nothing else, that shouldn't be too bad.

Only have dates till the end of this year at the moment - but it might be just what you're after!

cadw.gov.wales/venuehire/weddingsandweddingphotography/caerphillycastlevenue/?lang=en

We got married at 4pm then on to a hotel for an evening buffet. It was £1300 (16 yrs ago) but I'm sure if you found a venue and get a caterer it might be less. However you might struggle to find a venue that holds that many that it isn't a hotel.

We won't be paying for drinks - maybe have bottles of wine on tables but the bar will be for guests to buy their own . It's pretty usual here in the Uk

@SnowWhitesRestingBitchFace thank you !!! Exactly 😂😂 I've never in the UK been to a free bar !!! That would just be crazy !!!

We are feeding guests ourselves !! Just hoping a £1500 food budget ( no drinks ) is enough . I wouldn't ask people to bring their own food

i had plenty of food at my wedding but no alcohol. I don't drink. I think that knocked a lot off the bill! You don't meed alcohol to have fun.

What is pie and peas? Is it literally a dry pie and peas? No mash & liquor or chips & gravy?

Eliza,

When I've seen it served at an event, there is a large tray of a (shortcrust meat and potato though other pies are available) pie from which a portion is served, a separate pan of mushy peas for people to help themselves and gravy again for people to help themselves. For a meat and potato pie, there wouldn't be separate mashed potato.

@Zilla1 Thank you.