New bride- low budget- feeling sad :(

I read somewhere that someone had a little cake baking competition, tea party themed picnic type thing.. I think that's a sweet idea. loads of really good suggestions on here. enjoy it and please try not to let a budget ruin it for you, you'll have just as much fun on the day as what you would if you had spent thousands. X

Hi, already loads of great advice been given but just wanted to say hello & welcome

Sure you'll have a great wedding with your budget and you're on the right track already with help from friends & family etc. Lists, lists & more lists ..prioritising everything and where you want to spend more..you'll be absolutely fine Hope you enjoy it here, loads of great tips & help on here so stick around

I've not really got any more advice - you've got loads of good advice here already,but we'll be able to help with the little things as you start your planning too. Bring and share type lunches are probably my favourites you get so much to choose from! I'm sure that you'll have an absolutely fab day!

Our Village Hall is only charging us £150 for access on the Friday to set up, all day Sat for the ceremony and reception and Sun to clean up. There are cheap venues out there! We do have a tight budget but are very lucky in that are parents are paying for caterers. However as many have suggested getting the guests to bring a dish can be a great option. I actually worked at a wedding where the guests did this and there was sooooo much food left over! We haven't thought too much about how to decorate the hall. Hoping that some bunting and fairy lights will do the trick! I've also had some great deals on ebay, recently got my veil for £10! Also have you thought about if you are having bridesmaids cos that can be quite a big expense if you pay everything for them. Maybe if you have bridesmaids you could explain the situation and see if they can contribute towards the dresses?

The main thing is to marry the man you love and have fun the rest is extra. I did a 21st birthday party last weekend for my son, £50 for the room £100 for the disco and put together a buffet with supermarket food and home made sandwiches for £150. Every one had a great time. It's the people that make the party. I printed the invites on normal paper 4 to a sheet and handed them out. They don't need to do anything other than tell people when and where. Make as much as you can yourself and shop around. Weddings on a budget can be great fun to plan as you have to search more

I think a good strategy might be to sit down and think ok, what's the 3 most important things to me? And write a list from most important to least important. Bottom of the list see if you can either get for free/not have/scrimp on, top of the list, book those in first to make sure you don't run out of budget when it comes around. I think you could get a registry office and then a nice gastro pub wedding, they often won't charge you for the venue as such, you're paying for the food and they have private function rooms, I shoot a lot of those in London, it's quite popular.

Try not to feel sad. At the end of the day you'll be married which is what it's all about!

I think the village fete idea sounds brilliant! You could rope in some friends and make your own bunting out of old fabrics you have lying around or that you can get cheap.

Look for second hand wedding dresses (which no one would ever guess were second hand), or the high street has some fantastic dresses! Or there's even eBay/china but that can be a little bit of a risk so you need to do your research.

Places like Next and matalan have some lovely men's suits at about £100.

You can go for artificial flowers (or even DIY if you have the eye for it!).

I have no doubt that you'll hve an amazing wedding.

Hi,

Welcome to hitched, i'm new here too. I've just booked my wedding for 10 weeks time so no room to increase my budget either. It can definitely be done on a small budget. Like others have said, work out where your priorities lie, for me i knew i wanted 40 guests in the day and 100 at night so started with the venue and food. I have gone for a pub which haven't charged us venue hire and we have the pub exclusively all day. To keep costs down we are having afternoon tea rather than sit down meal. Also in the evening we are having bacon and sausage sandwiches. Have you considered getting married late afternoon, then you will only need to think about one meal. We are getting married at 3.30pm, hence the afternoon tea and the bacon and sausage sandwiched to soak up the alcohol later.

We're going for a vintage theme to go with afternoon tea, i've bought some vintage cream jugs from ebay and will buy flowers to fill them for centrepieces from my local market early on the morning of the wedding. I've sourced most of my decorations from ebay and the venue are going to decorate it for me on the morning of the wedding, i'm just going to drop them off the day before.

Don't worry, and like others have said, delegate! I'm having a favour making party with all my friends to keep cost down and have a bit of fun too. x

Congratulations on your engagement! I am sorry that you feel sad, please don't as there are lots of ways which you could do interesting/fun/pretty things on your wedding day! i am trying to keep costs down too so i have written some ideas, i am sorry if they are repetitive to other answers!

My dress was £150 on eBay, it was a sample from a bridal shop and i was very lucky as i love it and it fits very well. look at designers you like and keep looking on eBay. a lot of them come up on ebay. i also like a lot of the high street ones. you could add a stole or a sparkly belt to things to jazz them up and make them your own.

I agree with the others about a village hall, a church hall or a pub. with decoration, they can become lovely! a village fete sounds wonderful! i like the idea of a church or village hall as they usually have a kitchen you can use which would be great if people were bringing food. it means that you can provide hot water for tea and coffee and will have storage space for the food. It may even have cutlery! Our local Morrisons (supermarket...is it a northern one or do you have them everywhere?) hires wine glasses etc. quite cheaply.Although if you are in a pub no need to worry about that! if there is a freezer in the venue you choose

People bringing a dish or a pudding is a lovely idea. I think it gets everyone involved and makes it fun plus if you have trestle tables (again, should be in your venue hire!) with table cloths (or sheets!) on it will fill the room and make it look festive and interesting. what about a jokey gift for the best dessert? you could have a vote. give out a prize. make it into a competition and see what people come up with! you could theme it, have a pie contest for dessert or something.

if there is an area which you could use to cook your own food, you can do meat in slow cookers. you could borrow some, set them off in the morning and place the meat (with salads) on each table and designate one person as the head carver and ask them to serve the food.

Some pretty paper napkins and little vases of flowers will make any table look cheerier. lots of people will have vases or jars you can use, ask to borrow them and stick a label on the bottom so you know whose is whose. i have been keeping jam jars, and ask friends to do so, and will wrap them in ribbon or lace for tea lights and flowers. alot of people do this, it looks very pretty.

I am not having a wedding car, my uncle has a Mercedes and will take me in that. if he didn't i would just ask my dad to drive me in his renault! i would love a vintagey thing but to be honest, it's not a priority for me and i need to stick to budget.

Everyone (mostly everyone anyway!) has fairy lights for Christmas, ask people if you can borrow them and label the plugs so again, you know who they belong to!Neighbours would be willing to lend them for the day i am sure.

What about bringing garden games or board games as entertainment? Stack them attractively on tables and print a witty phrase on paper and make a sign. you could ask to borrow peoples games or look out in charity shops and gradually build to your collection.

Put a plea out on freecycle or facebook to ask if anyone has bunting you can borrow, odds are that they will.are you able to manage sewing? bunting is easy to do, even by hand although is more time consuming, and if you have old sheets or duvets you could use those. my mum has old single bed duvets which are pink and stripy, we will use some of those. if need be, i have some old sheets i could use. you could dye them, dye is about £5, in a pan at home to match a colour you like.

Weddingchicks.com has lots of free printable so you could do your invites on there along with signage, table numbers etc. i used a template for my save the dates.

You will be surprised how many people want to be involved and helpful. i know i was, and continue to be, pleasantly surprised at how many people ask if i need help or offer things. i know that doing things cheaply means doing this yourself, i hope that people will help you enough to make things possible for you. i am sure that they will.

That response of mine is SO long. sorry!

Pinterest have some cheap DIY alternatives.

Please do my survey https://www.esurveyspro.com/Survey.aspx?id=1d9b9288-efad-418f-9014-6ee21cc1f10e

Thanks everyone for your kind words.

I've spend the past couple of days starting research and I am feeling more confident about my planning now ?

Glad to hear you're feeling better about things ?

I'm so glad you are feeling better. It may not be much use, but is there anyone who can help with gifting or loaning items to you? For example, it may not be your style, but is haven't yet cleared everything out, so still have the tiara I bought but never wore, you'd be more than welcome to have it if it suits you or is something you like. Try Facebook groups etc, plus charity shops, you will be amazed at what you can get cheaply, especially if you are happy to DIY your own invites etc.

Just wanted to say hello, congratulations and to echo the registry office then pub idea. Someone I know did this (in London albeit) and my OH was so jealous of the idea! I think she had the ceremony, then a sit down meal in a restaurant and then out dancing.

Saw this and thought of you today http://blog.preloved.co.uk/blog/permalink/344/free-open-wedding-weekend-on-preloved.html?utm_source=preloved&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter201403a

Welcome to hitched

Please dont feel silly calling it a wedding What everyone has said above really. Hitched is a great site and it is so helpful getting advice from other B2B's.

Hi again! Not sure what is around ur area, but here in Wales there are some really cheap awesome venues! For example, Caerphilly castle is 450-550 to hire for the day, and Cardiff Castle 900. Might be worth checking out local castles, you could be pleasently suprised!

Hey, don’t feel discouraged! A wedding is about celebrating your love, not how much money you spend. With a budget of £700–£1500, you can still create a memorable day that reflects both of you. Use AI images for print on demand to make unique, personal touches like invites or decorations that showcase your love for manga and metal music. Look for second-hand dresses or sample sales, and consider affordable venues like community centers or parks. Focus on the essentials and keep it simple—it’s the love and thought you put into it that will make the day special! You've got this, and it’s okay to ask for help when you need it.