wedding can we do it?

[alphamummy]

Last year me and my dp secured a date a registry office for 25th July 2009, subsequently my partner didn?t work for nearly 3 months (builder no work). As money was tight over Christmas and New Year we started arguing therefore the big day was put on the back burner.

We are back on track now and we have decided that we should get married. I don?t want a big day at a swanky hotel or to have to feed 100+ people expensive sit down meals, its just not us. You all may judge but all I want from my wedding is to be married, see family and close friends, celebrate our relationship and be very drunk!

Ok we still as everyone are counting the pennies but we have about £600 saved.

So can we do it for that trifling amount?

I'm thinking eBay for wedding dress and suit

My next neighbour can do catering (buffet) cheap.

Local conservative club for reception?

Not overly bothered about wedding pictures/ fancy cars/ doves!

What does everyone think? Shall we go for it?

Get everyone to bring a plate and a bottle for the buffet?

Look at hiring a church hall? my church hires out for a donation(£20 ish) if you are a member

Know anyone with a nice car you could borrow in exchange for a goodwill gesture? you know, like do a basket of ironing kind of gesture.

Go for it. it's not the trimmings that matter, it's haveing your friends and family there to share your day.

some friends of ours did a marquee / pig roast with bring a bottle - everyone got hammered and had a blast. best wedding ever!! they did have a band though - music is quite a good atmosphere maker.
go for it!!

or why dont you and DP go and get married in a last minute 'no one knows' sort of way and then have a big party!

that way you save money on the clothes as you can just wear a party dress and DP can wear trousers and shirt and spend the rest on the party!

gossipmonger, that's what dh and I did

Go for it, do you know any photographers you could blag for a freebie? mates who are good at photogs? charity shops good for wedding dresses, got any mates who can lend you their old shoes, I lent my old wedding shoes out to my friend with same size feet! Good luck and have fun!

wish we had Coffee.

Hi alphamummy, we got married on the (fairly) cheap last year,although family did help with food bill which was most of budget.
I got my wedding dress from Bhs,dh got suit from M and S,borrowed friends nice car and she chauffered us,flowers were quite pricey but dont need to be -you could grow your own-but go to a wholesaler and not a florists you will get ripped off.We asked good friend to be unofficial photographer and he did a super job and even put the pics in nice album for wedding pressie,obv things like hair, make up, shoes, bridesmaids (if youre having any) will push the cost up but if youre confident to do your own make up etc...
We hired local village hall for £90 for the day.Do you know any musicians or use i-pod for music.
bring a dish/bottle or both sounds like a fum idea.Get help from anyone you know -they will be happy to help.
When's the big day?

ohh all v. positive.
dp is doubting we'll be able to pull it off saying people will have booked summer hols and so on! going to ring around see if we can get a venue tomorrow for big party!
Only going to invite family to actual ceremony. If the venue is booked then I can start other things rolling. oooh I?ve got butterflies at the thought!

Thanks coffee that is my sentiment as well!

Korma I?m in Bradford, west yorks, any help would be gratefully received!

If I tell people to bring cameras and throw a few disposables about, that should be ok?

I'm going swimming now but shall be back for about 10ish. Thanks guys i need to believe i can do this!!

Just ideas:

Ask friends to take photos and maybe a video. We spent quite a lot of money on official photos yet the one we have displayed on a bookcase is one taken by a friend.

I went to a local florist for buttonholes & my bouquet which was surprisingly cheap - get a picture of what you want and go see them or even find out who does the church flowers and see if they'll do them/knows someone since they are often keen hobbyists.

I had a traditional wedding car, dh's groomsmen walked to the church through the village and dh arrived in a friend's chromed-up racing mini

What do you envisage wearing? Maybe we can help? Depending on colour/style I might be able to offer you a veil/tiara.

Make own seating plan/invitations or just email everyone!

Rather than wedding presents ask guests to bring a dish? Or go for bangers and mash?

I'm a wedding florist and have decorated venues with just greenery and candles - looks lovely! Collect ivy etc from your local woods/friends-family gardens and drape over windowsills etc put tall church candles amongst the greenery (be careful that they are high enough as you don't want to start a fire!).

Likewise with flowers, opt for a hand tied bouquet with flowers collected from someones' garden??

what dress size are you? i might be able to help out with a dress, have a couple of wedding dresses kicking about!

I think the only thing I would make very certain of is the photography. 10 years from now you may or may not remember the details of the reception and who got drunk/ fell out with someone/ made a rude speech etc, but you'll want to look back at the photos and/ or video. So cut back on anything but that!
And to answer your question, yes of course! Look at all the ideas in just an hour of mn!!

With regards to the photos you can ask people to send you copies of theirs, some of our favourites are the ones taken by our guests.

i can make tiaras too btw!

wow guys thanks!

There is just so much i haven?t thought of! I haven?t thought of colours really but i like greens, yellows and silver, so the dress i was thinking just white but with green yellow flowers/foliage! My local market has flower stall which is cheap and seasonal!

Heated- I'm a little lost with style and so on! I wasn?t thinking of doing a seating plan but i can see why as i wouldn?t want anyone to be uncomfortable and sitting with anyone they didn?t like! i can do that on the puter! I have some cheap invites i bought last year so they should do i may have to buy some cheap supermarket ones Tesco?s have some niceish ones! As I?m thinking about having it at a conservative club i don?t think people will need to bring a bottle but bring a dish is good then i only have to cater for half maybe?

Monkey - i have ivy in my back garden growing up and into my garage now so no trip to the woods needed! Great idea tho, its at the registry office so cant decorate it as its a quick turn around, but the venue may let me do something like that?

Capn - I'm a size 18 (god that?s hard to admit) but if i can sort a venue soonish and its really happening i will try so hard to slim down, so i suppose the last thing on my list is a dress so i can shift some podge! I would love to borrow a dress if they are near my fat assed size? why a couple?

I'm thinking of putting in the invites please bring a camera or is that cheeky?

right I?ve found the numbers so i'll do some ringing around tomorrow, thanks again for all your advice

Korma i'll email you tomorrow thank you!

loving mn at the mo!

There shouldn't be a problem with the venue allowing you to decorate it, you'll need about 3 bin bags full of greenery (holly/ivy/fir/rosemary/laurel) to make an impact. You can go to wholesalers for the candles, don't forget you can also scatter tea lights around too. For tables buy potted herbs for the table centres and place in a nice pot i.e. a metal one and tie a table name around it using string and luggage labels You can then use these to give as gifts to anyone who has helped you out.

Lavender also looks nice as a table centre surround with tealights.

ALPHA i have two dresses because i got one in sale and then i put on weight so had to get another, first is size 8, backless with a princess skirt, is gold and cream lace.the second is a size 12 off the shoulder , brocade bodice with dropped waist and tule duster skirt,, however if you know a good dressmaker you could take out the back zip and put in a laced up back, wouldnt be hard to do and it would fit ok, its yours if you want it. oh and the colour is oyster, a sort of off white ..... need to change back to my usual name , then you can cat me if you want it.... im drlove8

i saw a wedding reception decorated with folliage, tealights and gypsiponia and a single flower at each table .... it was breathtakingly beautiful ,because it was so simple...... all the focus was on the bride( isnt that the point?)

saw someone suggest that you give out cdroms to guests and ask them to burn their photos for you and send back. think they may have provided prepaid envelopes too.

buy invites from whsmith along with a calligraphy pen and handwrite

buy the bouquet the night before
I grabbed a friends from our local florist straight from the bucket £10 !!

of course you can get married on a shoe string! - it's the best part!!!!

if you want to borrow a kids bridesmaid dress age 5-6 yell it's in our wardrobe doing nowt!

and a gold long affair in size 8

and 2 pairs of gold shoes

be honest with people and say look this is a non expensive affair it's for us to share our love and happiness so please share that!

I also went to a great wedding where they stood a bucket in the hall everyone chucked a coupla quid in noone got snotty about having to buy £30 of this and noone felt obliged to give either some people had done an awful lot for their day so they didn't /couldn't

twas great!! noone got arsey about must dos must don'ts and all that really boring BOLLOX!