Budget wedding help!

[Hoochyhoo]

Hiya,
Me and my other half are planning to get married in July after it being postponed twice already due to covid.
So far
I’ve got my dress
Booked the church
Booked a singer
Paid a deposit for someone to do a buffet
And pencilled in a local football club for the evening do but feel like I’m really behind!
Also money is a factor.

We have 3 children and just really wanna get married now but it’s on a really tight budget.

Feeling stressed with everything I need to sort….. clothes for the kids, flowers decoration for the venue etc etc the list goes on.

If you had a budget wedding how much did you spend and how did you keep the costs so low?

We really aren’t bothered about a fancy wedding and just want it to be a fun day of love and laughter really 💖
Any tips would be appreciated.

⭐️

Id say just keep cutting stuff.

What season are you getting married? Do you know anyone with a nice garden? Would they let you pick a posy/bouquet for yourself from their garden? Dont have flowers otherwise, i know it's not very ecological but balloons are just as festive and much cheaper.

Do you really want an evening do? If so maybe just do a playlist with some speakers rather than a dj?

@PermanentTemporary

Id say just keep cutting stuff.

What season are you getting married? Do you know anyone with a nice garden? Would they let you pick a posy/bouquet for yourself from their garden? Dont have flowers otherwise, i know it's not very ecological but balloons are just as festive and much cheaper.

Do you really want an evening do? If so maybe just do a playlist with some speakers rather than a dj?

We are getting married in July. I love the church as I wanted my dad to walk me down the aisle but I’d be happy to change to a registry office if needed…. We just really wanna get married. I don’t want a huge amount of fuss as we aren’t very ‘showy’ people anyway.

The whole cost side of things is worrying me.
Realistically we have a budget of no more than £2000.

The church is around £650
I’ve already got the dress
Singer £200 (still need a DJ)
Football club hire (£60 ish I think!)
Buffet around £550

Doesn’t leave a lot of money left :/

We asked for cash gifts instead of physical ones and that paid for most of the wedding. I also sold the decor etc that I'd bought for it afterwards.

We didn't do the wedding bits that we didn't want to do, that everyone does just because.

We didn't have a cake. We didn't have flowers.

We decorated the tables with loads of ikea candles instead :)

Scour eBay for bunting etc to decorate the room, I had 7 flower girls (no bridesmaids) and got their dresses for £9 in the sale at monsoon (what age girls do you have I have 3 that I didn’t use due to them coming up a bit small!!), I also borrowed a lot of bits from other people and we called in favours wherever we could!!!

A church can be cheaper than the register office, it depends on your location but our local one is only cheaper if you get married on a Tuesday. Friday and Saturday is £200 more than a church (whose fees are fixed). Anyway, that’s by the by.
I would nix the singer and just get a DJ tbh.
Flowers for church: ask the church if they’ll do them in your colours, this will normally be free. Then you just need a bouquet if you want one.
Facebook marketplace for venue decor and kids clothes.

When we got married 10 years ago we didn't bother with a DJ. It was significantly cheaper to buy decent speakers (the kind DJs use) a create our own playlist.

Call in all favours you can. Do you have a friend/family member who is an amateur singer? Anyone who is an amateur florist? A good baker for a cake?

Every aspect of our wedding was done as a favour or gift to us. It was actually really lovely as it meant lots of people were involved in the wedding.

If you just really just want to 'get married' why do you need all these 'extras' ... When I got married we went to the register office and had a nice lunch afterwards - five of us. No need for a new outfit, flowers etc. could have skipped the lunch if we really wanted to save money. In fact when my DPs got married they just went out at lunch time from work ... when they mentioned to their boss what they were doing and might be a few minutes late back he did say 'take the afternoon off' ...

There is an argument that says the more expensive the wedding the shorter the marriage...my DPs were married over 60 years & I've been married over 35 years. I've been to countless expensive weddings that have ended in divorce ... sadly more than two thirds of the weddings I've attended ended in the couple separating.

Do you have any friends and relatives that might be convinced to take some tasks on or give parts of the wedding as gifts? For example, are you parents alive and involved? Maybe they might buy outfits for the children? Would one of your friends buy your flowers or perhaps a group of friends could get together to pay for your flowers.. Crafty friends to make bunting.. Consider borrowing children's outfits... we went to a wedding when my DD was 6 and she never wore dresses so buying one would have been a waste so we borrowed on.. plenty of friends offered options. It was less easy for the boys but we did find some nice shorts, canvas shoes and white shirts from Gap.

How much have you saved already towards the wedding? Can you make sure it is not touched and then try to add to it every week / month, or pay for deposits part payments frequently in small amounts so the money doesn't fritter away on other things.

Ours cost £6k for 100 people (think size is important - will obviously bump up the cost!), but our hired food was more expensive (£1.5k) and we also had a free bar and our venue was £1k.

We didn't have a dj, just spotify and borrowed lights and speakers - everyone still danced loads!

I made a lot of decorations out of cheap / free stuff eg facebook local for free jam jars, put fake tealights in them. Blew up normal balloons, borrowed fairy lights. Also bought cheap ivy from amazon that looked very effective. Sold a lot of stuff afterwards.

A lot of flower places offer buckets of flowers that you can diy - that's what we did and then then totally unexpectedly my aunts and female cousins turned up to help the afternoon before, so I have lovely memories of watching them all flower arranging and chatting to each other. Gave the flowers away at the end.

We bulked out the expensive food with stuff we bought ourselves eg nibbles, salad, cheese, bread, evening food. I also bought our fizz from Aldi.

Our cake was a wedding present (and pudding).

We didn't have a photographer and offered prizes (posh chocolates) for the best photos - we now have hundreds and loads are really nice.

Borrowed outdoor toys for the kids, bought bubbles, paper pens, sweets etc. Kids had a whale of a time.

Hired tablecloths (most cost effective thing) but bought cheap burlap as table runners and sold those afterwards.

Didnt do favours, seating plan, programmes, sent invites via email apart from very elderly relatives who got a card invite (bought 1 pack from paperchase).

Congratulations and have fun!

Why are you bothering with a singer if you are getting a dj , it seems like a waste of £200. Just put some music on in the background until dj arrives.
My friend just had a budget weeding and it was great.
We all sat six to a table ( about 7 or 8 tables) all chatting and eating our food, we had light music on in the background and was all just talking to each other until later in the evening.
She got her flowers and bridesmaids made from the local flower stall and had no button hole flowers ( which are not needed). The bridesmaids dresses where just from next and little ballet shoes. They decorated the hall themselves with stuff they ordered from the internet and it was a fantastic day and you'd never have known it was a budget wedding. Just a small occasion with the people you love, and we all brought our own drinks except for a few bottles of wine on the table. X

Also my friend got married on a Thursday worked out cheaper. X

I got married last year for £2500.

H and m do lovely flower girl dresses for next to nothing. My 2 wore this, £9:99.

https://www2.hm.com/en_gb/productpage.0855521002.html

Our ds was a page boy and we got his outfit from sainsburys.

We got married on a Tuesday to save money but it was a half term holiday no no school disruption for the children.

I did my own make-up except for eye shadow which I'm shit at but my hair stylist didn't mind quickly doing that big for me.

We got an amazing photographer but only hired him for 2 hours which only came to £300. He arrived just before the ceremony so we got ceremony pics & some beautiful pics in a nearby garden afterwards. He then left and we all went to a nice restaurant for a meal then that was the entire wedding done!

I bought my dress from monsoon.

Good luck!

Made own cake

No flowers needed if it’s a church (they’re usually pretty anyway). We had ikea candles in pint glasses on the tables for our reception hall and they looked great.

I got married in November, similar sort of thing to what you are planning, church wedding followed by reception and evening at the local football club. The whole thing came to about £3000, the biggest money saver I had were friends volunteering their services, one took photos, another decorated the hall, my sister did some flower arrangements. Take decorations were flowers in Jam jars with ribbons and lace glued round them, White sheets for table cloths. The disco was run of Spotify with another friend with the playlist on their phone.

I did have flowers but bought them from the supermarket and then arranged in jam jars the day before, looked lovely, if you coordinate with them before they will order in what you want.
Does anyone you know have a PA that you can borrow then just play Spotify playlist.
Kids clothes look on Vinted/ebay - smart kids clothes often only get one or two wearing so will likely be in very good condition.
Don't do favours - waste of money!
Can someone make you cupcakes? We had those rather than a wedding cake and it was our pudding so didn't need another.
We had a catered BBQ which work out less than £10ph and was very yummy and everyone enjoyed.
No photographer - like pp friends took photos, I had two people specifically taking photos who volunteered and then set up a sharing site and everyone sent in their photos.
I splashed out on hair and make up but not sure I'd of bothered with make up now - probably would still have hair as I'm crap at it but it's cheaper if you go to hairdresser in the morning I think.

Have a look for local wedding Facebook pages as there were two when I got married and people used them to sell off loads of things like decorations, dresses etc.

I found a local florist for my bouquet and then we used the bridesmaid bouquets as the table decorations too.

IKEA are really good for small candle holders etc and Etsy and eBay for loads of other bits.

If you’re not religious Id cut the church. We got married in the registry office and all we had to pay was the registration fee so cost less than £100 (few years back). It wasn’t an old building or particularly glamorous so some might cost more, but it was still nice.

We rented a country mansion in the UK for a week (out of season so very cheaply) and invited our 10 guests to stay there for the week with us. Had the wedding there mid-week (a really personal humanist ceremony) and hired caterers to come to the house and cook the wedding meal for us. I bought my dress from Monsoon's wedding range and did my own hair and makeup. MIL made our cake. We hired a professional photographer. On the other days we went sightseeing and did holiday stuff together.
Total cost including hiring the house for a week and giving our friends who live abroad some money towards their flights here was less than £4k.
We then followed up later in the year with a summer BBQ for family and friends to celebrate with a wider group. Hired a village hall and paid someone to provide a BBQ. That cost less than £1k.
So for £5k we got a week's holiday with our nearest and dearest, a wedding and a family party.
My advice would be think about who really needs to be there for it to be special and don't waste money on hangers on. Wedding are expensive because people invite lots of guests that they then need to feed and entertain.

Cars. We called on a friend who had access to flash cars (works in the motor industry) to drive for us. Also used a black cab company instead of a limo hire.
See if you can speak to the people that normally do the flowers in church to see if they can incorporate your colour scheme in the usual arrangements. Alternatively see if there's any other weddings the same weekend and liaise with the other bride to see if you can share flower arrangements.

Work out what’s important to you. I don’t get the singer myself but if it’s important to you…

With us it was really good food, a DJ as we wanted a bop, and to put some money behind the bar. We hired out a local restaurant who put on a hot buffet of roast meat, veggie option, and lovely salads. And bacon baps or cheese later. Got bouquet from local nursery, venue had bud vases on table. Friends sent photos taken on phones. Invitations from a website.

Not important, the rings, my dress sale from high street shop, (bridesmaids were little and had dresses from monsoon), a photographer, flowers on table. No swagged chairs, favours, photo booths.

Don’t get sucked in by wedding fairs and the like. It’s a party…

There’s loads of things you can cut if you step outside the idea of stuff that’s just become typical at weddings but isn’t necessary.

We didn’t have a cake, so often it gets wasted anyway and I wasn’t interested in the staged ‘cutting the cake’ photo.

I made little favours but they’re definitely not essential, don’t bother.

Like others have said ask around friends and family if they could set up flowers from a supermarket rather than spending a fortune.

Why are you having a singer? I’d get a Spotify playlist and some speakers set up in the hall rather than that or a DJ.

Look on Fb market place for decorations/bunting then sell it all again afterwards.

My nephew got married in November. About a week after, we realised that they didn't have a cake. Two weeks later I realised they didn't have favours either!

The point is we did not notice these things weren't there. We just had a fantastic time!

If you really want to do it on a budget, you don't need a singer as well as a DJ and you've done pretty much everything else.

Either have just a very few flowers or no flowers. Don't have balloons.

IME it's better to not have something than have a cheap alternative to what you really wanted. So don't look for ways to get things cheap, look for things you don't really need.

The obvious one would be to just get married without a party or have a party at home.

We got dried flowers from Etsy for our wedding, it’s still not mega cheap but definitely cheaper than having fresh ones!
Supermarket gypsophila is lovely for decorations and you can go fairly basic (little milk bottles with a few stems in - hobbycraft do them!)

Don’t bother with favours, they’re a waste of money anyway, and name cards you could do yourself! Things like a guestbook aren’t going to be missed but if you did want one, they can be cheap too (just don’t get one that states it’s a guest book as it will triple the price!)

If it were me I’d be tempted to get rid of the buffet and just provide a bacon sandwich or something for people, but I’m doing that and my future MIL is absolutely furious