How did people plan weddings in the olden days?

So anything pre-internet is the olden days then ?

We used yellow pages, newspaper ads, referrals from friends - but in my day (got married in 1988) weddings were much simpler affairs, and the average spend was only something like about £2-3k. We couldn't get credit and loans the way you have been able to recently. And you needed about 10% of the value of a house for a deposit so you put most of your money into saving that - around £3k for a standard semi in the North West.

Life as a whole was very different.

Aw, I'm sorry, this was just meant to be a light-hearted jokey post! I didn't mean to offend anyone!

The internet was only invented (wrong word I know) when I was like 12 so I'd be insulting myself too if I genuinely meant that anything before that was the 'olden days'. It was just my way of saying that I'm on the internet 24/7 looking at stuff for our wedding.

I know what you mean. Not just weddings but life in general, I think it shows how much we take the interent for granted.

Lol that made me chuckle jen....

mind you, if i hear my mother or aunt go on about how they did it for 80 quid and it was all a sandwhich and a cuppa tea and all over by 6pm i'll scream. Sadly many dont understand the business its become and how much organisation is now required to create the bigger affair.

For whats its worth I used the yellow pages to find our venue! lol.

This made me giggle! No offence but you sound just like my daughter ? and I mean this in the nicest possible way! We were married in 1983 and it cost less than a thousand pounds and we had all the trimmings although things like favours, balloons, on the day co-ordinators, wedding planners etc etc weren't invented then! We planned everything ourselves with a telephone book and visiting the shops. I am always shocked to hear how much churches charge these days - ours was £25 which included the vicar, church flowers, the choir, the organist and the verger and the vicar asked for it all to be in £1 notes so he could pay each one without having to give change! Eee by gum - how things have changed!

Tee hee I remember our family weddings. The receptions were always held in church halls, community centres in those days - no posh hotels! I remember as a kid my mum taking her best china with little tags on with our name on so we made sure they didn't get mixed up with someone elses. Everyone brought their china when invited to a wedding to help the Bride and Groom so they didn't have to hire it or have paper plates.

I got married in 1991, so pre-internet. To be honest, as echoed above, weddings were simpler, with far less trimmings. What you didn't know existed, you didn't miss LOL.

The ceremony took place in a nearby village church and the reception in a hotel (which was considered quite posh then) as my husband's family were travelling from Wales to Kent and they could all stay over easily.

My Mum made my dress and I made my 3 bridesmaids dresses for the total sum of £300.

I designed and had printed my own invitations, place cards and OOS's for £30. The only choice you had then, were from the "CCA" type albums or pre-packs from WHSmiths and they all seemed to be pearly, frilly edged, with gold embossed rings, champagne glasses, etc and I loathed them.(no offence intended - just not my taste)

Favours were virtually unheard of.

Flowers and venue dressings were left to the hotel to provide (I don't think it would have crossed my mind to have special table centres etc). Likewise the flowers in the church were arranged for a small fee by some local ladies and they sufficed for all the weddings taking place that day.

The photographer was very traditional, as that was the style then and we had a videographer for the ceremony.

The cake was from a local bakery and was beautiful.

You relied on using local suppliers for everything, recommendations came from bridal shops and word of mouth, or yellow pages and local newspapers. In total everything cost about £5K.

The internet has really made weddings the big business it is now and it's easy to get swept away with the sheer amount of choice. Ironically, I'd dreamed of having my own wedding stationery company ever since I left college (which was a year before I married) but it was really only a logistical possibility once the internet became mainstream!

Ooops, no, I wasn't meaning to come across offended I thought your thread post was very funny! Sorry, should have used some smileys!!!!

Perhaps we should go back to no internet and no bridal magazines, then maybe our weddings would be cheaper and more simple and concentrate on the real meaning of the day.

Only problem - No internet = No hitched, then where would we all be?

I think the other thing the internet has done, has increased the sharing of different ideas worldwide, which opens up so many more options. Things that are traditional from other countries, cultures and religions have been borrowed and adapted elsewhere. Ideas are spread quite quickly on sites such as this and can start new trends.

Growing up I attended many of my cousins weddings, we had about 2 a year, and there were favours.(mid 1980s to mid 90s)

These were handed out after the meal but the wedding party (me once,as a flowergirl) and they were dried heather tied with ribbon and also plastic gold rings with a white dove and a little scroll through one of the rings with the wedding date.

ahhh memories. I'm kinda glad that the style of dresses have changed though, peach meringues never suited anyone!! Oh and the ones that looked like they were made from floral curtains, oucha! my cousins wore both styles. LOL.