Getting married - bit scary : any advice!

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Bluebell72

New Member
Congratulations!

Two tips I have from weddings I've attended as a guest recently -

one couple had their do at a Holiday Inn, which was actually quite nice, and bought the 'wedding package' - civil ceremony, flowers, dj and disco, buffet in the evening, and they and relatives made the dress, bridesmaids dresses and tablecoverings themselves - 80 guests, £4.5k It was a lovely do, very simple.

A friend who bought her new silk wedding dress from eBay - send the Chinese seller your measurements and its made for you - £90. Everyone thought 'you are going to be ripped off' but the dress arrived within 3 weeks of her ordering it, fitted perfectly and was just beautiful. Similar in a UK shop would have been well over £1000.

All the best for a happy marriage :wub:
 

postman

Squire
Location
,Leeds
A big CONGRATULATIONS from me.Advice on here good as usual.So nothing to add.But have a lovely day.Whatever you do will be the right thing.
 
U

User482

Guest
Congratulations!

We had a big wedding (about 120 guests) but did it for less than half the cost of the average wedding. Here are some money-saving tips:

1. Made our own cake
2. Photographer was a family friend
3. Used our own car
4. Bought the wine and champagne in France
5. Didn't use a hotel for the reception. We used a farm - they did a fantastic pig roast and were happy to serve our own wine for a small corkage charge.
6. Honeymoon in Europe. We took the train and boat to Corsica.

As for gifts - we already lived together so didn't need or want a John Lewis list. We asked for vintage wines, so we could celebrate anniversaries and birthdays, and think of the person who bought us the gift.

We could have saved more with a smaller guest list, but we both wanted a big party with all of our family and friends there.
 
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mangaman

mangaman

Guest
Nice one- congratulations!
And I've found you the perfect venue Delia's Canary Catering :cheers:


Thanks for the congratulations and tips everyone. :thumbsup:

I like your thinking glowworm - although my suggestion of a honeymoon in the fine city of Norwich, taking in a game or two was met with a frosty look and a suggestion she was thinking more along the line of South America
 

theclaud

Openly Marxist
Location
Swansea
Thanks for the congratulations and tips everyone. :thumbsup:

I like your thinking glowworm - although my suggestion of a honeymoon in the fine city of Norwich, taking in a game or two was met with a frosty look and a suggestion she was thinking more along the line of South America

Not forgetting the Fat Cat...
 
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mangaman

mangaman

Guest
1598346 said:
Norwich are playing fixtures in South America?

Sadly not - I'd have to put up with watching some rubbish Brazil match rather than the silky skills of Wes Hoolahan
 
Anyone had the experience of getting married older? For example we wouldn't expect our parents' to contribute unless they want to - but do we wait for them to offer, or refuse any financial help?

Also, I've found, (not surprisingly) the whole thing is very expensive.

Any money saving tips anyone managed to make work would be much appreciated.

Congrats!

We had a fairly 'budget' wedding by most people's standards; but it wasn't in the UK.

There wasn't much to be done about the dress, if you want a wedding dress it is going to cost, although the ebay tip someone's put up is worth looking into (most, if not all, the dresses seem to come from catalogues which are made in the far east, but you pay £ or $ prices incl. huge markup).

We, after discovering that most 'venues' charge you for all sorts of stuff that should really be included (such as chair coverings and linen, and in some cases crockery hire!!) decided to have our reception at a fairly posh restaurant; which also meant the food was much better than at a standard venue. It was buffet though, which I prefer in any case.

We had a family friend make the cake as her contribution - another idea could be to have a cheese cake (no, literally, cheese stacked on top of cheese).

We made our invites after getting the paper from a shop, ditto the order of service and menus.
 

Kestevan

Last of the Summer Winos
Location
Holmfirth.
Congrats.

The biggest saving we made was by picking a date no-one else wanted

In our case - Friday the 13th :smile:


As it happened, it rather suited our goth/vampire themed day, perhaps not for everyone though :smile:
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
We had a family friend make the cake as her contribution - another idea could be to have a cheese cake (no, literally, cheese stacked on top of cheese).

I want that! Only, can the top layer be a large pork or game pie please?

:tongue:
 
U

User169

Guest
Congratulations, Rick! A few crates of Westvleteren should do for the reception..
 
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mangaman

mangaman

Guest
Congratulations, Rick! A few crates of Westvleteren should do for the reception..

Thanks DP!!

I couldn't agree more. Can you but them in the UK - or only in eccentric Amsterdam beer places (I assume that was the bottle that I drank that had no label on at all - so it could have been Heineken - although it quite clearly wasn't)
thumbsup.png
 

skudupnorth

Cycling Skoda lover
Been married for ten years now and all i can say is don't let people force you to do what they want ! It's your day,choose what you want to do that makes you happy.
We had a big do with friends and family and the one thing that sticks in mine and Mrs Skuds mind was us two and my best friend (& best man) with his future wife sneaking out of the hotel to go and get a Mcdonalds meal each which we ate with champers in the room....Class !
So big is not always memorable.....Big Mac ,Hmmmmmmm :biggrin:
 

rusky

CC Addict
Location
Hove
Congrats!!

We have been married for 10 years & I only found out a few months ago that our cake from here http://www.choccywoccydoodah.com/index.html cost ofer £700 :blink:

We had a Register office ceremony with a cheap(ish!) dress from Monsoon & the reception at a hotel in Lewes.

It was a lovely day & i think came in under £5k
 

Archie_tect

De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
Location
Northumberland
Congratulations to the future Mr and Mrs Mangaman.... lovely news.

No earth-shattering advice really M even after 28 years, everyone's different.

Share everything- the happiness and the hard times. It's how you cope with what comes along that brings you close, sharing makes it all that bit easier. Never, ever, hide or suppress your true feelings.
 
Location
Rammy
any relatives any good at baking or similar?

our wedding favours were similar to the already mentioned love hearts sweets.

cake was a wedding present from my wife's cousins (who had made cakes for various people before)

photography was £500 as it was people we were inviting as guests anyway who did wedding photography.

Friends of ours have had family members who owned classic or vintage cars to use them as wedding vehicles instead of paying daft amounts.
although having something a bit different can often cut costs, I've seen things such as pink london cabs, VW beetle cabriolets, we had a VW camper.
 
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