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Real life Budget Wedding – Stephanie and David

I’m so pleased to share Stephanie and David’s beautiful wedding with you. Stephanie planned the whole wedding on a budget and shares some of her tips with us today!

Tell us a little bit about how you met your fiancé and how you got engaged?

We met on Twitter! David was the colleague of one of my followers, and I instantly liked his profile picture. He was really sweet and quirky. Within 48 hours we had joined each other’s Facebooks and exchanged numbers. He lived 300 miles away so this has been a long distance relationship until three months ago. I was visiting him over summer when he proposed over a home cooked lunch in a sunny back garden.

What was your favourite part of planning your wedding?

A bit shallow, but choosing a ring and a dress! Every girl’s going to say that, surely?

What was your wedding Budget and how did you make the most of it?

We didn’t have a set budget, we just wanted to keep things reasonable all the way. We made big savings on the flowers - David is Welsh so we had daffodils from the village where we married, as table decorations in the church. They were just picked by the lady who arranges the church flowers and so were very inexpensive, along with some other small blue flowers as a contrast.

I also had a knitted bouquet made by my mother who is a keen knitter. It is a total one off and will last forever!

For the catering, we had a buffet, lemon tarts and chocolate brownies and 'mocktails', all handmade by an organic community cafe which is in the chapel, so everything was made from scratch. They asked for a fee per head, and in total came to under £100.

I used an online boutique for my dress, simply send your measurements away and they make and send your dress. I ordered it Xmas day and had it arrive from overseas on the 6th Jan. Groom used Primark and looked handsome as anything, plus an online boutique for his tie and cufflinks.

What is your best money saving tip for other brides on a budget?

Do NOT be duped into parting with money because ‘your wedding HAS to have X, Y and Z.’ Says who? Have your essentials and don’t be swayed into getting ‘extras.’ We were quoted £400 for a vintage car to and from the church and we laughed at them. Companies see you coming, and they get pound signs in their eyes. Your wedding can be beautiful, unique and personal without it costing the earth. You are just as married in a small registry office as in a large country house hotel. I don’t know how those places sleep at night! Also, don’t invite anyone you don’t genuinely want there.

Who were your favourite budget wedding suppliers?

That would have to be Clervaux Café in Darlington, and Lightinthebox.com for the dress.

Did you do much DIY?

My mother knitted my bouquet so there’s not another one like it in the world. Also my witness’s sister made some cake toppers - ‘Amazing Cakes by Amanda’, which you can find on Facebook.

What did you enjoy most on your wedding day?

Spending time with our two witnesses, the organic home cooked food, and of course being husband and wife!

Did you have a theme for your wedding day and if so, how did you decide on it?

David’s Welsh, so we had a daffodil theme. The men wore yellow- gold ties, I had knitted daffodils in the bouquet and the church had fresh daffodils on all the tables. Perfect for Easter.

What would be your best piece of advice for all of our other Budget Bride Company readers?

Stick to what you want, not what society tells you you ought to have. Don’t compare yourselves to others.

Thank you so much for sharing your wedding with us Stephanie! And big congratulations to you and David 🙂

Laura xx

Leanne and Chris get married on a £5000 Wedding Budget

03/02/2015/in Budget Advice, Budget Beautiful Wedding Suppliers, Real Life Budget Wedding /by laura

Leanne 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

Real Life Budget Wedding – Annalisa and Glen

18/11/2014/in Budget Wedding Inspiration, Real Life Budget Wedding, Wedding DIY /by laura

Annalisa and Glen were married last May in a gorgeous real life budget wedding for just £1,200.

As a keen member of her local church choir, Annalisa managed to get the Church, Church Hall for a vintage afternoon tea after the wedding, and the Organist free of charge which really helped her stick to her budget. The couple got their Prosecco for the wedding from Lidl and had a mixture of home-made and shop bought wedding cakes. All of the vintage napkins and paper plates were sourced from Ebay.

The couple were really lucky with their wedding transport owing to friends with beautiful cars! They travelled in style in a luxury BMW, a Vintage Jaguar and an Audi TT.

Annalisa was delighted with the Grooms outfit which came in at £9.99! And again by shopping on Ebay, the couple managed to dress their bridesmaids for just £32. Annalisa had an absolute find with her wedding dress – paying just £183 for an Ian Stuart Baroque wedding dress which included dry-cleaning and seamstress fitting. Annalisa even managed to sell the dress after the wedding to help with costs!

Annalisa knew that saving on budget would mean having to take on a lot of wedding DIY herself and rising to the challenge, she took on the making of the bouquets, decoration of the afternoon tea hall and the evening reception hall, doing the Bridesmaids hair and make-up as well as her own.

Annalisa loved her naked vintage wedding cake! Having seen them in a magazine, her daughter tried out the recipe once and was then able to bake and decorate the official one the day before the wedding. The guests loved the Victorian sandwich cake which was absolutely beautiful.

Annalisa kept the reception buffet on budget by cooking all of the food herself along with some help from her family. This kept the evening food budget down to just £6 per head for her guests. There were traditional sandwiches and cold meats, lasagnes and vegetable pies, salmon and even a four tier cheese cake decorated with grapes. Normally this would be around £200 but Annalisa found a local cheesemonger who did it for £90!

The couple managed to secure the evening venue in a beautiful Tudor Hall for just £60, and provided entertainment with Glen’s band. The hall had been decorated the night before and Annalisa adorned the tables with lace runners, tea lights in glass bowls filled with red and white crystals, and heart shaped tiny soaps and bath bombs with rose petals that made the room smell gorgeous and the guests could take away as favours. The candelabras and crystals were all sourced from local interior shops during sales.

There was a crazy rush on the last day before the wedding with decorating the halls and then in the morning sorting out all of the hair and make-up, but it was all worth it in the end! Annalisa says that she was super lucky with the help and talents of their family and friends. She said that the trick is to shop around and don't hesitate to ask for assistance, people are always willing to help.

Thanks so much for sharing your real life budget wedding with us Annalisa – congratulations to you and Glen 😀

Laura x

Gorgeous Budget Wedding at Twycross Zoo – Vanessa and Luke

23/09/2014/in Budget Wedding Inspiration, Real Life Budget Wedding, Wedding Style, Wedding Venues /by laura

I’m so pleased to share this lovely budget wedding at Twycross Zoo with you today! Vanessa and Luke were married at Twycross Zoo in Warwickshire on the 17^th May. Pictures kindly shared courtesy of Lacie Cox Photography.

I love the dramatic backdrop for the pictures – what a great location to celebrate your wedding day!

Vanessa shared some of her tips with us for having a beautiful wedding on a budget…

The Dress: I bought my dress at The National Wedding Show at the NEC, so was ableto secure a 25% discount off the shop price.

The Flowers: All of the flowers were arranged by a family friend, so we only had to pay £60 for the flowers themselves including my bouquet and the bridesmaid’s flowers and centrepieces.

The Table Centrepieces: We bought all of the teapots, cups and saucers from car boot sales and charity shops in the run up to the wedding, so we only spent about £30 in total!

The Bridesmaids: We were able to get 30% off the bridesmaid dresses at BHS as we found money off vouchers online.

The Favours: My sister works in a boutique chocolate shop and so we were able to get a great discount on handmade chocolates. We then bought boxes and ribbons from EBay for less than £20 to present them in for our guests.

Thanks for sharing your gorgeous budget wedding at Twycross Zoo with us Vanessa and Luke – congratulations to you both 🙂

Laura x

All pictures courtesy of Lacie Cox Photography

A colourful wedding on a budget – Abby and Liam

09/09/2014/in Budget Wedding Inspiration, Real Life Budget Wedding, Wedding DIY, Wedding Style /by laura

I’m so excited to share this beautiful colourful wedding on a budget with you today! Abby and Liam got married on the 10th August last year on a £3k budget. Thanks to London Wedding Photographer Miki Photography for sharing this wedding with us.

Abby gives us the lowdown on her amazing day…

Liam and I met in the music mobile at High School - he was 12 and I was 13. We loved each other’s company from day one, and after brief canoodling Christmas ’03 and again in ’04... We finally got together during Summer ’05. As cheesy as it sounds, we knew right away we would always be together.

We decided not to have a wedding theme as it was simply because it was too much hassle. We literally chose something if we liked it, and hoped it wouldn’t look like a jumble sale on the day.

The aim for the wedding was just to make it as ‘us’ as possible. Why, on a day of celebrating the love of two individuals, would you not celebrate their individuality? I was determined not to become a Bridezilla! I purposefully tried to be easy going, knowing everything won’t be perfect and that numerous things could go wrong at any stage. The flowers in particular, it was a pretty big gamble deciding to grow all the flowers and although we did buy more – we ended up with much more than we knew what to do with!

We wanted the ceremony to be fun and light, so we wrote it ourselves with Chris, my brother in-law’s uncle. Chris was amazing! He was perfect for the job, and really made us feel at ease when all the eyes were staring. He got all the kids involved and shouting out, and made everyone laugh (and cry). When we exchanged rings, Chris read the ring inscription from Lord Of The Rings, and finished the ceremony on a quote from Harry Potter! It was brilliant.

I also really wanted to source as much as we could locally. I have seen the struggles of small business owners first hand, and knew that if I could get it locally, I would. Chris happened to live opposite a pretty awesome pub, and the owner Andy supplied a real ale bar for us on the day. The cake, food, flowers, dress, bowties, venue, hair, confetti, hay bales and any printing was also sourced locally or from Etsy. We were really pleased and surprised we could do so much in this way!

Being creative people, we knew there was no other option than to DIY. Of course this helped our budget greatly, but it also made it US. If we saw something we liked, we had it, regardless of colour/tradition/what other people expected. We also got rid some wedding traditions like cake cutting etc. It just wasn’t us. There were many frowns and ‘really?!’s from relatives along the way, but on the day everyone said how great it was. How it was a true reflection of us as people, and how all our hard work made it that extra bit special! We were shocked at how many people said it was the best wedding they have ever been to!

We made all the decorations ourselves. We spent nights hole punching circles, sewing garlands, making pom-poms, painting signs and glass jars, sorting pick & mix, creating kiddie goodie bags and wrapping thread around nails. It was SO much fun but a lot of work. We thought towards the end that we might not have enough, so near doubled what we had originally made. In the end most didn’t even get used! I made an awesome ‘All You Need Is Love’ banner that just would not stick to the wall! Countless teeny glitter flags, red hearts, pom-poms and tassels on sticks to go in the deserts that just got forgotten.

One of the best parts of the day for me was driving to the venue with my sister and Maisy - she was hilarious! Waving at everyone going past, giggling and making jokes. I really think I would have started to panic they weren’t making me laugh. I’m not very good being in the limelight! Another great memory is our first dance – we completely missed our song! We were supposed to have Bob Marley, but were too busy drinking whiskey on hay bales to hear it come on! We decided to have a quick dance when we heard Ed Sheeran, and everyone came and gathered around us cheering and taking pictures. It was perfect. It was also great to get millions of texts the following day from people waking up covered in glitter, with blow up guitars in their beds and jars of flowers on their windowsills!

Our photographer was the only thing we splashed on. We decided that with all the hard work we were putting in, we needed amazing pictures! I would have been gutted if after hours, weeks, and months of sitting in our spare room making all the little details – that they weren’t captured. I am so glad we did this! Miki was just amazing. We couldn’t count the number of people who came up to us during and after the wedding saying how awesome and lovely he was! Everyone has been blown away by his photographs. We are so glad we found him!

The biggest wedding savings came from the invitations and decorations. I made the invitations myself on Photoshop, after being inspired by something on Pinterest (as always!). It was a pain getting the colours right, as the printed version never matched what I saw on screen! But eventually they were perfect. We spent £80 in total (including postage!) for the invitations. The other huge saving was on decorations, as we made them all ourselves, we really only paid for a load of coloured card and tissue!

If I could go back and change anything, I would have been more organised on the day itself. We had a rough plan of timings etc, but we forgot to do a couple of things due to being distracted. This resulted in numerous people (including us) running round trying to find or fix things. We wish we had given someone else a plan of the day and a ‘do not forget’ list to keep us on track – it is very difficult to think of anything on the day as you are constantly being pulled left right and centre.

I really don’t think that a big budget is important. We had exactly what we wanted, at a fraction of the cost of most weddings. Don’t think that because it is a wedding, you have to go to wedding suppliers only! Don’t think that the kick ass dress you saw for £100 isn’t good enough because it’s cheap. If you like it, get it. It will all look amazing on the day, and no-one will know you spent an hour scrubbing the peanut butter label off the beautiful blue jar the flowers are in.

Thank you for sharing your amazing day with us Abby and Liam!
Laura x

All photography courtesy of London Wedding Photographer Miki Photography contactable on mick@mikiphotography.co.uk

Real life Rustic Themed Budget Wedding Planning – Sarah and Simon

17/06/2014/in Budget Advice, Budget Wedding Inspiration, Real Life Budget Wedding, Wedding DIY /by laura

Meet Sarah and Simon, this lovely couple are planning their rustic themed budget wedding in Devon on a £10K budget with lots of DIY elements to make their money stretch further.

Tell us a little bit about how you met Simon and how you got engaged?

We met in University; we were both on the same course. At first we weren’t really friends - I freaked him out with my bubbliness and he freaked me out with his bizarre clothes and hair. During our second year we became friends after working on a project together and ended up sharing a flat as mates in the 3^rd year and eventually as a couple!

As for the engagement, it started with Simon refusing to visit my family for my birthday weekend (RUDE!) so he could instead see his family to tell them he was planning to propose to me; unbeknown to me. He also took an old ring of mine to get the right size, he then brought a ring he had been keeping an eye on and kept it in his bag until the right moment.

We arranged a date night for a Thursday in November 2013, to go see Skyfall and have a meal out. Unfortunately the film had sold out, I’ve never seen Simon so horrified before; for me this was a normal night out so I suggested we go for a drink at our local pub Dogstar where I chatting away about my day and I could tell Simon wasn’t really listening!

We then went for dinner at Honest Burger in Brixton Market; our favourite restaurant since we moved to London and while we were waiting for food we got chatting about how happy we are with our relationship; at this point Simon said “What if we were more than we are now?” and slid the ring across the table (his hands were shaking like mad!), to which I replied in shock “Are you serious?” to which he replied “I wouldn’t have bought the ring if I wasn’t! So what do you think? Will you marry me?” Of course I said “YES!”

When the server found out we had just got engaged she brought us over free limoncellos and got all the staff to cheer us. For me it was perfect; low key, a total shock, in a place I loved and to top it all off in a place where no one else had got engaged before: completely unique and completely us!

What has been your favourite part of planning your wedding so far?

Visiting the venues; you see such a diverse range of places and it’s great fun travelling around to see them all; it makes the event suddenly seem so real and it helps you visualise the day (exciting!) and decide what you actually want.

Also you will always see something you never get on the website; at one location we walked out onto a balcony and received a massive shock when we saw two peacocks sat on the balcony ledge.

At our chosen venue we didn’t realise until we got there that the hallway would be decorated like a forest; it was a massive surprise and we had a great time pretending to hide in the foliage.

What is your wedding Budget and how are you making the most of it?

£10,000, which for this day and age is quite a small budget, but feels MASSIVE when you break it all down. As our parents can’t help us with the wedding we are being really strict with the budget.

To make the most of it we are getting a lot of our items homemade which is saving us a lot of money; we have also researched every item prior to booking to get averages worked out beforehand.

What is your best money saving tip for other brides on a budget?

Search, Search and Search some more! It’s too easy to settle for the first item you see, but if you’re willing to put the effort in, you will usually manage to find something cheaper.

When searching, don’t ignore recommendations; other brides are more than happy to offer you money saving tips and recommend the websites that helped them. All of the information and suppliers that you need to have a budget wedding are out there, you just need to search for them!

Are you doing much DIY for your wedding?

We have done quite a lot of DIY for our rustic themed budget wedding; at the moment we’ve agreed the following will be homemade:

- All our favours, which will be jars of marmalade, jam and chutneys.

- Simons step mum is making the cake for us; she makes loads of cakes every year so we know it will be delicious!

- My mum makes flower arrangements every year for Christmas so I’ve asked her to help plan and organise the table decorations.

- Getting chalkboards ordered so we can write our own signs for the day.

- Personalising my bridesmaid dresses with ribbons.

- Creating some funky picture props to sit on the tables: I’ve seen these in store, but they can be easily replicated with card and some lollypop sticks!

- Making our own confetti holders as well; again these are really easy to make with some card!

Tell us about how you decided on your theme for your wedding day?

Our theme is rustic; with orange, reds, yellows and purples being our main colours. We chose this wedding theme because we love the country; we picked our venue for the views of the countryside and we felt rustic fit in with this and the kind of style we like. We picked the colours because it reminds us of bonfires and sunsets but also because they are bright, vibrant and energetic.

What would be your best piece of advice for all of our other Budget Bride Company readers?

Keep organised to keep your budget in check; it’s too easy to buy things on a whim and forget you’ve brought 10 other things on a whim; and end up spending hundreds but by knowing what you want and setting yourself a limit you can keep this in check.

Wow, Sarah – it sounds like you’re totally on the case with the planning and keeping on top of your wedding budget 🙂 We can’t wait to see the photos and hear all about how you enjoyed your rustic themed budget wedding day!

Laura x

Planning a wedding on a £6k Budget – Gemma and Stephen

22/04/2014/in Budget Advice, Real Life Budget Wedding, Wedding DIY, Wedding Style /by laura

Gemma and Stephen are going to be getting married this year on the 15^th August at Dorton house in Aylesbury. The couple have been planning their wedding on a £6k budget and today Gemma is sharing some of her tips with us for how she has created her dream day…

How did you and Stephen meet?

Stephen and I have been together for seven years; we first met in august 2001 when we were at our annual summer camp with the Army Cadets. We lost contact and then found each on Facebook in 2007 and the rest as they say, is history 😉

Can you tell us a bit about the proposal?

Steve proposed on the 14th December 2012. It was a complete surprise as I had had a bad day with our daughter, so he had suggested that I go for a nice relaxing bath which I agreed would be a good idea! When I finally got out of the bath, I got dressed in to my pj's and went downstairs. When I went into the front room, all of the lights had been turned off apart from the Christmas tree lights… Steve was wearing his dinner jacket and was down on one knee he said 'will you spend the rest of your life with me'! Of course I said yes 😀

What is your favourite part of planning your wedding so far?

My favourite part so far has been choosing everything! The wedding has pretty much planned its self as we knew exactly what we both wanted, so it has been great fun pulling all of our ideas together.

What wedding budget are you aiming to stick to?

Our wedding will cost in total around £6,000, with the biggest expense being our venue at £4,000.

What is your best money saving tip for other brides on a budget?

My best money saving tip is to call in favours from friends and family wherever you can. My mum and I are going to make the wedding cake and favours; my hairdresser is a close friend of ours as well which helps! But the best tip that I have is to look in the sales - we got our bridesmaid’s dresses for £15 each instead of £70.

Are you doing much wedding DIY?

DIY is a major part of our wedding. I made our invites, table plan and place settings so they all match perfectly. We will also be doing our own venue decoration which will include bird cages and lovely sky blue chair sashes.

What would be your best piece of advice for all of our other Budget Bride Company readers?

My best piece of wedding advice would be to have the most important members of your family to the ceremony during the day and everyone else can come in the evening. Also, it's your day and don’t let anyone tell you what you should do!

Thanks for sharing your wedding plans with us Gemma! Hope that you love every minute of the remaining run up to your wedding in August and we can’t wait to hear all of the details and see the pictures of the day afterwards!

Laura xx

Favourite Real Life Budget Weddings from the first quarter of 2014!

01/04/2014/in Budget Wedding Inspiration, Real Life Budget Wedding /by laura

Woahwee! Can you believe that the first three months of this year are already g-o-n-e?! We have had a gorgeous start to 2014, with loads of amazing real life budget weddings that I know you lot have loved 🙂 So, to make sure that you didn’t miss any of the juicy bits, here is a bumper Real Life Budget Wedding roundup for you, of some of my favourite weddings of the year so far!

♥ We kicked off 2014 in style with this little beaut of a wedding – Meghan and Benjamin did their thing, vintage style.

♥ This Harry Potter themed budget wedding for £2k was a massive hit! Jasmine and Derek definitely knew how to throw a party and made the most of the money they had available with a quirky theme.

The effort that went into creating this wedding was amazing! I take my hat off to the very talented Ivanya, who married Peter on a £5k budget. I love all of the detail like the decorations and the table plan – proof that if you put in the effort, it does pay off 🙂

I know that you fell in love with the romance of this beautiful French Boat wedding. The blue skies, the shells, the twinkling fairy lights, just gorgeous! Hannah and RoRo make a fabulous couple 😀

Karla and James had a stunning wedding on a £5k budget – this one was a big hit with you guys and when you look at the cake, the pastel bridesmaids’ dresses and the venue, you can easily see why.

Destination weddings don’t come much more romantic than this! Jas and Russ got married in Cyprus and managed to plan their wedding in just a few short days and on a £3.5k budget.

What a chokka year we’ve had already! If you would like your wedding to be featured here on The Budget Bride Company Blog, drop us a line, we’d love to hear from you 🙂

Happy April y’all!

Laura xx

Real Life Fifties Styled Budget Wedding: Elaine and Bryan

25/03/2014/in Real Life Budget Wedding, Wedding DIY, Wedding Style /by laura

I was so happy to get this gorgeous Fifties styled budget wedding land into my inbox and I had to share with you as soon as I could! Elaine and Bryan married on a budget of 5,000Euros (just over £4,000) in Ireland. Here, Elaine shares her story and wedding day tips with us…

Tell us a little bit about how you met Bryan and how you got engaged?

I met Bryan on a night out in County Waterford in Ireland. We were both Scottish so with that in common we got on well straight away. We were together for a while and had a little boy when Bryan asked me to marry him; I was very shocked as he had never been keen on getting married! The plans were put on the backburner for a while and we had another baby, a little girl. After she was born we started to think seriously about having an actual wedding!

What was your favourite part of planning your wedding?

I actually loved all of it! I’m a creative person and I work as a photographer so I knew quite a bit about weddings and that we wanted to do something different, so it was definitely a challenge! We also didn't want to spend a lot on the wedding, so we had to do it on a very tight budget which meant lots of DIY.

What was your wedding Budget and how did you make the most of it?

We had about €5000 to spend and to do this we needed to find a venue that would let us plan a much simpler menu and find suppliers that would work with us on our ideas, hence the five wedding cakes instead of one!

What is your best money saving tip for other brides on a budget?

Think differently - you can get some amazing ideas from blogs and websites that aren't necessarily traditional and will cost less. The most important thing is to have fun planning your wedding and to have fun on the day, so if little details don't work out it's not a problem. Also make sure you talk to the venue and tell them your ideas. We got married on Kippure Estate in Wicklow and they tailored the wedding to our requirements within our budget and made sure we had thought of every detail! We also did not have a traditional meal but instead gave all of our guests milkshakes, burgers and fries with apple pie for dessert which was a big hit.

Who were your favourite budget wedding suppliers?

I had so many!!! Maria from www.mariaslittlewrappers.com made us the coolest little chocolates in the shape of old 45 records as our favours and I found the most amazing cake maker The Swell Bakeshop who made us five different cakes all with an American Diner theme which cost us much less than a traditional wedding cake. I think the most useful cost cutting was actually the dress which I got from Bella Bleu in Cork, I loved it when I tried it on but it was raw silk and way out of my price range, the owner of the shop offered to have it made in a cheaper fabric which still looked gorgeous and was a fraction of the price (and didn't crease!). I also managed to get some Elvis converse for dancing at night, my shoes would never have lasted!

Did you do much DIY?

LOTS!! I made the bouquets myself from buttons, we got some fab sweets from Candy Cabin in Edinburgh and put them in sundae glasses for centrepieces. We printed out pictures of Fifties icons and used them as table names, I set up my own photo booth with a backdrop and camera on a tripod and we printed photo booth props from the internet for everyone to use for a pic. We also decorated the room ourselves the night before the wedding with paper pompoms and Diner posters. We also bought a job lot of old 45 records from eBay then had a designer create us a record sleeve for them. She gave us the template and we printed and cut them all out and used them as invitations.

What did you enjoy most on your wedding day?

The whole day; we made sure it was very personal, so my uncle dressed in a teddy boy suit and blue suede shoes and drove myself and my dad to the venue in a Fifties car. My brother in law sang ‘I've got you under my skin’ for our first dance which was a very special moment. 

What would be your best piece of advice for all of our other Budget Bride Company readers?
Do things your way and research different ideas and possibly themes to help you to pull your day together. Tell suppliers your ideas and see if they can come up with cost cutting ways of realising your dreams without bankrupting you in the process!

Congratulations Elaine and Bryan, what an awesome wedding! Thank you for sharing your day with us 🙂 

Laura xx

All photographs by Linda Clarke Photography

Black and White Themed Budget Wedding: Sian and Luke

18/03/2014/in Real Life Budget Wedding, Wedding Style /by laura

Todays real life black and white themed budget wedding took place at The Brecon Castle Hotel in South Wales. This lovely couple celebrated with their friends and family at a Black and White themed wedding that Sian had been dreaming of for years…

Tell us a little bit about how you met your fiancé and how you got engaged?

We meet through work, we worked in different departments so didn’t really interact with each other but we eventually met on a works night out. It took us a while to become an item, but we did and eventually moved in together.

We had a child and had recently moved into a new house so getting married just seemed the next logical step. We decided to get engaged whilst on Holidays in Tenby, we bought the ring, but Luke wouldn’t let me wear it until he had asked my dad properly and this turned into a bit of a comedy sketch as every time he went to ask my father, someone would interrupt! We eventually got engaged in a local Italian restaurant and of course I said YES!!

What was your favourite part of planning your wedding?

If I am completely honest I wasn’t the best wedding planner, I didn’t really enjoy all the hype and importance that was placed on every decision. I was a very laid back bride! I didn’t really understand how the smallest things could turn some people into crazy women! My family were getting more stressed because I wasn’t moving fast enough for them!

I did however enjoy looking for a venue; we would book the visit with the venues wedding co-ordinator under my name, and then we would book a meal before we met the wedding planner in Luke’s name. That way we could taste the food and get a feel for the venue atmosphere without feeling that we were trying to be ‘wined and dined’ into choosing them. We could also get a feeling for the level of service provided, which for me was a bit part of the decision.

Did you have quite a tight budget to stick to and how did you make the most of it?

We didn’t have a strict budget although I was very money conscious through the whole process, I just felt having just bought a house and with having a small child, spending thousands of pounds on a wedding wouldn’t really be the best thing to do.

What is your best money saving tip for other brides on a budget?

Shop around! Our invitations were taken from an idea I found on a website but were actually printed in our local printers shop along with information cards & RSVP cards for a fraction of the price.

It doesn’t have to labelled as ‘wedding’ to be suitable for a wedding; for example, decorations and cards they may not scream wedding, but if you like them and they suit your theme, go with them.

Don’t feel like you have to use one company. I hired one company to do my chair covers and centre pieces, but they couldn’t provide the table clothes I wanted or the centre pieces I had in mind, so I found another local company and with a mixture of the two companies I got the look that I had been thinking about.

Winter is cheaper; we got married in Brecon at the end of November. I resigned myself to the fact the weather may not be the best, but the package the hotel provided was far better value than if we had held the wedding in the summer. My photographer was prepped for the wedding and had looked at the venue for photo opportunities should the weather take a turn for the worst. However, we couldn’t have asked for better! The sun was so bright that this actually caused the photographer problems!

Who were your favourite budget wedding suppliers?

Ebay! My bridesmaids dresses, decorations, table settings, veil, petticoat, flower girl wand, favours, all came off Ebay. My favours were hot chocolate cones, which I found on EBay made by a lady starting her business. She thankfully agreed to make my favours at a fraction of the cost and they were a massive hit. My bridesmaids dresses also came off EBay and were ridiculously cheap; I was apprehensive but thankfully my sister in law is a very good seamstress, so I figured if they were dreadful she could help. It turns out they were perfect and my sister in law said she couldn’t have bought the fabric for the price I paid for the dresses.

What did you enjoy most on your wedding day?

I was so nervous, but when we sat down for the wedding breakfast, I looked around at all our family and friends having a good time, and thought, that’s why I’ve done this! All I wanted out of my day was that everyone enjoyed themselves and were relaxed and could have fun.

Did you have a theme for your wedding day and if so, how did you decide on it?

The theme for the wedding was black and white; that has always been the theme that I knew I would have. But I wanted it too look romantic as well as classic. So I opted for candle and white feather centrepieces on black table clothes to soften the look slightly. I also opted for one shoulder flowing dresses for the bridesmaids to create a softer look.

What would be your best piece of advice for all of our other Budget Bride Company readers?

Relax! Hire a venue that you feel comfortable in and if they have a wedding planner available, make use of them. Brecon castle hotel had a wedding planner called Sam, she was absolutely amazing! Everything ran like clockwork because of her and her team. Call in favours, if you family or friends that can make something that will save you money, ask them.

Congratulations Sian and Luke – what an amazing wedding day on a budget 🙂

Laura xx

Photos courtesy of Samantha Cox Photography

Posts

I’m so pleased to share Stephanie and David’s beautiful wedding with you. Stephanie planned the whole wedding on a budget and shares some of her tips with us today!

Leanne 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?

♥ What was your favourite part of planning your wedding?

♥ Tell us about how you made the most of your £5000 wedding budget

♥ What is your best money saving tip for other brides on a budget?

♥ Who were your favourite budget wedding suppliers?

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?

♥ What would be your best piece of advice for all of our other Budget Bride Company readers?

Thanks so much for sharing your wedding planning secrets with us Leanne!

Laura x

Annalisa and Glen were married last May in a gorgeous real life budget wedding for just £1,200.

The couple were really lucky with their wedding transport owing to friends with beautiful cars! They travelled in style in a luxury BMW, a Vintage Jaguar and an Audi TT.

Annalisa knew that saving on budget would mean having to take on a lot of wedding DIY herself and rising to the challenge, she took on the making of the bouquets, decoration of the afternoon tea hall and the evening reception hall, doing the Bridesmaids hair and make-up as well as her own.

Annalisa loved her naked vintage wedding cake! Having seen them in a magazine, her daughter tried out the recipe once and was then able to bake and decorate the official one the day before the wedding. The guests loved the Victorian sandwich cake which was absolutely beautiful.

Thanks so much for sharing your real life budget wedding with us Annalisa – congratulations to you and Glen 😀

Laura x

I’m so pleased to share this lovely budget wedding at Twycross Zoo with you today! Vanessa and Luke were married at Twycross Zoo in Warwickshire on the 17th May. Pictures kindly shared courtesy of Lacie Cox Photography.

I love the dramatic backdrop for the pictures – what a great location to celebrate your wedding day!

Vanessa shared some of her tips with us for having a beautiful wedding on a budget…

The Dress: I bought my dress at The National Wedding Show at the NEC, so was ableto secure a 25% discount off the shop price.

The Flowers: All of the flowers were arranged by a family friend, so we only had to pay £60 for the flowers themselves including my bouquet and the bridesmaid’s flowers and centrepieces.

The Table Centrepieces: We bought all of the teapots, cups and saucers from car boot sales and charity shops in the run up to the wedding, so we only spent about £30 in total!

The Bridesmaids: We were able to get 30% off the bridesmaid dresses at BHS as we found money off vouchers online.

The Favours: My sister works in a boutique chocolate shop and so we were able to get a great discount on handmade chocolates. We then bought boxes and ribbons from EBay for less than £20 to present them in for our guests.

Thanks for sharing your gorgeous budget wedding at Twycross Zoo with us Vanessa and Luke – congratulations to you both 🙂

Laura x

All pictures courtesy of Lacie Cox Photography

I’m so excited to share this beautiful colourful wedding on a budget with you today! Abby and Liam got married on the 10th August last year on a £3k budget. Thanks to London Wedding Photographer Miki Photography for sharing this wedding with us.

Abby gives us the lowdown on her amazing day…

We decided not to have a wedding theme as it was simply because it was too much hassle. We literally chose something if we liked it, and hoped it wouldn’t look like a jumble sale on the day.

Thank you for sharing your amazing day with us Abby and Liam! Laura x

All photography courtesy of London Wedding Photographer Miki Photography contactable on mick@mikiphotography.co.uk

I’m so pleased to share this lovely budget wedding at Twycross Zoo with you today! Vanessa and Luke were married at Twycross Zoo in Warwickshire on the 17^th May. Pictures kindly shared courtesy of Lacie Cox Photography.

Thank you for sharing your amazing day with us Abby and Liam!
Laura x