user-removed – Member
I’m conditioned by my job to suggest splashing out on a decent photographer but I’m honestly gobsmacked at what many of you have budgeted for photographs of one of the most important days of your life. Disposable cameras? Friends? Relatives? £100?!! I do realise that many people don’t give a tinker’s toss about photographs but surely some creative, timeless images of your wedding day should be high up in the list of priorities?

We were lucky, we won our wedding photographer!!
He was doing a promotional thing at one of the wedding fairs we went to, we entered and won!
It included a pre-wedding shoot and photo-book for our ‘guest book’. He was there for the whole day until the end of the first dance with his assistant Sarah and they both did an amazing job.
We got the pre-wedding photobook, the full day photography and 60 prints in a really nice album as the prize. We wanted more photo’s so ended up adding an extra 40 to the album and then we got two smaller parents albums and I decided I wanted the originals on disc too. So he still did alright out of us, but we got some amazing pics and great albums…

Ha! Just looked on his site and two of our pics are on his ‘wedding page’ rotating gallery thing; the second & fifth ones…..:

http://www.ianstaceyphotography.co.uk/wedding_photographer/wedding_photography.html

Whilst we are talking photographers, this is an art student I came across at a wedding, superb pics
http://anna-jackson.blogspot.co.uk
And prob very reasonable

Hi there, Bit of waffle coming up

We got married in august his year. All in all it cost about 18K is we are honest with our selves. I did a spreadsheet and marked down every cost associated with the wedding and had a specific credit card so that we could keep track of things.

Ive been to 5 weddings this year and each one very different to the next. They ranged from a 2.5K one to ours. The most memorable was by far a festival wedding that came in about 10k.

What I would suggest is sitting down with the missus and deciding what you really want from the wedding. If its to show off then that’s fine (its your day after all) if its just to “get it over with” then that’s cool too but decide what you want first. For us it was the location of the church which meant that we were limited to the venues we could have had for the reception. If you want to do a marquee wedding they can be really nice but bear in mind that the weather will have a massive effect on your wedding day.

Things like the venue, dress, bridal party, cars etc are all big ticket items. You can save a massive amount by not having a sit down meal. Or by making it different. One wedding we went to had a fish and chip van for the mains and an ice cream van for desert! It was great! We spent a lot of time making all the stuff for our wedding ourselves. We did the flowers that we purchased from a wholesaler. We spent 500 quid on these and if we had a florist do it we would have been looking at 3k! we made all the cards ourselves and loads of other stuff. It makes your wedding a lot more personal.

I would recommend not spending a massive amount on the honey moon or at least having a “get away” and your main holiday later. Ourselves and our friends spent a lot (some massive amounts) on their honeymoon. It puts massive pressure on you to enjoy it and for everything to be just right. Meaning that if it isn’t you feel a little short changed from all the brass you’ve spent.

I would recommend you spend the money on a good DJ and a good photographer. I can recommend both if you want to Pm me and they were both very reasonable.

Lastly start planning it now. Plan the day and do an itinery. You can then tell the bridal party what will happen during the day and everyone will enjoy themselves. Oh and ffs don’t get conned into offering a free bar!

andybrad – Member

We got married in august his year. All in all it cost about 18K

I just spat coffee over my computer.
18k on a wedding? Just a day.Wouldn’t it have been better of spent on house/mortgage/kids/holidays etc etc etc
I’m sure you had a fabulous time. You say you put it on a credit card. I do hope you paid it of as that much debt for a wedding is crazy.

andybrad – Member

We got married in august his year. All in all it cost about 18K

I just spat coffee over my computer.
18k on a wedding? Just a day.Wouldn’t it have been better of spent on house/mortgage/kids/holidays etc etc etc
I’m sure you had a fabulous time. You say you put it on a credit card. I do hope you paid it of as that much debt for a wedding is crazy.

Married 6 weeks ago – cost £19.4K – lucky parents of both sides helped out otherwise the budget would have been different – friends are getting married next year budget of £9K.

Best advice – find what suits for you and your budget and enjoy the day – but just remember there will be costs that you never even saw coming! Start planning now and where possible book stuff asap for a better rate.

Enjoy the day and let it be about you and the NEW BOSS 🙂

I just spat coffee over my computer.

Explains the double post then.

If you’ve got the money, why not. Can’t take it with you when you die.

Haven’t made it through all three pages…

However, the main thing to bear in mind IMO is to have the wedding you want not the wedding you think others think you should be having. If there are things that you feel you “should” be doing but couldn’t care less about then forget them, if there’s things that are important then shop around and get the things that really make you happy for good value. Make sure it is the day that makes you and your S.O. happy as the day itself happens so quickly 😀

“Value” is not really a term that applies to anything wedding related. Most things are a rip off if you just go along with the obvious. For example we got married in Summer at peak price times but we had it on a weekday when everyone was available and were in a better position to haggle with things, getting the reception venue for less than the lowest listed Winter prices with lots of bargaining.

Other main advice would be that you’d be a mug to pay the asking price for anything wedding related. Get haggling!

iolo – Member
I just spat coffee over my computer … 18k on a wedding?

easily done.

venue, food, clothes, rings, band, photographer, etc. etc. it all adds up VERY quickly.

Don’t afraid to be a bit different and have some fun.

Our “walking out” song was the Indiana Jones theme tune 🙂 (We’re about to embark on a new adventure…)

The whole church cracked up laughing 🙂

Yup. that includes the honeymoon as well. Many folks go to Mauritius or similar which can easily cost 7-9k these days. We negated that and now have a house deposit 🙂

If you can get friends and family to help. You can save fortune with cakes, flowers and cards if you plan it!

Amazing wedding had for about £6500.

It’s just a gathering of friends… don’t go over the top. you don’t NEED x, y and z. It’s a huge industry and everything you read will tell you about everything you need in place, but it’s all bollocks. Beyond the legal stuff, just plan a general party. People make a wedding, not matching stationary/Bentley/ring Owl.

rwamartin – Member
…Do it for a grand and put the rest into the mortgage.

Best advice here.

Mine cost 10 shillings. Went out to the pub with friends after, shouted a few rounds, then pissed them off, took missus home and got stuck into our family planning.

Still got the same wife whereas all the fancy weddings of our friends ended up in divorce.

I would guess 15k at todays costs for a nice wedding. This is only the starter though it then increase on this figure by about 10% minimum per year Im on year 19 now and cant see the cost going down with teenagers and all , but I wouldn’t change it for a minute!!!

Can I just add that I agree with what a lot of people said. If you can do it on a budget then do so. However imo it is vitally important to make sure you know what both you and the missus want before committing to anything. You also need the right, happy people around you. This includes the registrar, vicar or whoever and get to know them.

Happy people = happy wedding. In reality no one cares what car you turned up in or where it was.

Most of the people on here saying ‘spent nowt, pay off your mortgage’ are scots. Just saying, FYI. You’re a long time dead.

Great reading this – I’m getting married early next year and you wont honestly believe what people charge as soon as ‘wedding’ is mentioned.

Things we’ve found so far
– You can save a fair bit of money by moving the date to winter.
– You can save a lot by not being precious about exclusivity at a venue (receptions at a stately home – were in the marquee outside overlooking the lake & there’s another wedding inside on the same day!)
– You can barter every possible cost involved!
– Corkage is an absolute rip off, but not as much as ‘drink packages’

Some great ideas on here though – although were currently ‘on budget’ looking to shave costs at every possible juncture without missing anything out…

Our cost about 8 grand back in 2002

Local church, hired church hall, local butcher put on the food, local wine shop did a sale or return on wine & beer. We paid for all the drinks which worked out cheaper than hiring a posh venue.

T’wife bought an nice evening dress in the sale to get married in. I had a suit made from the fines cloth (made in huddersfield of course).

Family decorated the hall, my mum did flowers and favours etc, did our own invitations on MS publisher. It’s easy to save if you dont farm out all the organising. Plus it makes it more special.

One piece of advice, dont skimp on photographs. We spent a decent chunk on a good photographer and glad we did. Can recomend this guy if your oop north. http://www.iancave.co.uk/ Ours wasnt a grand do but he didnt make us feel like we were benath him like some did.

Have a good un. Bike shaped confeti anyone ?

Happy people = happy wedding. In reality no one cares what car you turned up in or where it was.

Great advice! Also as someone else said above there isn’t much correlation between the cost of the wedding and how memorable it is. The personal stuff makes it memorable… and personal usually means cheaper too- bonus! 😀

Some of your weddings cost more than my annual salary…

Clearly I have a crap job but still, can’t imagine spending that much, when it’s over don’t you get a massive sinking feeling that your 20k lighter?

thestabiliser – Member
Most of the people on here saying ‘spent nowt, pay off your mortgage’ are scots. Just saying, FYI. You’re a long time dead.

True, but when you’re paying off a big debt, you often wish you were dead so you didn’t have to worry about it.

OK to splash out if you’re rich and can afford it out of petty cash.

one thing no one has mentioned, and something we did

got married on a friday – no probs, everyone will take the day off work anyway

easier /cheaper for venue, car hire, reception, etc

we did our own invites (Im a dab hand at calligraphy), tables decs, flowers, a prof photographer friend, wife made the dress, aunt made the cake, reception at a large restaurant in private room, so just paid for food, no room hire and had it all night

married at Newstead Abbey (think stately home) reception nearby
cost about –

venue for wedding about £900
reception for 60 people £1200
rock band at reception £500
material for dress £200
suit and shirt £200
car hire, caddy coupe de ville £120
booze and corkage £600
invites, place names, favors and flowers about £200

so less than £4000 inc honeymoon travel – plus rings
8 yrs ago – blimey is it that long !

Think of your good friends , they will be only to pleased to offer what they can, I had a good friend offer us 2 weeks use of a beautiful new beachside house in Donegal for our honeymoon, all I could have wanted, just cost me the petrol and ferry crossing

We’re getting married next year. Its gonna be less than £10k, that’s hiring a castle in Scotland for two days, bag piper, a ceilidh band, posh BBQ, lawn games, hedge maze, treasure hunt, plus all the stuff you don’t get in a castle that you’d get in a hotel.

We’ve focussed on making it an awesome weekend for all our friends, and not conforming to tradition.

We’re also spending the next week with friends mountains biking in the local hills in Perthshire.

Do something different and memorable, not something old, stale and expensive.

I bloody hate poncy food.

Also, not sure if has been mentioned but (although I’d normally avoid it if at all possible) ebay is an excellent resource for getting table decorations/ invitations/ clothing/ whatever for bargain prices. You can sell on most things for the same price you pay afterwards too.

£758!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2495153/Iceland-wedding-Couple-spend-just-758-wedding.html

TBH the reasons i decided to go with an all in one venue/ceremony/meal place was A. Its local to where i grew up B. Its significantly cheaper than anything local to where i live and C. I dont want the wedding to consume my life for the next 18 months as ive watched friends do – if it was me i would run off abroad somewhere with my parents – her parents / brother and sister and get married there quickly and be done. But its not my day its jaynes day really at the end of it – i figured it was a small price to pay to see her happy – its not like she has requested something rediculous. At least this way we dont have to run around like blue arsed flies trying to sort out the little things – but i can fully appreciate why folks do though.

might not be personal but so long as the family are there and the band are good (which they are – ive heard them many times before – the benifits of working the bar at weddings in my youth) then ill be happy

She got wed in a sari from Bombay stores in Bradford
I got a 2nd hand suit from charity shop for £40.
Registry office, then Buttys Caff in Tod for reception.
I had two guests, she had two. Didn’t tell the parents.
Seperated now. She kept bringing it up in arguments.
My dad thought it was hilarious.

[/quote]She got wed in a sari from Bombay stores in Bradford
I got a 2nd hand suit from charity shop for £40.
Registry office, then Buttys Caff in Tod for reception.
I had two guests, she had two. Didn’t tell the parents.
Seperated now. She kept bringing it up in arguments.
My dad thought it was hilarious.

Buy cheap, buy twice.*

*offensive mysogyny apologised for in advance, apologies.

No time to read whole thread, but in a nutshell…

– Hire a nice social club or other non-wedding specific venue to save thousands.

– Nice buffet food rather than table service

– Do a deal on corkage and BYOB

– Put a decent wedge behind the bar, this is the most important tip to make sure everyone enjoys themselves

🙂

We spent about £4.5-5k. As said lots of times it costs what you want it to cost. We had a church wedding and a reception (in a marquee) for about 80 people with food. We also had a lot of help with people making table decorations etc. for the marquee, DJ was a friend of bride’s dad etc etc. so a bit of saving there. Men just wore their regular suits so there was no paying for everybody else’s clothes.
Obviously if you start spending on stuff like that costs will spiral very quickly. We didn’t have a photographer either after being underwhelmed professional shots from a few friends weddings, and we still have some great pictures- you won’t look at these all that often anyway.

We also sorted it in 3 months. I think the whole year+ to plan and £15-20k stuff is pretty self-fulfilling.