Getting married

It is possible but it depends on the kind of wedding you want and want extras you prioritise. We spent less than £5k for 29 of us. For that budget you may not be able to get everything you could associate with a wedding but it doesn't mean you can't have the wedding of your dreams. Prioritise what matters to you as a couple, get plenty of quotes and don't rush into booking anything or you may change your mind after you've already paid a deposit. If you find yourself saying you "should" have something then stop and think about whether it's what you really want. Family & friends will have a lot of opinions but it's not their wedding and it's not their money so you can listen to their advice but don't feel pressure to follow it.

View quoted message 29 is a great number only wish we could little ours down suppose we could if we said no kids. We are looking at immediate family so parents, siblings (and their children) and grandparents. Else we would have so many more people.
tell me about Your day! How did you do it? Was it done all in one place, how many on the evening did you do a buffet bbq etc? Would love to hear all about it

View quoted message

It was in a hotel in their private dining room. With our guest numbers we looked for private dining options rather than wedding venues and found one that had a wedding licence as well so we could get married in the same room. We got married at 3pm so everyone could eat lunch beforehand and had a 3 course meal at 5:30pm. It was 8pm by the time we finished eating so we had the cake cut and people picked at that for the rest of the night. We thought about having extra food later on but decided it wasn't necessary. We also paid extra to have 3 choices for each course, we couldn't decide on a menu that we both liked so it was no brainer to spend the extra money to get food we both wanted.

We didn't want an evening disco so saved money not needing a big event space or a DJ/band, we just played Spotify on our own speakers. We also took one of our TVs and Nintendo Switch for the kids (and big kids!) to play on in the evening. It was fun "bowling" in a wedding dress with my drunk brothers at 11pm.

I bought my dress from Monsoon, did my own makeup, and went to a local hair salon for an updo.

We didn't have any bridesmaids or best men.

We bought most of the decorations ourselves from places like Asda Living and used the hotel's preferred florist for table centrepieces because she gave us a discount,. We didn't have any other flowers because I think bouquets are pointless.

My husband and brother are keen photographers so we saved money not hiring a professional. My husband has then done all the editing but we have splashed out a bit more on our wedding album.

We wanted to send proper invitations rather than doing an online alternative. As we didn't need many, it was an area we were happy to spend on because it still wasn't a lot. Same with favours, I wanted to do them and as we didn't have many to make, I was happy it was value for money.

I think that's about everything in terms of where we chose to save money and where we chose a more expensive option. Everyone has been really complimentary about the day and says that more people should have small weddings because everyone spoke to everyone and our families know each other now. We don't have any regrets and didn't miss anything that we chose not to have. I imagine there will be things you will want to spend on that we didn't and vice versa but hopefully this helps.

View quoted message We also planned it in less than 7 months and you are giving yourselves over 2 years so you've got plenty of time to find more money saving ideas.

View quoted message Thank you for your reply I really appreciate it. I’m just unsure atm where to start. A venue is a must
And Iv enquired around a few places we’ve always like or said we’d get married there. Basic packages are coming up at 4k so I only know how pricey this is going to be if we allow it to. We are looking at 2025 as things always get in the way where money will need to be spent and we have 2 children so that says it all 🤣🤣

We are having 40 day and 70 evening at a late availability wedding that we booked only 11 months in advance, our wedding all in all will come to around £7k including all essentials and £3k is the venue alone. It really depends on the prices of the main attributes to your day as to wether you need a bigger budget or not