Im getting married.....

[catalicious]

Im getting married in April or May next year and I was just wondering where are some areas I can cut costs...

I have a reception venue that is lovely and I get pretty cheap. But I was wndering where else costs can be cut as we are having a super cheap wedding but still lovely we know people in the careers of most of the big things we will need like dress, shoes, hair, flowers, cars, invites etc....

But is there anything else that I can cut costs with but still make it all lovely...

[Tabbyguizmo]

yay congrats.. ok couple of tips place cards u can but them at crazy clarks 50 for $2 and just write the guests names on them in a gold permanent finetip marker as for the flowers order them through a flower market pick a design they can either make it or fun way of getting all ur bridesmaids together and make them urself we did and they turned out great, another great way is to shop around and write down prices if there is a dress u love but needs straps ask a family member to alter it saves there. invites can be done really nicely maybe copy ideas from places and see what you could do urself with help, as for makeup i recommend buying makeup over time (good quality as some buticians don't use good stuff) and have someone or urself do it. shoes go to places like suana's they are highly recommended and aren't bad in price my wedding shoes were $85 and there great, buy little things along the way that saves on money if they have a sale now and not later remember u make a cheap wedding look expensive we did and no one knew. i'll think of some more

[MilkOnTap]

Just a few things that I did off the top of my head...

- Sit yourself and your partner down and write a list of things that you REALLY want and things that you will compromise on. You will surprise yourself at what you can cut out!
- Make your own invites/place cards. It adds that personal touch and saves you a small fortune!
- Get a family friend to drive you in their car. OR, dont tell the car hire co. that its for a wedding - all you will lack is a ribbon on the front but it'll save you lots!
- Now this isn't for everybody, but I chose not to have a bridal party. Saved me a few outfits, shoes, gifts etc.
- Have your wedding on a Sunday instead of a Saturday. You will find that the venue and meals are cheaper - plus alcohol wont cost as much because people have to work the next day so it wont turn into a big booze-fest.
- I did my own hair and makeup. Well - I got a girlfriend to help - but between the two of us we did a fantastic job!
- Dont be afraid to tell your florist, cake-maker, caterer, celebrant etc that you are on a budget. Tell them how much you are willing to spend and work with them. By doing this I got my bouquet & throw posy for $120 and two-tiered choc mud wedding cake for $150.
- Dont be afraid to look at wedding gowns 'off-the-rack' or even on the internet. Might seem a bit 'cheap', but I scored my beautiful gown for $350 including alterations.

[shed]

oh what fun! congratulations!!

As for the advice, well I am the last person to ask...I still haven't organised mine, we spend the money on my new car, LOL. I think we are going to elope now.

I can't wait to see what you do!!

[catalicious]

Cool thanks for the tips......

Thanks Sheridan i wanted to lope too but Dps family dont do things like that so we are having a nice smallish wedding (70 people) for other people pretty much....

So then we can still go on a small honeymoon...

Im sooooo excited..... Ecspecialy since we are not waiting for ages before we do it.... (we have waited long enough i think), but i mean between saying yeah lets get married to actually doing it...

The tips are great i will definatly be using alot of them.....

The doing the bouquet thing with friends sounds fun...

[shed]

70 people! Thats not small, that's a "do". We were going to have about 70 people and I was thinking "oh gawd its turned into a monster".

woo hoo! I love talking about weddings if they are other people's. I just didn't like planning my own.

As for the eloping, yeah I completely understand. My parents are going to kill me, my mother will probably bawl her eyes out and I already know a couple of other people who will probably have the sh!ts with us for ages. Its not the easy way out in some ways, lol.

We are either doing that or just having a bogan party out in the backyard, with a celebrant. That would be fun I reckon.

[babylover111]

Cat!!! Congratulations that's soooo exciting :smiliedance:

[catalicious]

Hey Im all for bogan weddings....

If we didnt invite Very Very close friends and just Immediate family tha we speak to semi regularly it would be like 200+ and screw that But I am not paying for that many people to eat....LOL

My family want us to elope my dad ecspecially as he thinks wedding are a big waste of money......

But his idea of eloping is going to the registery office.....ah no thanks dad....

So whilst i like the idea of abackyard party i figure if I have to have a "proper" wedding i will do it with the nice dress and stuff too.... But my bridesmaids are paying for their own dresses and shoes etc... I got told this was the done thing now...

[catalicious]

Ty miss Laura... Im Heaps excited too...

[V8]

Ally great tips there :) And yeah 70 people is a huge wedding i think! lol I would work on the bigger items first, like reception place, ceremony (Church, garden, beach etc). My sis took pics for us and we got our pics developed at Big W with a nice photo album, think it cost us total of $30 and we are very happy with it! lol Get as many people to pitch in as you can, you can still have a great wedding on a small budget, plus you have a fair amount of time to organise it which is good.

Gooduck :)

[mishlc]

Hollywood,
With my wedding we tried to do it as budgeted as we could. Our wedding prob cost about $8000 and $4500 of that was on our photos. I would not compromise on this and said to DH that is the only thing I will spend alot of money on and he agreed and we have no regrets as this is our only "caption" of the day. I have a 48pg Album, the Album on a DVD set to our wedding song in the background, a Proof Album of every single picture he took, A gallery photo and 3 8x10 photos we have framed together like a series so was very worth it in our eyes.

Anyway, we had a cocktail reception, not the drinks, but the food. My in-laws were not impressed with this AT ALL, I remember my FIL saying (quite seriously!) "Oh, so we get a little hand plate and grab a couple of party pies and sausage rolls?" I was very p*ed off with that comment!!!! :mad: NO, I said! We had the yummiest food, we had crumbed fish pieces, mini potato rostis with roast beef and a saucy stuff, crumbed stuffed olives, little pizza things....lots of really nice yummy stuff and they kept bring the food around for about 3 hrs. I was stuffed full and so was everyone else, we had no complaints. The reason we chose this style of reception was my family are prone to have a few celebratory drinks and when your drinking you don't want a full, full belly of food as in a sit down meal. Also we wanted people moving around and mingling not sat down at tables. This saved heaps of money as we only had to decorate 4 cocktail tables, there was no place settings to think about, no name cards, no elaborate centre pieces etc.
We hired a Hall and were able to serve our own drinks and we just had the caterers. The DJ was a friend so that saved a bit as that was her gift to us. All up we spent about $1100 on drinks, $1300ish on food, about $300 on decorations (including the tables etc) and $300 on the hall.
Instead of hiring cars for the bridal party and ourselves, because we had like 4 bridesmaids, 4 groomsmen, ourselves and a flower girl we would have had to have a car for us and a limo for the bridal party which was going to cost $1000+ and that was only for 2hrs, we hired the Perth Tram and it was $650 for 4hrs. That was him picking me up and staying with us, taking us all over for photos and taking us to the reception. We were allowed to drink and eat etc on it so it was an absolutley fantastic day! :yelclap:

We also made most of the decorations ourselves, I just got all my bridesmaids together and we made them all and also made the invites. Just went to the paper shops where they do the invites and asked them about making them, They showed us what to do and told us what to buy etc and they looked like the professional ones and cost 1/3 the price!

Also, I told my bridesmaids they would have to pay for their own dresses so what we did was bought these really nice dressy tops which cost about $25 each and bought material and made the skirts, all up it cost $65each for their outfits. Instead of bouquets the girs had little handbags and we put like a corsage thing on them...they looked beautiful and it meant the girls could carry their touch up make-up with them!
I also bought my dress of the sale rack, it happened to be one I was looking at a couple of years before believe it or not and was hung in the display for ages and I used to admire it saying, that is the dress I want! I was so happy when I saw it, let alone find it on the sale rack! It was about a $2000+ dress and I got it for $350. I sent it to the drycleaners which cost $70 and it came up like new.
:ecomcity: :ecomcity:
There were so many other things we did but can't think right now, and I think I've babbled on quite a bit, so, hope that helps....?

xxx Mish

btw, we had about 100 people

[catalicious]

No that helps alot thanks....

I dont have to worry about the photos as luckily my friend is a professional photographer and se said she will do everything for free....

And will get them all developed and stuff as a present for me.....YAY...

But the cocktail reception is a brilliant idea......

I am not one for just sitting around all night and that saves time from having to organise who sits with who this will save many fights indeed...

[Tam-I-Am]

Things we did to save on money:

-Made our invitations and bonbonniere. Saved HEAPS!
-Went to a small florist and were VERY SPECIFIC about what we wanted and how much we were willing to pay for it - GORGEOUS flowers for under $200 for the entire wedding party (including bridal and throw-away bouquet, 2 bridesmaid's bouquets and about 10 buttons holes for parents, groomsmen etc).
-Had a MASSIVE cocktail party where we invited every man and his dog. Served cocktail food and drinks only - bought bottles of wine from a local merchant (cleanskins) - and decantered them. Had this at my parent's house.
-Then invited 30 of our closest family and friends out to a dinner - it was all pre-paid for and packaged to be a reasonable cost. Shopped around A LOT for this small function.

[mum2littleman]

have no idea caz im not married but wanted to say CONGRATS!

[LovingMumOf3]

Firstly...Congratulations!!:D DP and I are getting married in September(22nd) and I'm super excited.After 10 & 1/2 years together and DP wanting to get married for about 3 years,I'm finally ready to do it and now can't wait. Being on a bit of a budget ourselves I have tried to keep the costs down everywhere I can. Firstly,we are having a surprise wedding,which will happen during our engagement party.We are keeping it small,43 adults and 12 kids(if the adults bring them).We are having it at 2pm so it will just be drinks and nibblies.We got the venue for free as it's owned be my partners boss and he and his wife are refusing to let us pay:yelclap: .I want to find a special thankyou gift for them.Bar staff will be supplied so all we have to pay for is the alcohol.As it's a surprise wedding there wont be a bridal party.We will be attended by our children,so I've bought Kailees outfit and have ordered Brodens little suit.(they are going to look stunningly gorgeous on the day!) I bought my dress online for $380 which includes alterations and postage(Yay!) Invitations were purchased online also at a grand total of $122.80 which includes rsvp cards and thankyou cards as well as all envelopes.We are hiring the decorations which is going to save us a bundle.I'm buying a triple layer mud cake and decorating it myself.For the bonbonniere I bought votive candles in holders (some pink and some white) and ordered some engraved stickers,which I'll put on the front, with our names and the wedding date on them and will just wrap them in a little tulle with a ribbon.I found a photographer online who is just starting out so we are only paying between $350 and $500 depending on how many enlargements we want.I have bought a few other things such as keepsake gifts forKailee and Broden and a ring bearer bear each so that they can both carry a ring.I think you can still have a beautiful and memorable wedding without needing to spend a fortune.I still have a few things to get but as with everything else,I'll do my homework and find the right price before I buy.Th key is to look around and take your time.(not that I've got much time left )3 1/2 months actually!! Enjoy planning your day. Cheers,Deb x

[mishlc]

No that helps alot thanks....

But the cocktail reception is a brilliant idea......

I am not one for just sitting around all night and that saves time from having to organise who sits with who this will save many fights indeed...


That is exactly why we did it like that.

We also, as bonbonaires, gave stubbie holders...? Only cost $2.30 ea and we had it designed to suit our theme, they were fantastic!

Oh, yeah, and the cheeky thing we did.....we ordered the catering for 80 guests and we actually had about 100. With cocktail food you can get away with it. So that was like $16.50 a head compared to $30+ if we'd had sit down...and with sit down like i said, we would have had to pay for everyone.

[catalicious]

Thats a GREAT idea Mischl....

I never would of thought of that....

And the suprise wedding ..... WOW even better idea....

These ideas are great!!!!

Keep them coming!!!

Love Cat

[catalicious]

YIKES!!!

Im soooo Freaking Excited!!!!!

[catalicious]

I dont know how I would make an idea like this work for me!!! Because I really want my Dad to walk me down the aisle... Its something I will not negotiate on.....:no: So How would you pull that off... Is your Dad walking you down the aisle...???

From Cat


Firstly...Congratulations!!:D DP and I are getting married in September(22nd) and I'm super excited.After 10 & 1/2 years together and DP wanting to get married for about 3 years,I'm finally ready to do it and now can't wait. Being on a bit of a budget ourselves I have tried to keep the costs down everywhere I can. Firstly,we are having a surprise wedding,which will happen during our engagement party.We are keeping it small,43 adults and 12 kids(if the adults bring them).We are having it at 2pm so it will just be drinks and nibblies.We got the venue for free as it's owned be my partners boss and he and his wife are refusing to let us pay:yelclap: .I want to find a special thankyou gift for them.Bar staff will be supplied so all we have to pay for is the alcohol.As it's a surprise wedding there wont be a bridal party.We will be attended by our children,so I've bought Kailees outfit and have ordered Brodens little suit.(they are going to look stunningly gorgeous on the day!) I bought my dress online for $380 which includes alterations and postage(Yay!) Invitations were purchased online also at a grand total of $122.80 which includes rsvp cards and thankyou cards as well as all envelopes.We are hiring the decorations which is going to save us a bundle.I'm buying a triple layer mud cake and decorating it myself.For the bonbonniere I bought votive candles in holders (some pink and some white) and ordered some engraved stickers,which I'll put on the front, with our names and the wedding date on them and will just wrap them in a little tulle with a ribbon.I found a photographer online who is just starting out so we are only paying between $350 and $500 depending on how many enlargements we want.I have bought a few other things such as keepsake gifts forKailee and Broden and a ring bearer bear each so that they can both carry a ring.I think you can still have a beautiful and memorable wedding without needing to spend a fortune.I still have a few things to get but as with everything else,I'll do my homework and find the right price before I buy.Th key is to look around and take your time.(not that I've got much time left )3 1/2 months actually!! Enjoy planning your day. Cheers,Deb x

[Mamaduke]

Try your area's local 'Cake decorators Society' (white/yellow pages) and get one of them to make your wedding cake.
Even though I went over budget for every other aspect of our wedding, the thought of paying hundreds of dollars for a bloody cake infuriated me.
We had the president from the cake decorators society make one for us for about a quarter of the price shops were selling them for...
and it was beautiful.

[catalicious]

Thanks so Much MD...I will do just that....!!!

Im all for cutting costs and saving heaps of money on this wedding as I would rather spend alot of money on the honeymoon.,....Or on a house deposit..


As with the kids we wont get to many decent holidays for a while.....

[Mamaduke]

Just found this...
http://www.brideonline.com.au/articles/budgetweddings.htm

[catalicious]

Ty again. I am just reading through alot of the information it gives now...

[LovingMumOf3]

I dont know how I would make an idea like this work for me!!! Because I really want my Dad to walk me down the aisle... Its something I will not negotiate on.....:no: So How would you pull that off... Is your Dad walking you down the aisle...???

From Cat
This was never a dilemma for me as my father and I are not exactly what you'd call close.In fact he has only seen my daughter ans son twice in their almost 4 and almost two years,so he wont even be at my wedding. I think the best way for you to have your Dad walk you down the Isle is to maybe pull him aside,in private, 30mins or so before you announce your plans to everyone else and tell him what you are planning and that you would love for him to have this special role on your weddingday.Otherwise would you consider telling him earlier and swearing him to secrecy? I think it is a really special thing to have your Dad walk you down the isle and if I can come up with any more ideas for you I'll let you know asap. Happy planning.:) mlfm Deb x

[LovingMumOf3]

OMG ... isle,instead of aisle:shame: . Whats happened to my spelling??? Sorry about that.