As soon as Tom & I got engaged, we started to discuss how on earth we were going to get married. Did you know the average wedding in UK racks up a bill of £30,000! I mean a big round of applause to everyone that is spending that but in my shoes, for me, it makes me feel a little bit queasy.
Don't get me wrong, if I had my forever home and I had that type of money available I probably would consider it but short of a lottery win, that wasn't going to happen. Even so, I still wanted to feel like the princess and to marry my best friend and make us all apart of the Insley family.
I had to make a plan that meant cutting corners without breaking the bank but without sacrificing the magic 13 year old me still really wanted. So here it is, how I planned our wedding in 12 months with a budget of £5000 (with a few professional pictures chucked in the mix....)
I had set us a starting budget of £2500, after a very short time I realise that as much as this could be done on our own but is it what we wanted. With a small amount of help from our families we were able to up this to £5000.
To start, I made a list of all of the "necessities" of a wedding. I then prioritised them in order of what OUR perfect day would need and what we could do without. Our main concentration was: A venue with picturesque outdoor space, the photography & the decoration.
With a very small budget we also decided to knock a few things on the head. For some people these might be really important but for us, they just weren't.
After initially being told by the cheapest venue we viewed that our registrar fee's were actually more expensive than the venue (an eyewatering £500+) I started researching other options. There are so many options for ceremonies. Be it a Church, a registry office or a private venue. After the initial shock wore off, we decided that no way could we justify paying that and we searched for a better fit for us. The first was our local registry office. This was around the £200 mark but would mean giving up a lovely ceremony venue and the photos that went with it. The other was to have a simple "ceremony" at a County Council registry office. This option was £50! The no frills option included 2 witness's in an office environment and becoming legally married. You can have readings and exchange rings if you wish. I had some criticism around picking this option as technically we are only having a blessing on our actual wedding day but you know what, I can live with that. It was still just as beautiful. So beautiful our Mum's were in tears.
The Wedding Breakfast
Following on with our "straying from tradition" trend the big day seemed to be taking, we sacked off the wedding breakfast. As we are had a later ceremony, 3pm to be precise, the need for a wedding breakfast just seemed to be nonexistent. Plus, 1 option just can't please everybody. At least with a buffet there will be something for everyone. We just wanted a chilled, social atmosphere. The buffet food was so yummy and saved a good £600-£900 on feeding guests twice!
Faux Flowers
Another thing we were not overly fussed about were "real" flowers. As a winter wedding I just don't believe that the flowers needed to be real. Although with a sting allergy, I'm pretty sure I'd feel this way if we had a wedding in Summer too! Faux flowers are still as stunning and you get to keep them forever. In an ideal world, I would of have floral arrangements coming out of my ears but we still had a beautiful focal point but for half the price.
My favourite of all cuts was the Selfie Booth! Instead of paying between £200-£400 for just a few hours hire of a standard photobooth with attendant and prints we chose Hire My Selfie - A glorified tablet with built in lighting and tripod. HireMySelfie charge £150 for a weekend's hire. All you have to source is your own props (charity shops and Amazon are a fantastic source!) Every image is uploaded to a Dropbox which, if the venue has wifi, is available immediately. They send you a big, black case via Royal Mail a couple of days before and you send it back the first working day after the event.
All in all, after all these cuts we would of saved a good couple of thousand which could be used towards day to day life or even a dream honeymoon!
I hope this helps for anyone planning a wedding. More wedding spam to come soon! Promise! In the meantime if you have any question, leave them below or get in contact!
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