Cheap wedding ideas

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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?

We did the legal bit at the registry office the week before with just witnesses. Then we took a charabanc to a site that meant a lot to us and had a vicar friend bless us there. It was a beautiful day and the views were stunning. Then all back in the bus to the local country pub for bangers and mash, jugs of beer and bucks fizz. and games of Aunt Sally all afternoon.

My dress was from M&S, my flowers were just ordinary bunches from the florist. favours were little pebbles with runes painted on them. I had a cupcake tier wedding cake made by a friend. My dear old dad said he felt like he had walked into a Thomas Hardy novel. It was great.

This really helped when I was maid of honour for my cousin! www.confetti.co.uk/wedding/planning-organising/5000-wedding-budget/ There’s a £10k one too I think, even if you don’t follow it exactly, it gives a rough guideline

Do you have Costco nearby? Its great if you want to cater for large numbers.

I made my invites. Didn't bother with save the dates. Had artificial flowers. Got my wedding shoes and tiara from Debenhams. Simple favours of chocolate love hearts in little bags and Mr and Mrs rock for evening favours, none were left behind. Got personalised guest book from ebay. Friend did my hair. Loads of areas you can save money

Admittedly, my wedding was a long time ago, but we were stony broke and managed to have a lovely day on very little money. A friend of my mum's made my dress. At the time there was a make up company who held parties in people's homes to sell their wares. We struck a deal with the local rep that if we held a party and she managed to make a certain amount (I can't remember how much now) then she would do my wedding make up for free. We raided the gardens of friends and neighbours (and ours too!) for flowers. We'd asked them all about this the previous winter so they'd planted lots of things that would flower at the right time. We didn't bother with a colour scheme. My mum was a staunch member of the WI, so they set to and made the buffet and we provided the ingredients. Family friends lent their car to be the wedding car, driven by their son - my Dad drove a Reliant Robin and no way was I going to turn up at Church in that! The reception was at my Mum and Dad's house. I designed and made invitations and the order of service. Family friends took the photographs and also a video (showing my age!). My brother made my cake. I wouldn't change a thing!

I spent less then £1000 wedding at reg the pub afterwards for food drinks and cake we had a lush day and was about 50 ppl too

(It’s a register office btw. )

Focus on what’s important. Not stupid traditions. Keep the event short. Family member had drinks in their garden / ceremony / meal for 25 in a restaurant. Cake. Pissed off on honeymoon. Was very chic.

We had exactly what you suggest in your OP, and it was wonderful. Probably partly because I'd just had my cancer diagnosis (I'm not recommending that, btw ), but all our friends really stepped up: one paid for a live band, my husband's ex and her sisters organised and paid for an amazing buffet, my opera-trained neighbour sang at the ceremony, another friend made the cake...so many things.

The main thing that people enjoyed was the relaxed informal atmosphere- the pub we booked was a stone's throw from the Town Hall, there was a cash point close by, and a corner shop for the smokers. Air B&Bs and a hotel in walking distance. Nobody had to pay for taxis, or travel to the arse-end of nowhere for a reception. It was honestly the most fun and easy-going day and night. It is always going to be one of my best memories.

There are savings you can make on your dress, I bought mine from a High Street shop and had some alterations done so I could call it customized and one off.

We also saved on decorations by getting our local pubs to save all of its empty spirits bottles which we then cleaned and filled with LED lights or you can just stick church candles in wine bottles.

I found Etsy to be brilliant and a bargain for menu cards, name cards, seating plans etc

Also if you can use things again rather than just the once on the wedding day the money you spend is less of an issue. EG - I bought my shoes from Rainbow club and they offer a free dye match service afterwards. I also got my wedding dress dyed and a tailor turned it into a mid length lacy cocktail dress. I now wear my repurposed wedding outfit if we have a really nice meal out or special event to go to.

We also had our seating plan on a mirror (you buy transfer kits on Etsy and put it on a mirror of your choice). Our wedding mirror is now simply our mirror so I don't think about how much I paid for it.

We got married between Christmas and New Year , the venue was reasonably priced as usually a flat time of year for them and it was still decorated in festive colours so looked lovely in photos

We found a venue that would do 3 course wedding breakfast for 50, evening food for 100, DJ and candy cart for 3k. It's a really small restaurant/hotel out in the countryside. Could stay the night before so no worrying about getting a car, as they were licensed for ceremonies as well. Ask around work friends etc someone will know someone who's got married.

No favours, no fancy place cards - handwritten on a pack of 50 cards for £3.50.

Was going to get big Connie and colin cakes (£50 each) until a family member offered to pay for the cake. Invites were bought in a pack online and handwritten, they were "scratch to reveal" date invites which people thought were really unique. No save the dates.

If I could fit into a high stress dress I would have got one, but I got mine from wed2b where everything apart from the platinum range is £599 or less.

There was a wedding in the front garden of a house in our village last week. They had set up gazebos and had afternoon tea, garden games, dinner then dancing into the early hours.
It looked fabulous.

Look into a hog roast, plus you can add cakes and salads - it may be cheaper to have individual suppliers.

If you hire a hall you don’t need to say wedding as that adds £££ family party would be sufficient.

Have it late afternoon and get friends to help decorate the hall - table clothes, drinks glasses etc can be brought cheap from Costco - no washing up.

Ask parents to lend games for kids, some may have Jenga or similar for kids to play or hire a bouncy castle for them.

Why not see if you can find a band that plays party games as well as music - look them up they can be quite good.

Some breweries will do alcohol on sale or return - or you can ask guests to bring a bottle or two (instead of gifts) and you provide soft drinks and a few bottles for the tables.

People really don’t mind if you aren’t cheeky.

Set up a family sharing photo app - lots about so everyone can download their photos.

We decorated the back bar of the pub with stuff from hobby craft, balloons banners that sort of thing as we had not much money for decorating and it worked out quite nice and not tacky

Oh and to add that me dh and my mum decorated the room before the wedding, we were allowed access at 10am, took about an hour to do and gave us enough time to go back to mum's house who was hosting the bridesmaids and for us to get ready for 3pm wedding

DJ was £200
Food was £250 for roughly 60 people and it included a massive pit of Vegetarian Chilli which pleased nearly everyone and the 3 tier wedding cake made by M&S for £100 which we also decorated with ribbon from hobby craft

If u have the money for a big wedding that's great but we spent around 1800 on the whole thing