The Budget Bride Company Archives - Page 2 of 4

30 things you probably don’t know about me…

I thought it would be nice to share some stuff about me with you in today’s post! Here’s 30 things you probably didn’t know…

1. John and I would love to keep a sausage dog, but we haven’t got round to it yet!
2. I love cooking and think the majority of my dishes come out OK… but I am a horrific baker, anything cake related usually comes out a bit of a nightmare!
3. I get vertigo at the top of tall buildings but love flying by plane more than anything!
4. I lived in Saudi Arabia for four years when I was a kid due to my Parent’s jobs.
5. I am the eldest of six children.
6. When I’m not pregnant, I love nothing more than a free evening to cook a three course meal in, with a beautiful bottle of red wine. Whilst I am pregnant as it turns out, I can’t really be bothered with cooking much at all!
7. I have always wanted to have REALLY purple hair (like the girl’s wig in the movie Kick Ass), but for some reason, it always seems to come out dark brown with a hint of red?!
8. John and I met when I was just 18 years old. He was a quantity surveyor and I was a junior secretary. I fancied him from the first moment I saw him!
9. My favourite holiday ever was to Cuba with John when I was 21. It was a three star, all inclusive holiday that we managed to get for £600 each. We drank cocktails constantly and went to Club Tropicana.
10. In Cuba, I swam with dolphins… and I found it to be a thoroughly terrifying experience.
11. I cannot stand raw celery.
12. I want to live by the sea one day.
13. I love old fashioned names – Ruby, Coral and Rose are amongst my favourite girls names.
14. I love live music and have been lucky enough to see New Order, The Beastie Boys, U2, Sterophonics, Kasabian, Garbage, Britney Spears amongst tonnes of others over the course of my varied gig going history!
15. I love writing and my only A at GCSE was in English Language.
16. I left sixth form early and ended up doing my A Levels at evening college a couple of years later – I took Film Studies and Sociology.
17. My favourite perfume is Gucci Rush.
18. My favourite surprise from John was when he took me to Bruges on the Euro Star for my birthday one year.

19. Although I own about 20 pairs of beautiful high heels, you will almost always find me in either a flat pair of boots, or a pair of leopard print converse!
20. I love Hawaiian music.
21. My favourite flowers are pink lily’s.
22. Home made shepherds pie is my favourite dinner in the world.
23. I visited Scotland for the first time this Summer.
24. I once sat on an underground train in London opposite Paul Nicholls and my legs went all wobbly!
25. I always claim that I am a night owl and not a morning person at all, but most of the best work that I do is in the morning each day.
26. John and I go on holiday to the same apartment in Cornwall every year in May. We can’t wait to take the new baby there!
27. My favourite film is True Romance. Closely followed by Monty Pythons Holy Grail.
28. My favourite book is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson.
29. One day, I would love to go to Costa Rica on holiday.
30. I love flamingos and would like to decorate at least one room in our house with flamingo wallpaper.

So there you go – a little insight into Laura Land for you! I would love to know some interesting ‘facts’ about you! Why not share three of yours with us over on the Facebook page?!

Laura xx

Budget Bride Live Northamptonshire Wedding Fair

19/08/2014/in Budget Beautiful Wedding Suppliers, Budget Bride Live Wedding Events, The Budget Bride Company /by laura

I am so excited for our sixth Budget Bride Live Northamptonshire Wedding Fair which we are going to be running on Sunday 7^th September from 11am to 3pm at The Ruby Lounge at Diana’s in Wellingborough!

I think it may be something to do with the fact that I am shortly going to be going on Maternity Leave to have a baby (10 weeks and counting until the due date!) and I know that this is the last Fair that I will be running for a few months, but there is always such a buzz and anticipation in the run up to one of our Fairs, that I can’t help but have a few butterflies!

This Budget Bride Live Northamptonshire Wedding Fair is going to be held in my home town of Wellingborough and we are going to be working with the cream of the crop of local wedding suppliers to ensure that we have a great group of wedding experts for you to meet with on the day! To give you a little taster, we are going to be having a brilliant range of services on display for you, from Candy Carts and Classic VW Camper Vans, through to expert Wedding Venue Stylists and brilliant Wedding Dress Boutiques – it’s all going to be going on!

We are going to have two Wedding Fashion Shows – at 12noon and 2pm, so make sure you time your visit to see some beautiful wedding dress ideas for under £700. There are also going to be Catering Companies giving away delicious samples for you to try, plus lots of inspiration from Wedding Styling Companies where you can have a chat about your ideas and wishes for your wedding.

We will be giving away free goody bags full of money off vouchers, glossy magazines and treats to all who pre-register. There is also a glass of bucks fizz to welcome you on your arrival as well as free car parking on site, to make things nice and easy!

We can’t wait to see you at our Budget Bride Live Northamptonshire Wedding Fair – it’s going to be a fab day and we're excited to help you get sorted for your wedding day 🙂 So grab your bridesmaids and make sure you pre-register for your free place here!

See you there!

Laura xx

Wedding Budget Spreadsheet

12/08/2014/in Budget Advice, Budget Wedding Planning, The Budget Bride Company, Wedding E-courses, Wedding Planning /by laura

One of the things I get asked about most by Brides to be is how to create a wedding budget that works. Planning your wedding is SO much fun and it’s a great idea to have a grip on the finances from the outset, so that you don’t have any niggling money worries in the back of your mind whilst you’re cracking on with your preparations.

I have covered a lot about how to set a wedding budget in my Wedding Planning E-Course that you can enrol on here, but I think that it’s a brilliant idea to have a Wedding Budget Spreadsheet right from the start of your wedding planning, so that you can keep full tabs on the money that you have set aside and what is being spent as you spend it. It can be so easy to just pop into town on your lunch break and come back with three pairs of Bridesmaid shoes that you saw on offer, that somehow don’t get included in your overall budget – it’s easy to see where the money can disappear to!

I have created a Wedding Budget Spreadsheet especially for UK brides to be looking to get organised and on top of everything in the run up to their wedding.

This Wedding Budget Spreadsheet will help you to:

♥ Work out your total budget and figure out priorities on where you want to spend it

♥ Help you to stay in total control of your money from engagement through to honeymoon

♥ Keep track of your wedding guests, RSVPs and special requirements

♥ Sort your table plan for your wedding breakfast

♥ Organise your hen do

♥ Work out your timeline in the run up to the day as well as helping you sort out what you want to happen and when on the big day itself

With over ten years of event planning experience under my belt – as well as having my own wedding to plan! – I know exactly how to help you sort out your wedding budget. And best of all? You can get the Wedding Budget Spreadsheet now for just £4.50 saving yourself bags of hassle and research time! Just click here to buy, and your spreadsheet will be emailed straight out to you, ready to use.

Happy Budgeting, Brides to be!

Laura xx

Image courtesy of Danielle Mobbs Photography

Hi, I’m Laura!

24/04/2014/in Laura, The Budget Bride Company /by laura

As the person who signs her name off after each wedding post on this Blog, I thought it would be a nice idea to introduce myself to you properly! You have probably seen a little bit of info on me here and today I am going to elaborate!

I had the idea for the Budget Bride Company when all of my friends were getting engaged and starting their wedding plans back in the Summer of 2011. Being a natural born organizer (having worked as an Event Manager for nearly ten years!), I loved helping my friends out in finding them great wedding suppliers with awesome offers and coming up with honeymoon ideas that would work on their budget. I absolutely ADORE organising and coming up with creative ideas to stretch a set budget to achieve as much as possible.

Within my circle of friends, I realized that we all had something big in common – we were all hard working young women earning our own salaries and yet we were being faced with extortionate prices to carry off a wedding on. With my Events background, I knew that it would be super useful to have a website resource where all of the Wedding Suppliers who offered lovely products and great services were all in one place, alongside an inspiring Blog with real life budget wedding stories, great wedding products and a free Wedding Venue Finding Service for Brides to be.

So after several months of hard graft and saving up, I had set up the Budget Bride Company website that you are reading now and in June 2012, I left my Event Manager post and launched the Company full time. I am loving every minute of it and have not looked back once!

John and I got engaged last Summer whilst on holiday in Corfu – it was one of the best days of my life! He asked me at the top of a mountain at a little taverna in the heat of the midday sun and amongst lots of smiling happy tears, I said YES! Our original plan was to head out to Las Vegas and get married by an Elvis lookalike – a long term dream of mine, but just recently we have found out that we are going to be having a little addition to our family 🙂 Our little baby is due for arrival in October, so for the moment, our wedding plans will need to be put back a little… So, I will be focusing even more on helping YOU sort out YOUR wedding!

My little office is in the loft of an old building in Wellingborough in the East Midlands. When I’m not finding wedding venues for you lovely lot, or updating the Blog, these are some of my favourite pastimes:

♥ Watching stand-up comedy (on the TV and in person whenever I can !)– I’m especially into Stewart Lee and Lee Mack at the moment.

♥ Cooking elaborate three course dinners that never quite turn out the way I want them to! I love experimenting with cooking styles from other countries – especially Jamaican and Mexican at the moment. I am also a HUGE Nigella fan, I love the way she writes and that even I can follow her recipes.

♥ Going for l-o-n-g countryside walks with John.

♥ Reading wedding magazines and blogs whenever I can.

♥ Going to lovely cosy old pubs and enjoying a big glass of red wine (when not pregnant!)

♥ Hanging out with my sisters and their kids.

♥ Hanging out with my brother and his dog.

♥ Going to Cornwall.

♥ Travelling on awesome last minute deal holidays.

♥ Listening to 6 Music

So that’s me in a nutshell! Watch this space for more posts where I will be sharing my own wedding plans and personal tips for making your wedding shine…

Have a great day 🙂

Laura xx

All photos on this page care of the gorgeous Photography By Danielle Mobbs who offers amazing wedding photography packages from £650.

Image Weddings Spring Issue Budget Bride Feature

17/04/2014/in Budget Beautiful Wedding Suppliers, Budget Wedding Inspiration, Budget Wedding Photography, Styled Photo Shoot, The Budget Bride Company, Wedding Style /by laura

Yay! I was thrilled to bits when I picked up a copy of Image Weddings Spring Issue which has a gorgeous six page spread featuring photographs from our Budget Bride Co Vintage English Rose Styled Photo Shoot.

The main aim for the feature was to show off some local fantastic wedding suppliers and to give a great feel for what you can achieve on a smaller wedding budget. The amazing suppliers featured in this article are proof of what gorgeousness you can have on the money you have available!

All of the photos in the shoot were beautifully shot by my favourite wedding photographer to hang out with – Danielle Mobbs. Her wedding photography packages start from £650.

The wedding dresses were from Elegantly Hitched and all priced below £700. Through The Looking Glass Events styled the shoot, putting their vintage artistic touch to everything, and making it look lush!

Amazing wedding florists Bloom In Scents created the incredible bouquets and table centres in the shoot and the scrumptious afternoon tea and incredible wedding cake was crafted by Flowers and Ribbons.

The models had great fun frolicking next to the VW Camper Van and amazing Beetle from Fun Dubbin Occasions!

We spent the day of the shoot at the quintessentially English Dove Cote Farm where you can host your own wedding with a farm style backdrop.

It’s so lovely to see all of the suppliers hard work featured in this Magazine and I can’t express how happy I am to show off what can be achieved on a smaller wedding budget. Pick up a copy of this Image Weddings Spring Issue Budget Bride Feature and you can read my top 5 tips for making the most of your wedding budget too! 🙂


Laura x

Northamptonshire Wedding Fair: Budget Bride Live at The Ruby Lounge

13/02/2014/in Budget Advice, Budget Bride Live Wedding Events, Deals and Offers, Supplier Spotlight, The Budget Bride Company, Wedding Venues /by laura

Today I am super excited as we’ve literally only got three more sleeps until our Budget Bride Live Wedding Fair at The Ruby Lounge at Diana’s in Wellingborough. Running between 11am and 3pm this Sunday 16^th February, this Northamptonshire Wedding Fair will have so much weddingy wonder going on, if you don’t make it you will miss out!

To give you a little taster of how the day is going to run, you can expect the following when you arrive with your Bridal Party for a fun Wedding Fair day out sorting all of those ‘must actions’ from your list:

♥ A glass of Bucks Fizz on your arrival to get you in the mood…

♥ A Bridal Goody Bag full of Glossy Wedding Magazines, treats and money off vouchers for great brands including Go Hen and Confetti.com

♥ A Fashion Show at 1pm with loads of stunning wedding dresses, all under £700!

♥ 40 incredible exhibitors showcasing wedding dresses through to groomswear suits, wedding transport through to Hog Roasts and Sweetie Carts. We only pick the friendliest, best value for money wedding suppliers, so that we know that your time will be spent wisely speaking with them!

♥ An opportunity to win a gorgeous Bridal Pamper Hamper chock full of treats for a bridal pamper night in

♥ Wedding Cake tasting and sample giveaways

♥ Live magician

There is also plenty of free parking for all that attend this Northamptonshire Wedding Fair and children are more than welcome! In fact, we even have a Magician who is going to be performing at the Event who will keep them entertained! Check out this video of him at our Budget Bride Live Wedding Fair last year when he totally got my sister!

http://youtu.be/oN3YOJRfNN0

So grab your Beau, your Bridesmaids, your Mum, your to be Mother in Law and whoever else takes your fancy and join us for a brilliant day to help you plan and look forward to your wedding. Just pre-register your FREE place here and we will send you across your confirmation! We can’t wait to see you there!

Laura xo

Budget Bride Live Wedding Fair at The Eden Centre, Kettering

04/02/2014/in Budget Beautiful Wedding Suppliers, Budget Bride Live Wedding Events, The Budget Bride Company, Wedding Venues /by laura

Through The Looking Glass

On Sunday morning, Tammy and I headed across with our cars full of goody bags, balloons, chalk boards and bunting, ready to set up for our fourth Budget Bride Live Wedding Fair.

We were so excited to be hosting a Fair at the gorgeous Eden Centre in Kettering for the second time and knew from all of you gorgeous brides to be that had pre-registered to attend, that it was going to be a lively event!

After a crazy couple of hours of setting up tables, creating balloon archways and testing smoke machines, the scene was set and all of our amazing exhibitors were ready to meet you – the brides!

Through The Looking Glass

We opened the doors at 3pm and were thrilled to meet so many of you at The Budget Bride Live Wedding Fair registration desk. We gave out goody bags containing treats and money off vouchers from Confetti.co.uk, GoHen.com and StagWeb.com along with wedding shopping catalogues and two glossy wedding magazines. With a glass of fizz in hand, the brides and their families were then free to explore The Eden Centre and to meet with all of the exhibitors. We had every area covered, from scrumptious Wedding Cakes from Capell’s to a brilliant photo booth set up from Ultimate Photography.

Kelly from Through The Looking Glass and I go crazy in the Ultimate Photography Photo Booth!

And no Budget Bride Live Wedding Fair would be complete without a false moustache!

After a busy fashion show with seven models showing off at total of 14 dresses from Jewkes Bridal, all of our lovely bridal party visitors had time to meet with amazing companies such as Big Bopper Entertainment and Francis Hale Photography.

The beautiful cakes from Capell's

If you would like to get in touch with any of our budget beautiful suppliers from the day, you can contact them via their details below:

Budget Bride Live Wedding Fair Exhibitors

The Eden Centre

Capells Cakes

Francis Hale Photography

Phoenix Stationery with Kate Simpson

Suitors Of Buckingham Menswear

Eternity Images

Forever Living Products with Ros Whittle

Big Bopper Entertainment

Pops N Bangs Fireworks

Artisan Catering

Cotton Buds Florists

Jewkes Bridal

Harlequin Rose Videography

MG Photographic

PartyLite

This Budget Bride Live Wedding Fair was also supported by:

Confetti.co.uk

Go Hen

Stag Web

James Thorpe Photography

Marie Louisa Jones Wedding Musician

Classic Carriages of Northampton

Mike Brown Photographic

Dresses 2 Impress U

Pure Steel Productions

It was a fantastic day and we were so pleased to meet so many of you. If you didn’t get the chance to attend this Budget Bride Live Wedding Fair, we have another one coming up on Sunday 16^th February in Wellingborough so please do pre-register your free place and join us for another fun wedding planning day out with your Bridal Party!

Laura and Tammy xx

Our new Wedding Venue Finding Service for Brides to Be

23/01/2014/in The Budget Bride Company, Wedding Venues /by laura

You may have seen the news on Facebook as well as the little Venue Finding Button which has appeared here on our Home Page… The Budget Bride Company are now delighted to offer you - our lovely readers - a totally free Wedding Venue Finding Service.

Finding a suitable Venue that ticks all of your requirement boxes is no mean feat, especially when you have a certain budget in mind that you need to stick to. Taking into account the amount of time that searching for the right venue can take and it can be a really big ‘to do’ on your list, when to be perfectly honest, you would rather be spending time with your Bridesmaids choosing your Wedding Dress, or working on DIY projects for your favours or decorations.

That’s where we come in. With over ten years of events, exhibitions and venue experience in our little Office, it means that we can use our extensive knowledge of how to find the best venue for your wedding wherever you want in the world. And not only do we have the know-how to uncover those hidden venue treasures, we can find the ones that meet your budget and on the dates you want. Here is what one of our recent readers had to say when we sorted out her requirements…

“The Budget Bride Company provides a fantastic service for stressed out brides! They do all of the hard work for you and nothing is too much trouble. You can tell they really enjoy helping and they are very easy to contact. Highly recommended!” Kellie, Northamptonshire.

This is a totally free service for you and it will save you buckets of time and hassle! We will present you with a shortlist of beautifully picked venue options for you to choose from and will even arrange your viewings at a time to suit you and your fiancée.

Get in touch today and we will start your dream wedding venue search! We look forward to hearing from you 🙂

Laura and the Budget Bride Co Team xxo

Well hello there, 2014!

02/01/2014/in The Budget Bride Company /by laura

photo credit: jurvetson via photopin cc

To all of our readers, old and new, I hope that you had a brilliant time over the holidays and that you are now ready for a gorgeous year, planning your wedding day. We will be here to give you bucket loads of inspiration – from mood boards and etiquette advice, through to showcasing the best suppliers that you can use to bring your wedding in on budget.

Our ethos here at The Budget Bride Co is to make sure that your wedding is Budget Beautiful. Don’t be scared that you have not saved enough for your big day – we’re here to help you make the most out of every last penny. Have a look at our Supplier Directory for budget beautiful wedding suppliers near you and our White Hot List for THE hottest deals off the press, that are EXCLUSIVELY for YOU, our readers.

And remember, we are here to help and inspire you to have the wedding of your dreams on the budget you have available. So don’t be shy, get in touch and tell us about what you want to hear! And drop us a line in the comments box at the end of each blog post, we really love hearing from brides to be!

Here’s to an amazing 2014, planning the wedding of your sparkliest dreams 🙂

Laura xox

Happy New Year!

31/12/2013/in The Budget Bride Company /by laura

photo credit: dongga BS via photopin cc

May all of you have a sparkly and gorgeous evening, whether you are staying in or heading out to cause some mayhem! And if you are one of our new readers, perhaps tonight is the night when a certain little question might be asked…

To all of you – thanks for being with us in 2013 and may all of your dreams come true in 2014! Happy new year y’all!

Laura xox

I thought it would be nice to share some stuff about me with you in today’s post! Here’s 30 things you probably didn’t know…

So there you go – a little insight into Laura Land for you! I would love to know some interesting ‘facts’ about you! Why not share three of yours with us over on the Facebook page?!

Laura xx

I am so excited for our sixth Budget Bride Live Northamptonshire Wedding Fair which we are going to be running on Sunday 7th September from 11am to 3pm at The Ruby Lounge at Diana’s in Wellingborough!

We will be giving away free goody bags full of money off vouchers, glossy magazines and treats to all who pre-register. There is also a glass of bucks fizz to welcome you on your arrival as well as free car parking on site, to make things nice and easy!

We can’t wait to see you at our Budget Bride Live Northamptonshire Wedding Fair – it’s going to be a fab day and we're excited to help you get sorted for your wedding day 🙂 So grab your bridesmaids and make sure you pre-register for your free place here!

See you there!

Laura xx

I have created a Wedding Budget Spreadsheet especially for UK brides to be looking to get organised and on top of everything in the run up to their wedding.

This Wedding Budget Spreadsheet will help you to:

♥ Work out your total budget and figure out priorities on where you want to spend it

♥ Help you to stay in total control of your money from engagement through to honeymoon

♥ Keep track of your wedding guests, RSVPs and special requirements

♥ Sort your table plan for your wedding breakfast

♥ Organise your hen do

♥ Work out your timeline in the run up to the day as well as helping you sort out what you want to happen and when on the big day itself

Happy Budgeting, Brides to be!

Laura xx

I am so excited for our sixth Budget Bride Live Northamptonshire Wedding Fair which we are going to be running on Sunday 7^th September from 11am to 3pm at The Ruby Lounge at Diana’s in Wellingborough!