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 http://www.the-broke-bride.co.uk
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.
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
look for good deals and search that product to see if u can get a better deal
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.
Submitted by
http://www.jannelsonphotography.co.uk
At your house
At your home you could hire caterers and invite family and friends over , you can be with your guests as the cataerers are doing all of the work !
STAY SINGLE
FOR HAIR AND MAKE UP CONTACT YOUR LOCAL COLLEGE
get your favours of ebay!
Have a late wedding and skip the sit down meal, then just have a light lunch after the photo taking!
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
Dont get married!
elope
just go with the flow and let others help you from fiona legge
have your wedding in a venue which does everything for you my wedding cost 10,000 x
Have your wedding outside
Leave disposable cameras on the reception tables, adding a note that asks your guests to take photos and leave the camera on the table.
Do the money dance!
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 http://www.shootingstarweddings.co.uk
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 http://www.shootingstarweddings.co.uk
Hire a wedding planner, with an average wedding taking 300 hours to organize, let your planners do the sourcing, negotiating, running around. Sit back enjoy and relax knowing that not only will you get your monies worth but you will also be making huge financial savings. Wedding planners are well worth investing in. The cost of a wedding planner is offset against savings! by Shadi Ganjavian-Connor http://www.shootingstarweddings.co.uk
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)
My partner and I asked our guests for money as a wedding present and used the money for our
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.
SPEND ONLY £1.000
FINGER BUFFET AND ONE GLASS OF CHAMPAGNE
THEY PAY FOR THEIR OWN DRINKS
HONEY MOON
Make up on your big day well what you do is keep to light colours no matter what colour code you have if you put light shades on your eyes and the make them big by highlighting the top lids then applying your mascara and eyeliner not to much eyeliner remember the lighter the better and always add a little pink blusher as it stands out in your picturesand bet of all you and you maids can have a good night in trying this REMEMBER less is better
brides maid dresses i went to debenhams and got mine £12 for the skirt which was long and cream with a little train and £14 for the top which was burganday the always have a sale about august and the have a different kinds its worth a look
Buy simple favour boxes put sugared almonds and a lottery ticket inside,my friend did that and three of her guests won,only small amounts though!
i am getting married in two days and have done the wedding as cheap as possible.
* I have done all the bouquets myself (with silk flowers i found on ebay)
* We are having a hog roast done by a friend
* The reception is in a field near our house (we have simply brought a marquss (again off ebay) and are using an inordinate amount of gazebo’s
*Alterations are cheaper than a really detailed dress. I shopped around for a long time and finally discovered that if you order a simple yet elegant dress it will be much cheaper, the shop can then usually arrange for alterations for you. I had a sash etc added to mine, and it needed to be taken in….all for £50
* SPEAK TO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY-i cannot stress this enough. We invited our aging landlady to the wedding and have subsequently got our reception venue/proffessional photographer and a months rent all free. Our friends are making decorations for us, we are doing the music, and much more than i can even think of right now!!
I am not going to say that it has not been stressful but it really is possible to plan a wedding on a budget….after the 8th August 08 we will find out if it works!!
Make your own Swarovski crystal tiaras! You don’t have to be particularly crafted and the beads can be bought very cheaply on ever reliable Ebay. I made my own and two bridesmaids Swarovski crystal tiaras for around £30 including the wires. Also look on Ebay for style ideas. Have a go - you’ve got nothing to lose and could save a fortune!
I also made strings of beads using stiffer wire to add into my bouquets for another crystal touch. The effect is stunning.
This website is a good idea and a great way to save money on wedding invitations.
have your wedding the day before a public holiday, like on a sunday before labor day. that way it’ll be cheaper but people can still stay out late.
Hire a wedding planner, helps you stick to the budget.
For cheap food. Have a pot luck asking your friends and family to make a salad. ect. It works great. Have a themed wedding and rent costums from your local rental or theater.
Ask the judge to marry you in a historic place, just the bride and groom with one witness each. Then have everyone else meet you at the reception area.
Leave out stamped addressed envelopes and blank CDs on the wedding reception tables with a sign asking guests to download their photos after the day onto the discs and post them back to you. Be sure to warn people in the invites though that they should bring their cameras with them.
Don’t go near a shop in the last ten days before your wedding day! You’ll end up panic little extras that you don’t need! I bought a pashmina, a diamante hairband, and new underwear for the big day and I didn’t wear any of them. Save your money and stick to your wedding budget.
http://www.thechiefbridesmaid.co.uk
I made place names out of salt dough, cut out hearts made a hole at the top to thread a ribbon thru,painted them to match my colour scheme, then wrote the names on one side and the date on the other. Looked great, 100 cost approx £2 with the ribbon. Can use the same idea for the table numbers, put the heart on a kebab skewer, insert into half a potato to make it stand up and then cover the base with fabric/organza and a ribbon…very effective…about a £1 for 12
Buy your wedding dress on e bay i got mine 4 £43 including p & p, thats the only thing so far i’vr bought but I will without a doubt buying more from there!!!
Find local flower arranging groups and ask if members would be interested in making up your bouquet - I will pay for the wire and ribbon etc (about £5 but it costs a fraction of the usual florists price (£70!) and my bouquet will be full of scented, seasonal, homegrown and hand-arranged blooms. Plus the carbon-footprint will be minimal!
We wanted a unique way to celebrate our marriage with my relatives in Spain but didn’t have the money to spend on a blessing ceremony. Instead we are going out for tapas and will conduct our own ‘ceremony’ by asking our guests to write their good will messages onto Chinese lanterns (we got 20 for £25) before launching them en masse after the meal. Total cost will be about £150 (about £400 less than having a celebrant, venue etc…) and far more personal!
Instead of having a ’spa day’ in a salon with my friends and female relatives, I have stocked up on sale items from Boots, Avon and Body Shop. We’ll have an evening at home with face masks, nail varnishes, hot oil for hair, foot soak, and body butters. I have spent about £20 in total, and it is wholly unnecessary but I think that is a cheap alternative to my local salon where I could easily add a zero to that price. We’re worth it!
For centerpieces I got elegant glass jars from dollar tree and just added a goldfish to each jar. The feeder fish at PETCO are about $.30 per fish.
Find a Mary Kay beauty consultant to do a free facial on you the day of your wedding. They might even do your bridesmaids for free too.
I have used a catalogue to buy my wedding dress. I used Littlewoods as they have a buy now pay later. It has just meant that I don’t have to worry about apying for it right now and the money can go towards other wedding costs. The only down side is you can’t try on, but can send back free anything you don’t like. It has saved me some money and i have a lovely dress and can pay for it next year when i will have more cash available.
Finish the day off with Sky Lanterns, really affordable and will make the day really memorable to all!
Do NOT use a living animal as a ‘center piece’ for your wedding!
It is cruel and inhumane. They will be sat there, in their own waste and then gods knows what will happen to them afterwards!
Fish are not objects.
In the UK it is legal to get married between 8am and 6pm, therefore we are getting married at 5.30pm and then going straight to an evening reception. Saving us a fortune as no wedding breakfast is needed and I have all day to get everyone ready so no rushing.
make ur own wedding invitations, get the invitations printed onto plain white card paper and stick a small artificial diamond on the invitation and a small bow in the corner, a VERY long string of bow will cost approx £1 which can be used for 100+ invites and same with the diamonds, so including the card paper, string and diamond your spending about £50 maximum, if u have about 100 guests thats a vast improvement than spending £150+
Im a hairdresser and beauty therapist, so i will be doing my own hair and make up,and also my bridal party. You dont have to be trained in this field to do it yourself, you know what looks good on you, practice makes perfect. if your simply not good st this sort of thing ask around. All my girlfriends who have been married i have offered my services for free, as part of a wedding gift.
I got all my wedding stationery from Ebay - invitations, orders of service, RSVP cards and place cards - all for about £100. And as Id been selling my unwanted junk on Ebay there was money in the Paypal account to pay for it all.