Thinking of just going abroad! UPDATE

Have a think about why/what is costing you that much! that is a lot of money

mine is coming in at £5grand and that is with a 2week med cruise!

maybe look at getting things cheaper

if you are looking at abroad, have you thought where? any ideas?

It is alot of money. I would like a civil ceromony and reception all at the same venue so got a few quotes from places and for a mid week wedding its still coming in between 8 and 10 grand! then the extras on top will bump it up another few grand. Ive got a large family so a sit down will be for at least 80 people. Ive asked the venue if they can do bacon buttie buffet which has dropped the price a bit but its still costing soo much!

How have u managed to do it for £5000?!

I like greece or cyprus if we do go abroad.

xx

I do hope you can get the wedding you want here, but can totally understand you opting to go abroad, just think it through though. I got married in Cyprus 10 years ago for the same reasons and it was fabulous but it was a bit sad not having all my family and friends there with me. In hindsight I would have delayed the wedding and saved for the wedding I really wanted at home.

Ohh my best friend (cbm) is getting married in cyprus in sept

my up to date budget- (the venue is the room and buffett for 60 ppl) (wedding is at 4pm so only providing buffett- this is a good way to cut things down)

.

Thanks, I am still going to keep looking at venues here, I might find one that I love thats a bit cheaper, so we'll see. My brother got married abroad ast year and most of our close family went to it but like u say, not everyone can go.

I am lookin at a venue next week that seems a bit cheaper but never been there or seen it before so not sure what its like. Alot of it is to do with me wanting a big wedding but not willing to wait for it!! I suppose i better decide what I want to do!! x

Your photographer/videographer are reasonable!I cant seem to find any less tha £700!

This is a rough idea of what I have budgeted for:

Venue (Thursday including reception drink 3 course meal and bacon buttie buffet - 8000

ceromony charge - 550

chair covers - 200

DJ - 350

Cake - 300 (suppose we could get a cheaper one)

Flowers (silk) - 200

Dress - 800

Suits - not sure really but looking at about 8 suits to hire so Im guessing they're about 100 each?

Bridesmaid dress' - again not sure but will have 2 adults and 4 flower girls

photographer - cant find one less than 700ish

car - 500 (not important but would like one)

rings - 1000? No idea if we can get them cheaper?!

invitations - 200

Stationary - 100

and probably loads more that will add up, like accessories and gifts and god knows what else!!!

I like sam is getting married for under £5k

I am having a catholic wedding followed by reception in the village hall with a guest list of 60ish, I don't understand the obsession with chair covers - it is just a money making exercise from the entertainment industry! my Dj is £150, cake MOB making the top tier fruit cake, MIL2b with SIL2b is making 60 cupcakes, I spent £230 on silk flowers, photographer using a recently graduated student £250, car using uncleIL as he has a nice jag, invitations made my own £25, probably spent £50 at vistaprint on stationary and stuff, having a hogroast and buffet for 60 for £600 supplying all the drinks and alcohol £600 my dress £300

Don't fall into the trap of more money the better the wedding! that does not mean that an expensive wedding is bad, but don't feel bad for being a frugal bride!

For photographer- go to photography parlour and advertise on there- thats where i got mine for £500

also check out local colleges for photography students

my dress was £250

invites, table plan, order of the day etc- free- my uncle is a printer. its who you know vistaprint is another good way of doing this

bridesmaid dresses- £30 each- ebay

car- free- uncle is paying for this for our pressie. the bms are getting a taxi which will be about £10

flowers- less than £200. from a florist wholesalers. all real.

videogrpher- £215- i won a competetion to get this half price- so the price of this was £430. so still cheap. - you can get friends to use their camera if needed

its easy to do it cheap you just have to look around and be sensible

The main expense is obviously the sit-down meal for 80. Bearing in mind that most of these people won't be able to come anyway if you get married abroad, is it worth considering a smaller wedding in this country? I'm aware of at least one hotel group that does a package of civil ceremony plus wedding breakfast for 50 then evening reception (with buffet) for 100 starting from £999. Obviously it's not exactly top of the line (although it's not bad by any stretch of the imagination!) but if you're prepared to consider something along those lines then you should easily be able to halve your budget by shopping around.

We're having a sit-down dinner for 220 people (yes, really) in London and our entire wedding is costing about £12-13k. I can't fathom how just the dinner for 80 would push the price up to £18k.

Do you really really have your heart set on ceremony and reception in one place? Agreed that some register offices are dreary but some are gorgeous (ours is!)... look around maybe for one that is set in a town hall. That cuts out some expense, and then you can have a lovely reception somewhere close by.

If you like Greece, have a look at www.parga.com or www.pargaweddings.com

Parga is so pretty, (very Greek) and you get boats out to this little island in the bay, with this gorgeous little church on it. My friend got married there a few years back and it was really reasonable (I am pretty sure it was less than £5k including food for 40 guests). Accommodation and flights there are not to pricey either so maybe more people would be able to join you.

We got married in Santorini, then had a party back here. All in all, we spent about £5k I think x

We initially looked into getting married abroad and having a reception when we got home but it still worked out pricey just for the two of us, we still needed to hire a photographer, car, flowers, etc and pay for the reception back home. We also discovered that the place we wanted to get married (Ibiza) did not recognise civil cermonys in UK law so we would have had to of got married in the UK first anyway!!

We have been able to keep to a fantastic small budget because we have only very invited close family and friends to the ceremony and meal, no Uncles, Aunts, Cousins, long lost family etc.. This way we have been able to have a beautiful wedding venue for the ceremony and all the things we wanted, we can also pay for the meal and drinks. Everyone else is coming in the evening

My best friend is going through planet holidays- flying out 28th august- wedding 2nd sept- she is then going to cairo and the nile for 6 days- thats costing her £5 grand.

Thats a good price, do u mind me asking who you booked with? xx

Ive seen a really good package deal for Santorini, It looks beautiful. Who did u book with if you dont mind me asking? xx

We are getting married in this country, on a Saturday in October. I think you could get a much better price if you look around as ours will be nothing like £18k.

We've booked to get married in Lake Garda through Thomas Cook xx

I can't wait to go abroad, we're going out in August! We'll probably have a party when we get back - depending on prices but we're not that bothered as we can have a night out with friends at any time! We have both our parents and our closes friends are coming out so we have the people we care most about on the day there. I've been married before and didn't want the whole fuss and expense, just wanted a happy carefree day and didn't want to be saddled with a huge loan afterwards. We get to have our honeymoon at the same time and could afford another holiday on our own later on in the year as we wouldn't be stuck with a loan.

As long as you can afford your day and have the people you are closest to on the day it doesn't matter where you get married x

Where are you getting married? Thats not far off at all, bet your excited! x

Well after going to a wedding fayre the weekend, I have decided I want our wedding in this country!! I just got soo excited about the planning of it. My OH is happy whatever we do as long as we have a sensible budget so I think I need to make a few cut backs!!! Eeeek! My problem is I want everything! The full works!! Haha. Just gotta try and be sensible from now on.

Thanks for all your replies.

xx

Thats brilliant new! Now to start planning ?

Indeed! I am already emailing our potential venue asking loads of questions!!! x

Sorry....only just seen this. We booked out holiday with First Choice, and then booked the wedding package with https://www.weddings-in-santorini.com/

They were absolutely fantastic x