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

My brother did similar to what you're planning to do & it was fabulous. He had a late afternoon, 4pm, ceremony with drinks reception at 5 pm while the photos were being taken. Then it was straight into an Indian buffet provided by the local Indian restaurant. A curry buffet can easily feed 200 cheaply & you can have a mix of vegetarian and none vegetarian options. The wedding cake was a chocolate M & S one for £200 which they served instead of a separate dessert.

Their friend had a posh car which they used as the wedding car so saved money having to hire one. They didn't have favours but set up a kids corner in a side room which went down a hit. They ordered the invitations from vistaprint.

www.pieminister.co.uk/weddings/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwitPnBRCQARIsAA5n84l6-g6zkbtksUwQ44_PMIIQDv1wpsTmWVjgmf_iqBEry-jj73bDRcwaAhBBEALw_wcB

Thinking about having a late registray office wedding with 70 guests and then straight into an evening party with buffet for say 200 people
£2,500 - you're pushing it for those numbers with venue hire, entertainment, etc. Not a lot per-head for food.

I've known people that have pulled off great weddings for that sort of budget (or less), but by being unconventional.

The obvious one, is to cut back the numbers drastically. Basically, elope with just those genuinely closest to you. Under a grand will get you registry, three course meal and drinks for a dozen people. You just have to ask yourself who you're doing it for.

I've been to a pot-luck wedding where people did bring their own food and drink to share. It was a fantastic night. But it depends if you, your friends and family are the sort of people to carry it off.

An individual pie surely not from an industrial catering school dinners tray

Caterers will start usually around £10 per head. That's your budget gone..

Hollow,

Individual pies would cost more as they involve extra work in preparation, cooking, transport and so on. If the goal is cheap and cheerful then a catering tray with multiple portions would usually be cheaper. If the customer has more money then individual pies would look better but not taste better. Hyacinth Bucket would be horrified at a catering tray though I suspect someone who is horrified at a catering tray portion would be horrified by lots of other things if they ever saw the inside of a commercial/expensive wedding caterer's kitchen.

If the OP wants to cut her cloth to suit and their family and friends would rather celebrate their day according to the available budget then I think good luck to them.

Pot luck was one of the best weddings I have been to. Most people will expect to bring a present to the wedding so being asked to instead bring a dish of food (Can direct people to general category I.e. far away bring something easy to pick up in supermarkets such as cheese, nearby split into half main, half desert.)

My moto when planning were that people who actually cared whether I gave them five sugared almonds or not probably weren't true friends anyway. We used this as a yardstick throughout the planning. Am fairly crafty so did invites, flowers and cake myself. Had nice venue and food (not pot luck but reasonable price). Got wine from France and paid corkage. Bar for anyone who didn't want red, white or sparkling wine. Spent more on clothes and photos as years later that is the main thing we look back at so wanted nice pictures. At the end of the day it is your wedding and it is up to you whether you want to impress others with all your hospitality or go with finding the best way to enjoy your day without breaking the bank. Your true friends won't care, they just want to see you be happy.

School dinner tray pie would be pretty grim, but I didn't want to comment.

I had a big party for my 40th, and I had a budget similar to yours. We had 150 guests.

For food, after much thought, I did a baked potato bar. I used slow cookers to make veg and meat chili, platters of grated cheese and some pulled pork/salad. All the potatoes were baked, pre wrapped and frozen, then re-heated on the day. Look on Pinterest for ideas.

Friends made cakes for desserts, plus my mum made me a big cake to blow out candles. (For my best friends wedding last month, I also made her cake. I loved that I could do that for her. Look up nude cakes, simple and trendy!)

We used the village hall, and I put our welcome drinks, but then asked everyone to bring drinks in lieu of presents.

The biggest expense was the live band (I had a ceilidh) but then after that, we just had an iPod plugged into speakers and everyone took turns in choosing songs.

For the bar, I was planning on working it, and being able to chat to everyone but friends threw me out and did it themselves. There were lots of outrageous cocktails being made!

For decorations, we saved tins and had tealights, pansies in tins, and also threw a few pine cones and conkers on the tables. My sister made me masses of some very simple bunting, which really added to the spirit! I loved it!

It was brilliant and went on until 5am.
The whole thing cost £2k, plus it took us 6 months to drink all of the excess alcohol!

Friends with phones are often the best photographers. You will be amazed how the photos will come out.

It can be done, if you are willing to put the graft and planning in, and it's amazing how many people are willing to help!

Good luck.

We had completely different timings for our wedding. Both in our 40's.

Fed lunch to around 45 relatives/close pals (in a mid range chain restaurant who were not a typical wedding venue, but were extremely kind to us). This gave everyone who had travelled long distances a decent meal. Cost around 500 in lauding a few drinks.

Then got married.

And had an 'afternoon tea' for around 150 guests which just consisted of LOTS of cakes, a huge platter of fruit, and a big board of cheese and crackers. And tea. Byob for most drinks although fizz given for toasts.

All pretty informal and over by about 7pm. Was lots of fun.

A buffet for 200 is not going to be possible on the cheap. You need to reduce the numbers op.

Does your garden fit 200 for a BBQ? if it did I don't think OP would need a cheap wedding as she must live in a mansion.

I don't understand the issue with a "two tier wedding". I used to work in the wedding industry and literally every wedding I've ever seen had separate evening guests. Only on mumsnet have I seen people offended at getting an evening only invite.

Please dont do "pie and peas" or a big vat of chilli. That sounds more like school dinners than a wedding.

If your budget is £1500 that's £7.50 per head, which is reasonable for hiring a catering company for a buffet. I dont know where you live but a quick Google of "buffet catering £7" has thrown up quite a few options as the PPH goes down with so many guests.

Great thanks everyone . I've seen a lot of catering companies that can make it work , so pretty sure it should be fine . A friend of mine actually has an enormous garden , a couple acres actually so that would have been an option but then again weather is always an issues and hiring marques etc are a fortune so think we might just hire a local hall , just had a look at that would only cost about £100 . 😀

I'd have a Reg Office wedding with just DC and your parents/one witness from either side, then a big hall party where you ask guests to bring a dish in lieu of gifts. As PP said, divide into broad categories for ease. Rest of the money on booze and a photographer.

Zilla1, nobody wants school dinners at a wedding. And who would cook these trays of pie? Where? Who would make them?

You can naturally manage your number of guests to make it more affordable for you. Have a week day wedding and don't replace guests with other other people to make up numbers when others rsvp no. Also, instead of giving people 3 months notice give them 2 months. Hopefully you'll end up with about 150 guests and that's a more affordable number for your budget.

We had a wedding for 120 and a free bar so we provided everything but could you

• kiners 1 x vodka lemonade/ 1 x pimms/ 1 x rum and coke
• galvanised bins with cans of beer and soft drinks

And ask guests to bring extra spirits (we provided spirits but guests ended up sticking to the above as they’d already been drinking that)

• donut cake can be super easy and cheap
• assortment of buffet food provided by you
• ask family to pitch in for a food van of some type?
• late wedding so evening guests will have already had a lunch?

I had a late wedding and buffet because we'd already booked the venue and after, the registrar told us they could only do 4.30pm that day! I loved the venue and wanted that day, so I'm the end we decided to go for it.

We did a buffet dinner after a few canapés. It worked out much cheaper overall. We were pleased in the end.

We didn't mention anything on the invitations but I did a wedding website and put all the information on there.

I did a timeline saying wedding ceremony at 4.30am, drinks and canapés at 5.15pm, food at 7pm (or whatever time we chose). I wrote that it was a buffet style meal with wedding cake for dessert. I also listed the menu. We had an faq page where I listed all my favourite cafes, restaurants etc for anybody who wanted to eat out beforehand.

Sounds good! Two-tiered weddings are kind of shit.

Increase your budget or decrease your ambitions.

Otherwise it will all be a bit shit - crap for your guests and hugely stressful for you.

Top tips:

• Afternoon ceremony - that way the guests will only need one meal.
• Flowers: do you care about them? If not, don't bother. Fairy lights get you a long way.
• Dress: it's your wedding, you can wear what the hell you like, and it doesn't need to cost very much (scouring Etsy/eBay etc might yield some gems)
• Meal: We had our wedding reception in a pub and just got chips, sandwiches and drinks for everyone. Perfect party food.
• Cake: don't bother if you don't want one.

Having a reception in a pub worked very well for us - there was a minimum spend (which we contributed to by putting money behind the bar and buying the food) but it wasn't extortionate (and this was in London Bridge so not a cheap part of the world).

In my experience as a wedding guest, the stuff that sensible people care about is i) not waiting around too much ii) enough food and drink (I don't think anyone minds buying some of their own drinks if they are told in advance) iii) a really good playlist iv) (and most important) a happy, relaxed couple enjoying their day.

Good luck OP!

Cut the guest list, definitely. We had both sets of parents, siblings and their families and one best mate each.

What I would go for with those parameters:

Registry ceremony at 4pm (? on price)
Village hall - Could be as cheap as £250 for a weekend
Decorations, flowers - £200
Huge buffet of food and soft drinks from M&S/Tesco (we spent £150 on an evening buffet for 85 for our wedding with plenty of leftovers) - £750
Welcome drink for the 70 - £75 of cheap fizz
2 x Servers between 3pm and 9pm to set up and put out the buffet - £150
Bring a bottle (bringing your own choice of booze is much nicer and cheaper than a paid bar anyway)
Clothes - I'd limit your budget to £400 for both sides and see what you can do (JJ's house or Monsoon wedding dress, nice suit for the groom, single bridesmaid and best man can wear what they like?)

FWIW, I went down the middle in terms of my wedding. It wasn't a cheap wedding in terms of net cost, but I think it was incredibly cheap given that we fed everyone from Friday PM to Sunday AM, had a free bar all weekend and entertainment in a posh looking country house for 13k!

A friend did a local hall, DJ and v simple vegan food (bread, salads, dips) for 100, it was good fun.

£1500 for 200 people is £7.50 a head - you may struggle to get good catering for that.

Will £100 halls really accommodate 200?

Unless you work full time or have plenty of money / assets of your own suggest just getting married with no fanfare / expense asap! To protect yourself and DC financially.

£1500 for 200 people is £7.50 a head - you may struggle to get good catering for that.

For a caterer, I agree, unless it's a chippy van up north affair (which I'd be happy with).

But I would advocate the M&S or Tesco buffet approach as above for that reason - you can order in massive deli counter platters far cheaper per head than from a caterer.

Though FYI - M&S are really, REALLY bad with packaging. Tesco buffet orders come in neat recyclable cardboard boxes - 100 sausage rolls in a box. M&S gave us a ridiculous number of plastic-wrapped 6 sausage roll/pork pie portions. Wasteful and harder to put out.