OK, so we're finally getting married. Budget hair/clothes/makeup for v small wedding?

[totalmisfit]

After much deliberation we've finally decided to get hitched in just over a month's time. At first we thought we'd just grab some witnesses off the street and take dd with us. Then we both started to feel sad about certain family members not being there so it looks like it will just be a few guests, very small, nothing showy, down the pub after type thing

But the thing is, there'll still be lots of photos taken and i don't want to look my normal 'pulled through a hedge backwards' self. I'd like to make a bit of an effort without looking like i've made too much of an effort iyswim?

We're both sort of late twenties indie kids at heart, so i was thinking of maybe finding a nice vintagey folky 60's/70's style dress (not too weddingy) and shoes to go with (god knows, i don't really 'do' shoes) on ebay perhaps as we're short of cash.

As for my hair, it's thin, poker straight and mousy. I was thinking it's got to be wavy/curly on the day, but how best to acheive such a look on a very tight budget? how would i make sure it 'went' with my over all look? And also, i don't want to look like a throwback, i'd rather have a retro influence than going the whole hog...

And then there's makeup - don't usually wear much although i probably should as my skin's been absolutely awful since i weaned dd from the breast over a year ago. I've looked at a couple of wedding/hair makeup artists online but they all seem to cater for the chocolate box look and cost about £300. Which is £300 more than we have!

I bet you're probably reading this wondering how i ever got someone to agree to marry me considering i look so grim. so am i tbh

Please help!

have just realised none of those are actually maxi -length...

right, having another look at the longer dresses

We spent a fortune, but I know what you mean, I don't do shoes at all. Spent weeks trying on different styles, and in the end went with ivory BHS flipflops, which came off for the first dance and stayed off.
I did my own make-up, which looked good , and would suggest getting a make-over now, buying what you need and practice it a few times in the run-up to the big day.
If you're going to have a fancy dress, then keep your hair simple, or a simple dress-fancy hair. If you're going for a retro dress, how about leaving your hair straight and down, with a centre parting, but blow-dried to give a little lift to the roots. Ask around friends/family, and someone might be a dab hand at blow-drying, or curling if you want to do that.
With a month to go, you've still got time to make your skin better, so maybe spend on skincare and smoothies to save on foundation and concealer?

Congratulations!

xx

congrats!! i work for a makeup company in a department store, all counters offer free makeovers but really want you to buy. My suggestion would be go into the store and look for a girl whos makeup you like and ask if she would do you a demo....you can get away with cheap makeup from which ever brand you like but maybe just buy a lipstick from the counter, that way you get a free makeover and you get to keep the sale girl happy by buying?
If not Estee lauder do a free service called signature services, all you have to do is pick one of them, ie a free makeover and you even get to take away a 10 day sample of the foundation...... guess what company i work for!

ps plait your hair yourself when dry and clamp the plait all the way day with heated straightners, instant and free wavy look!

Congrats! I had my make up done by someone from Mary Kay, but I'm afraid I can't for the life of me remember how much it was! Not much help I know - sorry!!

wastingmyeducation - the problem with my skin is that having never suffered from acne in my life, after i weaned dd, i suddenly developed it. That was a year ago, and i've been on every acne treatment going, was on antibiotics for ages, but nothing really worked. Asked the doctor about retinol, and he said that a) it wasn't really serious enough to warrant it and b) it can cause cancer and if i wanted any more info i could read the label.

Needless to say, this scared me rigid and i've subsequently been limiting my skincare regime to Freederm lotion and a bit of simple moisturiser, which has kept it under control for a few months, although it flares up for a few days according to my hormones. But i have horrible scars now, and big pores, not to mention blackheads everywhere...yuk yuk yuk

Oooh congratulations . I get married next month as well

Most beauty salons will do a make up "lesson" for about £25-£30. Whereabouts are you ? I've got a mobile make up person coming to the house (just found in the local free paper) ad she's charging £20 to do the make up on the day. Having a similar thing for hair.

barbie - will try the plaits idea.. going to look on Estee lauder website now

congratulations tilly

we're in North Norfolk, pretty much falling into the north sea...

Oooh, wouldn't want to risk trying anything new on it then.
I would definitely try your wedding make-up a few times before the day to make sure it doesn't react too badly with your skin if I were you then.

xx

gorgeous dress

with shrug/bolero type thing ?

boho/hippy look

totalmisfit did you find any info on lauder? if not i will find your closest branch for you....honestly go and check it out, the foundation sample will last for 10 days, if you can pop in asap because we have just recieved our xmas samples so you might be able to blag a few freebies....failing that let me know what kind of colours you like and ill have a look what i have here

totalmisfit im here with loads of stuff on my lap

clarins body scrub

estee lauder concealer

natural lip liner

clarins day cream

and a small selection of goodies for the man of your life....

Do you want it??????

Ps sample sizes but enough to last you x

thanks barbie - had a look on their website - got a bit lost tbh, couldn't seem to find what i was after.

that's v kind of you, but i think i'd better try stuff out first as have very temperamental skin

tilly - love that first blue one. that's definitely on my maybe list

better sign off for a bit as dd needs getting up from her nap

thanks all you lovely ladies for helping me out with such a difficult ask xx

With a shrug?

Congratulations, I love a budget wedding. Since you want maxi, not too dressy for the pub, but surely a bit of femininity and romance, how about these ideas:

dip dye maxi with
gold shrug

corsage bag
you can pull your hair back in a pony tail, then feed the end back into the hair band via a gap between the hair, it makes a rolled v which looks nice, then you can add fresh flowers with hair grips

those last few are great

Warehopuse don't have it online, but in our local ones there's an amazing long maxi dress, dark blue and very glam but slightly seventies also

Another one, though not 100% sure about the background colour.
And I know you're not really after short, but this is gorgeous.

this?

jackie you may have just solved my awards dress pronblem with that website- thank you! am liking this)

this?

jackie you may have just solved my awards dress pronblem with that website- thank you! am liking this)

congratulations!

do you know what I would do if I was on a really tight budget? I would spend as much as it took to get a really great cut and colour, especially as you sound really fed up with your hair. A great hair cut makes you look so much better and gives you loads more confidence. And you may think you have really thin hair but a good hairdresser should be able to put volume into it.

As for the dress part - I know being in debt is not the ideal way to start married life but when we got married we took out a Selfridges store card to get our outfits. Couldn't have afforded anything decent otherwise and it was great fun being able to look round the whole store and find what we wanted. You could book an appointment with a personal shopper too.

Peachy - both of those are lovely.

I like the hanky paisley one Jackie, different and flaoty could well work as an alternative wedding dress and nice ones Peachy ( the long one and your one)

Congratulations!!!!

Mine was tiny- just DH and I and our mums.
Most expensive thing were the rings... but you wear those every day for the rest of your life.

My dress was from Monsoon- not wedding collection, evening collection- 2 piece in silk. Did my hair/make-up myself.
DH had a new suit, but one he could wear for work afterwards.
No reception- we had Chinese takeaway that evening!
We had a lovely day... hope yours is too.

i will def second going to a beauty counter for ideas on colours and applications - not a beauty salon. I've worked in both and in my experiece beauty counters, ie, clinique, estee lauder, dior have much more choice and because they work with make up allday, tend to be better at application - i've seen some hidious make up come out of beauty salons!

We did our wedding on a big budget too, it can be done, congrats and have fun.

If you want any tips on cheap table decs or anything just shout