Cheap wedding ideas

[Ireallywantsomechips]

Shamelessly posting for traffic to steal all of your ideas

Thinking about doing a registry office and then party in a function room at a hotel or pub maybe?

Has anyone done something similar or slightly different but low cost?

I’d love a big fancy Pinterest wedding but the cheapskate in me doesn’t want to fork out. Did you manage to make the room looks how you wanted? Was there anything you wish you’d taken into account, such as time, having to decorate yourself etc?

I went for a pretty basic registry office / pub arrangement. I'm not very girly and don't live being the centre of attention so the whole 'wedding' thing was not really something I wanted to go overboard with - it's the marriage that comes after that matters to me!

We had I think about 40 people at the registry office and 70 at the reception. We had the registry office bit quite late in the afternoon so there wasn't too much hanging around. We found a pub which has a nice medieval barn we could use. They did all the catering and setting up. We requested curry with apple crumble for dessert as those are our favourite foods, and they were able to accommodate us with that! My mum made the cake. It was a few days after Christmas so they still had fairy lights up, which was lovely together with the big open fire in the barn. We hired a local DJ recommended by the pub for the party.

It was by no means a fancy wedding but I had a brilliant time, and so did everyone else I think. O think sometimes there's too much pressure on weddings to be fancy and it can end up less enjoyable for everyone. Do what works for you!

I had a 12 people at our wedding. Spent £5k.

Registry office 2pm.

Then sent guests off for an afternoon tea whilst we had photos.

Took a private dining room at a place with an incredible view no charge for the room just min spend on food and drink I think the spend was £1500.

Wedding breakfast started at 6pm. Full on three course meal from a menu no set menu as small party.

Don't regret it one bit

Have you seen this website?:

www.sellmywedding.co.uk/

I'd also add to my post above, we had it on a Friday in the week between Christmas and NY. That week worked well - most people are not working anyway so can come on a weekday (which is a bit cheaper), and you still have the Christmas decorations like fairy lights up in lots of places which reduces the amount of decorating you need to do.

@Goyle do you recall how much the mini buses were? Obviously it will be different depending time and distance but I have know idea how much one may cost and should I expect a couple of hundred or a couple of thousand?

@SSW101 a town house? What a great idea!

@AlwaysLatte this is exactly what I wanted and I’d do a festival type thing! The only field for hire I could fine near me was £3k just for the field so I thought maybe not! That sounds amazing though! I like the idea of lavender!

@WillowT I need this fairy light canopy!!

@justwinginglife1 oh that is genius!!

@MissHoney85 that sounds perfect!! Just what I want!

@Theyweretheworstoftimes I love the idea of afternoon tea as well!

@KatieB55 no I haven’t thank you so much!

Flowers are the thing that stick in my mind as being extortionate. I wanted little posies of gerbera daisies so just bought 30 flowers and some lengths of chiffon and put them together myself. Cost a few quid.

We combined wedding favours with place settings by making up pretty, clear cellophane bags of sweets with a name label on for each person. Remember sending a group text out months in advance asking everyone what was their favourite quarter and then compiling a spreadsheet! Happy days

We my friends wedding in the local hall was lovely.
They had a multicoloured theme so didn’t worry about everything matching and used bright paper pom-poms to decorate which were very cheap.
They bulk bought Prosecco for toasts but asked everyone to bring their own booze for the night do. They scoured charity shops and carboot sales for glasses so they everyone could choose a glass for their drink as a wedding favour.
Evening food was from a fish and chip van which was ace.
They also had a ‘bake off’ for those that wanted to participate so that accounted for the wedding cake and deserts.

OP just a thought - a number of bridal shops are sadly going under and selling off their dresses pretty cheaply if you fit their sample sizes you can pay far less than half price. And besides there are a number of charity shops with special wedding dress divisions.

Don't do it, then you save money on the divorce too!

@Ireallywantsomechips Can't remember now, tbh. Sorry!

I made my bouquet and flowers for the tables out of old romance novels and gardening wire, saving a lot of money on flowers. I got a lot of compliments and quite a few guests asked to take some home with them. I still have my bouquet on display at home. They are really easy to make, and was quite relaxing to do in the run up to the big day.

Excuse the Christmas decorations behind them, I forgot to take them down, and I didn’t want to risk bad luck... Then 2020 happened anyway 😂

@Calic0 I think I’ll definitely sort my own out, never been fussed by flowers anyway!

@crosstalk that’s (sadly) a great idea!

@MizMoonshine I hear you, but we have a child and he earns more money than me which I can always steal in the divorce 😉

@Acrasia wow they’re beautiful! Haha no that didn’t work 😂

@Acrasia I really love the roses!

I know a couple who got a free scout hut to cut costs. It was fucking grim. The worst building you've ever stepped foot into.
They weren't broke either!

Decide how many people you want, go to venues, haggle.
But a pretty non wedding dress. Don't spend on hair and make up. Choose what's important. Spend money on a photographer if you want decent pics. Don't bother with a photo booth for pissed up guests 😂

@Ireallywantsomechips you get yours, Lady!

I've been to a couple of weddings in people's houses. One in Australia with the ceremony and main meal in the garden - vert laid back. The day before we made out own corsages and decorated.

Another in the UK, the wedding was at the local Methodist church, the bride wanted a church wedding but was divorced so couldn't use the local RC church she attended.

They were in quite a large house because the bride and her sister and various children lived in the house.

Everyone knew they were skint so gave money and / or alcohol, there was a buffet and music.

I think something more natural, using a view, beach or woods rather than cheap decorations made to fill a space. I always hate the standard naff church hall/cheap hotel chairs for instance.

It can be hard work to start with something very basic and try and make it nice. Many years of trying this in school halls tells me it takes such a lot of effort and 'stuff'

A great view with an arch of natural planting or a wood late in the day, decorated with fairy lights and a tent type canopy for the reception.
Weather dependent unfortunately!

Failing that picking a church hall or venue that already has character. I went to a party in a sailing club...think shed type hut on a beach...amazing with just a few lights and fire pits outside and very plain furniture inside.

I think you will get a venue at a bargain at the moment OP. Whereabouts are you based?

I recently got married and we got a lovely venue at a reasonable price per head rather than a hire fee. Also a lot of these places say there is a minimum of 50 or 100 people at £100 -150 per head for the venue and the meal so you think it will be a fortune but they all honored the price per head for 30 people when asked.

If you don’t have your heart set on a particular venue it pays to shop around. I saved thousands by hiring the local windmill instead of a package deal from other venues. We decorated ourselves (check out The Range, they do decent decorations), used the venues approved caterer (a local pub which did an excellent BBQ) and provided drinks ourselves (SIL did a booze cruise for the wine, Prosecco and soft drinks came from the local supermarket).

My dress was from the previous years collection so was half price, bridesmaid dresses came from Monsoon and accessories were from Debenhams. The men used their own suits and we just hired waistcoats and ties for the groom, best man, my dad and our page boy. A family member is a decent photographer and he did all the photos. Favours and invites were made by us - Hobbycraft is good for that sort of thing.

All in all, including honeymoon it cost us about £3,000.

@Giganticshark yes I have been the pissed up guest in a Photo booth and it was pretty pointless to be fair!

@sashh oh I am so jealous I’d love a wedding in a house! I wish my parents or in laws had a house with grounds (for many reasons 😂)

@IndiaPlace I know what you mean! That was my initial concern. There are places ten a penny that are beautiful here but I just don’t want to spend £10k on it. I need to find a hidden gem!

@WarriorsComeOutToPlayay that’s good to know! One place I found is reasonable but if it’s less than 50 guests you have to pay for the room, maybe they would negotiate. I’m in Cirencester and there are many beautiful places, but with the price tag to match!

@HunterAngel wow that’s brilliant!

Aww, thanks @Ireallywantsomechips and @Ninkanink. I am very proud of them, especially as I am not a crafty person at all. I do love books though.

My wedding was done largely on the cheap (thank god, we didn't even see a second anniversary).

I think the place I saved most was the flowers; the bridesmaids bouquets doubled up as table centre pieces, we had fish bowl style things with pretty sparkly stones in the colour scheme and then the bouquets just dropped in to the top. It looked nicer than I've made it sound!

We (I!) did all the invites, place names, seating plan ourselves, and some other bits of decoration too. Favours were star shaped brooches for £1 each bought from the Hospice that had cared for a relative, and given in memory of him.

I bought my dress off the rack in America on a holiday we were already going on and had it tailored to fit when I got home, shoes were £20 in the sale, a talented friend did everyone's make-up as a gift.

I tried to remember all the way through the bits I did and didn't remember from other people's weddings. I couldn't tell you what the favours or place settings or flowers were like at my best mate's wedding, just that we had a fantastic time . Hardly anyone will remember the small details of yours either, so don't stress over them x

We kept costs down by dumping the traditional format and replacing it with a garden party instead. Food was contributed by guests. The venue was a relative's house.

Luckily, both our families treat weddings as big parties and it's usual for everyone to muck in and help out.