Vintage Styled Wedding on a Budget – Meghan and Benjamin
Image Courtesy of Pacific Curd Photography
Meghan and Benjamin met in 2009 and have been madly in love from the word go! One beachside proposal, two beautiful babies and four years later, they had a gorgeous vintage themed wedding on a budget, full of handmade details. Over to you, Meghan!
Image Courtesy of Pacific Curd Photography
Benjamin and I met back in 2009. Ben has always been so romantic and spoiled me rotten on birthdays and special occasions, trips to London and romantic walks and gestures! In 2010 I fell pregnant with our gorgeous yet cheeky little monkey Alfie who was born in March 2011. We had a whirlwind of moving house and settling down as a new family.
Ben then proposed on a weekend away in May 2012 with his family while the sun set at the beach & we lit a lantern and tried to let it float away but failed miserably When I turned around he was down on one knee and asked me to marry him! All of our family and friends were so excited for us and we booked the wedding for 1 year exactly on the meaningful date of 18th May 2013 which was Bens grandparents wedding anniversary.
Six weeks later we had another little surprise, I was eight weeks pregnant and due on the 13th January 2013, little Mia decided to make an appearance eight days early on the 5th Jan. Despite the fact everyone thought we were absolutely mad planning a wedding and having another baby in less than a year, we still went ahead with the plans! We were crazy, yes but also crazily in love!
Images Courtesy of Pacific Curd Photography
My favourite part of planning the wedding was searching for all of the ideas, creating the mood boards, thinking of unique ideas to make our day that bit more special. Creating the theme and turning it all into reality on the big day! I love being unique and making the little details stand out to people to make it unforgettable.
We had always had a tight budget but when little Mia made an appearance the budget had to get even smaller! I made the most of this by being as creative as possible and picking up bargains along the way.
Images Courtesy of Pacific Curd Photography
When planning your own wedding you need to stick to the original budget you've always had, and try to get bargains along the way. The more you do for your own wedding the more personal it becomes; try doing the invitations yourself and add personal touches linking to your big day. Find all of your family members and friends that can chip in and help, or if they have any hidden talents then get them involved!
One of my favourite budget wedding suppliers were SouthWest Marquees, they turned a small village hall into a modern looking marquee. It was beautiful and well worth the money although it was one of the biggest parts of our budget. Also, we had a friend who knew of a cake maker and she charged us a fraction of what we had been quoted and she couldn't have done a better job if she tried, it was fab!
Apart from the main items such as caterer, the inside of the marquee and the cars, we did everything else ourselves. From the setting, the centrepieces, the stationary, the favours and the decorations right down to the wishing tree and sweet buffet.
Images Courtesy of Pacific Curd Photography
My favourite part of the day (apart from becoming Mrs Keates of course!) was seeing everyone's faces at the venue and the lovely comments we got from all of the personalised items we had.
Our theme was Vintage for our wedding day, I decided on this as it was a very popular theme at the time, and I believe it still is! There are thousands of ideas for weddings with this theme and I loved picking and choosing my favourites and tweaking the ideas to make them even more personal.
My tips for the brides to be planning their own wedding, especially on a tight budget is don't stress! It's your big day; don't let panic over money ruin the whole planning process. Each item you choose should be magical and personal to you as a couple, that's what makes the day more unique and unforgettable.
Images Courtesy of Pacific Curd Photography
I enjoyed the experience of planning my own wedding and I went away wanting to do more! I put myself through an event and wedding planner course and with lots of hard work I qualified within just 3 months. I then started up my own business called Vintage Rose and I've been going to wedding fairs, joining wedding guilds and meeting lots of lovely new people. I get such a buzz when I meet clients for the first time, finding out what they want, getting to know who they are and turning their big day into their dreams come true! I'm also organising my own wedding fair in Frome at a popular venue where I have lots of lovely local suppliers coming along for the day! I am loving my new job, but most of all I love helping all of the brides to enjoy their wedding days as much as I did mine!
Image Courtesy of Pacific Curd Photography
What a lovely wedding and romantic story 🙂 Congratulations Meghan and Benjamin!
Laura xx
