Venue and food cost...

The costs that come with the word wedding are ridiculous but you can do it on a budget. Where abouts are you from? We may be able to help source a local venue.

money saving ideas include

buffet instead of sit down dinner.

serve the cake as dessert or part of dessert

having a later wedding time so less hours of hiring venue and less food needed!

diy decor

diy invites

sample sale wedding dress

i found our barn for the UK party by pure chance as it didn't come up on any wedding venue list at the time and it's less than half the price of the well advertised ones!

We live in Leeds, but my family are from Manchester and his are from Leicester.

I'm happy to do all decorating and invitations and things myself (I'm pretty creative and crafty) and my mum and dad are paying for my dress and cake, and we have friends of family to do photography and hair and make-up etc.

Yes the cost of certain things is ridiculous. But you can do it on a budget and I'm sure you'll get lots of advice from brides who have done so. I think you'll find the cost of venue and food takes the majority of every couples budget.

Hi

Have you looked at this venue http://www.sandholeoakbarn-weddings.co.uk/

Its where I am getting married, everything is in one place you have the ceremony and reception in the same barn, they have a B&B for your guests and its got a lovely rustic theme.

There prices are "reasonable" our wedding is on a Sunday and costs us £3,800 for exclusive use of the venue, they tie you in to two caterers but again they are not the worst prices I have seen, but again wedding prices as a whole are disgraceful

Im getting married at Consall Hall Gardens in Staffordshire and having afternoon tea for 100 people.

We're paying just under 8000 but that is for all the venue and food for all day and reception drinks. I thought it seemed a lot but the venue do a lot like dressing the room for me and just generally being great .

I wanted a beautiful venue so I'm now happy to cut costs with DIYing everything else.

I'd sure you will find somewhere for your budget.

I know you are keen on barns, but local halls can offer great value. Hotels (like Holiday Inn) and large pubs can also have good deals, especially if looking out of the summer season and not on a Saturday. Sometimes suppliers are cheaper for say friday or mid week weddings.

I think the key here is compromise. I sympathize with you-I too wanted the rustic barn, farm setting, but it quickly became apparent that this simply wasnt going to happen with my budget. Naturally i was disappointed, but it did get me thinking outside the box. In the end i settled for a registry office ceremony followed by the reception at our local village hall. Yes it would be convenient to have it all under one roof but the reality is that its going to cost more-venue hire, registrar fees, expensive caterers-it all adds up and didnt offer the flexibility that i wanted. I compromised and booked the office and hall-yes its not the barn i had originally wanted but it does give me the flexibility, saving thousands of £ at the same time. Really think about what is most important for your big day and than compromise on the other things good luck i hope you find what your looking for-you never know, you might get luckier then me!!! X

Cost saving - idea but will depend on you say no children as this will chop your numbers down a bit

Also get married later in the day so only have to feed people once

You need to decide what's important to you and budget from there

I don't know if you have considered Northorpe Hall in Mirfield, it's not too far from Leeds

http://www.northorpehall.co.uk/venue-hire-events/weddings/

I'm near Leeds and getting married at Lotherton Hall - we're having our ceremony and wedding breakfast there as part of their Get Married for a Grand deal, which includes up to 40 guests for the ceremony and three course wedding breakfast. We're then heading to our local village hall for our evening reception, where we're having a buffet to cut down on costs and a mix of home baked and shop bought cakes. Our budget is £6,000 and we're able to have 40 day guests and up to 100 in the evening. Hope this helps!

Thanks for your advice so far! It's been really helpful.

We have agreed on a weekday wedding and feel free to throw more venue ideas at me, I'm checking them all out!

This article might help: https://rusticweddingchic.com/how-to-plan-a-rustic-wedding-on-a-budget just found it online. My suggestion is go for the one you dream of. It doesn't have to be luxurious or anything, if you have plenty of time to DIY or have friends who can help, you'll definitely be able to pull it off good luck!!!

We also didn't want to spend an absolutely fortune on a wedding, as it's a second marriage for both of us and we've both had the big white wedding the first time. So to keeps costs down we're :-

Getting married at 3.30

No sit down meal, just a party with buffet

I've made the table decorations with fishbowls from B&M, water beads, waterproof lights and purple flowers

Cake from M&S

Not hiring a photographer as a couple of family members are very good/semi professional and have all the kit

Getting married on a Friday

Good luck in your planning

A hotel in Drighlington I stopped at was beautiful - great service, food, rooms, grounds.

It is out of my budget (and maybe even yours!) but I thought I'd share it - if you pay a lot you can have exclusive use, but there isn't a minimum spend for non-exclusivity.

I thought it would be stunning for a wedding on a good day!

It is a little boutique hotel

http://woodlandsleeds.com/hotel/

My MOH is in a similar situation to yourself (teachers) and they've found a lovely venue in Devon that offers exclusive use but for no extra charge!

Its called Lavendar House Hotel and they specialise in mid week weddings.

They do a package for 30 guests for only £2,585!

http://lavenderhousehotel.com/

Hi, I'm also in Leeds and am getting married at Temple Newsam House - its a lovely old manor house where we walk our dog a lot so it's pretty and meaningful. Then we are off to the Riley Smith Hall in Tadcaster for the reception.

http://www.therileysmithhall.co.uk/

It's a beautiful art deco dance hall witha fully sprung dance floor. It's a community enterprise so it feels a good place to be. The staff are so helpful, we aren;t getting married till 2017 but they've already accomodated a few visits and helped us work out how things will go. They set the venue for you - the y did specify that thy weren;t so keen on flower arranging - and do all the cleaning up. You are tied to their caterers but they are very flexible and will do whatever you want. We've paid £400 for the venue for a saturday in August, and the catering estimate is a hot buffet at £10 per head including desserts. Bar prices are reasonable too. I was thinking rustic and barn but this place had a feel about it that i just loved. Good luck!