Found the Venue, Colour Theme and more or less everything

If the date isn't important you can see about late availability, that tends to be cheaper? The downside of that is not having had time to save for the wedding over time.

OK, if you have the venue and food etc agreed on, then there's no point anyone saying that you can choose a cheaper venue, different catering style, etc, etc. The idea of a midweek out of season wedding is a good one, but from there on it's not a matter of saving money, it's more a matter of raising funds.

2 approaches really, and you may need both.

First, can you cut down your household budget, and religiously put the savings into a wedding account? For example, if your usual grocery bill is £100 per week, with careful planning you could cut this to, say, £60 and bank £40 a week towards the wedding. Car boot sales or selling on EBay will also help.

Secondly, increase your income. Are you due any annual bonus that you can bank in the wedding pot? Can you negotiate a pay rise and bank the difference? Overtime opportunities? (colleague of mine is working a 12hr shift extra once a week for her wedding, it's netting her about £600 a month). Failing all that, then maybe a second job at weekend (assuming you work Mon to Fri) would raise the necessary money to pay for what you've planned.

Good luck!

The first way to save money is to drop non-essential things. Unless they are particularly personal to you, favours could go? You can cut down a little on wine at dinner, you can serve Cava/Prosecco instead of Champagne, and so on. You could have a later dinner, which means you only need to provide a lighter snack in the evening. Do you have a ncie car, or can a friend let you use theirs, instead of hiring a luxury wedding car?

The second way to cut down is to DIY. An obvious thing is to make your own stationery (I made all of ours, from invitations to the flags on our cocktail stirrers).

I will indefinably discuss your input with my partner and i really appreciate your comments.

I will certainly be cutting the bills down and putting the extra money away.

Thanks again guys means alot

Congrats Mike, to try and save money on the venue which is going to be a large part of your costs, I'd enquire in what areas of the venue you can make a saving, some examples:

- Maybe consider checking on dates for a weekday wedding or any off peak dates

- corkage and drinks often is thrown in to the venue price so what happens if you don't ask for that or ask for some flexibility on those things

- a toastmaster is often included in some wedding packages, remove that and ask the bestman/usher/guest if they might want those duties

- attend wedding fairs at the venue- they might have some bargains (10% off when booked/enquired at a wedding fair is a big chunk of the final bill

- many venues do a complete all in one package for x many guests (usually 50-70) which is usually great value, ask if they can do something like that for you

- discounts from suppliers (at those wedding fairs) are worth considering

- invitations - do it yourself - it really does make it personal if you and W2B get involved and do these maybe your bridesmaids/users can help you in exchange for pizza - places like hobby craft have loads of ideas for styles and looks - for around 70 guests it's good fun - bigger parties you'll probably go nuts making +100 invites - the best weddings are when brides and grooms put their personal style on the wedding

- Seating plan/table plan - again - make em yourself - hobby craft have prebuilt templates which you can buy cheaply

- I know it sounds simple but simply ask the venue where you can make savings, they've dealt with 100's of couples before who have asked the same questions, maybe they can advise areas that can be cut out

- ask friends and family to help - someone might have a nice/decent car, someone might really be a good baker and therefore would be more than happy to make your cake for you - anyone who has had any input towards your wedding day, please mention/thank them during your speeches, it will make people feel more involved and a part of your wedding.

- often venues have tasting sessions - if they don't then you should ask for one (try and take mum/dad along) it will give you an idea of the food that you are expecting on your day including quality and portion size

- any wedding vendor (photographers/florists/venues etc) who you've found will always try to assist with your budgets and provide the appropriate service, just ask them what offers and deals they could do for you.

- get a book like Budget wedding for dummies, it'll give you some more ideas on questions to ask, where to save on costs and some great ideas

Just some tips so I hope the above helps

Josh

The first thing we did was make a spreadsheet (when I say we I mean He, he's the planner, I'm the ideas) to work out exactly how much we need to save per month to do it in x months, then we both went through our bank statements and worked out what we were wasting money on. Eg I cancelled my gym membership because going every few weeks when I felt inspired wasn't enough to justify £40 a month, I cancelled my lovefilm membership because most of the time the disks went back unwatched which although only £11 a month is better in my pocket, oh and I quit smoking, which I'm still dealing with so I'm a snarky cow but it's £200 a month that I can get excited about when I transfer it to my savings account. We both started trying to take our own lunches to work because we end up spending £5 each a day on rubbish from the café so that's £50 a week when we could buy stuff for packed lunches for £10 a week. I'm currently in the process of trying to persuade OH that everything we eat doesn't need to be branded, switching in a few own brands here and there, but he loves his food. Oh and we have a money pot to remind us and anyone who visits that we have a savings fund, and they surrender their £2 coins to us to fill it up.

On the subject of favours, my OH said he believes they are a waste of time, they always get left on the tables, and people are already getting a meal and drinks so they don't need sweets or sugared almonds, so I think that means we aren't having any lol. So yeh, little things like that will save money.

I saved a fortune by doing the following, although I have to be honest, I had a FANTASTIC deal on the venue.

- Didn't bother with cars (saving about £400)

- Got the best man's daughter to do the photographs (saving about £800)

- I didn't buy a "wedding dress" (I got mine off the peg at the House of Frazer - cost £140. Although you may need to speak to the Mrs about this)

- I made my table plan out of an old Cupboard door, covered it with upholstery foam and yellow gingham material - cost me £10, as opposed to the £100 they wanted at the wedding fayre

- Only HIRED suits for the essential guys - Groom, Best Man, Father of the bride

- Got all the "bits" from Ebay (favours, birdcages, table confetti)

- Asked for the cake as a wedding present

- Got all the extra bride bits from sales (shoes - £18 from next, earrings £2 from Matalan, headpiece £20 from Ebay)

- Only had one bridesmaid - my daughter, who is 8. Her dress was £30 in the sale from John Lewis

- Got my sister to do our hair (admittedly, she is a hairdresser).

What I saved, I put on the table in wine form/ welcome drinks. I thought I owed it to my guests to at least throw some alcohol at them for all their help.

I hope that helps you. But again - you may need to consult with the Missus. Good luck!

Hi,

It is usually cheaper if you don`t have it on a saturday.

Hope that helps,

Lynne

Just have a real think about what your guests want and don't try to overdo things. Catering is something newlyweds spend far too much cash on when it really isn't necessary particularly when there are so many different options available

Good luck