Yellowrose Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 So far everything we've looked at seems to be approx. £3000 for hiring a venue, then £50 a head for the food! We're only planning to ionvite about 60 people to the ceremony and breakfast, but that still works out to be a heck of a lot of money! So, in a nutshell, I'm after your experience of costs etc, and also any ways that you managed to save money on other things (cake, flowers, invites etc) Thanks in advance, xxx Help!! Congratulations, but this seems rather excessive. £50 a head for food? What are you feeding them on? I have always thought that the sit down meal was a huge drain on the purses of the parents concerned and I think its time we all returned to the 1970s tradition of hiring a room, putting on a buffet, hiring a disco and having a good old boogie! I got married in 1978 and this is what we did and it was a really good night. Now people seem to think youre either living in the past, a bit down market or tight if you do this. I think people tend to forget what its all about ... its about celebrating a marriage not a conspicuous display of wealth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bago Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 I thought for a girl, it's having the best wedding of her life ? (There's always room for compromises.....and reduction of costs and things, you just need to know where to find it.) I was gonna say, I'm not married yet, but a lot of my friends are. I think as mentioned previously, some broadsheet newspaper mentioned that it costs around 15k for a wedding in the UK. Going abroad to get married is cheaper, even if you invite your families to go too. Ironically. Look for Virgin's wedding packages. I just wanted to mention that for photographers. Get a friend who is into fotography to give you a decent opinion, and value. For my friends, they managed to get (and it varies widely) from 500 (London) to 800/1200 (Cornwall). Some with albums, some without albums... it varies depending on what you want. For a wedding cake, 'cup cakes' are apparently all the rage now. I think it's cheaper too. You build a wedding cake shape from miniature cupcakes. (This can be a DIY job maybe ?) Oh, also, I think this book helps too. "TimeOut guide to Shopping in London." It lists shops that do mail orders for wedding gears, and a good price to buy batch stuff from. i.e. confetti to party-poppers, to wedding invitations. There is a wedding fair each year in the NEC, not sure if you've missed it. With regards to food... I do think that 50 per person is quite a lot. You may wanna consider hiring out an external caterer for the buffet. Go for a high volume (i.e. high quality quiches), than for quality (i.e. salmon). A friend's parent is doing their own catering. A friend mentioned they're having lobster, but then it's cost it's Cornwall, and the local market rate is dirt cheap ! For Cambridgeshire, you may wanna look at what is available around the time that you have your wedding, so that the cost of the catering will be reduced according to the seasonal cost of the ingredients. Also, go for the caterers which can provide you with a choice, according to seasonal ingredients. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ls212121 Posted April 3, 2006 Author Share Posted April 3, 2006 Ok, so far have booked venue, but that's about it! Any ideas and suggestions about how we can save money by doing stuff ourselves as much as possible? What did you do to help save a few pennies? Or what do you wish you had done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floyd77 Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 Go to Vegas. Then you dont have to buy dinner for a thousand relatives you've never met before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabs Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 Make your own invitation cards etc. Search the internet for ideas go to wedding fayres they could offer you discounts etc Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginger_Kitty Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 the ways i'm cutting costs so far.... using a friend as the photographer mother in law is making the cake we are doing the flowers ourselves i'm not wearing a big flouncy/meringue dress there's a couple of thousand pounds saved already! oh yes and mum is making the invitations (it keeps her occupied for a bit ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent Orange Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 Ok, so far have booked venue, but that's about it! Any ideas and suggestions about how we can save money by doing stuff ourselves as much as possible? What did you do to help save a few pennies? Or what do you wish you had done? Yup, don't do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squidge00 Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 the ways i'm cutting costs so far.... using a friend as the photographer mother in law is making the cake we are doing the flowers ourselves i'm not wearing a big flouncy/meringue dress there's a couple of thousand pounds saved already! oh yes and mum is making the invitations (it keeps her occupied for a bit ) Ditto - we are doing many of these things as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoGo_dancer Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 One way to save cash is to make sure you shop around for a good florists quote. Some places will charge you a fortune. You don't have to give everyone a buttonhole either. Try ebay for some fantastic silk flowers and other bargains! Oh, and don't bother with expensive favours either. We bought some cheap little bottles of bubbles (which went down a treat) some disposable camera's and we gave everyone a lottery scratchcard (with some cheap colouring books for the kids). We put these in little envelopes which doubled up as placecards! Also, because we were getting married in the hotel, I got ready in the bridal suite on the morning of the wedding. This saved us a good £500 on a wedding car for me and my mum! And I highly recommend the wedding cakes from M&S!! Delish..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discovery Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 You can also find some lovely wedding shoes on E bay and not as expensive as on the High Street also for Bridesmaids and Mother of the Bride etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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