Wedding on a Budget

The words "wedding" and "budget" probably fill many brides-to-be with visions of cramped pub receptions, plain uninspired dresses and terrible food. But no. It doesn't have to be this way! Our wedding cost us a whopping £6000. In wedding land, this is relatively small. I believe the average wedding today cost about £15,000.

Our wedding was the perfect day. And I didn't really have to compromise on very much, I simply used my imagination and thought outside of the box. We didn't have all the money in the world to spend, especially as we are buying our first home next year (in London too, argh!). So I thought I would share a few tips, or things that we did to cut cost without cutting perfection.

Firstly, we got married in a registry office. We are lucky that our local one is beautiful and right next to a gorgeous park too. We held our reception in our parent's back garden and hired a marquee, saving us a lot of money! We also had caterers come in, but if you really want to cut cost, you could consider doing your own food? Or of course, getting married later in the day so you only have to feed everyone once!

I have been using the same hairdresser for years and she very kindly did my hair for free! I did my own make-up! My dress was second hand from Ebay. I had it dry cleaned and some extra sequins sewn on to make it more mine! 

For the cake we used someone who was just starting out, so the price was reasonable. We also opted for a naked wedding cake, ie. no icing. These are so pretty and also far cheaper than the traditional iced wedding cakes, which can amount to over £500!

The bridesmaid dresses were from Laura Ashley, and the flower girls dresses were from Monsoon. Two of my favourite high street shops!

We went for just the one wedding car, a white taxi. As our venue was so close to the reception we had the car make two trips, one for bridesmaids and one for my father and I. They usually charge by the hour, so it worked out a lot cheaper!

I ordered minimal flowers. Just the bouquets and 6 table centre pieces. The rest of the little flowers dotted about the place in jam jars were picked from my nans garden!

the one thing I would not scrimp on, is the wedding photographer. Seriously. The wedding photos are the one thing you will have to look back at your day with. Do not scrimp on this, you will most definitely regret it in the future! 

I highly recommend Alexa, she is amazing. 

But most of all, I would say think about what it is that will make the day important to you. Is it really that table display? The perfect dress? The food you eat? Or is it actually the people there who were celebrating with you?

My wedding day was amazing because everybody who I love and care about was there to celebrate with us. Without them, the day would have been like any other!