£1500 - £2000 budget

Where are you based? I'm in the West Midlands and lots of nice golf clubs round here do some fantastic deals and have really good prices even if you're not taking advantage of the deal!!

May be something to look into

You could Look into nice gastropubs too. A lot of them don't charge a hire fee and you just pay for food and drinks. Marquees are lovely but there are a lot of extra costs involved like loos, heating, flooring and decorations etc.

x

Forget weekends. Seriously, you can save yourself a couple of grand on a venue and catering if you have a wedding on a Monday-Thursday.

I would advise you to go for a registry office for the ceremony, talk to your local pubs and restaurants about the wedding breakfast - most will have a 'function room' which serves as a private space. You can budget for a drink with dinner, tap water on the tables, fizzy for the toast and then ask guests to use the bar.

As for the reception - village halls are usually reasonable, and church halls have armies of little old ladies that love to arrange flowers and make sandwiches. You can usually speak to the church and get a good deal.

All of the above my hubby-to-be did last time (ex wife) and she made her own dress. Their wedding cost £2000 altogether. ((That was 15 years ago though)).

Personally one thing you could consider is asking people to donate. I know, it's a pain in the butt and embarrassing, but wedding funding pages are all the rage right now. When you send out the invite, you send out a card with your funding page and ask the guests to donate towards the wedding instead of buying gifts. If each one puts in £20 that's £1200 more to play with.

Ask for help from family and friends. My budget was £2k (although it grew thanks to unexpected donations).

My friend has made my bouquets, another friend has made vases for our reception tables. We asked our evening guests to provide a dish for the buffet rather than bringing a gift and we will have a very full table! Ask someone to make your cake for you if you know any good bakers. My tiara and shoes are borrowed. I have friends doing my hair and make up.

My dress is pre-loved and cost just £100. We aren't having cars, my dad is driving me there and my sister and SIL are bringing the bms and pageboys.

My mum is giving us a buffet lunch after the ceremony as a gift so we are having a full wedding for just under £3k In a beautiful venue.

Go for midweek and dont rule out your local registry office. Our reception venue charges for hire of staff rather than venue cost and that has saved us a fair bit. I made my own invitations and anything i could myself, and got talented friends to help with the rest. It can be done, but you need to allocate your budget carefully and be prepared to ask for help.

Start by making a list of the things you must have, the things you would like to have and the things you can live without. Prioritise your budget to the must haves.

Good luck !!

Xxx

Village halls are very cheap. The one near me is 90 quid for 3 days (to set up and clear up), and I have seen lots of lovely village hall weddings I online, and they were decorated really lovely. Catering you could do a pot luck buffet, ask each guest to bring a dish, with 60 guests that is a feast!!

Obviously registry office is the cheapest way to get married.

You just need to keep an open mind and be creative, and you can have an awesome wedding on a small budget :-)

My venue was doing an offer for a weekday wedding package for £2000 so worth asking around and not discounting places that may initially appear expensive xXx

Agree with whats been said about village halls, golf clubs, pubs & restaurants. Go for a week day instead of weekend. Go for a winter wedding, instead of summer. Have a buffet instead of a sit down. Get a friend to do your hair & make up. Make your own cake. Get your dress & bridesmaid dresses off ebay. Make your own invitations......there are lots of ways to save money.

Also fake flowers instead of real. You could also wait and book something last minute, venues always do last minute deals x

Hand tied bouquets are easy peasy to do.roses, spring flowers and so on. Our yacht club charges £100 for room hire and bar staff. £400 paid for a fabulous buffet for 90 people with fresh salmon, pork, beef etc that fed us for three days after. It was a family celebration. You can get quite a buzz with getting as much as you can for as little as you can. Big doesn't have to be beautiful.

Dontask for donations ask for help instead and ALWAYS provide the raw ingredients whether it be flowers, cake ingredients,paints, stencils, paper etc.

I think people are delighted to help. I helped out with flowers at a friends wedding last month as I loved it. I'd help with yours if I could. I felt so much more part of it.. Maybe someone can ice cakes and someone can bake but not ice can get them to combine and it's never been a better time to do crafts.

If you know anyone who's good with photography see if they can help. You don't have to pay for fancy photographs . What I do with my iPad is amazing. The wedding industry is huge and you are sensible for not staring married life with a pile of debt.