Wedding costs

Well, ours is set at £3k, and I have various spreadsheets (I'm used to managing budgets in my job so it helps!) to help us stick to it.

My outfit inc shoes and accessories comes in at £275, my groom's at £120. Our venue was only £750 (and it's FAB!) and our catering is about £800. BM's buying own dresses (but they're reasonable) and we're getting married in the late afternoon to avoid feeding people twice.

The exciting part is what people will do to help. We're asking for people's skills and time instead of a wedding present. So far, our fabulous family and friends have come up with:

A car and driver to take me to the church, our wedding cake, loads of cakes donated for a puds table, BiL making all our salads and veggie options, wedding invitations and stationery being made by a designer, friend doing photography, a 15 piece ukulele band playing for free, 2 singer-songwriters playing for free, 6 DJs playing for free, a free soundman/ equipment, my beehive by a hairdresser pal. All these are people doing it for FREE - amazing

As well as this, me and my crafty girlfriends are making all the room decs ourselves, have a team of people to dress/dismantle the venue, people offering to man the door/serve canapes.

Our projected budget comes in now at £2.800. Unfortunately, this is minus a honeymoon. We're still thinking on that one

I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm dead excited to have everyone on board!

Also, making my own button bouquet, buttonholes, and we're making paper flowers instead of real ones.

Hello fellow crafty bride! paper flowers? thats awesome!! saw them on when geek wed pinterest. they're beautiful! saw one made from harry potter pages. Now for honetmoon, we've got no actuall budget for it. whatevers left AND whatever people donate instead of gifts (no point already live together) were using that, going to last mintue.com and book a secret hotel somewhere, anywhere! shouldn't cost more than £600!

Forgot to say earlier that we also saved on wedding car by using my Mum's little quirky Fiat 500 to transport my Dad & I, with my brother acting a chauffeur!! Not to everyone's taste but it was much more me than a flashy car! Would have liked a VW camper van but £250 to go a mile up the road was just too silly!

I do budgets for part of my job too. I am proud of my wedding spreadsheet complete with fancy formulae. Not done much planning though

Is anyone else finding the planning getting a bit boring? Think its time to delegate to my fiancé!

Oooh exciting, I was starting to think I was a right stingebag!

I am soooooo excited to be making stuff - I'm the sort of person who picks up something in a shop and goes "Ooh, nice cushion. HOW MUCH?!?! I COULD MAKE THAT FOR A POUND!* so even if I had more money, I'd probably still be making stuff. It's the Scottish in me

We totally need to start a crafty brides thread to share all our ideas

Sounds fine to me! I'd like a VW too but I'd like to save cash more!

I'm fairly impressed by how much people have saved!! a whole wedding for 3 to 5k is a great deal... wish my OH wasn't a groomzilla he wants to be waited on! i was all in for a later wedding for hog roast buffet after! and that why he isn't taking control of my spreadsheets! I'm a control freak, yeah, but he's a spend thrift.

I think the skill is separating the wheat from the chaff, a good way of looking at it is the money saving expert mantra, do i need it? is it worth? can i afford it? and as for a crafty thread, i'm up for it! I'll post some my wedding creations i'm working on so far!

I'm with you all the way Elixia. Fortunately (or unfortunately some might say) my OH is a bleeding hippy so couldn't give a toss as long as he gets fed, someone plays a banjo and I look pretty! Haha

Ooooh looked at your pinterest. So GEEKY! Love it