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Wedding on a Budget

Wedding on a Budget

If you are affected by the threat of a recession and concerned about spending too much money on your wedding there are ways to save money and still have a fabulous day.

It will cost a lot less to have either your reception or wedding and reception on a weekday than on Saturday. It will also cost a lot less to have your wedding out of the main season i.e. before May and after September. Venues charge a lot less for these times. You can save up to 50% of the cost of hiring the venue and sometimes even the catering will cost less. You could save at least £1000.

If you are on a really tight budget why not find a community hall or room in a hotel. You can decorate simple rooms to look fabulous quite cheaply. Can any of your family and friends make a buffet meal? If no one is confident enough to make the food then you can buy at a shop like Waitrose or Marks and Spencer both of which make wonderful party food. This will be much cheaper than paying for catering. You can hire the crockery, cutlery and tablecloths. Look in the Yellow Pages or the internet for a local supplier.

There is no need to pay a fortune for a wedding cake. Marks and Spencer make a really nice fruit wedding cake iced plain white which can easily be decorated with flowers and ribbons. You can hire a cake stand from your local bakery. This can save you as much as two hundred pounds.

Make your own favours and table decorations. Do you know anyone who can do flowers? Bridal bouquets are very expensive to buy and are very simple to make by someone with a little experience with flowers. Why not buy some flowers from the supermarket, some ribbon, and practice! If you need a florist then go to a Wedding Exhibition and ask about prices. Again, if you are getting married out of season ask for a discount.

Your dress can be very expensive or you can look for a sale dress in a bridal shop. If you are a size 12 ' 16 you should be able to find a sale dress but do check any dress you buy over very carefully for signs of wear on the hem and for marks on the neckline. Ask the shop to have the dress dry cleaned for you. Remember it will have been tried on by customers.

A lot of the high street stores sell wedding dresses and these are much cheaper than those in bridal shops but you do not get the same quality and when you buy 'off the rail' your dress may well have been tried on by several customers. If you are going to have bridesmaids you may well find the high street shops have the cheapest dresses.

There are many internet sites which sell brands of wedding dress much cheaper than the shops in the UK. This isn't because the shops here make fabulous profits on dresses but because the price a retailer in the UK gets charged for a dress from the designer can be the same price as a shop in the USA is retailing it at. We all get ripped off in this country! We have actually seen an Alfred Angelo dress that cost the retailer £300 selling in the USA for $500. Internet sites which do not have overheads and can buy gowns from the designer really cheaply and can then sell at low prices.

It is a worry to buy on the internet although if you use a credit card you will have protection but that will not get you a dress! Try to find a site that has been going for a long time and order early. There are some sites in the UK selling branded wedding dresses at lower prices than the shops.

If you buy from abroad do not be fooled by pictures of Maggie Sottero and other top designer dresses selling very, very cheaply on the internet. The dress, when it comes, will be of inferior quality and a total waste of your money.

Tiaras, veils and petticoats can all be bought on the internet, as can shoes, at far lower prices than the shops charge. Find a good site that takes credit cards and has good clear photographs of a wide range of tiaras. Check out their returns policy.

You may want to hire men's suits for the wedding since this has become the fashion in recent years. If you buy your wedding dress from a shop which also hires menswear then ask for a discount especially if your wedding is out of the season. They should be pleased to be able to hire suits at a quieter time of the year. Wherever you hire ask for a discount. They can only say no! The wedding business is so competitive that most people will give you a discount rather than lose your custom.


Getting married abroad can work out cheaper since you get your honeymoon thrown in! You do not have to pay for an expensive reception for a lot of people. A simpler and less expensive dress is definitely best for a wedding in a hot climate so you can save a lot of money on your dress and the groom will not need to hire a suit for the occasion.




About the Author:

I have been in the bridal business for over ten years and currently run a high street shop and an online store selling accessories.

Bridal Tiaras

Author: Becky St Clair

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