To think you can plan a wedding in 7 months for £5k

[IMissMargaritas]

My family are driving me mad!

I got engaged last Saturday...yay! All so exciting and I can't wait to get this show on the road. But my family are bumming me out!

I have elderly relatives in the states who won't be keen on hanging around too long to take their 7 hour flight to get here. I've always wanted a fall wedding soooo...we're trying to plan this thing for September. We don't have much money, so my family are all trying to get me to put it off until next year when we can save a little more. Like they're really ranting at me for even considering it.

Am I mad? Should I listen to them?

Tell me your speedy wedding stories please. Or even better...any tips!

How mad (or sane) you are really depends on what type of wedding you want. You absolutely can plan a wedding in less than 7 months and for £5k, but you obviously wont get the most popular venue in the county and a reception for hundreds of people...

What type of wedding do you and your fiancé want? What aspects are important to you both?

I got engaged 24th feb, did nothing for about 6 weeks, and then set the date for 16th sept (same year). Was no problem at all to organise it, and ours cost £7k but £2k of that was the honeymoon.

I got engaged mid Feb and married early September. It cost £12k and we had 100 guests. Hired a pub who did all the food. Was great! Obviously that’s more than double your budget but timing-wise was totally fine.

It really does depend on what type of wedding you want. Yes 7 months is doable and so is £5k.. Have you looked at possible venues and number of guests to get a rough idea? Lots of things you don't have to do or you can control the cost of but the number of guests and catering will probably be a good chunk of your budget. Happy planning !

It’s possible to organise a wedding in 3-4 weeks for under £1000. Depends what you want though. Our wedding was small, organised easily, and it was what we wanted. Didn’t invite lots of relations we only saw occasionally but did invite close family and friends.

I planned ours in about a week! Weddings are so overrated!

We organised our wedding in 9/10 months no problem. My only thought is whether your relatives need time to save for flights etc.

Totally doable.
We spent £3k and did it in 6 weeks. Was great. Some friends couldn't make it due to short notice but no bad feelings either way.

I had to do a double take then as I thought I'd written a post and forgotten!

We are also getting married in September and have a £5000 budget. May be able to stretch it to 6.

We saw a venue today, which is £2400 for the whole day and soooooo beautiful, we'd have to have it on a Monday and take the kids out of school for a day but that's alright.

Do you defo want a Saturday @op? Do you live nearly any pretty towns with nice registry offices?

We did it in 4 months for £3000
Drops mic
A lot of it was DIY e.g. décorations, wine from supermarket, and only 50 people. But it was lovely! Oh and a photographer from Gumtree looking to expand their portfolio - she did it for us for free and now charges upwards of £5000 for a day!

Good option for a dress without having to wait for it to be ordered. Might get a bargain too!

www.stillwhite.co.uk

Mine was planned in 6 months for 2k as my nan had just had a terminal cancer diagnosis. My mum wanted me to put it back a year due to money but if I had, my nan wouldn't have been there.

I did a lot myself, all flowers, orders of service, music, makeup, table planner, centerpieces etc. I did pay someone to do my hair though as I am crap at that. We got married in winter and the only thing we really struggled with was finding a reception venue that was available and not too big for our 50 guests. I also took a risk on buying a wedding dress from China after a lot of research and it was fine save for needing alterations. Our photographer was only free for wedding photos so I shot the getting ready stuff and did all my own editing (we have a professional level SLR).

I think with a short amount of time some things have to give somewhere. It could be omitting some things, not having your first choice in others, having to take on some work yourself and biggest one is not everyone will be able to make it. It can be done though. We had a lovely day and everyone liked the relaxed vibe (I went for old Hollywood glam). It was also deciding what things were the most important to you - for example there was a wedding dress I did love, but it wouldn't have come in time hence the dress from China.

Absolutely possible , we did it in 5 months just don’t go over the top

We were engaged January married October. Had to be then as needed school holidays. Only planned it February time. Invites went out in March. Wedding was bloody marvellous.
Keep it small ( under 50 tops, under 40 guests better). That way you’ll have more options.
Getting someone/somewhere to marry you is key. Our registrar only had one date in October available.
Then you need a reception. Groupon have cheap wedding hotel deals but personally I picked a decent restaurant because the food is better. My local gastro pub did food and drink for 30 for £500 for a recent party. So yes can be done relatively cheaply.

As others have said, it depends what you want! We had a nice and simple wedding, cost well under £5k,started planning in February for May. Registry office, meal at a restaurant and a party above a pub with great food. Friends loved it, family complained to high heaven but we ignored them.

We did ours in exactly 28 days and for under 2k. Admittedly we eloped but I still got a dress from a bridal shop (and had it altered) etc.
Decide on the type of wedding you want. Is there a registry office or civil venue you could consider?

Absolutely. Some people make such a fuss. You can have a lovely day for a few thousand. It took me 4 months to organise mine.

Totally doable.
Go for it! It’s your day, don’t let them pressure you into waiting and spending thousands more.

We did this, no regrets. Good luck

Definitely possible.

We got engaged at the end of July, and married at the beginning of January.

It helped that January is low season, so the venue we wanted was available. We didn't scrimp on things too much, but were careful with the budget. For example, I didn't have bridesmaids. I wore a relative's dress, and used my late Nanna's rings.

We got married 6 months to the day from the proposal for £8000 but could easily have done it for less. It wasn't nearly as much hassle as people make out as we went very simple.

Ask venues about cancellations too. Often you can have the whole package (cancelled photos, cake, DJ, venue etc) at a discount. There are quite a few cancellations- I had one myself years ago.

But yes, it’s easy to arrange a wedding in that timescale. There’s REALLY not that much to do once you’ve decided where and when.

Thanks all! Reassuring :)

So here's the thing...it'll be around 100 people. Around 20 of them are overseas though so some potential no shows there, plus inevitable no shows from family so I'm thinking at the end if it may be around 80?

I'm starting to research now and seeing it's mostly do-able. I just don't even know where to start!

Wishing you good luck. A full wedding can be very stressful.
If you have relatives in states, have you considered having the wedding in the Bahamas? St Lucia? It can save money and be better than worrying about being rained out in September in the U.K.

Engaged in November, married in March for less than that. You just need to be decisive and prioritise - what are the most important things for you? Is it the venue, is it the dress? Is it the band? Is it the cake (!)?
We decided our priorities and then we saw and got quotes from 3 of everything I.e 3 photographers, 3 ceremony venues, 3 reception venues, 3 florists etc - just because we didn't have much time there was no reason to get ripped off!
Ended up booking our favourite venues (x2), photographer, florist, transport and bought the rings all in the same weekend.
We made the stationery stuff ourselves (designed and printed), mainly cos there was nowhere that did the design we wanted - invitations, order of service, seating chart etc which saved a lot of money. Having a live band or DJ wasn't important to us (we were happy with our iPod playlist), so we saved a lot of money on that and put it towards the food and drink instead, which we'd decided was our main priority. Get yourself a shared to do list and a spreadsheet and it's all good! Congrats!