Total wedding cost around 5k... doable?

[LetsGetTheBallRolling]

Just wondering how doable a 5k budget would be?
Luckily, my DM will be buying my dress, so that isn't included in the 5k budget we'll have!

We've seen a few venues that we love that come out at around £2000, but that's without food..

I'll be honest, I'm a little clueless about how much everything will cost once totalled so hoping some lovely people on here might have a bit more knowledge than I currently do!

I'm completely willing to do all table decor/centre pieces myself - have a very firm idea of what I want and I think it'll average around £30 per table for decor... it'll be a small wedding likely consisting of only 5 tables.
I have a hairdresser in the family so that'll keep cost down, and also know someone who owns a cake shop so again, can cut some costs there.

I'm not planning on having a swarm of bridesmaids, likely only have one or two, and they've already said they'll buy their own dresses, pay for their own hair and make up etc. OH will be renting his suit and his best man will be buying his own.

The few things I'm not willing to scrimp on will be the photographer and make up artist!

Just how doable is a 'small' budget wedding in the uk?

I'm not an expert, but what free (or nearly free) venues have you looked at? Better to spend the money on food/drink for your guests than give it to a venue.

Well, a wedding is as cheap or as expensive as you want to make it. There are many different types of weddings. With what you describe very easily affordable - even for the traditional type wedding you are describing.

Personally, if I could go back in time I would have had a relaxed wedding, with the reception in the room above our favourite pub - vintage just like weddings used to be!. I'd have enjoyed it more and saved a whole heap of cash.

Absolutely!

If you’re only having one or two bridesmaids it would be nice to pay for anything they need, especially if you want to pick their dresses. It’s kind of them to offer but I’ve been a BM handfuls of times and the costs really add up. No need for pricey dresses or professional hair and make.

Food is probably your biggest expense, people remember it whether it’s good or bad. Try to avoid being told who you have to use by your venue, shop around and look into getting a restaurant to cater for you.

A friend really loves flowers and used supermarket flowers for tables so only had bouquets made by a florist.

Photography is definitely worth spending on. I often look at our photos, they’re precious memories. I made our cake and saved a lot of money on that.

I'll be honest, I've not looked at any free or very low cost venues. We've ruled out pubs/hiring standards halls etc as we really want to make the day as beautiful as we can with the budget that we have. Not saying a pub reception can't be beautiful of course, but it just isn't 'us' unfortunately.

I'm worried there's something major I'm not factoring in.. and when it dawns on me I'll have that 'oh shit, well that's bumped the cost up!' moment.

My band cost £1000, my photography cost £1000. Not saying you can’t get those cheaper but I’d definitely recommend looking at local ones before you blow 2/5 of your budget on the venue without dressing/food/drink.

Do the venues you have seen allow you to pick your own suppliers and provide your own drink? If not it will be tight on that budget if you are spending 40% of it on the venue. What are you planning to do for a bar? Music? Ceremony?

Some of them allow for own drink yes, and the majority state that own food suppliers are welcome.
Forgot to add that we also know a DJ who would be happy to work for free if we just supply him with a few drinks so again, we are lucky that we can call in a few favours here and there.

I think our rough guest list for both day and evening totals around 30-35 people, so it really won't be a huge do, and truthfully, I think we'll likely cut that number down some more.

Photographer I've seen costs around £400, so luckily not close to £1000!

Sounds very doable. My advice to keep costs down would have been keep the number of guests small and the number of bridesmaids/ groomsmen to a minimum and you’re already doing that.

Look for venues a bit out of the ordinary. We hired a barn for £1800 they let us choose whatever catering we liked. We found this key to saving money.

We did our own evening buffet for £300 (for about 100 people). People LOVED it. We spent £75 on big cheeses from a local deli. Spent £50 on breads from a local bakery. Another £75 on cured meats. We made loads of chutney (far too much) which cost about £25 and an afternoon cooking beforehand. Then £75 on gluten free bread, butter vegan options, olives and stuff like that. My mother in laws husband served people and gave massive portions. Everyone was just giddy on cheese!

Another great money saver and great fun thing to look into is a silent disco rather than a dj or band. You can hire the headphones for about £150 online. They usually have at least 2 channels so the bride and groom can make a playlist and see whose is most popular. You just plug in a transmitter to a phone or laptop, give out the headphones and away you go. It’s really funny, people love the novelty, let their hair down. Also it’s cheap as chips xx

In that case it sounds reasonable.
I’d set out a budget for each area and try to stick to it quite tightly.
If you can provide your own booze for the tables that can usually save a bit (we got ours from Aldi!)
And as your guest list is relatively small it will be a bit easier to keep costs down.
I do agree it would be nice to get the bridesmaids dresses though (ASOS usually have a decent reasonably priced selection)

It’s worth mentioning ours was a very informal wedding x

I went to a wedding that cost 5k but they cut corners/passed the cost onto guests. They spent money on a beautiful venue & great photographers, but meant we spent a fortune on getting there, drinks & were starving.

We then went to another wedding that cost a little more (maybe 6-7k) which was in a village hall which was done beautifully & tons of food/entertainment.

Call on all the favours you can, and ideally save on a venue but spend on food/drink. That’s mainly what people remember.

One of the bridesmaids will be my sister, and for her wedding, I paid for my own dress, shoes, hair and makeup so I think she said she'd do the same as more of a favour than anything else!
Guests also paid for their own drinks and had small portioned meals at her wedding despite her total cost coming out at close to 20k! So I think that's why I'm panicking a little that my budget isn't feasible!

I imagine it would be doable, but you'll really have to keep things tight.

Worth checking with your local college - there may be photography students looking to build on their portfolio and would do it for free/highly discounted

It was the little things that put our budget up like presents for bridesmaids and best man, hair for them, Button holes.
It sounds like you’ve got lots of friends who can help with things that would normally cost.

Mine was about 5K I think.

Married at 4pm then went straight to reception where there was a drink and mince pies (Christmas) waiting.

Venue: £495
Food and drinks: £700 (we had fish and chips)
DJ: £175
Suits: £700(!)
Church: £1500 (obvs could do this a lot cheaper)
Cake: £250 (M&S do some nice ones)
Flowers: £350 (didn't have any in the Church)
Dress: £200 off ebay
Bridesmaids x 4: £40 each dresses
Make Up (for all): £250
Hair: £200

Think that's about it. Oh photos were free as a family member did it. Them there's the rings on top of course. I did the table decs - we collected crystal bowls from charity shops and had one full of sweets on each table.

We had a week at Bluestone with DS as a honeymoon!

I've just been to a lovely wedding where it was a registry office and then pub with a welcome drink and buffet.

I'm getting married here Cowley Manor next year. There will be 30 of us and all the hotel, meal, drinks package is costing us 3k. With dress, flowers, rings I've got it to just shy of 5k.

I've negotiated though with the wedding coordinator and got a complimentary bridal suite & free room hire. We are not having an evening do but have a separate room for drinks and iPod music on the evening. I think it's a perfect example that lovely doesn't have to mean £££££

Sorry that sounded like I'm hiring the whole hotel (which I'm not!!) they do an intimate package so I've adapted it to us. I've found that because we are having a winter wedding (Feb) there is so much more flexibility.

I’m thinking the following are costs we’ve factored in for our daughter’s wedding next year. You can easily reduce costs in some areas but if you want the whole ‘beautiful setting’ type event it may be a challenge to get it down low enough without being a bit meagre. I think it depends on area of country too.

Bride - Dress, veil, flowers, shoes, underwear, hair, makeup, jewellery
Bridesmaids the same but no veil.
Grooms outfit

Cars and buses.
Accommodation for close family and bridal parties.
Ceremony costs - choir, organist, versus registrar fees.
Stationary- invitations, order of service.
Photographer
Flowers for church or service venue. Flowers for breakfast venue. Bouquets, buttonholes, corsages.
Bunting, lighting etc
Venue hire costs and anything not included like decorations, dance floor, hired lavatories etc.
Catering.
Drinks
Waiting staff
MC
Favours
Cake
Entertainment- band, DJ, jazz quartet, Fireworks, Photo-booths, carousel, Ferris Wheel, Karaoke, whatever you want.
Taxi shuttle

Rehearsal supper
Post wedding brunch possibly.
Honeymoon

The list could go on but you have to decide what is important to you and prioritise those things.

Yes! We did ours for about £5k. Reception was in a restaurant where they charged us £25 per person. We paid for everyone's drinks. We also paid for evening canapés but not the drinks in the evening. I did my own table flowers. I collected jam jars and a few days before the wedding went to m&s and Tesco etc and bought loads of flowers. I also bought a Rosemary and bay tree from a garden centre for greenery. Table decorations far exceeded my expectations and looked fab. I kept florist flowers to a minimum, so just the groom, best man and father of the bride. Small bouquets for the bridesmaids. No cake. Photographer only for a few hours. I paid to get my hair and makeup done but did my own nails. It is doable. And critically, not stressful. Have fun organising.

Just think about things that you don't need.

We asked a friend to take me in his new Range Rover - he were pleased and did me a bow and everything. Bloody good job on the day as well as there was two foot of snow. My husband borrowed a friend's old car from his rally club but we couldn't get it to the reception anyway. No one will remember how you got there. No one will remember the cake. No one will notice if they isn't flowers at the venue. Or favours that get chucked straight away. People like nice food and drink and a good bop.

I got married for 3k but that was 7 years ago.

Dress £150 from John Lewis
Shoes £25 for ebay
Suit £300
Rings mine - free (my nan's), husband £50
Venue £500
Food £100 (hog roast)
Cake my dad made as wedding gift
Flowers - wild ones picked from venue and my mum bought my bouquet and button holes as our present
Booze £500 from France, the company we used paid for our crossing
Bridesmaid dressed x 3, £9 each in the sale from Peacocks 😂
Invitations £50 printed
Registrar £500 I think
Hair £50
Make up my mum did
Hotel for the night £100
The band were my dad's friend who played for food and booze
Decorations hand made and picked
DJ - ipod playlist
Rest on honeymoon in the Yorkshire moors for a week away

It was great. Friends took photos and videos and it felt relaxed on the day. My dad drove me in his Ford fiesta 😂

I wouldn't change it for the world and we really enjoyed the whole experience. My sister is still in debt after spending about 25k when she didn't have the cash and was quite stressed out because of it.

I imagine food and venue are more expensive now than in 2012 though.

ours was about 5k (not including my dress which my mum brought).
we got married in october, got a package deal at a hotel and had the civil ceremony there. Bridesmaids wore shoes they already had and we did our hair and make up between us and one of my bridesmaids partners is decent with a camera so she took photos. I got lots of things cheap online and didn't bother with things like chair covers and favours.

Ours will be under 5k! 30 guests. Getting married in a military chapel with a small donation. Then lunch for 30 in a local posh restaurant. Private room hire is £150. Set lunch menu is £25 each plus wine.

Our favourite cafe is making a chocolate wedding cake for £50.

Using my dad’s Jaguar as the wedding car and my parents are buying my dress which will be around £800! No evening “do” or disco.

I am a thrifty bride!

Oh and DH is wearing his military uniform 1’s and we aren’t having groomsmen or bridesmaids.

I'm not sure a £800 dress is thrifty!