Anyone fancy a look at our budget and offer some advice?

Have you already ordered your chair covers? If not, take a look at the link below. They have 100 chair covers with sashes for 175, that doesn't include fitting, but you'll save money doing it yourself. They do need a £50 deposit, but you should get that back. We have gone with them for our wedding.

http://www.celebration-chaircovers.co.uk/

A couple of things only...... my friend had a hog roast as her sit down meal for 75......the evening do was for 250 so she did pay for an evening buffet at the venue and there was so much food wasted! She only catered for 200 for evening too at the venues advice. So maybe downsize your evening buffet slightly? How about suggesting the bridesmaids buy their own outfits? I have seen quite a few people suggest that on here and, if you are not too fussed on colour etc, it means the bm's choose their own style?

What ceremony and table decs are you planning?

I don't think your budget is too expensive though..........I am not married, so probably not the most experienced to give advice but I always thought they ran into tens of thousands lol (probably why I have never married!!!)

Hey!

It's hard because mine is so different to yours, so i'll let you know what we've done and then you can see if you can change it or if it'd be worthwhile for you.

We're not having welcome drinks, when they get to the venue they will go to the bar and then we're hoping to use the bridal garden. We will have plenty of photos here then into the main reception room after. We have 2 bottles of wine per table and a toast for each person.

Evening reception - your cheese board seems a bit pricey but never had one and don't know anyone who has so I don't really have a suggestion there - sorry!

Other than that you seem to have got a good price on everything! We wanted to spend £2500 on our venue but thats gone up to around £4000! Not really what we wanted to pay. Saying that, the wedding budget went well above what we wanted to pay as we didn't realise the price of things!

xxx

Thank you all!

Ill admit, not sure on the cheese buffet yet. We did it for our engagement and it went down really well It cost us £200 and we had about 75 people there but had TONNES left! So maybe will be cheaper this time as we can buy less We were going to add a whole ham joint this time though so its not just cheese, but obv unsure what this will cost yet

Thank you for seat cover links, will see if they supply my area We're happy to do chair covers ourself!

If there was a casual BBQ meal would you expect a proper dessert? Or if I just did cupcakes would that be acceptable? Wouldn't need cutlery then! (Plus I make an awesome cupcake!)

EDIT: Wait, do these companies really offer 'online' chair hire? They post them to you, then arrange a courier to pick them back up? You just need to put them out yourself?

Ooh I would be chuffed with cupcakes! If you wanted to put a couple more desserts on then Iceland is great for their frozen gaeteux (*spelling) and cheesecakes and you cant go too wrong with asda either.

Thinking about your cheese board, one of my OH best friends got married last year at Blists hill in Telford (Victorian town museum) and they had a sit down meal of fish and chips and a small evening buffet that did involve a cheese board. It looked lovely, there was loads of cheese but a lot of it did get wasted and there were crushed crackers on the floor and all sorts.

You lovely lovely people!!

Just spoke to a local chair cover supplier and shes agreed that if we're willing to pick them up and drop them off, she could give us just the covers (we're not sure we want sashes) for £85! HUGE saving!!

The cheese would be the evening buffet as the BBQ would be the wedding breakfast. Don't think I can get away with no food at the evening reception! LoL

We are making the cake ourself Have budgeted £50 to make it

Just a word of caution on the chair cover front, bear in mind they could end up creased as anything before you even put them on. If the company does them for you I think they might have a some sort of steamer that they take with them.

You've also got to do them yourself (obvious I know!) but when would you do this and who would do it? Your venue might need the chairs the day before so you may be lumbered with trying to find someone to do them on the morning of the wedding.

We have the room the night before so will be in there putting bunting etc up

It's the Lycra chair covers so ill be interested to see how they come. I don't think Lycra creases... Could be so wrong!

Ah sorry I assumed they'd be the cotton ones. When will they have to be back?

Sorry to keep harping on about chair covers but have you seen the lycra ones in real life?

No I haven't to be honest, hoping they look ok as so much cheaper!!

I'd cut out the dessert and use your cake for dessert, after a BBQ the chances of anyone managing pudding is slim. I'd also forget the crockery hire and buy paper plates and pretty napkins to tie in with your theme. Do you have exclusive use of the venue or is this why you're paying additional for the waterfront and terrace use? Is there any way of negotiating this one?

Before committing yourself I'd recommend trying to see them in real life. Personally they are not to my taste. I did consider them for our wedding on the cost basis but as soon as I saw one I knew they weren't for us

We had lycra chair covers and they were fine.

ETA: If you look at my report (link in my signature) there's a picture of the chairs.

Do you think the evening guests would mind if they didn't see the cake / cake cutting? Serving the cake as desert is a good idea.

The terrace is where we will have our ceremony and the waterside is the function room. We have to pay hire as we're providing alot of our own food so they charge a room hire fee

Ill be honest and say I don't like paper plates, lol. But thank you for the suggestion?

We cut our cake almost immediately after the meal, before the evening guests arrived. I don't think anyone even noticed.

I don't remember the last evening reception I went to where I saw the cake being cut. We're only ordering one big enough for the daytime guests.

Have I missed the bit in the thread about wedding dress budget or is it a 'bride in the buff' wedding? ?

Hehe it comes under brides outfit, I've budgeted £300

Der. I really must put my glasses on more often but that feels like admitting I'm getting old!

Sorry have you checked your local registrar for prices? I budgeted 200 for them ...and was shocked to learn it was 500 to come to our venue on a Saturday!

i would personally use your wedding cake as your dessert...but I'm on. My iPad so can't see previous messages lol so not sure what others have suggested

Our registrar was also nearly £500, plus we had to book a time £20 and pay the venue £150 to provide an office for the registrar.

Sorry to be negative but i was shocked as to how much all the legal bits came to too.

I would also ask bridesmaids to chip in for dresses at least. £300 really doesn't seem like much for a whole bridal outfit - it is your day after all and £20 is not so much to one person.

Dr- Were having the smallest, cheapest ceremony we can in the morning just with witness's. No rings, dresses, etc etc. Then we're having our 'wedding' at our venue after.

Mainly because a) Our venue doesn't have a lisence but its so pretty and B) I refuse to pay them £550 to come to my venue which is 5 minutes from the registry office!!!

Please note the BBQ will be served about 2pm and the cheeseboard at 9pm...

I have to say, I think you've done really well on your budget! Like you said earlier, you're saving a ton on not having the registrar coming to your venue.

I second serving the wedding cake as the dessert after the BBQ. That'll save you £75 on the dessert and possibly the £35.69 for the crockery hire?

I don't know if a buffet will be any cheaper than the cheeseboard at 9pm, but might be worth having a look into? We got served chips and bacon butties in the evening at a wedding, and it was a real crowd-pleaser.

Someone also mentioned ditching the welcome drink - I've been to weddings both with and without, and while it's a nice touch, it isn't necessary. To the one that didn't have any, people just went to the bar and got something. As long as there is an open bar with refreshments, people will look after themselves.

What entertainment do you have planned? I see you have budgeted £175 for that. Is there any chance you could DIY this? I'm thinking ipod/cd hooked up/played on the venue's system.

Good luck on everything!

The entertainment is these guys: http://www.idlehandsmusic.co.uk/ (and we'll just do an ipod DJ after)

We love live music and these guys are amazing. We do have them for the whole day (as they are friends, lol) and they will probably be playing for the ceremony and then the evening reception. Theyre normal quote is about £450 so we're getting a bargain!

I'm not sure if a buffet for 120 people could be cheaper than £250? I'm happy with bacon rolls and chips but I know so many of my older members of family would just complain that there isn't something more traditional! Lol (I know this as they've done it before!)

I think that the BBQ dessert at less than £1 a head is good value, and finishes off the meal well.

You could save yourself at least the £50 on the ingredients for your wedding cake (and the stress of making it/setting it up on the day) by opting for a cake of cheese, which can be magically transformed into your cheese buffet in the evening. Depends if you like the formal cakey look more.