Help please :)

[chlo04]

What things did people do to save on their wedding?

Thank you!

I did my own hair and make up
MiL made our cake
No bridesmaids etc
No cars
Invitations printed by local printers, single sided.
No honeymoon

I think that entirely depends on your budget, what sort of wedding you want and your family expectations. It can be a very small church wedding with a dress from the Oxfam wedding shop and a simple lunch at the brides home afterwards. That would be quite cheap.
Or a registry office a couple of witnesses and a village hall party in the evening.
Unless we know what we are reducing the costs of, it’s not going to be very useful.

Second hand bridesmaid dresses, and only a couple of bridesmaids.
Used a small start up business for our flowers, cost a fraction of some of the bigger companies and were totally beautiful.
Didn’t bother with favours, absolute waste of money. No one cares about them really.
Bought our rings in a sale, from H Samuel (plus his was titanium so only cost £40!)
Printed our own invitations. My sister drew the motifs (she’s an artist) and we printed them on MILs decent printer on nice quality card
All decorations were second hand or handmade
Shop around... for everything!

We had a huge wedding, 100 to the day and another 300+ to the evening, big white dress, tails, church then marquee, sit down meal, live band and DJ etc etc, and while it was expensive, it wasn’t anywhere near what it could have been!

Oh! And no bloody cars. No one sees the brides car anyway, and it’s just a car. Waste of money to hire one.
I borrowed my BILs brand new truck to get there, and we left in a tractor. Niche but free!

MIL made the cake;
No cars, just taxis;
Designed invites online with vistaprint (I think);
Photographer was someone looking to change career they did about 4 hours for £200- total bargain;
Dress off eBay- new, but hugely reduced;
Flowers at the reception venue from local market, cut and put in vases/jars by me, mum and friend on morning of wedding;
No bridesmaids;
Didn't skimp on food and booze

Best wedding table decorations I have ever come across were live herbs growing in terracotta pots. The bride had grown them, and chalked peoples names on the pots. They served as table decs, place names and favours. Very cheap, very effective.

Well what worked for us is a bit risky so may not work for others. We booked our reception six weeks before the day and had it at Christmas time. The venue had had a cancellation which they had taken the deposit from so they waived the venue hire fee and as they had already ordered the food for the other party and couldn't get a refund they offered it to us at a discounted rate. Also as it was Christmas the venue was already decorated beautifully and there was no need for anything more. Also didn't bother with flowers, favours etc. Focus was on ceremony and then lots of food and drink at reception (free bar for house wine, beer and all soft drinks). Only had the reception over one meal time too which massively reduced costs.

eBay for dresses (mine and bridesmaids) and things like invitations, table numbers etc. They were personalised, but a lot cheaper than the specific sites.

Etsy for things like bridesmaid hairpieces.

We made our own cake (although my husband makes them for a living so that was straightforward. Naldo made my own centrepieces and did the flowers myself.

We didn’t bother with things like wedding cars, favours etc. We went for a pub reception and kept the pub feel so no need for table cloths, chair covers etc.

Used a start up photographer.

Really we just focussed on the bits that were important to us, like the food, splurged there and saved on the bits we were less fussed about.

Had the wedding in a place that did all the talking, thereby saving on decorations and flowers ( accept bridal party).
Had the meal in a proper restaurant so it had ambience already.And the food was superb.
Bought the dress from a wedding dress outlet place rather than a bridal shop. I bought the same dress I saw in the shop for half of the ( sale) price.

No "wedding cars" . We hired a taxi to get DF and I to the church and then DH and I to the reception. Ideal as I had a princess style dress and the taxi was s proper black hackney cab. Bridesmaids, ushers, best man and DH were taken to the church by a friend who worked in car hire and drove them in a people carrier.
No favours.
No buttonholes.
We had a Piper but it was DH's cousin.
We spoke to the ladies who did the church flowers and they linked the colours they were using that week with our colour scheme.
We had the reception in an employee social club (we weren't employees but could become members if proposed and seconded by employees).
Friends in the baking trade made our cake as their present to us.
DSIS did my hair and makeup.
Borrowed a hoop to go under my dress.

We are having our wedding on a sunday and a hog roast instead of 3 course dinner which is savings us thousands on venue and catering, dress from jjs house for £259 (which has come and is stunning!) bridesmaids dresses from ebay, DIY decorations, plus some bits borrowed from my sister, photographer is a friend of my husband to be so is only charging £450 for the day, cake being made my a friend if my sister, make up being done by a friend, no cars or anything

Did the invitations myself, no favours, making the table plan and guestbook myself, bridesmaids dresses from regular clothing shops (adults were £35 each and kids £25 each), flowers are being done by a family friend, cake by SIL, got my shoes on eBay, dp's shoes in the sale, made a cake stand from an apple crate I bought through Facebook, got table runners from someone on Facebook who had used them at their wedding, tablecloths are flat sheets from Asda, centrepieces will be empty gin bottles with lights (my bottles and a local pub are saving their empties) and the bouquets in old glass coffee jars, got my dress half price but it is designer as I found the cheaper fabrics scratched my skin. Rather than a package deal we've also booked each element ourselves. We approached a local restaurant and said "here's our budget, please can you put together a menu with choices for everyone and include a few drinks" and they did.