Paying for your Wedding
Weddings
Weddings aren't exactly budget friendly. This year, the average wedding will cost £19,600, including the engagement and the honeymoon. The bride's dress and the venue and reception hire are the biggest expenses, all coming in at well over £1,000 for each.
So what do you do if you need to make cut backs, but don't want to ruin your special day? After all, it is supposed to be a day of extravagance and celebration, so you don't want to be money conscious the whole day. There are some tips and tricks that will allow you to save valuable Pounds, but that won't make your big day look 'cheap'.
Start as you mean to go on and make a good first impression with your stationery; make your own invitations. They don't have to look perfect, in fact slight imperfections make each one more personal and there is plenty of free software available online to help you design your own.
Thank you cards can also come with a personal touch. Print off one of your favourite photographs from the day and write personal messages on the back. This actually looks classier and more expensive than normal thank you cards.
Although most people get married on a Saturday, many churches and venues also offer to perform the service on a Friday or Sunday and this usually costs a lot less.
The venue for both the ceremony and reception have to look perfect, dark and dingy village halls just don't cut it. However, if the venue doesn't have an alcohol license, you can cut the costs of the reception by bringing your own booze to serve. Pop over to France on a booze cruise the week before and pick up plenty of alcohol. You can even ask your friends to each bring a bottle or crate.
In fact, friends can come in very handy on the wedding day. Instead of a normal wedding gift list, ask friends if they can DJ, drive their plush cars and help with the decoration. Seeing as this little lot would normally cost in excess of £2,000, this will be a big help.
Finally, flowers are one of the most expensive parts of the big day. On average, people spend over £700 on perfectly arranged flowers. However, ask your friends to each bring a bouquet in line with your colour scheme and decorate the church and reception venue with these.
Interflora offer specialised wedding flowers and deliver flowers Manchester bound, along with a host of other locations, with next day delivery, so the flowers can be as fresh and as colourful as possible.