Make your 'Wedding Festival' one to remember. Here is a basic breakdown of what you will need for your festival...
Site
The first thing you will need is the site. An ideal start is a big spacious garden or field belonging to a friend or family. Obviously this isn't always possible so the next thing is to look out for campsites (cheap and cheerful are always so much better as caravaning sites are normally a bit more stuffy). You can get a group booking so people can stay over. This makes it so much easier for everyone with a tent. Always include a list of local B and B's with your invitations though so the older, non-campers can also stay over.
Another good site is local scout clubs or village greens/halls. They tend to be loads cheaper than hotels and things and often can supply their own marquees.
Push comes to shove you can settle for a field . Get out to the countryside, find a spot you like and get in contact with the farmer. Offer a couple of hundred quid for the weekend and they might be interested in hiring it out.
Marquee Hire
Marquees are easy to find and hire wherever you are. Avoid letting them know it's for a wedding though when you phone up! This always seems to double the cost! There are some really cool amazing tents out there but they can be on the expensive side. Check out the links page for some suggestions.
The best thing to do in our opinion is to buy the marguees yourself! You can buy standard marqees for around £300 each and this means you can have them really far in advance, have a fantastic time decorating them yourselves, take your time taking them down after the wedding and sell them on ebay at the end of it! I sold my for just £100 less than I paid for them so had two marquees for 3 months, decorated exactly how I wanted them and all for just £100. Its hard to find a company will to hire out a marquee at costs like that!
Within the marquees it's great to have a comfortable chill-out area. For this, the best and cheapest thing to use is inflatable furniture. I bought 3 2-seater sofa's and 6 armchairs for about £100. Just chuck throws over them to make them more pretty. You can't beat amazon or argos for cheap inflatables.
Decorations
This is the best bit! Buy loads of cheap fabric, make loads of huge paper mache things, hanging lanterns, garden candles, twinkly stars, ribbons, flags, glitter, buables, flowers, garden decorations and lots and lots of fairy lights!! You can these things from loads of places but one of my favourites was good old fashioned POUNDSTRETCHER!
Please note The Alternative Wedding Company no longer recommends the use of Sky lanterns for environmental reasons.
Catering Equipment
Ecologically friendly and really cheap... wooden cutlery! Again, check out the links page. You can get 250 knives, forks and spoons all for less than £10!
I went to ikea and bought 100 plates and bowls. They were 19p each!! We washed them up, spilt them up between friends and family and are still in every day use!!
Tea urns - an absolute must. Really easy to hire and with compostible cups are perfect with your green theme.
Entertainment
Put your good guests to work for you and roll out the karaoke machine! Theirs real talent and a good many laughs at all weddings! It really gets people going and its nice to include the guests and make them a part of the day.
School sports day is also a fab theme for the Saturday. Get those hacky sacks and hoops out! P.E kits are a must!
Hen and Stag
Don't fancy dancing round your handbags with L-plates and lambrusco? Why not find out about festival guides. A small local festival is a great alternative to just another night on the town!
Wedding Planning
Basically we're here to help. We just want to let you know that is ok to go cheap! We will offer advice on anything we can and help as much aswell. We have a great forum to talk to other people going through the same experiences and its a good place to swap ideas and support.
The other must have is a brilliant bridesmaid. I was lucky enough to have my sisters. Sit them down and really explain it great detail exactly what it is you want. Give them all appointed tasks and set them on their way. Its good to have the influence of a few people involved and its imperative that you remember the odd little thing may not be perfect but it doesn't matter. As a whole you really will have an amazing time and if there's things you're not happy with just keep a note and when you renew your vows the next year you can right the wrongs!!
I can promise you this. If you follow our advice, don't go mad on pricing and just enjoy yourselves you will want to do it again every year!
