Getting married for under £5000.

Its do-able. We've spent about £3500 ish. We're having a big church wedding, but at 4pm, so we've basically cut out the wedding breakfast, which has saved thousands, and are having a buffet, speeches etc then party at a beautiful hotel. xx

weekday wedding

make things yourself (invites etc)

dont have favours!

Have a m&s cake or cupcakes, inevitably cheaper then a wedding cake being made specifically for you

Artificial flwoers (tho in my experience, the quotes arnt that different!)

Dont offer to buy BMs dresses/shoes/hair/make up etc

Buffet instead of sit down meal

wedding later on in the day so you only feed people once

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm any of that help!?

Couple of things spring to mind.

- Dress - look for sale, clearance or "last year's styles", often this will be in the Spring before the new collections are released. You can save hundreds of pounds that way.

- Go for a midweek wedding. Venues are often cheaper during the week due to less demand. Downside is your guests may need to take time off work. Outside of peak summer season you may also find some good deals available.

- Decide what's essential and what's not - do you need personalised napkins, balloons, chair covers/sashes etc? Quite probably not.

- Ask a family member or friend to do the cake rather than spending hundreds on a professional one - or consider one of the modern alternatives like a stack of cupcakes, or even doughnuts.

- Cut down on your guest numbers. Perhaps have just a small intimate celebration with close family and friends on the day, then have the big evening reception in a local pub or something a few weeks later (after honeymoon?) in a venue that's not licensed for weddings?

Have you decided on anything at all yet? I'm sure we can find some ways to save money, after all most of us are in the same boat trying to do the same thing, and don't have the luxury of unlimited budgets or Daddy's Trust Fund to rely on.

Ah thanks everyone!

Facts are as follows;

I was orphaned at 16 so have no funds coming from my side and tbh OH's family aren't well off either. So we are paying for everything.

I actually do cake decorating as a sideline so fancied making cupcakes :-)

I have mentioned to my bridesmaids that I wasn't planning on paying for their dresses...

Ermmm, other than that, not sure what else.

We've been looking around at wedding venues to see where we can get the best deal!

Hello! We're getting married in a very short time-frame for as little as possible. We don't have a budget as such, we just don't want to spend a lot of money on things we don't really need.

We were originally going to get married in a registry office (£373), hire a 50 seater coach (£400) to London and hire a bar in the City (free with minimum spend of £2,000). Outfits, flowers, etc were going to come in at about £500. We got a good deal on a photographer and my friend was making our cake.

We scrapped that idea as his dad is old and wouldn't travel into London and my sisters are lazy so ... we've hired the hall at the registry office for £600, our flowers are costing £280 because we're doing them ourselves, drink is costing about £1,000 from Costco, Sainsburys, Tesco - wherever they've got a deal on, bar staff are £200 for the day (we have 3 of them), food is about £500, black cab is £20-ish.

I got my wedding dress from China for £90, BM dresses from aliexpress for £50 each, and OH's suit from the Outlet Village for £200. I really should add up what we've spent! Everything is "ish" at the moment.

This all wouldn't be so bad if we'd had more than 12 weeks to go bargain-hunting!

Have to disagree with the M&S cake (sorry), we're having ours made and ours is cheaper once you factor in transporting it and setting it up etc. BUT that was because our cake has to feed 220, and so that would have involved 7 extra cutting cakes if we were buying our wedding cake from M&S.

Easiest ways to save money have probably been outlined already... smaller guest list, register office wedding, midweek wedding, winter wedding, second-hand dress, late-afternoon wedding and only feeding people once, church or village hall reception, call in as many favours as you can (e.g. photography, cake-making, flowers etc).

Berketex are having a 3 day spring sale this weekend and have dresses from £99 (chances are you'll end up spending a bit more than that to get the dress you actually like) It's worth having a look. Also, if you want one of their 'normal' range dresses, they're offering 20% off.

http://www.berketexbride.com/acatalog/special-offers.html

Definitely worth a look if you're on a budget, I got my dress from one of their sales and I love it! The women in the store were just as lovely to me as if I'd have bought a full priced dress too.

Im getting married and my budget is about £3500. This is a church service wedding breakfast for 60, evening reception with buffet the full works. H2b's parent are paying for the hire of the Evening venue and My mum is getting our wedding cake.Im getting a lend of SIL tiara and viel as something borrowed, and she is a hairdresser so is doing my hair.

I would suggest shopping around, dont underestimate ebay, look out for sales (i got 2 flower girl dresses in the sale for £12 each) and make sure you get quotes from lots of different suppliers eg my florist is one of 2 in my town and i only just got a quote of them out of curiosity as the other one was to expensive and was supposed to be the cheaper of the 2! But it turns out its not and im getting my wedding flowers for the same price as the artificial ones i was looking at.

Also my venue for the wedding breakfast had a drinks package that was dearer per head than the meal!! So im buying the ladies a glass of wine and the gents a bottled beer/lager as an arrival drink and the sparkling wine for the toast.

Think Flo basically hit the nail on the head.

Have you set a date yet? I've come across a few places that offer discounts if you arent getting married between June-September

Keep an eye out for discount codes.

Utalise friends and family talents

Also if anyone is a student and has a NUS card you may be able to use that in places (asos, amazon etc)

That's another good point. Many "special deal packages" that at first glance seem a good price actually contain loads of extras you most likely don't need or want, so it's always worth getting tailor made package quotes.

Also, alcohol - we'd have been spending nearly £2000 on their set package drinks for the wedding breakfast alone; we've got it down to around £500 by having jugs of water and juice on the table, and a pay bar if people want to buy alcohol. You may want to still provide a welcome drink and toast drink yourselves but we did find that their set package was just too much for what we thought our guests would want, plus it would be enough to put any drivers over the drink/drive limit and that wasn't something we felt comfortable with. I guess it depends what's more important to you - providing free alcohol or having more people along.

We are having an inexpensive wedding. This is how:

- vintage ebay dress (£250) plus alterations (approx £100 by a local seamstress)

-using old family gold to make rings- if you do not have any of this, you can buy cheaper rings at an independent jewellers, perhaps even going for second hand (I would if I didn't have my Gran's rings) (£80 for two rings)

-getting my uncle to take a few formal shots with his amazing camera... we will ask friends to bring their cameras and leads and will copy the photos onto my brother's laptop before they leave the wedding (free)

-friend making my cake (free)

-friend driving us in his vintage morris minor (free)- do you know anyone with a nice car who would be willing to drive you?

- venue in village hall (£275 hall hire), will decorate it ourselves with bunting, fairy lights to make it look pretty, hire in our own caterer

- having wedding cake as pudding (it will be chocolate)

-no starter (though we are having canapes of triangular sarnies- retro!)

-designed our own invites and having them printed at £1 each

-making our own evening buffet of cheese and chutney

there are lots of other little bits and bobs, but I think these are the main ways that we are saving money...

Think about what is/isn't important to you. For us it was providing lots of food and booze and having good entertainment. Not bothered about a £2k dress or fancy venue- some people would rather have an expensive dress, fancy venue but not as many guests... just think about what kind of wedding you want and see what your H2b thinks...

It is most definitely doable - my budget is £2,500 and that's covering everything apart from rings!

Photographer - I haven't booked a 'wedding' photographer but a guy we've used through work and I know he's a good photographer. £250 including a disc with all the photos on and then I'll make up my own album after

Marriage - getting married in the day at the Register Office (£170 total including registering the marriage - £20 cheaper in the week than on the weekend).

Venue - having the afternoon and evening at our local parish hall - it's lovely and they've very accommodating! Costs £130 (with an optional £20 for lights & £10 PA system)

Food - getting a caterer to do afternoon tea for us with cupcakes, scones, sandwiches - seeing her Friday but should come to £200 max for 62 people. Then in the evening we're having a hog roast for 80 people at a brilliant £500 including china plates, tables, 2 members of staff, hog, sauces, jacket potatoes & salad!

Flowers - we're getting from the local flower market and only having on the tables in the day in jugs so won't be loads

Suit - my H2B got his suit from Next - it's a lovely slim fit special looking suit that looks a lot more expensive!

Transport - Going to the Reg office with my parents then me & my hubby (as he will then be) are going back to the parish hall in the back of my friend's convertible beetle. All free!

Booze - luckily we're off to France on holiday soon so we're going to bring back enough bubbly for the day then in the evening the lady from the local pub is setting up a bar in the parish hall so people will get their own drinks.

Honeymoon - doing the unthinkable and asking for money instead of wedding gifts (I actually hate that but it's necessary!) and that will pay for us to have a couple of nights away on our own then a week away with our little boy.

Loads of other bits and bobs but hopefully according to my spreadsheet it will pretty cover it all including my dress, our little boy's outfit, decorations...everything apart from our wedding rings!

Best of luck - trust me, it can be done!!!

Thanks everyone,

I think the main problem I'm having is finding a venue! :-(

What are your thoughts on theme (ie mine is vintage tea party/parish hall etc)? Parish Halls, sports clubs, yacht clubs, bowls clubs etc are all pretty reasonable!

Have you thought of looking at bigger chain hotels like Ramada, Best western holiday inn they do cheaper wedding packages

Hi, I've noticed your from Maidstone- is this where the wedding will be?? If so try maybe Archbishops palace- really nice for a registrary office. Also, if you are looking for a civil service have a look on 'A Kentish Ceremony'- It's got a list of all the venue's in Kent where you can get married then that way you can narrow it down

It definitely can be done and I am doing similar things to what other people are doing so not going to reiterate. The one things i am going to say is - work your contacts and your friends and families contacts!!

My mums friends friend did our silk flowers for £215 - teardrop bouquet, 5 BM bouquet, 6 buttonholes, 2 corsages and a flower ring (I only have 3 BM but i am reusing them as table centres at the reception)

My best friends husband has done commercial photography before and is interested in wedding photography, got married last year so knows how important it it, has all the equipment minus one lens he wants to hire £60

My mum is doing the fruit cake, MIL2b and SIL2b are doing cupcakes

Our retired butcher of 20+ years started a hogroast business a few years ago and doing it for near on cost £250 for 50 people

Mums friends are lending us salad bowls and stuff like that....

Mum met someone who had a pony and trap so i get my dream top of my wish list £50

H2bs uncle is driving us in his car, as 7 minutes to the church and back to the village did not seem worth a few hundred pounds

Have you got a family club we are having ours at our local and its worked out very reasonable..

as the others have said make as much as you can..

Also try your local collage for photographers, make up person & hairdresser. We are using a photographer who has no experience but i have seen pictures she has already taken and they are fab :-D

Well all great tips & not sure there is much I can add! Do the dress shopping traditionally & enjoy going to bridal shops & if you find one you love you're sure to get it on landybridal for under £200!!! My friend used them & her dress was fab so its all good to use them. You can also get BM dresses very cheap on ebay, i wore one for my cousins wedding from irish shop on ebay. fab dress. Think outside the box on venue, where o you live? Can you use friends land? Depends on what type of wedding you want & when I guess. Truprint does good wedding stationary too, I used them for save the date for £20!

Just wanted to add im getting my flowers for less than £300.00! Thats for my hand tied bouquet, 2 brides maids the same but smaller, 2 flower girl wands, 5 button holes, 2 corsages, 2 thank you bouquets and 8 center pieces! (this was from a florist percieved to be the more expensive/up market than the other one in town) so its best to go and get quotes from everyone.

Also phone around the local bridal shops to see if they have a sale and how much they start from and you may get a bargain. Im going to one near me on thursday and they have loads of sale dresses starting from £99! So bargain hunting can be done.

Having moved house last year, we are also planning on having a budget wedding (wihtout the budget look - so no travelodge/holiday inn £1k packages for us)

Unfortunatley I have a budget set at around £5/6k mark, but OH bless him, has a budget closer to £10k. He certainly has bigger ideas than me.

I find it satisfying knowing we are getting a good deal, after haggling, and finding the perfect things at a fraction of the cost they would normally be etc...

To make it have a special feel, we have decided on areas where we wont scrimp on. For example the things you keep after the day - the photos, the wedding rings.

We are also having help from family. My younger sister is doing my cake. My older sister is doing the jewellry for me and bridesmaids. My little brother is a drummer in a band and they can play in the evening. My FH father is an artist and will be designing and printing the stationary. My mum is treating me to my dress, shoes etc... Work colleague has just started out in the florist business so should be able to get a good price for flowers.

So all we need to worry about is the church, venue, food, alcohol, tog, suit & rings.

Still seems like a lot to do to me though! I am a lazy wedding planner.