****2017 Brides****Currently 166 Brides and 1 Groom****

Hi everyone. I know this has probably already been covered but I would like some advice from those of you who have booked your registrar? We can only book 12 months before (next week) but I am so worried that I won't be able to get my date and time!

Anyone else had this worry? Was it ok when you booked?

Can't wait to call them next week!

Xxx

My fiancè and I are getting married on 6th May 2017 xx

Welcome newcomers! ?

We were able to reserve our date & time in advance of the 12 month timescale, & then booked an appointment to go in & do all the paperwork etc - would they let you do that? If not, I'm sure it'll be fine, good luck!

I am v excited - my hen weekend is booked! 10 of us in a converted barn in Norfolk, with a hot tub, & I'm leaving the rest to the BMs. Had a few difficulties with people I'd have loved to have come not being able to / wanting to, but hey ho. As long as they can all come to the wedding!

Hi all,

We got engaged almost 4 weeks ago, then I went and broke my elbow that same night so as yet we haven't actually been able to 'celebrate'!

However the 4 weeks off work has meant we were able to discuss and book a lot of things

Church - getting married Saturday 12th August 2017

venue

photographer

string trio

dj

bridesmaids dresses

chairs (didn't like the ones at the venue), backdrop and lighting

hairdresser

readings/hymns

bridesmaids have booked the hen do (parents have a place in Cyprus and mum has a pub out there so we're hiring a villa for a week next July)

so just cake, flowers, rings, dress and little bits to do!

So exciting!!!

Wow Gemma, well done! Hope your elbow is on the mend? When are you going to start the hunt for the dress? Have you got anything in mind on that front?

I've got the same worry. I can't book until next Friday and plan to be on the phone as soon as they open. Fingers crossed we both get the times we want!

Fingers crossed! I need to call on Thursday so I will let you know how it goes. Which council is it?

Xx

Ladies who are on top of the tiara situation: where did you get yours from? I'm not sure it's something i'd want to order online as some seem to be non-returnable (what if it digs into your head?!) But the only place that seems to do them on the high street is debenhams. They do have some nice ones, I just want a bit more choice!

Mine came from a local bridal shop. The headband part doesn't go right to my ears and is quite flexible with two little hoops at the end to put hair pins in to secure it

I got a lovely one in Debenhams.... My MOH will be wearing that one! MY tiara I bought from a bridal dress shop! My 'Bathroom' Tiara I bought at my hairdressers!

How's everyone's planning coming along? I've not dropped by for a while, another wedding planning lull!

I've been getting samples of invitations - starting to think I haven't budgeted enough at £150!! What's everyone else set aside for invites?

I budgeted £150 to make ours- that was to include Save The Date's, pocket fold invites with RSVP cards, menu's and 'information sheets' in them along with the actual invite, evening invites, again with RSVP cards and info sheets, place cards, table plan and table 'name' cards.

I stopped counting what I'd spent at £200.... I genuinely have no idea what I've spent on card, ink pads, stamps, embossing powder, ribbons and all the other bits I've used but I suspect it's nearer £300. Probably cheaper to buy them!!

I'm on the invitation mission at the moment as well. They are so bloody expensive for something that will get shoved in a drawer until the day before the wedding until the guests need to know where they are going!

I've been quoted £455 for 60 day invitations and 25 evening. It's a lot more than I wanted to spend but cheaper than other invitations that I have seen. We have to have ours custom made as we are giving our guests a choice of three starters, mains and desserts so they need a menu card and then a RSVP with the food choices on them.

We have decided to go ahead with the day invitations (£330) and then do the evening invitations ourselves as there won't be any need for menu choices. I have purchased quite a few bits of wedding stationery from Ginger Ray and they do matching evening invitations and RSVP cards. We have ordered these for £30 and we will print out our own info card on matching card to slot in the envelope, so we will save £95 this way.

How many invitations do you need? X

I was a bit snooty about vistaprint for invitations at first, having been to two weddings this year which used the exact same stationery from there! But actually when I looked into it I found them so useful, you can really customise however you want, which worked out great for us as our colour scheme is apparently unusual, and they are fantastic value. If you ring up and ask a question they seem to just hand you a random voucher code! Ours worked out £51 for 80 full-colour double-sided invitations, including envelopes. I'll go back to them in a little while for evening guest invites and place cards etc. Definitely recommended!

We're making our own invitations.

Ordered Pocketfolds, ribbon, magnetic closures and envelopes to do 70 invitations for £113.00

Inserts will cost £81.60 for 70 (Main invite, Info card & RSVP)

Our Save the Dates cost £36 for 30 (although they actually sent us 60 for some reason!)

All in all, this has cost us £230 but that's still a LOT cheaper than anything we've been quoted so far!

Concretecowbride,

Just booked my registrar :-) Got the time I wanted.

Just get on the phone at 9:00am.

Good luck!

x

I think I was a little naive when I set my invitation budget then haha!! I'm reckoning on 40 day invites & then a similar amount for the evening.

Thinking about going to the next wedding show at the NEC to see if that inspires any ideas on the last few bits we haven't started planning yet!! Could well be I'm still trying to sort invites by then lol. X

Ooh fantastic!

Lines open at 9.30am for me but I have a meeting at work at 9.15am so I'm hoping it'll be over quickly and I'll be on the phone the second I get out of it!

x

So I couldn't get the time that I wanted for our ceremony despite being on the phone within 15 mins of them opening. I've had to go for 12 noon which feels rather early and I'm now wondering how we're going to keep everyone entertained and stop them being bored.

But on the upside, booked the photographer today who is amazing (and well priced) so very happy about that. ?

MrsJ_ToBe, you might be ok if you shop around. We got 50 invitations from LightintheBox for about £45. Ok, we still have to buy RSVP cards, but we're expecting to come in well within a £100 budget.

Looking at what you're all spending on invites I think I have well underestimated how much to budget. I need to get my bum in gear and get some samples or quotes but at the moment I've got the right arse trying to sort out bridesmaid dresses that it's put me off doing anything else.

For those of you buying bridesmaid dresses in bridal shops, how much are you spending? I looked in a couple of shops today and am still trying to get over the prices, around £225+ for the ones I liked and with four bridesmaids I'm looking at double my budget ?

I didn't even bother looking in bridal shops for my bridesmaids dresses as, like you, I have four bridesmaids and it would have cost far too much money. Have you looked on the high street? I got my bridesmaid dresses from Quiz. They were £70 each and they are beautiful with lots of intricate detailing. Plus my sister gets a 10% student discount so I got them for £63 each! X

I've had a look around but all the ones I saw in spring / early summer are now out of stock. I had planned to order from a website until one of my bridesmaids said that she thought she would be difficult to buy for because she's put on weight recently and is quite self conscious now so I thought going to a bridal shop would save a lot of messing around but I'm having second thoughts now as by the time I factor in alterations and their shoes etc... I'm looking at over £1k. I'm going to have to try and find an alternative I think

I've got one bridesmaid and have been looking at ASOS. I'm going to order a few styles and see which she prefers. I just cannot justify spending that much money on a bridesmaid dress when the ones I looked at when I bought my dress didn't seem too much different to the high street ones I'd seen at much less.

I had similar issues with budget for Bridesmaid dresses. I'm having five bridesmaids, so already looking at spending quite a chunk on them. I wanted to the same dress in five different colours which made it too difficult from high street shops. I'm getting them from a bridal shop now, i'm getting a discount due to the amount I'm buying. It might be worth asking

Hiya, me and my partner are the 23/09/2017

Oh no. What time did you want?

12 noon is fine though! You can really enjoy the day and get the most out of it!

Depending on the venue you can stock up on cheap lawn games - hopefully weather should be nice!

I think you can hire things like ice cream carts at reasonable prices? We have an illusionist coming to bridge the gap between dinner and evening guests. Gives you more time to enjoy the day :-)

x

I always hate asking for a discount but I will have to be brave! Nothing to lose I guess!

Hi

I would love to be added to the list,getting married Saturday 23rd september 2017 x

Nothing to loose at all, good luck!

Welcome to the new Brides! Or are you the same Bride with a different name? If you are different ladies - you're date twins! How funny

We went all out on the BM dresses and got them from a Bridal Store. I kind of wish we hadn't though - I've seen some on Chi Chi London that I much prefer, but mine are bought and at the Bridal Store now!

xx

I HAVE MY DRESS!!!!

Well actually I have to wait 5months for it to come in but it's been ordered!!! I'm so excited, I don't want to wear anything else ever again!!!!!!

How is is everyone planning coming along? Planning is going well for me. Except my Dad has tried to make an appearance back in my life, I'm down a bridesmaid and two hens down who won't pay me back the deposit I've already paid for them!!! Gahhhhh nothing like money and a wedding to show people's true colours hey!!!

Xx