From speaking with lots of newly engaged brides to be, I know that the DIY element of your wedding planning can be one of the most fun parts in the run up to your wedding. Visualising your wedding and putting down your thoughts and ideas onto paper is a great way to pull your theme together. This is why I am such a fan of wedding mood boards – not only can you see what colours and themes are emerging from your magazine clippings and fabric swatches, but it’s almost like an image version of your what to buy list!
I touched on the subject of wedding mood boards last year, here is an excerpt from that post to help you get started with creating your wedding mood board…
When you get engaged, it can seem like you have a massive mountain of wedding planning to climb, but by creating your first wedding mood boards, you will hone in on that lovely feeling of creating a day that is unique to your tastes and really shows off what you and your partner are about.
Wedding planning can be stressful, I admit it, but the overriding feeling should be FUN – afterall you’re marrying the love of your life 🙂
How you create your mood boards is up to you. Do you love the digital? You may want to go down the Pinterest route, like we do. As well as having the entire internet as your playground for searching for wedding eye candy, it is incredibly easy to use, free, and can be amended and refreshed whenever you fancy. Search for exactly what you are after and create your special board to collect all of your inspiration. You can also create secret boards, if you would prefer to keep your wedding themes private, or as a surprise for your guests.
If you are more crafty, and love getting busy with glue and cardboard, then a physical mood board will be a delight for you. Catalogues, glossy magazines, product packaging and swatches of material can be collected and arranged on your board. There is something wonderfully tactile and exciting about creating a mood board that you can actually feel.
Another, less structured way of creating a mood board, is to collect all of your swatches and cut outs and keep them in a box. This means that you can play around with the items, seeing which goes well with the other and enabling you to easily take certain items to your suppliers to show them the exact colour, or feeling, that you are after.
There are really no rules, and if you feel most comfortable and inspired by creating your mood board on the fridge door, with lots of magnets – then so be it! The important thing is to have a designated place for you to collect all of your favourite snippets of style. Having a mood board (or box!) can really help you to bring all of your ideas into one place and will clearly tie together your dreams and ideas.
I’d love to hear if you have got any wedding mood boards in place yet and how it has helped you with your planning? Let us know on Facebook or on Twitter @BudgetBrideCo.
Happy Wedding Mood Boarding!
Laura x
Photo credit: Xoyos.com via photopin
Five Pairs of Wedding Shoes under £50
/in Budget Beautiful Wedding Suppliers, Wedding Style /by lauraLast week, I found five beautiful wedding dresses under £500 for you… This week I’ve got you the wedding shoes under £50 to go with the dress! When you’re on a wedding budget, finds like these wedding shoes under £50 can really help you feel great about achieving your dreams on a shoe string… It can be done 🙂
So are any of this lot what you’re after? Let us know over on the Facebook Page and Twitter!
Wedding Shoes under £50
♥ ASOS Signed For Pointed Heels: £32
These lovely heels feature a sharp pointed toe, strap detailing to the ankle and a pin buckle. Not too high to be unwearable, but not too low to cramp your wedding style 🙂
♥ BHS Ivory Daniella Jewel Court Shoes: £39
These jeweled peep toe T-Bars are lush! The diamante adds glamour and the satin finish is super feminine. With a wide fit and memory foam sole, you know that your feet are going to feel pampered on your wedding day!
♥ BHS Ivory Wedding Collection Satin Peep Toe Court Shoes: £30
I love these classic peep toe court shoes. For wedding shoes under £50, these are as classy as they come! A timeless look made all the better with a memory foam padded insole.
♥ River Island White Platform Barely There Heeled Sandals - £50
Feeling brave? These skyscraper heels are lush with a tapered heel and elegant front strap, they are a great option for giving you a little more height on your wedding day. At £50, they aren't really wedding shoes under £50, but for the sake of a penny, I thought you might humour me adding them in here!
♥ BHS Ivory Mayflower Ankle Strap Court Sandals: £39
I love these pretty court shoes with 3D flower detailing on the front. A great option with a shorter dress – get some beautiful varnish on your toes and flash those feet!
I hope you like this selection of wedding shoes under £50 – which pair are your favourite?
Laura x
Five Beautiful Wedding Dresses under £500
/in Budget Beautiful Wedding Suppliers, Budget Wedding Dress Ideas, Wedding Style /by lauraAs a bride on a budget, no doubt you will have already thought about what you want in a wedding dress and wondered about whether you will be able to achieve the look you are after with the money you have available. The brilliant news is, that there are tonnes of options available for you. Today I have done the hard work for you and found you five beautiful wedding dresses under £500.
I've gone for floaty, classic full length femine wedding dresses under £500 today just because I’m feeling romantic! But the stores that I have chosen from also have some beautiful knee length flirty numbers to check out too.
Ivory Lace Bella Wedding Dress from BHS: £150
This dress features all over lace and a beautiful v shaped neckline.
Ivory Abigail Wedding Dress from BHS: £200
My favourite feature on this dress is the satin sweetheart neckline. There is also a tulle underskirt for added volume.
Adrianna Papell Beaded Mesh Mermaid Gown from John Lewis: £330
Would you dare to wear gold for your wedding day? I think this is stunning.
Ghost Grace Wedding Dress from John Lewis: £225
I think this cowl neck dress is drop dead glamour. It can also be dyed to order so you can get an exact match on your colour theme.
Josefina Wedding Dress from Phase Eight: £495
I love how this dress hugs your silhouette and the embroidered and beaded lace detail is so pretty.
I hope you like this selection of gorgeous wedding dresses under £500 – proof you can have glamour on a budget!
Laura x
Vashi Dominguez’s tips on how to choose bridal Jewellery
/in Budget Beautiful Wedding Suppliers, Supplier Spotlight, Wedding Style /by lauraHow exciting! You have already found your wedding dress AND your hair-style. The fun isn’t over, because now is the time to choose your wedding look and bridal jewellery.
The golden rule is: don’t over-do it! However, there are other tips that you should bear in mind in order to find affordable luxury jewellery that’ll perfectly complement what will be perhaps the most important outfit you’ll ever wear.
Vashi Dominguez is a diamond expert and the jewellery consultant to the stars, as well as being the founder and CEO of www.Vashi.com. We had the chance to ask him what tips he’d share with brides to be.
“The key is to find jewellery that’ll match the style of the dress you’ve chosen”. It is vital that you not only buy the wedding dress before buying the jewellery, you also need to have decided what hair accessories you’ll wear to avoid any clashes or breaking the golden rule.
Vashi also provided us with other tips and recommendations on bridal jewellery.
Find the jewellery to match the dress’ neckline: Strapless, sweetheart, halter, v-neckline, low cut scoop and square necklines and off the shoulder dresses
If your décolletage is going to be one of the focal points of your wedding dress, the classic jewellery pieces to enhance it are pendants and necklaces. Vashi recommends delicate pearl or diamond pendants. They’re one of the first choices for brides and there’s two good reasons for it. They accentuate the neckline without overpowering it, adding a touch of delicacy and archetypal style. If you prefer to add a touch of colour, Vashi recommends using a pendant with a gemstone that matches the colour theme.
There is another reason to choose pendants, Vashi says; “They aren’t necessarily as expensive as a necklace covered in pearls or precious stones, so they bring the cost of your bridal jewellery set down without compromising on style”.
Diamond Pendant comes with White Gold chain. £899, Diamond and Freshwater Pearl Pendant in Platinum £699, Diamond solitaire Pendant in White Gold £1,233, Seven Drop Diamond Pendant in White Gold
Bateau, one shoulder, high neck and sheer necklines
Necklaces aren’t recommended for these types of necklines; Vashi suggests wearing statement earrings, perhaps chandelier earrings or diamond drop earrings. Pearl earrings are a fantastic accessory for lace, they are one of the old-time vintage style combinations.
0.33 Carat Diamond Drop Earrings in 9k White Gold £499, 0.50 Carat Diamond Drop Earrings in 18k White Gold £899
Diamond and Freshwater Pearl Earrings in White Gold £899, Diamond and Tahitian Pearl Earrings in 18k White Gold £699
Choose the metal wisely...
Wedding dresses come in a myriad of shades of white, it is important that your chosen gown doesn’t clash with the jewellery you wear.
Use yellow gold with…
Candlelight, champagne and cream coloured dresses. These fabrics’ yellow undertones will be enhanced by the yellow gold.
Use white gold, silver and platinum with…
Bright white and dresses with blue undertones, other metals will likely clash.
And some final tips...
♥ Classic jewellery will always be in style: You might regret your chosen jewellery if it’s following the latest trend. Your wedding photos will last a lifetime, when you look at them in 3, 5 or 25 years’ time, you could quickly realise how outdated your style for the day looks if you follow trends when purchasing the jewellery set.
♥ Your wedding jewellery isn’t like the dress, you’ll be able to wear it again and again. Pick pieces you’ll be able to use after the special day.
We recommend that you browse Vashi Dominguez’s diamond jewellery; Vashi.com has fantastic hand-picked collections of diamond wedding rings, as well as an amazing selection of bridal jewellery.
Leanne and Chris get married on a £5000 Wedding Budget
/in Budget Advice, Budget Beautiful Wedding Suppliers, Real Life Budget Wedding /by lauraLeanne and Chris got married in 2011 on a £5000 wedding budget. As a wedding supplier herself (Leanne runs Love Letters – you can see her creations here, Leanne knew all the ways to save money on her wedding, whilst still keeping things stylish!
We had a chat with Leanne to find out how she pulled off her dream day on a £5000 wedding budget.
♥ Tell us a little bit about how you met your fiancé and how you got engaged?
We had been together for 13 years before we got married (now 16 years!). We met through friends and started dating and never looked back. We got engaged on Christmas day! The last present under the tree was for me and it was a big box - I unwrapped it to find a smaller box which I unwrapped to find the ring box! Still thinking it would be a pair of earrings I was totally shocked to find an engagement ring. My husband got down on one knee and proposed! The ring fitted so perfectly - it was the best Christmas ever!
♥ What was your favourite part of planning your wedding?
Our favourite part about planning the wedding was getting stuck in and making as much as we could ourselves. I enjoyed getting my glue gun out and creating some beautiful invitations that cost me a quarter of the price they would have to get printed up. We also loved attending every wedding fair we could to look at venues and speak to all the different suppliers. We got some great ideas and tasted lots of lovely wedding cake too!
♥ Tell us about how you made the most of your £5000 wedding budget
We had a £5000 wedding budget so we were really careful to make sure we shopped around. We were really good at finding something we liked and then researching how we could make it fit our budget. For example we wanted to make sure that we had a nice wedding cake but we couldn't justify the expense within our budget. My husband took on the challenge of sourcing us a reasonably priced wedding cake. Our cake was an iced sponge wedding cake from Marks and Spencers with some lovely iced fairy cakes from Waitrose. I decorated the cake with some purple ribbon to match with our colour scheme and we displayed the cupcakes on a three tiered cake stand. Everybody loved the cake and said they tasted great! I don't think people would have known that we bought them from a supermarket.
♥ What is your best money saving tip for other brides on a budget?
Go to all the wedding fairs you can – wedding suppliers offer enticing discounts to you on the day and you will find that you can get so much more for your money this way. Also be flexible with your wedding date - don't choose a date first. Find the venue and see what deals they are doing then fit your date in with them. You could save thousands of pounds on your wedding budget.
♥ Who were your favourite budget wedding suppliers?
Our favourite budget wedding suppliers were probably the venue. As I mentioned we found our dream venue but couldn't afford the price. We went back to the venue when they were hosting a wedding fair and found that they were offering certain dates for a greatly reduced price. After a couple of glasses of wine whilst we checked through our diaries we booked a date and paid the deposit there and then! The venue was Brownsover Hall in Rugby. At the same wedding fair we came across a wonderful florist - Jane Andrews Floral Design (who also got married at Brownsover Hall). She totally understood our budget and helped us to create exactly the look we wanted to fit our budget.
We also found a lovely photographer - White Rose Photography - who did us a fantastic deal and we have some beautiful photos as a result .
♥ Did you do much DIY?
We made our wedding invitations, the table plan and the post box for cards and gifts. We also painted our own MR & MRS wooden letters which led into us starting up our own business - Love Letters. We now supply lots of weddings with hand painted wooden letters and signs for their special day.
♥ What did you enjoy most on your wedding day?
Seeing everyone enjoying themselves and feeling special!
♥ Did you have a theme for your wedding day and if so, how did you decide on it?
We didn't have a theme as such but we wanted to use the Cadbury purple colour as the main scheme of the day. My beautiful bridesmaid wore a dress that I sourced online. I wanted to have pearls as my jewelry to have a bit more of a vintage style; I found a lovely tiara from Glitzy secrets and purchased faux pearl necklaces and bracelets from a highstreet store to match.
♥ What would be your best piece of advice for all of our other Budget Bride Company readers?
Don't fall in to the trap of feeling you have to have what everyone else has. For example we didn't need a wedding car as I stayed the night before in the hotel and my husband travelled with his best man from home to the venue. To us a car would have been a pointless extravagance that we didn't need. Find what is important to you and stick to your guns.
Thanks so much for sharing your wedding planning secrets with us Leanne!
Laura x
Finding the right Wedding Suppliers for your special day
/in Budget Beautiful Wedding Suppliers, The Budget Bride Company, Wedding Planning /by lauraAs someone who has worked in the event industry for years and years, I know exactly how important having great quality suppliers who you can really trust is to the success of your event. Finding the right wedding suppliers for your wedding is no different. You are going to be parting with a sum of money, no matter how large or small that amount may be, and you need to have the service or product delivered to the standard that you are happy with. After all, it’s your wedding and things need to live up to your dreams, right?
At The Budget Bride Company, we specialise in finding the right wedding suppliers for our Brides. As well as using our Wedding Supplier Directory, where you can search by region and category, we also offer a bespoke Wedding Supplier Finding Service. By letting us know which suppliers you would like, how much budget you have available, as well as the date and venue of your wedding, we can research the best suppliers for you and put them directly in touch with you. This service saves our Brides hours and hours of research time, allowing time to be spent on your other wedmin tasks (read: drinking champagne and having fun with your bridesmaids 🙂 )
Finding the right wedding suppliers is totally free when you use our Service. Have a look at the form submission page here or sign up for our newsletter on the homepage and we will send you across a full form with all of the elements that you might like to consider.
From Wedding Dresses to Flowers, and Entertainment through to Catering, finding the right wedding suppliers to make your wedding day a success is a breeze. Get in touch now and let us do the hard work for you!
Laura x
Finding the right Wedding Venue
/in Free Wedding Venue Finding Service, The Budget Bride Company, Wedding Venues /by lauraFinding the right wedding venue is definitely up there on your list of things to sort out once you start your wedding planning. Confirming your venue means that you can set your date, and then you can start with all of the fun stuff, like wedding invitations, finding your dress and coming up with suitable theme ideas to suit your venue.
But finding the right wedding venue can be really hard work! Finding a venue that will fit with all of your requirements is time consuming and can be more than a little stressful. This is why The Budget Bride Company has a free a Wedding Venue Finding Service for our readers. We have over a decade of event venue finding experience and our expert knowledge of venues both in the UK and overseas puts us in a great position to find you the wedding venue you’re after!
I love working with Brides to Be on finding the right wedding venue – especially because of the diversity of wedding venue finding requests that we receive. For some, the ideal venue is a beautiful barn with plenty of room for a hog roast and dancing until the small hours! And for others, a classic manor house with a terrace for drinks and lots of interesting rooms for the guests to explore is just the ticket! Whatever your wedding venue requirements, we would love to be able to help you.
To get you started with what to think about when dreaming about finding the right wedding venue, have a think about these elements:
♥ What time of day you would like to be married
♥ If you have a certain time of year in mind
♥ If you would like your ceremony and reception at the same location
♥ If you would like to have more guests joining you for the party in the evening
♥ How you would like to feed your guests
♥ What kind of entertainment you would like to provide and how this would fit in with your venue type
♥ What style of venue you are thinking of – rustic and outdoorsy? Classic manor house? Modern hotel?
♥ How far your guests will be travelling from – will it help to have bedrooms available on site?
There are a variety of things to consider and we are experts at finding Brides Wedding Venues that fit in with their needs and their budgets. Why not get in touch now and let us know your Wedding Venue requirements? Just fill in the form and we will start your wedding venue search for you!
Laura x
Photo Credit: Photography by Danielle Mobbs
How Wedding Mood Boards can help you with your Wedding Planning
/in Mood Boards - Colour Inspiration, Mood Boards - Styles and Themes, Wedding DIY, Wedding Planning /by lauraFrom speaking with lots of newly engaged brides to be, I know that the DIY element of your wedding planning can be one of the most fun parts in the run up to your wedding. Visualising your wedding and putting down your thoughts and ideas onto paper is a great way to pull your theme together. This is why I am such a fan of wedding mood boards – not only can you see what colours and themes are emerging from your magazine clippings and fabric swatches, but it’s almost like an image version of your what to buy list!
I touched on the subject of wedding mood boards last year, here is an excerpt from that post to help you get started with creating your wedding mood board…
When you get engaged, it can seem like you have a massive mountain of wedding planning to climb, but by creating your first wedding mood boards, you will hone in on that lovely feeling of creating a day that is unique to your tastes and really shows off what you and your partner are about.
Wedding planning can be stressful, I admit it, but the overriding feeling should be FUN – afterall you’re marrying the love of your life 🙂
How you create your mood boards is up to you. Do you love the digital? You may want to go down the Pinterest route, like we do. As well as having the entire internet as your playground for searching for wedding eye candy, it is incredibly easy to use, free, and can be amended and refreshed whenever you fancy. Search for exactly what you are after and create your special board to collect all of your inspiration. You can also create secret boards, if you would prefer to keep your wedding themes private, or as a surprise for your guests.
If you are more crafty, and love getting busy with glue and cardboard, then a physical mood board will be a delight for you. Catalogues, glossy magazines, product packaging and swatches of material can be collected and arranged on your board. There is something wonderfully tactile and exciting about creating a mood board that you can actually feel.
Another, less structured way of creating a mood board, is to collect all of your swatches and cut outs and keep them in a box. This means that you can play around with the items, seeing which goes well with the other and enabling you to easily take certain items to your suppliers to show them the exact colour, or feeling, that you are after.
There are really no rules, and if you feel most comfortable and inspired by creating your mood board on the fridge door, with lots of magnets – then so be it! The important thing is to have a designated place for you to collect all of your favourite snippets of style. Having a mood board (or box!) can really help you to bring all of your ideas into one place and will clearly tie together your dreams and ideas.
I’d love to hear if you have got any wedding mood boards in place yet and how it has helped you with your planning? Let us know on Facebook or on Twitter @BudgetBrideCo.
Happy Wedding Mood Boarding!
Laura x
Photo credit: Xoyos.com via photopin
Congratulations on your Engagement!
/in The Budget Bride Company, Wedding Planning /by lauraCongratulations on your Engagement - amazing news! Getting engaged is the beginning of your own unique journey into becoming a Mrs and I’m so glad that we will get to help you along your way!
No matter what type of wedding you are planning – glamourous and sparkly, or laid back and bohemian, your wedding will be the ultimate display of you and your partners’ love – a total celebration of what you have together. So, make sure that you enjoy every moment between now and your big day – it really is such a special time.
When you’re ready (and you have soaked up all of the engagement cards, well wishes and champagne!), you can make a start on planning what kind of wedding you want to have. First up should be deciding roughly what will fit with you and your fiancés wishes the best – and what you would like to achieve. Will you be wanting a Barn Wedding or a Hotel Wedding? Something quite lavish or something quite simple? There are no hard and fast rules – choose a wedding style that says the most about you as a couple. From there, you can then start to think about your budget and how much money you will need for the wedding that you are imagining to take place.
I would recommend getting a copy of our Wedding Planning E-Course for Brides to Be – it has a fantastic way of guiding you through all of the bits to think about whilst planning your wedding and ensuring that you will be able to stick to your budget. You can get your course emailed straight to your inbox ready to help you with your wedding planning here.
Pulling together a wedding budget is a great thing to get done and out in the open with your beau – think about where you will be pulling your budget together from – your savings, your families helping out, an extra job? There are lots of ways to finance a wedding and the more upfront you are with your partner in the early stages of your planning means that there will be no need for upset further down the line.
Be ruthless in your honesty about how much you have to spend, which will of course influence where you hold your wedding, how many guests you invite and what you will spend on your dress, amongst all of the other elements you would like to include. If you feel overwhelmed at any point, just check in on our Real Life Budget Weddings on the Blog for some true stories on weddings with set budgets – there should be some really helpful points there that will help you realise your potential with your own wedding budget!
And if you would like an awesome way to track your wedding budget, I have created a really useful Wedding Budgeting Spreadsheet which contains all of the areas that you need to think about – from Catering to Venue Costs and everything in between - you can get your copy here! The lines are all pre-populated with everything that you could possibly need to think of, so you won’t worry that you have forgotten a thing!
Over the next few weeks, I will be going into the different parts of early wedding planning to help you plot your way! In the meantime, keep in touch on our Facebook page and on Twitter and Instagram @Budgetbrideco!
Happy Wedding Planning!
Laura x
The Budget Bride Company’s 2014 – Part One
/in The Budget Bride Company /by lauraWow, 2014! What a year you have been! From finding out that John and I are having our first baby, through to my little brother getting married, it has been a busy (and slightly emotional) year!
The Budget Bride Company has come on leaps and bounds thanks to you lovely readers and we have introduced new services and offerings for you to take advantage of on the site, all helping you to achieve your dream wedding on budget.
Here’s a little round up of my favourite bits from the first half of this year!
January
We launched our free Wedding Venue Finding Service
The Blog featured some amazing real life weddings like this Vintage one!
Featured some great wedding mood board inspiration, like this White, Pink and Gold themed board.
February
We held our first Budget Bride Live Wedding Fair of the year at The Eden Centre in Kettering, closely followed by our second at The Ruby Lounge in Wellingborough.
We launched the Budget Bride Boutique, full of hundreds of lovely products from bunting to wedding dresses to help you shop savvy for your wedding!
Featured this lovely £5k budget DIY Wedding
March
I loved the inspiring images in this amazing Hollywood Glamour Styled Shoot.
You guys fell in love with this wedding - our most popular wedding on the Blog of the year!
There was loads of retro wedding inspiration at this amazing £4k wedding.
April
We launched our new free Wedding Supplier Finding Service, to save Brides loads of time and hassle.
I shared a little bit about me!
The Budget Bride Company's styled wedding photo shoot was featured in the Image Wedding Special Magazine!
May
I made a trip down to the Coast Autumn Winter Press Day in London.
My brother got married! And I cried! It was a beautiful day and I'm so proud and happy for them both 🙂
You loved our top five budget wedding favour suggestions.
June
You enjoyed our Five Tips for dreaming big and spending small on your wedding.
We posted this guide to Save the Dates.
Sarah and Simon shared their wedding plans with us.
I’ll see you next week with my favourite bits from the second half of the year!
Laura x
Gorgeous Budget Wedding Accessories under £50
/in Budget Bride Boutique, Wedding Style /by lauraBudget Wedding Accessories can really make your wedding day look. Aside from obviously getting the perfect wedding dress, accessories are what will make your look as individual and as special as you are.
For me, I cannot express enough just how much I love having lots of bright colours as part of what I wear, and I know that on my wedding day it will be the same. Having a bright pop of colour either on my shoes or in my hair will definitely be on the agenda.
Here are some beautiful Budget Wedding Accessories under £50 to get you started with planning your wedding day look!
♥ Bird Cage Veils give such a glamorous look. This one has added crystals and is £34.48
♥ This Garter is so pretty – I love the miniature flower and vintage style lace. A perfect accessory at £19.99
♥ Pearls are a classic choice for bridal jewellery – pretty and feminine, this bracelet comes with the option to personalise the pendant: £24.98
♥ I love these beautiful peep toe heels – the look is pretty and understated and leaves you with the option to paint your toes in a bight colour pop or a sophisticated French manicure! They even come with a memory foam insole for extra comfort – £24.50
♥ Faux flowers can be a great inexpensive option for your wedding. This bunch of pink and cream roses is vintage inspired and only £9.99 for the bunch!
How are you going to be accessorising your wedding day look? Are you going for any statement pieces such as a unique brooch bouquet or brightly coloured pair of heels? Or will you keep things simple and traditional? Let us know on the Facebook page or tweet us @budgetbrideco!
Laura x