New to Hitched

Welcome

Weddings are a lot more complicated than you think - until you start planning your own!

First question, where in the UK are you looking to get married, and is it a licensed venue (such as a hotel) where you can have everything in one place, or a church/registry office with an afternoon/evening reception somewhere else? We may be able to suggest some options.

What sort of prices have you been quoted so far, and what do they include? Some hotels offer an all-inclusive per person package, whereas other places charge thousands just for the venue hire, plus food and drinks on top of that.

What sort of ceremony? Big, small, traditional, modern, formal, funky? This sort of thing can set the whole tone of the day, if you want a big and modern/funky wedding, then a stately home might not work for you. What sort of numbers are you looking at inviting to each part of the day?

A rough idea of budget will also help - although of course much of this will be dependent on your final numbers.

I know you may not have all these answers yet - but you and your partner will need to have some chats and work out what sort of "big day" you are both looking for - if you haven't already, of course.

Hi Freckles, welcome to Hitched. Be prepared to get addicted ?

AJ's spot on with his suggestions. Whereabouts in the country are you?

Budget, civil v religious and number of guests are possibly the first things to decide.

i get married may 2012 too

welcome and congrats............lots of ideas and advice kicking around here so youl have all your questions answered!

Hello and welcome ?

I sympathise with you as I found the venue hunt pretty stressful/difficult but it was all worth it when we found the right one!

I agree withall of AJ's advice. Definitely let us know what/where you are looking. I found my venue based on a recommendation on here and would never have found it otherwise as they do not advertise!

Another very good starting point is having a pretty definite idea of the number of guests. I "guessed" we would have about 50 but when we sat down together and went through it we came up with a final list of 100! So then we could rule out venues straight away that were too small. I ordered brochures for loads and loads of places and emailed them all for quotes. I then set up a spreadsheet which showed me costs and what was included which helped me make a fair comparison. If you still find these are too far out of your price range then you could go down the hiring a village hall type venue for the reception. This invariably works out cheaper as you can choose your own catering/alcohol/decoration etc options.

HTH!

x

Hello and welcome

I think the first step is to work out a budget and think of what type of ceremony/reception you would like.

Hi Freckles 1977,

Welcome to hitched, we are a friendly bunch on here ?

And yes planning a wedding can be very stressful at time, so good luck.

If you need any help, give me a call.

Elizabeth

Ooooh, I'm 12/05/12 - you can be my date twin!!!

Hello & welcome to the crazy & addictive world of hitched!

Definately decide what kind of wedding you want - relaxed & informal, traditional church ceremony - do you want a sit down meal or a buffet etc

Then think about your budget & guest list....and take it from there!

Project wedding is a great website - its an american site & has some really great ideas! x

Welcome, I am new too, although i get engaged 18 months ago!

We went to one venue, fell in love and booked it.

A lot of places do packages and they can work out pretty reasonable. Work out exactly what you want and what you can afford and go from there. We worked out what we could realistically save, what contributions parents offered etc and then built on that, starting with venue and registrar. At the end of the day, those are the two most important parts and everything else is just lovely added extras! Don't feel pressured either. It is not VITAL that you have the biggest and best flowers for example, there are budget ways of doing everything.

Hi

just wanted to say welcome to hitched ? - some great tips above and if you need a hand with anything please feel free to give me a shout

Hi and welcome to hitched

Hi Freckles, WELCOME to Hitched.

Good luck with all your planning

Debbie

x

Hiya!!!

You will get so much fab advice from everyone on here prepare to become addicted we get married march 2012 so just a bit before xx

Welcome to Hitched! ?

Hello and welcome

Hello and welcome!

The only advice I would say is really take your time looking on here and magazines for ideas such as colour scheme and your dress as i have felt this is 2 areas i rushed into as i wanted to get things planned quick! Bare in mind dresses can take 6 months to make so dont leave to late but then really try loads on!

Good Luck and ask lots of questions and ive found everyone on here so helpfull and can answer anything!! x

Welcome to hitched!! Best of luck with your planning ?

Thanks for all your advice and making me feel so welcome! We are getting married in a Catholic church and plan to have around 60 to the daytime and probably around 200 in total to the evening. We are based in Watford so any recommendations of anything wedding related in my area would be great!

PS Also not sure about budget yet as hard to set one when you are not sure what everything costs! Some of the places we looked at and really liked cost far too much though and had minimum numbers for the daytime which we can't afford to do and don't want that many either!

Welcome I'm new as well...?

Have you been to Bushey Country Club in Watford they have a wedding fair on the 13th Feb I think where you can sample there menu's, etc. Might be worth looking into.

As for your budget you should just work out the Maximuim you want to spend and try to stick to it whether it be £5,000 or £15,000. Once you have a maximuim you can afford have a look at various different little things to get averages.... get a price for a selection of dresses you like both wedding and bridal, Accessories (normally BM shoes, Jewellery, etc), decorations and flowers have a look through some pics or sights find what you like and find some price, Photographer these can be pretty standard across the board to be honest. Cake most wedding cake sites have a rough price guideline to what you would expect to pay for certain Styles (this is my area of expertise) Catering if not included in venue package Expect to pay £20.00 - £70 per head depending on your preference i.e buffet or sit down meal etc.

Cant think of anything else .... But once you start with setting your max and have a nosey round you can then get some realistic vision on bugets.

List down what you want and the approx prices you found total them up and see how far you are in or out of your total then either comprimise, Barter or save more

Hope this helps xx