Ooh I love a good wedding me! I've been married for nearly six months and had the happiest, most enjoyable wedding I could have imagined. And it wasn't at all expensive.
Firstly, the biggest expense by far was food. You have to be careful where you have your reception if you want people to sit down and eat, because most people offering professional receptions will NOT let you take food onto the premises because of health and safety. We had a hogroast, with country vegetable soup beforehand and apple pie and custard for pudding! It was very reasonable, we bought a few bottles of wine for each table and put a bit of money behind the bar for everybody's first drink. When that ran out people were very happy to pay for their own.
Get lots of people involved! That's the fantastic thing about weddings, it's the coming together of two families and it's really nice to get people helping out. MIL made our invites, table names etc, my Mum made all of the table decorations. A friend did the flowers for cost.
We paid £40 for a three tier chocolate cake and decorated it ourselves with sugar roses and lots of fruit (strawberries, blueberries and raspberries). It looked great, very rustic which is what we wanted.
In terms of clothes, we got all of our bridesmaids dresses from department stores in the Christmas sales. Also, have a look at big bridal warehouses. They do some great end of season sales and have huge discounts on designer stuff. DH, best man and ushers hired their suits.
We had a ceilidh band for the evening. They were absolutely fantastic, everybody joined in-grannies dancing with 13yr old label freaks- they weren't expensive and were the highlight of the whole day.
In terms of photographs, you don't necessarily have to spend a fortune, shop around. Our photographers seemed so cheap compared to some of the quotes but we got 300 photos, all of the negatives and digital files and they took pictures all day till the final dance. All for about £300. Personally, I couldn't have done without a good photographer (even if it's just a reliable friend) because that's where the memories of the day are, and it's something you'll enjoy for years afterwards. Oh and have some reportage stuff done, group shots are all very well and good but it's great what you get on camera when people aren't looking!
Our best friends did a video for us. They just borrowed video cameras and put it all on a cdrom for us. It was so personal- they interviewed the parents, siblings and friends, got people to tell funny stories about us, interviewed both of us the night before and the morning after. It's a fantastic video and really encapsulates not just the day, but what the marriage meant as a whole. And it meant that our best friends were a huge part of the day.
We borrowed cars from DH's Grandma (maroon Rav4 for bridesmaids, black mercedes for Dad and I).
Keep us posted, ask any questions you want and remember to have the things you want not the things you think make it a wedding. It's such a great celebration, make sure it stands out as your celebration.