Wedding saver Ideas

Don't give in to pressure from others and buy things that you & your partner don't want. You could end up with a wedding that doesn't look how you imagined and paying extra for the privilege of that disappointment.

Along the same lines, don't invite guests because you feel like you should. Guest numbers is one of the biggest influencers on wedding cost so you don't want to be paying extra for guests that you're not bothered if they are there.

Sit down and work out what you can realistically afford to pay for the wedding in total. Then think about what is important to you and prioritise that. Don't be afraid to cut things out or go for a cheaper option. Make a budget and stick to it - if you go £100 over on the photographer, then trim £100 from somewhere else. All you need to get married is the two of you, the officiant/registrar and two witnesses - everything else is optional. So your expenditure is totally up to you. Don't want favours/bridesmaids/wedding car/hen & stag events/table decor/evening party...? Don't have them.

Keep your wedding planning as private as possible - literally everyone will have an opinion and if people know what you are planning, they are guaranteed to argue - "You're only inviting immediate family? Oh, but you must invite Aunt Isabel's husband's step-sister's daughter because she's sent you an engagement card." And it will be like that with every decision. Come up with a few stock phrases to use - "Oh, we're keeping that a secret so it's a surprise for our guests on the day". "We've finalised our guest list - no, sorry, we can't alter it now because of venue limitations." And make sure you and your OH are on the same page and produce the same reasons!

Keeping the guest list small is the one thing that will make the biggest difference - only invite the people you really want to be there and who have active involvement in your lives, not those who invited you to their wedding 20 years ago, or relatives who haven't seen you since you were a baby. Catching up with people you haven't seen in decades is great - but your wedding is not the place to do this!

I would really suggest buying some things second hand. Even things such as bridal shoes, have a look on Vinted or other secondhand websites and see if you can find ones you like/want on there first, if not you can always get new but some of the things i've found has blown me away (MoB shoes, fascinator and bag, all matching and BRAND NEW for £15!

I second what others have said as well, work out what is absolutely the most important thing for you and your FH and focus on that, everything else is a bonus xx

Look around for wedding dress. Don't necessarily need to go to expensive boutiques. There are some nice high street stores such as Phase 8 and Monsoon who do lovely dresses. If you fancy a more ballgown type dress Wed2B do some nice dresses for decent price.

We are not hiring a DJ. We've bought our own speakers and lights and created a couple of playlists - one for background music and one for the dance list.

We've also bought decorations from Amazon and will be decorating the venue ourselves the day before.

For flowers, we've gone with florist for the bouquets and buttonholes but but doing our own simple table flowers. We've bought own vases and and will decorate with fresh cut flowers.

For the photographer, I didn't need him for the preparation so we got a reduction to have him for just the ceremony until up to just after the first dance - about 6 hours

For the venue, we found a small venue capacity of 50 including sit down meal. We have to use the caterer recommended by the venue but her price per person are reasonable. They don't provide alcohol so we are buying all of our own drinks but there is no corkage fee.

Still came to quite a lot despite all the cuts we made.

Good luck!

We literally have no budget so we have opted for the following to save money:

Non-traditional location - we are getting married in a local Brewery followed by the reception in their Taphouse - £500 for venue hire (as long as the guests spend about £500 on booze ... which they will!) Plus £671 for the registrar to attend.

Late wedding and no sit-down meal - we are getting married at 4pm and then going straight into the evening do which we are catering with a hot buffet. My fiance hate speeches and being the centre of attention and we weren't going to have a top table or anything so we decided to just not bother! Total to cater for approx 80 people in the evening - £1,500 - £1,600.

No Bridesmaids - I'm having 3 flower girls instead so no need to worry about adult dresses, shoes, accessories etc.

No special wedding cars - just going to get a lift and the venue is very close so my fiance is going to walk down!

Looking for a low cost dress - I just cannot justify spending £1k-£2k (or more) on a dress ... which I'll wear once! I'm looking at second hand or low cost new options from high street retailers.

Dried/Fake flowers - again, real flowers are incredibly costly and fake flowers these days can look great so I'm going to make the bouquet myself.

Making my own cake - I bake a lot and decorate cakes as a hobby so this bit is a no-brainer for me!

Asking friends to help - so many people want to be involved and I have a friend who is taking the photos and another who is doing the invites! Don't be afraid to ask around to see if anyone can help!

Good luck!