Getting married isn’t cheap so I have put together my top tips for how to do a wedding on a budget
Lets make your big day fabulous while watching the purse strings…
The average wedding costs £20,983!
I have been doing some research while putting this guide together and have seen statements from a lot of people, some for spending that much money, others against it.
”You only get married once (that isn’t true for everyone) so why not spend a huge amount and make the day one to remember”
”Spending that amount of money is crazy, as long as you are marrying the person of your dreams then what does it matter where, when and how you get married?”
I can definitely see both sides of this argument, however, I managed to have a wedding day to remember at a bargain price and I married the man of my dreams (sorry, PDA over) and I can help you do exactly that 🙂
- First off I want to start with my favourite. The dress. I will have a few tips about how to bring the cost of the dress down throughout this post but my best tip would have to be go to Wed2Buy. They have so many luxury designer wedding and bridesmaids dress, some of them are made just for them so you won’t find them anywhere else. The prices start from just £65 and everything is under £499! They also do a plus size range.
- The more you, your family and friends can do – the better. This will keep the price down and it will be a great way to get everyone involved in your wedding.
- If you can be flexible on the date of your wedding, your can get up to 60% off the price. Marrying on a weekday or in January, February, October or November is a great way to keep the price down.
- Having a wedding later in the day is a great way to cost cut. You would then only have to provide an evening buffet rather than a lunch too.
- For my wedding, we went for our meal to a lovely local family pub near me and ordered from their 2 for £10 meal deals – plus there was a free soft play in the pub for kids which worked perfectly as there are a lot of children in my family. We all had a fun day 🙂
- Is there a venue where you could bring your own food rather than have the venue cater? Making the food yourself or getting outside caterers to do the buffet is going to save you £100’s
- Wedding favours are a great idea for a little something for guests to take away with them. Some people may decided to do without them if they are wanting to cut back but did you know Cancer Reasearch UK do lovely wedding favours? I personally love this idea.
- Haggle the cost on everything you want/need – Just say another companies has offered the same thing at a cheaper price
- Formally Yours is the cheapest place in the UK to get suit hire.
- National hotel chains often do package wedding deals for less than £1000
- Make your own invitations, simply buy craft supplies – everyone will love the personalised touch
- If you have a talented member of family who are great at making cakes, ask them to make your cake, they could do it at a fraction of the cost.
- Another alternative to an expensive wedding cake is to buy supermarket plain tier wedding cakes and decorate them yourself
- Ebay, Gumtree and similar online market place web sites are a great place to pick up wedding dresses. I have seen some gorgeous ones listed for only £30! Be careful if ordering from abroad, always do your research as I have came across a few horror stories.
- You could hire wedding suits or dresses rather than buy them
- On the morning of the wedding, why not head to a local flower market or florist and pick your own flowers and make your own bouquets? Hand tying your own bouquet will be simple and elegant
- Traveling to the wedding doesn’t have to cost a small fortune, why not ask a friend who has a nice car, a favour? Some taxi firms even offer wedding car hire and can work out much cheaper than specialised firms
- Are you brave enough to book your holiday nearer the date and get a last minute deal?
- Instead of wedding gifts, why not ask guests to pay a contribution to your honeymoon? They can do this on a website called Honeymiles…
- Instead of paying for an expensive photographer, why not buy disposable cameras for each guest and ask them to take photos of the day? You could then take all the cameras to a good price photo printer store like Max Spielmann and get them developed
Do you have any suggestions that I have missed? Let me know and I will add yours to the list
I hope you all have a fantastic wedding day, please send me any snaps of your low cost wedding
