Were setting a 7 grand budget for a wedding and based on peoples experiances would we be better off having an all In 1 venue or a church, meal, reception wedding.

Are you religious?

No not religious but wudnt mind a church wedding.

No not religious but wudnt mind a church wedding.

You have to do a fair bit of pretending to get one. More cars, transport, hassle stuff.

are you a man and a woman …they care about that sort of thing as well iirc

Lol yes man and woman.whilst not being religious the particular church has sentimental value to us as both our sets of parents were married there and we have close relatives buired in the grounds. I was more wondering if people’s personal experience was that its better value for money in a all day venue or seperate venues.

[sepulchural tones] Speaking as a wedding photographer[/sepulchural tones], you’ll get better value with two or three separate venues. But this is a pain in the arse for your guests. You might also have to budget for a bus to ship your guests around.

My favourite weddings involve lots of different venues, purely from a photographic point of view.

All that said, check out Groupon for cheap as **** all day venue packages. The wedding venues are pretty desperate for business just now (well, certainly here in the NE). Half price or better.

better value for money

From a few mates experience that phrase is hard to find on the same page as weddings….
He was going to book a fancy dress party with speeches for his as the w word seemed to make things cost more 🙂

Well, yes it does. But it’s not entirely unjustified. A venue offers its facilities to a company for its AGM. The banquetting porters set up the tables and chairs, perhaps a few bottles of water and notepads. BOOM! job’s a good’un.

If they hire the same room out to a wedding party, they’re suddenly having to pay several staff to serve tables, extra cleaning staff, co-ordinators, toast-masters, etc. Add to this that the whole venue is exclusively booked for the whole day and you can begin to understand why venues are pricey for weddings.

Don’t get me started on why good wedding photographers cost more than trained monkeys with zero experience, one cheap kit with no backups, no hard-won network of other pros to draw on when they fall ill.

Actually, go on; get me started. You wouldn’t like me when I’m started.

😉

not baiting you User-Removed, the difference between good and crap is a country mile in all but pricing 😉

It was more the venue, seen quotes for exclusive use party and wedding vary a lot. The limited number of venues for an all in thing is the issue.

Fair enough! But the days of the ‘W’ word adding super-bucks are disappearing (long gone round these parts). People are far better educated these days, thanks to the interwebs, and the competition is just mental. I honestly believe that prices are ‘normalising’.

My grandad was a wedding photographer – he drove vans all week and used the extra income from the weekend weddings to support his photographic hobby. And he was bloody good.

Not ten years ago, lots of wedding togs were charging £4K a wedding. These days, there’s a bit of a dichotomy. The top boys and gals are charging up to £25,000 a wedding, perhaps averaging £5K per gig. The rest of us average perhaps £1500 – £2000 depending on albums ordered.

Sounds a lot, but it’s barely a living, believe me.

We had our wedding all in one venue and I think it made for a much better day. Less hassle for the guests and made the whole thing less formal and bit more fun. It’s a very personal thing, though. We just picked a whole load of things we like and stuck them together.

The venue maketh not the wedding. The bride, groom and guests do. However, £7k whilst reasonable is not massive so shop around and get the best deals you can.

Mrs Danny and I had a very small service in the registry office then wrote our own wedding service that we held in my mum’s garden and then the reception in my mother in law’s garden (she had a nice field overlooking the Peaks).

Still cost us (well the mums!) well over £5k.

Cheers

Danny B

The rest of us average perhaps £1500 – £2000 depending on albums ordered.

Sounds a lot, but it’s barely a living, believe me.

It’s barely a living because the majority get married on a saturday from May to September, severely limiting the amount of work you can pick up.

I regularly hire photographers for day shoots that in all reality are little different to the services needed at a wedding. The costs are roughly 20% lower than a ‘wedding photographer’ would charge for the same number of hours.

I’m quite annoyed I can’t do the photography at my own wedding.

We did ours for just over £7k, plus the rings (which depending on what ones you want, might make a big difference or not). We had a church wedding (pretty cheap to be honest), and 60 people for a BBQ at a brewery where they just charged per head food, with no overall hire charge and no table/cutlery charge. We bought welcome drinks, but the beer was all normal bar prices so we didnt do a free bar. We did have one car, but got a reasonable deal. Everyone else just sorted themselves out, without too much stress. Splashed out on the photographer (£1k) and really pleased we did as the photos are amazing (just got them this week) and they are your only real take away of the day. We are going to do our own albumn as the grooms brother-in-law and my Uncle took some great photos as well. We did all our own invites/order of services. Made up the napkins ourselves with a puncture patch and haribo. My Mum made a load of bunting and we got some table runners made up and bought paper bunting for indoors. Arranged all the flowers ourselves (had planted a load of bulbs, but the cold spring did mean I had to order some in, but still within budget), using jam jars collected over the year. Got my dress in the sale. The groom, best man etc just wore suits from M&S and looked awesome. Had cakes just made by a local baker.

Tasha and Jacks Wedding by keith lippett, on Flickr

Flower arranging the day before

Can put some more photos up in time (the offical photos aren’t currently publically visible) if you want some ideas. There was a general bike them throughout.

Careful of the groupon packages. I know of quite a few places doing them as they were struggling businesses and then went bust before the wedding!

Have you considered a ‘themed’ wedding. Something to consider….

user-removed we sacked off weddings this year as I cannot be arsed with the hassle and with all the part timers (I was one as well but run it as a proper business, insurance, extra gear etc etc ..)just cutting our throats.

You can say people will pay for the better pics and a better “professional photographer” etc but to be honest people these days seem happy enough with crap pictures and saving money.
The last wedding we shot we had a guest behind us taking shots over our shoulders (didn’t not notice at the time as we were working with the guest to get the couple some great shots) then by the end of the day the shots we had arranged etc.. were all over bloody Facebook 🙄

A mate I was going to do the wedding for has a guy booked for his and doing the sums I just cannot see (if he’s doing the job properly 🙄 ) how he will make money on it…..

I came to the conclusion at the beginning of the year I’ll be better off on my bike enjoying myself 😀

The last wedding we shot we had a guest behind us taking shots over our shoulders (didn’t not notice at the time as we were working with the guest to get the couple some great shots) then by the end of the day the shots we had arranged etc.. were all over bloody Facebook

I would have thought that was the norm these days. NB I have been guilty of the same. In the end you still got the great shots, just someone else also got the shot.

Aye, there aren’t many photographers purely making a living out of weddings these days. Not sustainable. And I know for a dead certain fact (‘cos they told me!) that a lot of the proper top end bods in the industry now genuinely feel this way too. I have a few sidelines and am always looking for new avenues.

The last wedding we shot we had a guest behind us taking shots over our shoulders

Almost every wedding I shoot, there’s someone ‘building their portfolio’. I barely notice them but do insist that for the posed shots with the couple, it’s just me and the couple. Any tag-alongers get told, quite firmly, to go away.

A quick glance at Groupon or Google ads will show you dozens of photographers, in any given area, working at a loss. No idea why they do this. I guess it’s a weekend job for them and their family life sucks so badly that they want to get out of the house. Or perhaps they think they’ll somehow, magically be able to add 1K on to their prices once they’re established.

Either way, the couple (generally) end up with shit photos which they’re too ashamed to show off to anyone, rather than a genuinely bespoke set of images, produced with creativity AND experience.

We did ours (week before last as it happens) for £2800. That included Register Office wedding, reception at really nice old hotel, rings, her dress, my suit, flowers, cake, table decorations and favours, Range Rover Sport hire for the weekend and other little bits and bobs. Okay only 30 people in total, but still a good price. We didn’t bother with a photographer, just got friends and family to take snaps/film all day and send them to us on CD after. We have ended up with hundreds of great photos to chose from and are creating our own wedding album.

On the subject of church weddings when not being religious. I couldn’t have done it even if Mrs Wilko wanted to. Reason being that if you swear by god for your vows etc and you don’t even believe in him/her/it then it makes a bit of a mockery of the whole marriage. Just my two pence!

I couldn’t have done it even if Mrs Wilko wanted to. Reason being that if you swear by god for your vows etc and you don’t even believe in him/her/it then it makes a bit of a mockery of the whole marriage. Just my two pence!

I can see your point, but given that marriage is a legal institution rather than a religious one*, I’d be quite happy to get married in a Church even as an Atheist.

*In the sense that Marriage / Divorce law is agnostic of religion.

Aye, there aren’t many photographers purely making a living out of weddings these days. Not sustainable. And I know for a dead certain fact (‘cos they told me!) that a lot of the proper top end bods in the industry now genuinely feel this way too. I have a few sidelines and am always looking for new avenues

I would think that at the very top end they will be OK as they can command the money based on reputation and there are always clients with deep pockets. The majority of wedding photographers will just have to diversify. The whole photography market is evolving with the advent of cheap, widely available semi-pro DSLRs and lots of keen amateurs who can get close to professional quality (as in the ‘average’ consumer wouldn’t really appreciate the difference).

A sound counter-argument flaps. Anyway one way or another you know how you feel about her which at the end of the day is all that counts. I’m just such a staunch opponent of religion that I couldn’t bring myself to rise above it.

A sound counter-argument flaps. Anyway one way or another you know how you feel about her which at the end of the day is all that counts. I’m just such a staunch opponent of religion that I couldn’t bring myself to rise above it.

We did consider it, as we found a nice barn with a lovely Grade I listed Church only 200 yards away. However, we were scuppered by the 6 months of attendance and the wedding only being 3 months away. The attendance would have been pretty painless as they only have one service per month!

EDIT: Plus I quite liked the irony of getting married in a church as a devout Atheist….

Have you found out how much a church will generally charge for a wedding yet out of interest?

Wedding photography seems expensive but the amount of time and expensive equipment required to do it well means it’s actually not a great hourly rate unless you are a marketing/sales genius or already a big name.

I’m not sure how many people are actually that bothered about quality/have the money for someone to do a really good job.

I’m quite annoyed I can’t do the photography at my own wedding.

+1

Re a venue – for ours we are having the reception and ceremony at a village hall – doesn’t seem too expensive to me and we are aiming to do the whole thing for around 5k. Just down the road from Gisburn Forest too. 😀

Talking of wedding budgets, what are people’s thoughts on making your guests pay for their own food and drink? We got married 8 years ago on a reasonably sensible budget, but even then half of the cost was just feeding people. A lot of people are getting married later now, so no need for all the “just starting out” gifts, so I’ve often thought it wasteful buying presents that a couple don’t really need and then expecting them to pay for your meal.

We made people pay for thier own drink and did the food for about £26 pp. That was the biggest cost, but that is why we only kept it to 60 people.

Cost in CoE is set nationally with some additional costs set by the church e.g. organist, choir if you have one etc. Think ours came out at ~£520. If it is Catholic etc it may be more as you also have to pay for registar.

Talking of wedding budgets, what are people’s thoughts on making your guests pay for their own food and drink?

All depends on your circumstances / budget.

In our case we’re covering food and drinks costs. The caterers are charging us £99 to run the bar all night if we provide the drinks. I’m going to take a transit to France one evening after work to buy all the alcohol etc as you can get a cheap out and back in the same evening on the Chunnel.

my top tips would be

think what friends and family could do

my aunt made our wedding cake
another guest happens to be a photographer
i did all invitations etc
MIL did all table decs etc

my main advice that saved us loads – was to have the wedding on a FRIDAY = everyone still turned up – got better deal on venue, reception, hire cars etc etc

my main advice that saved us loads – was to have the wedding on a FRIDAY = everyone still turned up – got better deal on venue, reception, hire cars etc etc

+1

We’re getting married on a Friday and arranging it at short notice for a wedding (3 months), which works out at a 50% discount over normal venue hire fees.

I think the most important thing is to hire a professional photographer and some dwarfs, so you can have wedding photos like these:

“Wedding” in front of anything. ..an excuse to rip you off. Who really looks at their £2000 wedding snapz or even cheap snaps their mates took…..??? JMO….waste of money.

Oh I remember the heady days where our wedding budget wasn’t going to peak past 10k. I’m sooooooo poor now (and soon to be car less for more funds)

Have fun so far its been streeeeeeessssss

Getting married in June,

£5.5K, Registry office followed by a Glastonbury themed reception, using our creative imagination to create something unique, Its been fun, still loads to do but it should be awesome!

I would have been happy just 2 witness’s and a signature but I suppose its a good excuse to get the different families together!

Just get what’s important, don’t get suckered in to all the bollocks.

All you need is a room, a registrar, your mates and family, some booze and food. End of.

Our wedding cost about US$3k, and it was great 🙂

Think our wedding came in at about £7k, all in – rings, dress my suit (3 x the cost of the dress!).
2, key things, we kept the guest list to close family – not extending to those we’d not seen for ages (or even met!) and what we call ‘3am friends’ – you know the ones, life goes pips up, you ring them at 3am and they are there for you.
Reception – we took over a local restaurant that we really like.
We approached them with the idea. They said it might not be viable as we’d have to cover their average Saturday takings. We asked what the figure was – still a chunk of £’s but 45 of us got the run of the menu at a total cost that was wayyy less than any local wedding venues would charge for 45 x chicken in a basket…

Across the board, times are hard, wedding industry is not exempt from that….. so, decide what is really important to you both, set your budget and set about negotiating….

FWIW – my main income the last 3 years was wedding photography – I’ve seen it all, from complete ‘DIY’ to one where £6k was just the budget for flowers… By far my favourite – the DIY…

Whatever you choose, All The Best!

It’s your wedding, do what you want, not what’s expected.
We got married looking at the mountains where we met, had a picnic by the lake, then a party in the village hall for 180? with Cornish pasties and Yorkshire curd tarts as our favourite foods from where we come and a load of free booze for the guests from local brewery.
Lot of help from friends for dress, cake, bunting and special homebrew, these were some of the best things (and the cheese mountain).
Probably under £2k + rings (which last forever, so no point factoring in the cost we guessed). Had a great time, locations pretty irrelevant in the end as it was people that made it great and defined it.

Edit: our choices came about even through seeing a lot of weddings professionally as a harpist and marquee foreman, I used to do 6-8 weddings a week over the summers, same thing over and over, in 7 seasons, only 4 stood out and one of those was my other foreman.

My ring was £90. It’s titanium, which means far more to me as an MTBer than plain old gold, and I much prefer the colour 🙂 And it’s practically indestructable.