Wedding tips and advice on a budget please!

[Starlight1979]

Hi all! So we have just booked our wedding for December! Argh! I'm so excited!!! We have decided on getting married at the local registry office just the two of us and then having a meal afterwards with all family and close friends.

I thought paying under £100 for the ceremony was a bargain but then realised the cost of a photographer and wedding rings and had a little panic 😂😳

We're not skint but I have already booked our honeymoon and thrown a small fortune at it (we both love travelling and holidays so that was a better use of the money in our eyes). Plus we'll have a meal and drinks for 20-30 people to pay for!

So, has anyone got any advice as to what you've done in terms of having nice photos taken (without paying £1k plus for a professional photographer). They all seem to do full day wedding packages which we obviously don't need?!

Also, where is best to get wedding rings from? Just a high street jeweler? Or are there other options?

Lastly, I have seen some dresses on Rixo which are gorgeous (I don't want anything white or bridal!) but again, on the expensive side. So any dress / outfit advice for something special would be appreciated too.

Thank you all so much in advance😘

Hi, congratulations!

We are doing ours on a budget too - registry office (which I was surprised was £611 for a Sunday, plus £84 to give notice so nearly £700!) . We chose the prettiest registry office in our county.

Then for reception we’ve got an area at a nice pub booked and we’ve booked a buffet for 50 people at £25/head, so about £1250 on food. We’re also giving everyone one drink but you wouldn’t have to do that.

I found a photographer I who’s photos I loved and asked what their smallest package was, specifying what photos were important to me and what wasn’t (I.e. I don’t care about a long couples photoshoot or loads of group photos, I just want natural shots of us coming out of the registry office and anything else is a bonus).
he offered a 4 hour package for £550 which I thought was a bargain. I didn’t think I was fussed about having a photographer but realised I thought I would regret it if I didn’t.

its amazing how the costs add up isn’t it!! There’s so much I didn’t think I cared about but now it’s come down to it I realise some things are quite important to me, like having decent rings and a nice cake. You just need to decide what is really important to you and what isn’t. For instance I’m not having bridesmaids or a big white dress or having my hair or make up done, but that’s just me. Don’t skip on anything you think you’ll regret!

Have fun planning!! It’s the best 😍🥰

Re wedding rings I had the same question the other day, see if you can find my thread called “wedding in 4 weeks, still no rings” and my other thread with the same name but about cake. Some good and helpful answers from others on there xxx

My DH is a wedding photographer and he would give a bespoke quote for a small wedding, booked last minute in off season. So I definitely recommend approaching a photographer whose work you like and asking for a bespoke price.
Wedding cake have a look at M&S they do some lovely cakes on their food ordering service.
Reception wise a buffet/afternoon tea would likely be cheaper than a sit down meal.
We got our rings from Ernest Jones and nearly 20 years later they are still going strong.

I got married in Germany, Rathaus wedding with PIL as guests, it's not compulsory to have witnesses (In Germany DH said). We opted for the non ring ceremony as rings aren't a legal requirement, I don't know if you can get non ring ceremonies in the UK though. I got my FIL to take photos on my phone, but he got his finger in the way for half of them! This was end of 2020 and restaurants were only doing takeouts, we collected a pre ordered Greek takeaway on the way home and ate it in our living room. I made a banana loaf cake myself, don't know how to make icing so didn't bother.

Twenty five years ago but we just had a lunch. The ceremony and lunch were in pretty rooms at our local university. Catered buffet but our own wine/beer. The caterer was just starting her own business so was really reasonable.

I got a black cab to the venue, MIL made my wedding dress and step mum the bridesmaids dresses (my young sisters). My wedding ring and wedding cake were from M&S as was DH's suit. Cake decorations from the market.

I phoned around local photographers because I just wanted a few traditional photos. We had disposable cameras on the tables for the informal photos.

Weddings are a real industry with lots of bits and bobs to blow your budget but if you dispense with all of the fripperies you can have a lovely event without bankruptcy.

We had an amazing photographer who had been in the business for 25 years. Here's the tip - instead of having a photographer the whole day, just have a small time slot.

I wasn't fussed about fancy 'getting ready photos' or anything so our photographer arrived with us at the registry office so we had him for the ceremony then some lovely photos afterwards then he left and we went to the restaurant we'd booked for dinner.

So £300 instead of £1k for the photographer (think we had him for 3 hours) and still lots of beautiful, really special photos.

Also we only spent £70 on flowers - my bouquet, button holes for dh and page boy and small bouquets for the flower girls. So again hundreds saved there.

DIY decorations for the room we'd hired at the restaurant.

Monsoon wedding dress. Dh wore a suit he already owned but new shirt and tie.

I did my own make up but did have my hair professionally done (and she kindly helped with my eye shadow as was also a make up artist and I'm shit at eye shadow!)

£2.5k total spend and it really was an amazing wedding. We did NOT scrimp and scrape on food and drink and everything had unlimited everything at the restaurant paid for by us. There are some things you should spend on imo!

I've got a friends dd taking photos, ring is from local jewellery designer at £320, he's not having one, his choice. Don't tell the restaurant it's a wedding.

Oh and making my own cake - just order a cake topper

Yes - don’t mention wedding to where you’re eating.

I have to say, my wedding photos are much better than those other people took, so I’d definitely have some. Tbe small time slot mentioned above sounds à great idea.

We had a M&S cake and it was lovely. Plus we often buy a top tier on our anniversary.

We bought rings from a high street jeweller for our wedding rings and they’ve been fine.

Sounds like a perfect day!

You could try to find a photography student to do it cheaply in comparison to a professional?
Friends have just asked creative friends/relatives with good cameras to do it.
It depends how much glossy/perfect photos matter to you in the grand scheme of the day!

Cake- buy readymade, add decorations?

Flowers- just a bouquet for you if you want one? You could always have a single flower or a bunch of tulips or something simple!

Agree with PP, don't tell restaurant it's a wedding, just say it's a family party or something.

And get a taxi, don't hire a car!

The ceremony itself and a nice meal- and the honeymoon after!- are surely the important bits, lots of the other stuff is spending money for the sake of spending money.

Ps oh yes rings! Go to a jewellery shop that sells second hand and choose a nice cheap second hand one. If you're in london, there are loads round Hatton Garden. You could get one for £100!
It doesn't have to be expensive. Or have you got a ring already you could use?

I just had friends do photographs but luckily two of them were keen amateurs. Everyone else took a few of the same shots of really random ones of them and their friends. I would book someone professional for just an hour so you get some decent ones and your guests don't get fed up with you guys not being round cis you're being snapped to de
I had some nice set photos which I didn't think anyone could muck up. However I notice in one, a large stone leg of the fabulous concrete bench I was on isshowing under my dress. I look like I have one elephant leg!

With December weddings I think it's really important to remember guests will have a million things to buy and stress about already. Keep it small and bountiful rather than add a few more friends which means skimping on something else. And make sure they are warm. My husbands first wedding had them all staying in the family annexe that had no heating.

Gall10, Thanks, I don't like stress and would have a panic attack if I had a big wedding, 4 guests was just right, PIL and our DDs. I love going to other people's weddings, where the attention is on someone else.

Thank you so much everyone for all your tips!

I have now found a couple of photographers who do a "micro" package for small weddings (which I had never heard of!) costing £300 which is ace!

Noted re not telling the restaurant it's a wedding @RedRedRobot @Roryno @mitogoshi - without sounding thick, why is that?!

I will look at wedding band tips on your thread @TayceOnToast so thank you 😊And yes, I didn't think I cared about any of this but here I am googling everything wedding related over my morning coffee 😂

And @Everyoneesleistheproblem - you made me laugh with the elephant leg comment 😂and yep, keeping everybody warm and cosy will definitely be fine as we're going to book a country pub with big wood fires 😊

We're paying for the meal and drinks - we're also putting a minibus on from our home town as we live about 10 miles away - so everyone just needs to turn up and enjoy themselves!

Thank you all again - you're all lovely and so helpful 😊

I got married in late 2023 so it was slightly cheaper but we only wanted small wedding on a very tight budget but didn't want the hassle and stress of sorting it ourselves to much. We went for Badgers Mount Hotel in Leicestershire. It was so lovely and everything was included in out wedding package for day and evening. It was slightly cheaper than it is now. But I still think its a really good price.