Help - we seem to be going round in circles

Hi Lily - congratulations on your engagement!

My advice to you would be to do as thorough a budget as you can covering all the main things: venue, catering, dress etc so you have an idea of what the total cost of your big day will be. Compare this to the savings you have already and any contributions family will be making, then you'll know how much you have still to save and you can set a realistic amount to set aside monthly. Book your venue for a couple of months after you should reach your target savings. Then you'll have a date to work towards and you can get to the fun stuff!

I know this seems like boring advice, and god only knows I groan when OH gets the wedding spreadsheets up on the computer, but knowing what your budget is really helps with the decision making process, and you'll know that once you make a decision you'll be able to stick to it.

Good luck!

Amy

Hello!

Firstly decide what season you want to get married in as there is a big difference between January and September in terms of weather, daylight hours, flowers etc.

once you have decided the above you can shift between months as necessary to allow extra time for saving (if your venue quotes are higher then expected etc) or if your chosen venue is not available on your first choice.

We sort of did this, but in the end, our decision was taken out of our hands as we could only afford the venue we loved most in October.

I would do the following..

- work out your budget for both a Jan and a Sept wedding. How much can you save for each option, plus any contributions you may get from family.

- do a rough guest list, so you know the capacity of venue you'll roughly need.

- go look at some venues and see which you love and most suits one of your ywo budget options. And is available. Obviously.

If its about keeping cost down mayb think about a weekday wedding instead of weekend. its alot cheap and some people ( hu probs rnt all that close to u nyways) wont b able to *** but u wont look rude for not inviteing so numbers will b kept down. thos that are close to you and want to celebrate in ur marriage wont see an issue taking a day off work etc. were getting married on a monday and we have so much flexiablity when it comes to venues. everyone wev seen have been bending over backwards to make all of r requests happen as monday weddings hardly ever happen so the ball is in ur court. they want ur money so u def have the upper hand i think on weekday wedding. that my option anyways

Thanks guys that's really helpful - we r looking at a Friday wedding so fingers crossed x