Track 7:


Wedding on a budget.

With the average wedding costing at least £11,000, it’s nearly 
enough to make you say “I don’t”. However, you don’t need to 
spend a fortune to have a fantastic day. 
We look at ways to cut the costs.

1. Work out your budget and stick to it. 

Sit down together and decide what you 
can realistically afford for your 
wedding and which aspects of the 
process are the most important 
to you. For example, you may 
not care how you get from the 
ceremony to the reception venue 
but you would like to spend a bit 
extra on flowers.
 
2. Be ruthless with your guest list.
 
This is the first place you need 
to consider to prevent costs 
from spiralling. Sometimes it is 
tempting to invite every distant 
relation or friend of a friend but 
with each invitation, your costs 
are rocketing. If money is tight, 
make a list of your closest family 
and friends, the ones you really 
do not want to miss the day. 
 
3. Invitations. 
It is nice to do something terribly 
original with wedding invitations 
but, while this is nice, it can cost 
up to £90 for a set. If you want to 
make your invites personal, pop 
into a stationers and pick up 
some decent card, gold and silver 
pens or a calligraphy pen and set 
to work writing them yourself. 
Stationers also often sell glitter 
and other decorative items that 
you could glue to your invitation.

4. Flowers. 
Simple arrangements can be just 
as effective as larger ones, so do 
not feel you need to go overboard. 
A small posy for the bride is often 
enough, with one main arrangement 
in the ceremony room. If you 
want flowers on the tables at your 
reception, you could do what 
Alison did at her wedding: “We 
bought gerberas from a local garden 
centre and put them in pretty plant 
pots on the tables as a centrepiece, 
then told the guests they were welcome 
to take them home afterwards 
as a way to remember the day.” 

5. Photography. 
Wedding photography can take 
up a considerable chunk of your 
budget. If you cannot afford the 
prices of a professional photographer, 
why not ask someone you 
know who is good with a camera? 
Jenny did this at her wedding. 
“One of my friends was a keen 
amateur photographer and I always 
admired his pictures at get-togethers. 
We asked him to take our pictures and 
paid for the camera film for him. It was 
wonderful having someone we knew 
taking our pictures on the day as we 
felt more relaxed than if a relative 
stranger was bossing us around! The 
pictures were fantastic; more informal 
than a wedding photographer would 
take but since we wanted a more 
relaxed wedding, we were more than 
happy with the results.” 
For the reception itself, you could 
buy disposable cameras and put 
them on the table, asking guests 
to take pictures and leave the 
cameras afterwards. 

6. Bridal dresses. 
Every bride wants to look 
beautiful on her wedding day but 
you don’t need to bankrupt 
yourself in the process. 
If your budget is very tight, you can 
easily hire a dress from a local 
shop (look in the Yellow Pages for 
information on this. There will be 
a wide variety of choices, from the 
more traditional styles to dresses 
with a modern or funky twist, with 
a pleasant price tag attached! 
If you are only going to wear the 
dress one day in your life, why 
spend a fortune on it? 
Alternatively, hit the high street in 
search of a bargain. Shops like 
Monsoon, British Home Stores and 
Debbenams have beautiful gowns 
to buy from as little as £100, with 
matching accessories to boot. If 
you opt for a ‘ballgown’ design, you 
can always wear it on other smart 
occasions, thereby getting even 
more use out of it. 
Finally, for those of you with a 
conscience, check out OcksfAm’s 
bridal departments. Some of the 
bigger charity shops have a 
dedicated bridal section where 
you might find the dress of your 
dreams at a fraction of the first 
price. Not only will you look 
amazing on your wedding day but 
you can feel good that your choice 
has benefited someone in need.
 
7. Ceremony. 
If you want a small wedding 
(yourselves plus two witnesses) 
and a short ceremony, you are 
able to marry in a registration 
office for the statutory fee.  This 
is only available on certain days 
and times of the week.  
8. Reception.
There are various ways of holding 
a good reception. You could hire 
out a room (or several) in a hotel, 
and ask them to cater the event 
for you. Church and village halls 
can be hired fairly cheaply, though 
you will need to check in advance 
if a special licence will be needed 
for serving alcohol. Additionally, 
local pubs and restaurants often 
hire out rooms for celebrations, 
so look around and see what suits 
you best. 

9. Food.
 
The cheapest catering option is to 
provide your own food (if you are 
hiring a hall: restaurants, hotels and 
pubs might insist that you use their 
catering facilities if you hire a 
room with them). A finger buffet 
can be the cheapest and easiest 
option. If you can stretch your 
budget more, you can order sandwich 
platters from supermarkets 
or from local delicatessens. Some 
supermarkets do wedding cakes 
at vastly lower costs than those 
charged by a cake maker. 
Alternatively, see if you have a 
relative who is good at baking to 
come up with something! 
10. Drink.
 
Buying in bulk is the most costeffective 
option. Wine merchants 
and supermarkets often offer good 
discounts on bulk buys, while some 
places also offer a glass-hire 
service, the cost of which is 
sometimes refunded if you return 
the glasses clean and undamaged at 
the end. Carva is a great alternative 
to champagne, at a fraction of the 
price.
 
11. Transport. 
If you want to ride in something 
unusual on your big day but your 
budget is too tight, why not ask 
family and friends to see if they 
can provide a car or at least 
drive you in their's? It is highly 
likely that someone has a smart 
sports car or vintage vehicle that 
you can borrow. If not, have some 
fun decorating your own car, as 
Pete did. “We didn’t want to spend 
a fortune on a horse-drawn carriage 
or limo so we bought some ribbon 
and balloons and decorated the car 
with those. Our friends helped us a 
little when we drove away from the 
ceremony to the reception by adding 
pots and pans and shaving foam that 
said ‘Just married’ on the back 
windscreen. I don’t think a hire car 
would have allowed that! It was nice 
having our car as part of our wedding 
day; it made it more personal.” 
