Here are a few simple ideas to help keep the costs down...
If you have any ideas of your own or would like to share your wedding experiences why not have your say on our forum page Forum
This was a great idea and meant we could really celebrate the whole weekend. Weddings can be over and done with so quickly that it all seems like a bit of a dream. By making the whole weekend a big party it means you can really get round to talk with everyone and it's a lot more relaxing. I almost enjoyed the Saturday more (once the hangover wore off!) as it was a lot more chilled and a bit less scary!
Why not have a good look on the high street. Theres no need to spend hundreds or even thousands! The pure joy of the day will make sure you look absolutely fabulous anyway!
I bought a simple dress from Jigsaw for £90 and lots of beads and flowers from hobby craft and jazzed it up a little. I was over the moon with the result and it was totally unique!
Do you have any friends or family with a nice garden? A couple of marquees in the right setting can be absolutely ideal and you can get things ready much further in advance. Another good alternative is look into renting a whole campsite for the weekend. This is great for that festival feel and it means people can camp rather than having to leave to get to B+B's and hotels.
As long as its got flowers and ribbons, and a big bottle of bubbly in the back it really doesn't matter what your turn up in! I even went to a friends wedding recently who arrived at the reception sat on a sofa on top of a muck spreader!
With your average caterer charging around £3500 for a wedding buffet your budget can soon get 'eaten up!' (sorry!). There's loads of ways to save money here. Why not try a pig roast with a few salads. These start at about £350 and can feed over 100 people. Another great tip is rather than having a bar with £500 worth of drinks why not just go to the supermarket and spend £500 on booze!! This works out so much better as you're not paying pub prices per drink. We went to our local brewery and ordered 5 barrels at £45 each. This was fab as we had beer on tap and it worked out at less than £1 per pint!
You may like the idea of live music at your festival, but to be honest a really good sound system works just as well and you get to pick all the music!
In this day and age everyone seems to have a digital camera. This makes it so easy to get all your friends and family to take their snaps and pop them on a cd for you. We ended up with over 500 pics! and all for free! They we great pics as they were of evryone and not all posed, plus they were throughout the whole day rather than just after the ceremony.
Why not try something a bit different? We asked each of our guests to give us a copy of their favourite book. It worked amazingly and it was so personal. Each book reminds me so much of the whole weekend and makes me think of the person who bought it. It was a real winner.
This is a matter of personal taste, but we saved a fortune by NOT HAVING ONE!! Our wedding was so much fun and we had all our favourite people in the world there that to leave at 11pm was just out of the question! You are going to be spending the rest of your lives together so why not enjoy the party to its fullest!!?
There are loads of fantastic ways to make your day wonderful, exciting and unique. If you would like help or more information just drop us a line....
beck@weddingfestivals.co.uk
