Not sure I can ever afford to get married!

Hi, you could get married during the day with only your closest family and friends at the registry office, have a nice sit down meal with them only. For the evening you could contact local pubs, a lot of them have a function suite and some don't even charge for the hire of the room, you could have a buffet with food such as stories/bacon rolls. Evening guests don't expect much to eat. One of my friends done this and it was a brilliant night Xx

Sorry to hear you are struggling All the advice I've read is to figure out your budget first and THEN decide what you want that fits with that. So if your budget won't stretch to 45 day guests and 80 evening guests perhaps consider alternatives? What are the priorities for your wedding - is it to have a good old knees up with all your friends and family, is it a meaningful ceremony, good food, or having people witness your marriage? Remember not all weddings have to be what you see in wedding magazines or websites!

Some friends of mine who are not at all well off had a lovely wedding - the ceremony was in a registry office and then after some photos outside everyone decamped to a social club. The ceremony was mid afternoon, and they put on a hog roast for everyone at around 6pm. The bar was cheap and everyone had a great time catching up with old and new friends. It didn't matter one jot that there wasn't a formal sit down meal (or more than one meal) and the hog roast was absolutely delicious. A family member had an early afternoon ceremony and then a really nice buffet straight afterwards for everyone. The bride and groom then went to have a nice evening for themselves and guests either went home to do whatever they normally did, or got together in groups to continue celebrating in local pubs etc.

It's fine to feed everyone once, or some people not at all, or to keep it small and simple if that's what works for you. A few ideas:

- have a 'wedding celebration party' separately to your actual ceremony, that might keep costs down if bars, clubs or other places seem to be charging a premium for a formal reception.

- ask family and friends for help and do a 'bring a dish' buffet (if you have reliable and able cooks!) in a hall or social club in the evening. I read somewhere about people doing a 'Great British Bake Off' style reception where guests each baked something to bring, and there was a little competition with small prizes being given out, sounded fun

- do a brunch or lunch wedding

- have an 'after party' somewhere where guests can meet and chat and enjoy the evening but you don't have to book or arrange a formal reception

I'm not too sure what I can say really, but have you considered just going to the registry office, doing the official part late on in the day and then having the reception in some where like a social club or council run type of function room and have more of a buffet style instead of a 3 course sit down meal. That way you would only have to worry about 1 lot of food?

Also, if you want to be married you could go and do the legal bit and have a reception/party later on down the line.

I know it's tough trying to save for a wedding, but it can be done on a tight budget, you just sometimes have to think outside the box.

Have you looked at Holiday Inn's £999 wedding package? Or I think Britannia hotels also do a similar priced one. Might be worth looking if there is one near where you want to be?

I've written an article on how to cut your wedding costs here. You may find it helpful. The easiest ways forward are to book on Mon-Thurs and set a late ceremony time, eg 4pm so that you only feed the guests once.

Hi,

am more than happy for the holiday in wedding, it's within our price range an floors lovely. It's my other half. He wants it to be the best, better than the ones he's been to. Like it's a competition! But it's not and wish he could see that. I think he doesn't want people to think we're being cheap. But it's one day, I certainly don't want to be in debt for one day and all that matters is we are there with family and friends to celebrate us becoming a family officially! He's not keen at all on the registry office but I'm trying to put it all together and just say there it is!

I Do love the idea of the evening hog roast. I've not been a fan of the formal sit down meals that I've been to. And with the amount of kids to try and get to stay still at a table, it makes more sense.

Iwish the social clubs had proper websites with fees etc. I hate calling, especially when they really try to sell it to you! I know I will have to bite the bullet.

Keep an eye on groupon, they often have deals for wedding packages.

Hi there,

we have a tight budget and kids too and here's what we are doing. Getting married in registy office (on a Monday) with parents and grandparents and siblings only (about £200 with giving notice etc) followed by a cream tea at a local manor house hotel, in a private room. We are taking things the night before for them to out on tables and I have got little favour boxes and some table sprinkles etc, plus the electric tea lights in some boxes which match the favour boxes. There will only be 14 of us and it's costing about £240 including soft drinks and an arrival drink.

Then, on a different day (Saturday) we are having a big evening reception in a function room (£90), doing our own buffet (haven't worked out budget yet) but hiring a chocolate fountain and FMIL is making our cake. Our friends are in a band and playing for us and we have got some balloons, table clothes etc all organised through the venue (about another £90 from what I remember)

i got our invites printed on ebay for £31 for 100 and they are lovely. My dress is from Coast and cost me £90 in the sale. OH already had a suit but has bought a waste coat and new shirt.

I know this might not suit you, but we are managing to do quite a lot for a very limited amount of money by shifting the focus to a big evening celebration and a very intimate day thing (which is what we wanted)

good luck with your plans!

If you have your hearts set on a sit down meal and then an evening party a package will be the most cost effective and you can make it as individual as you are within limits. Has your fiancé said what would make your wedding really stand out for him? Ask yourself the same question.

You have young children...do you want a day which they will enjoy too or will it be primarily an adult affair? If being a member on Hitched has taught me nothing else it is that the weddings which stand out are the ones where the day is full of the couple's personality: if you two are all about sit down meal and speeches then great, but very often the wow weddings are the ones which are quite different. Look at the wedding blog sites for inspiration and even programmes like DTTB: it isn't the great formal affairs which are the most special necessarily. It seems that your fiancé wants to make a statement, so maybe your job at this point is to convince him that if he wants the wedding to be the best ever, or at least stick in people's minds, it does not need to be the most expensive. It's not about the cost, it's about the two of your sharing something of yourselves with your guests.

We all have to have a budget, well the vast majority of us at least. You and your fiancé have to decide what's important getting married or having a wedding, you don't have to have a fancy wedding to get married. Lots of brides on here manage to have the perfect wedding for them on a reasonable budget. You have the wedding that suits you and your budget, not to compete with others. A small, discrete personal marriage ceremony with a personal celebration afterwards means far more than a massively fancy and expensive wedding that's more for show than the people getting married.

you have to pay registrar fees but the rest is optional and within your gift to control.

work out where your fixed costs are and then see what you have left. You can get some bargains. Join local Facebook wedding groups, the are bargains on those and you can also find local information too.

packages can be good but look out for hidden catches too. You can find yourself paying for things you do t really want.

good luck xx

Thank you for your replies, i have had a good think, and a good browse.

If I change my register office to another more local one it's much cheaper. I found a venue with £150 hire fee nearby and a bar. And a place that does a hog roast for £600! Also looking at our numbers I was over estimating and actually have around 50 for the evening. Maybe a little more Inc. the kids. A local photographer does a package for £499 - decided not to have our friend do it.

I think the 2k budget is looking do able. And I think it might be good to pick up things in the sales as and when too. I've told my fiance I. Getting quotes on it all and will come back when I'm done lol

Fantastic, glad you managed to find something suitable. Will keep my fingers crossed you get quotes that are in budget.

It is horrible when you first start wedding planning and yyou think how on earth are we going to afford that, but after a while and a proper look you realise what you can afford and what you both want and find away to stay in your budget.

Hey hun, we are in a very similar situation. We have a just 2 year old and a 6 month old and saving for the wedding doesn't seem to happen!!

My top tips are look at venues outside the box, we have a local residential / sports centre that has an amazing function room but doesn't promote itself much as a wedding venue (It so should, its gorgeous!!).

We're also getting married at 3pm and then having a drinks reception (with canapes) before going into a massive food fest at the evening reception. It's proving MAJORLY cheaper

Keep in touch, I'd love to hear your plans!