Shocked at prices

£750 for a photographer is low, I know everyone has a budget and I do understand that but there is no way I could make a living charging £750 down here were I live but then it depends on the area the photographer is in and his/her expenses and whether they are just doing it part time with a full time job income coming in.

I know a fantastic part time photographer that charges that but then he is a banker and only does it for fun at the weekends.?

Can I suggest keeping an eye on Groupon and Wowcher! I actually got my wedding package on Wowcher, we saved nearly £4000 on the price. And I also got my photography package on there :-)

Yeah anything with the word wedding slapped in front of it can be eye-wateringly expensive! My advice is to do a lot of research and shop around. We have managed to save a lot of money doing it that way! When you get a quote, look around for a cheaper option, there usually is one!

My advice would be ask around. Who do you know who....?

We have got an amateur photographer for ours and his pics are fab just by asking around and we are only paying £150

As with most wedding suppliers, the biggest proportion of the cost is time and skill especially with things like cake making, photography and, as you will no doubt be aware if you have studied floristry, wedding flowers.

We are on a tight budget too but all I would say is shop around and negotiate and you should be able to find what you want. I found our photographer who is doing the day from bridal prep to first dance for 495. I have used him for a couples shoot a few years ago for my partners birthday so know he is good. Also I was worries about the cake but marks and spencers have good options. I went to our venues wedding fayre and the recommended cake lady had a three tier cake for a bride on a budget for £110. It was all iced all you had to do was add a ribbon etc for decoration. We ended up going for cupcakes and a one tier cake which wasnt much more expensive. Shop around and always negotiate or try for a deal... worse they can do is say no xx good luck xx

Hello! I am a wedding photographer now but was a bride with a very small budget years ago. I was the only photographer among my friends but my husband had a couple of friends who were into it so they photographed our wedding!

I've written an article recently on how to save money. It should be useful for you, especially if you haven't actually set your date yet. http://ww2.ollievision.co.uk/wp/index.php/save-money-on-your-wedding/

Also, I know there's a temptation to go with a dead cheap photographer but if you book your wedding on a weekday you could probably get a proper wedding photographer for a shorter duration. I'd rather have great photos for 2-3 hours than a thousand junk photos taken over 10 hours.

I photographed a wedding on a small budget last year and they had a cake competition for the evening buffet! Each family brought their entry and the couple tasted them and awarded rosettes!

The two things I wouldn't scrimp on are photography and the evening entertainment. Those two things absolutely made our wedding for us. We took a reduced package from our photographer, doing away with bridal prep and an album to get the price we wanted from the photographer we wanted. Our band created the most amazing atmosphere in the evening and nearly 3 weeks on we're still hearing compliments from our guests about them.

We are currently offering a massive 20% off on our photo booth hire until the end of the month. Just quote "hitched20" A fantastic way to solve your entertainment problems and quite cheap too!

www.SwirlStudios.com

Shop around, research, and compare prices. My OH's dad haggles til the shop persons caved in. If your creative then try and do most things yourself, it's working for me in regards to decor and my stationary items.

The only expenses so far are our venue at £4300 and photography at £1500.

Hi,

We don't charge any extra because of the 'W' word! Look for special offers like the one we have to save some money that you can use elsewhere.

Or go for options that give you more for your money.....We offer both a band and DJ in one cost.

Good luck in your searching.

The Spectrum.

We're paying £500 for our photographer, she is a friend of a friend and just set up as professional so got a good price. Our cake is being made by a friend of my Mum, she does it as a hobby so we are trusting that she is good but in my eyes it is just a cake so it doesn't really matter! We are not having a DJ, we are loading all of the songs for the disco onto a hard drive and playing them through a laptop, I don't see the need to pay someone a fortune to do the same thing.

Wedding things seem expensive because they aren't things we usually buy so have no frame of reference. A photographer for example: round here you pay £75 for a sitting and get to look at some rough photos to choose one in a mount. The photographer then does work on the image so that when it is finally ready it is perfect. A wedding photographer is with you for a whole day and has hundreds of images to work on afterwards. It's a week's work, and the overheads are high. It's not like the old days when they took 50 pictures and you had 25 in an album. If the studio photographer can charge £75 to take one image, it's not unreasonable for a wedding photographer to charge many times more surely?

But here's the thing: you don't have to have any of it. If you just want to be married you can pop to the registry opffice on a Tuesday morning with a coupel of witnesses and sign the paperwork. It costs about £100. It's entirely up to you if you want to have a formal celebration, an informal celebration, or just do the ceremony and have a glass of something with your friends. If you don't buy in to the idea of a 'wedding' then you won't spend any money!

If you do want to go for the whole shebang then bear in mind that there are people whose whole livelihood depends on weddings and their prices will necessitously be higher than someone who provides something on a part-time basis while having another income.

So, my tips: decide what is most important to you and your fiance and focus there first. Ceremony first: that part of your budget is fixed. Then venue, then guests comfort: make sure they are all fed and watered. Once you've assigned budget to these aspects you can go and start choosing. Never buy something because it's a bargain; what you are saving does not affect your budget, what you are spending does. Make the day reflect the two of you: before you spend thousands on a formal sit down meal, ask yourself if this is how you would really choose to celebrate a momentous day in your lives if you hadn't been led to believe that this is what a 'wedding' is. Think outside the box, personalize but above all don't bankrupt yourselves for what is only one day. Hopefully a great one (one of the best in your life) but still, only one day. ....and on the subject of cake: make your cake your dessert, or have a cake of cheese wheels or pork pies that you can use for the evening buffet, or keep the cost right down with a huge pile of doughnuts or strawberries. There is no reason you must have an iced stacked cake costing over £250. Have a look at ideas like this:

https://www.sofeminine.co.uk/wedding/40-gorgeous-wedding-cakes-for-instant-creative-ideas-s1319478.html

Good hunting!

Hi thanks for all the replies.

it's just a shock to see the prices of things and this is the norm. i mean i don't earn 750 in three weeks let alone in one day! and yes i know there's the cost of equipment and insurance and things but wow. I'm changing carers lol.

I'm having a small wedding and most/all of the guest have more 9-5 jobs and to my knowledge don't have them hobbies, so guest being photographers and DJs are out.

we're just starting organising so shopping around and looking at alternatives to things will be happening. was just a shock to the system!

I agree with that - the key is to shop around. Facebook has loads of wedding groups with people offering thier services. Out Photographer is a professional, and is cost £200. The catch, we don;t get any edited pictures on a an album. We get the pictures that night, on a USB stick, we have the copyright to the pictures and can do what we want with them. Its a good thing I know photoshop.... Our flower lady, food, decorations, car hire was all from facebook, and these people only do these things as their profession.

It costs thousands of pounds in certifications and training to be a qualified in flower arranging, photography, makeup, hair etc...

I'm jumping quickly back in (I'm not a photographer) to say that there are lots of togs on here who will be able to give you lots of good advice during the planning process if you don't alienate them at this point!

I know you are joking but this comes up a lot on here as one of the unexpected costs: if you want to be a wedding photographer you've usually studied it at college, then you need to get a bank loan for your equipment (2 professional rigs in case of mid-wedding malfunction, plus IT equipment for image editing, publicity and advertising. Let's say £15K as initial start up, without the costs of insurances etc. You need to run a car unless you are limited to a city centre. So say you're in debt for £20K at the outset. The equipment will need additions, updating every few years but ignoring thet: if a tog works 50 weddings a year, and spends a week after each wedding editing the images, they need to charge £100 just to pay back the debt over 5 years. Shall we pay them travel costs: £50. Shall we pay them £250 a week after tax? Ok, so we're looking at £500 right there without any profit at all and literally earning £250 for a six day week, after all those years of training and with no hope of buying new equipment or growing the business. That excludes advertising. time spent meeting prospective customers, and everything else that costs to run a business. Thus no-one could afford to do it full time if they charged so little.

That's what i meant when I said that people who rely on the wedding industry need to charge more.

I must be a Scrooge and tight with my money, and yes i was joking.

but i can't be the only one on a tight budget that doesn't want to compromise too much and have a registry office and sandwiches at mine so just looking for tips on how to have a nice wedding with out paying over the top like rich people can.

but like i said we're be looking around and exploring different options to find the right outcome for us.

just posting for help and to voice my shock, but it seems i shouldn't be shocked, weddings are for the rich, silly me.

As everyone else says, shop around and do plenty of research.

Our photographer is costing £400, with that we get all our photos edited and on a disk and we can print up what we want. It's not her profession, but she's a extremely keen hobbiest (think that's how you spell it lol) Her photos are amazing and just what we are looking for.

Also DIY. I'm doing my own invites and decorations for the wedding venue and reception venue. I'll be shopping around for my BM dresses in next years summer sale, and also mine and my BM's jewellery will all be brought in the sales.

It can all be done on a budget, just takes a bit of investigation work. Good luck x

I was shocked at the price of photographers too, but when you think about it, it really makes sense and a lot of photographers aren't making that much profit, like MOMB said. But there are lots of ways to keep costs down. If you look on the wedding reports page, you'll see a few brides that have had a great day, that looks very wedding-y (much more than sandwiches and a registry office!), for less than £6000. If you're willing to be flexible and not too particular, and can do some things yourself, it's definitely do-able.

One thing I would say is that in terms of venues, if you get one that is council-owned it will be sooo much cheaper! My venue is a hotel/country house place, that I never thought would be in my budget, but we're having our evening reception there for £1500 Also, if you get married later in the day then you only have to feed people once!

Also, I'd echo the others that said that photography is something you don't really want to scrimp on, as that's what you'll have left of the day afterwards, and it's so worth paying the money if you look at the difference between a £400 TOG and a £2000 one.

Don't get overwhelmed by it all!

Libby
xoxo

I'm not having a pop at you: just protecting the togs a little: they have the same things said about them so often. What I'm saying is if the F/T people are too expensive for your budget (they are for mine) then look for P/T people or DIY (not photography obviously or you'll end up with an album of selfies).

You're right to be tight with your money. We all work to earn it and we should alll be pretty sure that we're spending it on what is important to us, rather than be sucked in by the wedding machine. Stick around, we're quite a friendly bunch really and between us we've got most things going on so lots of opportunity to borrow and share ideas.

So, what's your idea of a 'nice wedding': maybe we can go from there?

Just getting a bit overwhelmed by it all to be honest and we haven't even started yet, we're still in the very early stages of planning and sorting out budgeting,

but are outline in the end is us and the both of us making the commitment to each other. we don't want a huge party where we don't know half the people or old relatives we haven't seen since we were young, just those close to us to share are day no more than 30 people.

we don't want a church wedding or religious ceremony, we not having bridesmaids or a best man. but my dad will be giving me away

My OH favourite colour is purple so that's going to be are wedding colour. thinking of putting white or cream with it, the theme we want is enchanted romance, i found a great little place that's totally OTT on romance for the ceremony.

I'm quite hands on and do all are birthday/celebration cakes for my family so i think there i get my OH to help and us both together make the wedding cake. I love flowers and use to be a florist so the wedding will be covered in flowers, it a be a late afternoon wedding to give me time to get things done in the morning.

allot of it will be DIY and very hands on by me and OH. we're just have think outside the box for things we can't afford. being a smaller wedding we can get away with some stuff you cant at a bigger wedding.

Hey wedding maze!!

the best way to think about your planning is the same on how you'd eat an elephant, one bite at a time I do echo what the girls said about photography as its the only thing you have left after the big day. I look back on mine a lot and smile. dig around, do your research and dont be afraid to haggle! If your DIYing a lot that does help but be careful not to bite off too much than you can chew, recruit family and friends!

http://www.thebrokeassbride.com/

this blog has lots of money saving ideas!

It can be done! Our photographer is costing us £325 for 2 photographers for full day coverage and a photobooth. He's only been doing it professionally for a year or so, but we were very careful to go over all his examples and check everything out and we like him!

We're having our 'dream' wedding by doing the legal bits at the registry office with just witness's (£45) then having our 'wedding' later at a non lisenced venue. The venue isn't charging us for the ceremony space and our friend will perform the ceremony

Food wise we're having 2 courses with the main being a chicken grill (choice of peri peri or fruity chicken or prawn skewers, and then 2 sides from garlic bread, chips, rice or salad). Because guests have to get it themself this is only costing us £8 per person and for desert we're hiring an ice cream cart which is costing us £2.75 per person. MUCH less than your traditional wedding menu.

Drinks we're providing ourself (soft drinks only) which including corkage comes to about £6 a bottle, we're doing vintage drinks like cream soda, ginger beer, pink lemonade etc

Mens outfits will just be a shirt and tie, we'll ask them to wear their own suits. Bridesmaid dresses will be ebay jobs of about £20 per person

Im o a tight budget as well but am def getting the wedding ive always wanted. .. just wont be getting extras that we.dont need and prioritising. One other thing that saved a little.money was our favours habe doubled up as our name settings at the table so thats another expense crossed off. Just take one step at a time. Negotiate costs on everything and im sure fellow hitchers can give ideas or recommendations for cheaper suppliers. I agree photography is an important part of the day and if I could have spent£1200 on one I would have done, however it seems there are deals to be done and you will fins some cheaper. Good luck xx

Castles are suprisingly cheap too The one we may get married at (we might just do it in our field of Yurts by the ruins, but OH wants it to be actually in the court) costs £650. Caerphilly Castle where my auntie got married is around the same price, if not cheaper, and that is for the whole day! And, they don't need that much decoration as the castles are gorgeous as they are anyway.

I did have a moment where I was trying to convince my h2b to have the wedding breakfast and reception in the village hall near our castle because it costs NINETY QUID for 3 days (set up, day and clear up). £90!!! If we did go for that we could spend £1000 doing it up with decor and still have it cost a damn sight cheaper than our Yurt wedding (with those, land and food for 100 comes to approx £5000). But he doesn't want it in the village hall because to him, it's not that impressive or exciting....

During my research, I have found that hiring a venue and caterers separately work out so much cheaper than an 'all-inclusive' deal. For example, an all-inclusive venue we did fall in love with a while ago would cost us AT LEAST £9000 for hire and food (that's with accommodation and drinks packages on top of that).

It does take a bit more effort (and a lot of man hours on the laptop) to organise a wedding that isn't an all inclusive one, basically if you want 100% stress free, you have to pay the premium! But, trawling the internet gets you a hefty discount and some fantastic ideas

There are plenty of part time wedding photographers usually those starting out. They will charge you a lot less. We all have to start somewhere and I for one am very grateful for those brides who took the risk when I was relatively inexperienced and maybe didn't have the best equipment. The key when booking a cheaper less experienced photographer is to thoroughly check out their work. Make sure you ask to see event work rather than landscapes or abstract photographs.

If they don't have a lot of weddings to show you then maybe ask for a photoshoot before deciding. Ultimately though it is a bit of a tradeoff between an experienced qualified professional with the associated price tag and someone just starting out with a cheaper offer.

Hope that helps

Go to loads of wedding fayres and ask everyone!! I found my cake maker through my hairdresser, we were settling for a M&S one before we found her. Although it is still around £200 mark, but thats the cheapest we could find.

Photographer, we found at a wedding fayre, we only wanted a few formal photo's so she is coming for the ceremony and formal photo's after and then we will be given a disk, so we can print of photo's when we can afford it That is costing £250.

I decided what things were important to me, and set a big budget for them items, my list was: dress, cake, evening entertainment and venue. My H2B important thing was ring & food. We have/are DIY'ing everything else: invitations I made for £30, sweet table, decorations & flowers (I am doing them all) if you have plenty of time, just keep negotiating and networking you will find people Also if you pick an unusual day during the week to get married you will instantly save with that too My friend got married on a Tuesday at an amazing venue for £3000.

It can be done, it just takes a little work that is all

If you are on twitter then type this in #weddinghour its on a Wednesday but posts are up all the time, There are loads of photographers and other suppliers posting, quite surprising at what some photographers charge in the different areas of the country.

Also there might be a local #weddinghour to you like we have #chichesterhour #hampshirehour etc

Edited to make it easier for those that dont know how to use twitter? https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%23weddinghour&src=tyah