New bride to be - where do I start??

Hullo, welcome and congratulations! The venue is the most important part, since that sets the date and can influence the entire tone of your wedding, including your dress, so I would advise sorting that out first. Of course, you'll need a rough idea of numbers first, so you might like to draw up a first draft of your guest list. A boring but necessary thing is to sort out a budget and make sure you stick to it!

There's loads of money-saving tips on here. Have a read through all the recent threads for ideas. Sending out electronic Save the Date cards for free can cut out several hundred pounds, making decorations and invitations yourself, buying things on eBay and maybe having a family member make your cake, or look for alternatives - we're having a cheesetower which is massively cheaper than a normal cake, although you can get some beautiful ones from M&S, too.

I bought my dress 19 months before the wedding date, because I found one I fell in love with, but couldn't justify the cost and then found an ex sample on eBay. I just had to have it! Don't discount ex sample or second-hand dresses - there's some amazing dresses out there. I also bought my veil second-hand on eBay. It was still expensive but it's beautiful and half the price of buying it new - then I plan to sell it on again after the wedding.

Hope this helps a little. Congratulations again! x

Rough numbers and then your venue, you'll not even consider how quick some of them book up! Think carefull your budget and you will get some idea off here, even get some quotes just to give you an idea.

Dress - most are normally around for 2 years so 2011 designs will be up for sale at the end of this year ready for the 2013 season. You can start looking now and if you find the one then you can go for it. Just remember that there will be more dresses on there way. I think the latest would be 9 months before to give time for the dress to be made but as SnowbunnyAndorra has if you are on a budget look at samples and Ebay. Mines was from Ebay £99 Trudy Lee never worn down the aisle and unaltered.

Make lots of things yourselves but remember you have to 100% sure it is what you want as if you change your mind it will cost you more money.

Congratualtion, Welcome, Good luck and enjoy xx

I had my dress about a year before the wedding. I only looked for a few weeks really. Found the dress straight away so seemed silly to keep looking.

Our biggest money saver was, given we had about 250 to our wedding, was getting married late in the day. Our ceremony was at 3.30pm, which mean we only had to feed people once.

A cheese board and cake came out later in the evening, which kept everyone going, though most said they were still stuffed from the meal.

Our bridesmaids dresses were from Debenhams. We had a voucher from The Daily Mail <shudder> for 20% off, which I believe they do often.

We also made our invitations, which I really enjoyed doing.

Thank you for all your advice, we have viewed 5 venues already and have some more appointments booked so we should hopefully have this booked within a few months and then we will have an idea of costs.

We've put together an initial budget plan too so we know what we can and can't afford.

Can't wait to start looking for dresses, I thought I would have to wait ages but sounds like I can start looking soon to get an idea and get it sorted well in advance!!

x

Agree venue, and registrar (assuming you having a civil ceremony) are the things you should sort out first although i know from other posts it can differ how far in advance each authority will allow you to book the registrar (others have found you can only book up to a year in advance)

i think its also useful to contact a few suppliers before setting your date and budget to ensure it is realistic i know from my own experience many suppliers are more expensive then I guessed. (cakes and photographers in particular) good photographers tend to get booked up quite quickly so once you have your venue sorted i would prioritise this next (if your having one)

I disagree in some respects about doing DIY it does not always work out cheaper by the time you buy all materials etc there are a host of suppliers out there these days that can cater for most budgets. You have lots of time to pick up bits and pieces along the way and look out for sales.

happy planning ?