Cheap Wedding Ideas
Jen and Martin are getting married and like many couples are on a tight budget. They are looking for cheap wedding ideas to help their money go further.
Can you help with any ideas to make their wedding fly, without costing the earth?
Do your own catering
It is much cheaper to do your own catering. Ideally try to rope in some members of the family.
Have the reception at a family house
If you can do the wedding reception at a family members house it will save on the cost of hiring a venue. You could always put up a marquee in the garden.
Rent the village hall
Village halls can be rented quite cheaply - which will make your budget stretch further.
Supply your own wine
If you are using outside caterers you will probably find that it is cheaper to pay corkage (a cost for serving the win) that it will be to buy the wine from the caterers. You can also have a lot of fun tasting wines to find the right one for your weeding day (Thanks to Pam)
Do your own invites
Rather than having expensive wedding invites printed you could design your own. You can either hand write invites on card (a nice personal touch) or you could design your own using a computer programme like PowerPoint. (Thanks to Amy).
Picnic in the park
Some friends fo mine who were on a very limited budget had their reception in the local park. This saved the complete cost of the venue. Some other friends brought along a croquet set and we had a very memorable day. It helped that the weather was nice and sunny. (Thanks to Pam).
Get your wedding dress on ebay
Ebay is a good place to go looking for a wedding dress. You can pick up a designer wedding dress for around £100 ($200). The dresses have only usually only been worn once and are excellent condition. Only the bride (and groom!!) would know. (Thanks to Pam).
Business suits
Rather than hiring morning suits you can save money by just wearing a business suits. If you want everyone to match you just need to buy the men a set of matching ties. (Thanks to Reece).
Do your own flowers
Flowers can cost an absolute fortune but you can do your own. My Auntie did flowers for me as a wedding present, which was really nice. They looked wonderful. You can get really nice flowers from a supermarket and they don’t cost a lot. You could even get pot plants from a garden centre to put on the table (Thanks to Tracey)
Make everyone the photographer
Wedding photos can be really expensive so a cheap alternative is to ask everyone who is bringing a digital camera to make a copy of the photos for you. You will get some really nice and unexpected shots. See if you can rope in a forceful relative to act as the ‘official photographer’ to ensure that you get the regular family shots. Uncle Stan did my photos, but the photos from friends were also really lovely. (Thanks to all of the ideas from Amy)
Put your wedding photos on Flickr
If you want to share your wedding photos with family and friends - put them on Flickr. Its free and pretty easy to use. A great way of saving mementos of the special day.
Buy a shop bought cake
Buy a shop bought cake. There are some really nice ones at Marks and Spencers. They do a three tiered wedding cake- 74 Portions for £49.50 www.marksandspencer.com (Thanks to Beth)
Do you have any other cheap wedding ideas? Simply add them in the box below.
Get married mid week - venues, photographers, discos all charge less - and distant cousins won’t come for a free feed because they won’t want to take a day off work! See www.the-broke-bride.co.uk
(Thanks to Anonymous)Your biggest expense will be your wedding reception, in most cases this counts for half of the total costs. To keep the costs down limit the numbers to your reception, you don’t have to invite everyone! Look at close family and friends not just everyone you or your parents have ever met.
If you feel bad about not inviting everyone have a cheap and fun party after the honeymoon.
(Thanks to Anonymous)http://www.cheap-wedding-solutions.com
Make your own wedding favours. Use sweets wrapped up in tulle fabric, make chocolate truffles, give seeds or small plants that you’ve grown yourself or give candles or tealights. You can finish them off with some ribbon, a luggage tag and personalised message for each guest.
Alternatively - skip favours all together! The last four weddings I’ve been to, there were no favours!
http://www.cheap-wedding-success.co.uk
(Thanks to Anonymous)look for good deals and search that product to see if u can get a better deal
(Thanks to Anonymous)If you do have friends/relative to do the photos and they dont turn out as good as you would have liked there are many places that will edit them for you so you have better quality ones and the editing wont cost you the earth.
(Thanks to Anonymous)Submitted by
http://www.jannelsonphotography.co.uk
STAY SINGLE
(Thanks to Anonymous)FOR HAIR AND MAKE UP CONTACT YOUR LOCAL COLLEGE
(Thanks to Anonymous)get your favours of ebay!
(Thanks to Anonymous)Have a late wedding and skip the sit down meal, then just have a light lunch after the photo taking!
(Thanks to Anonymous)Make your own flowers - you can save a lot on the cost of flower arrangements if you simply buy the flowers and arrange them yourself (or get a particularly artistic friend to do it for you). Have a look at these How To videos which will give you some ideas of what to do:
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-a-corsage
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-a-floral-buttonhole
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-a-wedding-bouquet
(Thanks to Anonymous)Dont get married!
(Thanks to Anonymous)elope
(Thanks to Anonymous)just go with the flow and let others help you from fiona legge
(Thanks to Anonymous)have your wedding in a venue which does everything for you my wedding cost 10,000 x
(Thanks to Anonymous)Have your wedding outside
(Thanks to Anonymous)Leave disposable cameras on the reception tables, adding a note that asks your guests to take photos and leave the camera on the table.
(Thanks to Anonymous)Do the money dance!
(Thanks to Anonymous)How to do give you reception a touch of vintage?
Go to your local Oxfam and purchase vases in all shapes and sizes. Ask a friend or family member to fill the vases on the day with fresh seasonal flowers bought from your local supermarket such as ASDA or pre order them from a florist. This will give your reception a real quirky vintage feel as well as saving you hundreds of pounds which would have be used on a florist. shooting star weddings www.shootingstarweddings.co.uk
(Thanks to Anonymous)How to save money on wedding make up?
Why not make an appointment at your local department store makeup counter. You will be able to have an experienced makeup artist applying top quality make up for you on your special day costing on average £20- £30. laleh www.shootingstarweddings.co.uk
(Thanks to Anonymous)rather than go for traditional bridesmaid dresses look out for sale bargins of ball gowns or smart evening you’ll find it saves a bomb ! Look also in high streets shops such as monsoon debenhams or BHS for Bridal wear much cheaper than bridal shops even better if you go online and get it delivered to your door..Good luck to all Lisa Leonard (getting married in october 08)
(Thanks to Anonymous)My partner and I asked our guests for money as a wedding present and used the money for our
(Thanks to Donna)honeymoon
Honeymoon at a Vacation Rental instead of a Hotel. Vacation Rentals are a lot cheaper than hotels, you can also save on food–you can prepare your own meals or hire a chief as needed and you can still have access to hotel amenities. We found this cutie in Exuma Bahamas and turned our honeymoon into a honeymoon vacation. The cottages came with snorkeling gear for two and owner even helped us plan all of our activities.
(Thanks to Anonymous)SPEND ONLY £1.000
(Thanks to ROSANNA)FINGER BUFFET AND ONE GLASS OF CHAMPAGNE
THEY PAY FOR THEIR OWN DRINKS
HONEY MOON