I'm new and need help to keep my to my small budget

Hello! Welcome to hitched

WOW your dress sounds like a bargain! Have you got a pic of it??

My budget is £3000 and we've only gone over by £150 so it is definitely doable on £5000, are you having a wedding breakfast or a late wedding so you only feed your guests once? This is how we saved the most.

[View:http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-thing?.out=jpg&size=l&tid=10413278:550:0]

Hope this comes up, it's a bit different but I LOVE it. Think the later wedding is definitely the way to go, it saves a lot. You've done brill for your budget. Where are you getting wed?

x

Wow that is really cool! We're getting married in Runcorn so quite far from you. Best bet is to look for package deals they might have limited numbers but it's something to negotiate around!

Where you end up paying the most is the food/drink so if you can find a venue that lets you outsource your catering - church/community hall etc then you can just approach local catering companies and get some really decent food for like £6 a head. I do alot of events (I work for a charity) and we get yummy canapes for like £3 a head yet for my wedding its like £15 for a cold buffet - sandwiches basically!

Some of the cheaper places might not be on the web so maybe take a drive round your local area or ask about if anyone knows any local halls etc - also ask local churches for their places, often brownies/guides host their sessions in local community centres so check out that....

good luck! xx

Hi,

congrats, the cost is on the catering for the numbers etc, keeping it to a later wedding would cut down alot of the cost.

Does it definately have to be May?

Do it off season and save a fortune!! we wanted feb, but if we had the wedding in July eg it would have cost an extra £7k just because of the time of year.

Other savings are non saturday weddings instead, if you do, you could save as much as marrying off season... venues are usually fighting to get weddings during the week or Sunday and offer really good deals.

Hope this helps

Hi

The only one that I think maybe in your budget is:

http://www.burylodge.co.uk/weddings.htm - near stansted

The other thing maybe a registry office then a venue such as a golf club .

HTH

Kim x

Hello and welcome to hitched. whereabouts in essex are you? im essex to and i believe my venue would fit your budget. they charge around £12-£15.00 per head for a buffet and if you feed over 90 people theres no room hire charge. my venue is in brentwood, so let me know if you may be interested. the other option is a village hall so you can outsource the caterers.

iv alr4eady done some budget searching around essex so if you need anything else give me a shout x

That sounds great, I'd love to have a look at it. Thank you x

Welcome to hitched!!

I had a Monsoon wedding dress when I got married almost 6 years ago & it oly cost me £86.50!!! I didnt like the zip down the back of it, so had my friend who makes wedding dresses alter it for me so that it has a lcae up corset type back ?

I had a civil ceremony & managed to bring my wedding in at around £3500 & that included 2 weeks in Florida for our honeymoon. This was all 6 years ago, so prices will have gone up a bit with things but your wedding can be done within your budget.

I make wedding jewellery for a living & at the moment I have a 3 for 2 offer on my bridesmaid stuff, so if I can help with any of that give me a shout.

Debbie

x

M&S cakes are very popular, also cut out the sherry reception amd let people buy their own first drink. Maybe see if corkage on your own wine is cheaper than the hotel's and buy on offer from the supermarket.

Hi,

Have you checked out local boarding schools? We're getting married in Bristol, but using the school and by picking private or boarding schools, they're in really nice settings. Our venue is going the catering for us at £12 a head, but would also have let us bring in our own caterers. You do need to be careful of extra costs as some you have to hire in the bar, chairs and crockery, but they all vary.

Good luck with the searching

Katy x

A couple of tips for making it cheaper as our budget was very similar we did everything for about £6500 but our honeymoon was £2500 so the wedding was 4000.

1) We gort married on a Sunday which saved us 25% off the hotel where we married in. We got married in a DeVere I think we had about 80 in the day and then another 40 at night. We got married there and then had the whole day/

2) Look at places like the Devere etc. you dont need cars as we stayed the night before so didnt need things like transport.

3) Shop around and haggle if you explain what your budget it is many suppliers are prepared to negotiate.

4) For things like cakes look at Tesco, Marks and Sparks, Asda they all do iced wedding cakes which you just need to decorate.

5) Look at places like next etc. if you are buying bridesmaid dresses as they are often quite reasonable and also Debenhams.

No more tips, agree with what everyone else has said regarding the drinks and food - and a later wedding is def the way to go. Really just wanted to say congratulations and welcome to hitched!!

Sorry its taken so long to come back, my venue is mount avenue banquetting suite in brentwood, if you google it you will find it. they dont charge any room hire if you feed over 90 people, but if its less its only 250 x

Oww! Which venue in Brentwood you getting married at? Im getting married at De Rougemont Manor, and can't wait... sorry to interupt thread! Mine's costing around £10,000 for 80 in the day for ceremony then Breakfast, and an additional 80 in evening for full buffett. This includes drink in the day time and DJ for evening, plus 3 bedrooms for us and two sets of parents!

Me too, me too! (not the ceremony though, just the reception).

Sladetobe, welcome and congratulations. I'm also in Essex and have found some great suppliers that had good deals/prices. We found a really nice guy who made our rings exactly as we wanted (cheaper than we'd been quoted elsewhere). Managed to find a ring H2B liked that was only £70. (The only other one he'd seen that he liked was £700!). Happy to let you have his details if you're interested.

Thanks so much all, I am loving all the research I get to do!! I have found a barn I like but they have nothing - no tables chairs, no bar or kitchen. Does anyone know of any good companies which supply stuff or a caterer that can handle it all. Or a company that can supply/run a bar?

Lots of questions I know, but would really like some recommendations.

And..... it's near chelmsford but we can't marry there, are there any places near to have a civil ceremony that are pretty but don't cost a fortune. It would need to seat 120!

Thanks all xxxxxxxx

PS Chelle I would love the ring mans details, my boy has a tattoo instead but I haven't found one for me yet!

We are getting married in Sudbury (about an hour and 20 mins from Romford, Essex) at https://www.smeethamhall.co.uk/ - the barn is £2200.00 and you have to choose one of the preferred catering companies.... we are using https://www.splintersoutsidecaterers.co.uk/ and they are fab... very reasonable price too ;o)

Let me know how you get on in your venue search.

Sarah x