HELP!10,000 to 15,000 max to spend on wedding.HOW DO I DO IT?

suzi-suz · 25-05-2008 10:03AM

my wedding or our wedding cost us 10thou it was not at all a cheapo wedding and we had everything...my dress was 500 cheap i'd say...we had a stretch limo ....sit down meal,party favours,gifts for wedding party,and so on.....and i got my brother to design my wedding invites and they were fantastic they were a scroll and they came in a tube and everyone commented on how unusual they were.....a wedding is what u make not how much u spend,i'm sure how ever much u spend ur day will be fantastic..

May79 · 05-08-2008 12:40PM

I am at a loss how you guys are getting thigs for such good value. I have been pricing around. Getting married in January and the cost of the venue and 5 course meal is a reasonable €60 compared to some of the quotes i was getting for €75 - €88 per person. Have to put on an evening spread after that. Bridesmaid dresses are working out expensive enough. Cheaper that i had though but still €200 each. Debenhams etc have nothing that they like... Thinking of favours because our guests are travelling an hour from church to reception and instead of chocolate doing scratch cards - they are actually working out cheaper than most favours we have priced.... It's all mental.

ash_18x · 05-08-2008 03:32PM

May79 wrote: »

I am at a loss how you guys are getting thigs for such good value. I have been pricing around. Getting married in January and the cost of the venue and 5 course meal is a reasonable €60 compared to some of the quotes i was getting for €75 - €88 per person. Have to put on an evening spread after that. Bridesmaid dresses are working out expensive enough. Cheaper that i had though but still €200 each. Debenhams etc have nothing that they like... Thinking of favours because our guests are travelling an hour from church to reception and instead of chocolate doing scratch cards - they are actually working out cheaper than most favours we have priced.... It's all mental.

our wedding is in a month-
so far,
-5 course meal at €44 a head- 27-30 to sit down at it, €10 a head for the afters food where we expect around 100
-The band- the Waxies are €1500 for the whole night (this was the grooms one and only wish for the wedding, i could choose everything else!!)
-suits €300 rental for three of them
-my dress €240 from littlewoods!
-bridesmaids dresses €160 for the two of them from Debenhams
-honeymoon to santorini costing €1400 as i booked the flights and hotel seperatly myself saving over €300 rather than going through the tour operator
-favors cost €30 as i bought them online and i am making them up myself
-chair covers are costing €150 and
-they wanted €300 for a backdrop for the hotel but my mam and sister in law are helping me make one, all the materials cost €50!!
-rings cost €1000 (this was a major spend but i got my engagement ring remade!)
-presents for the bridesmaids and groomsmen €100 (bought mostly online)
-photographs- my mam and friend who is handy with the camera
-flowers- my aunt who is a florist
-cake is a wedding present from one of my bridesmaids
-make up- again from an aunt who is a beautician
-hair on the day to cost €40 each by 3 so €120.
-my shoes cost €30
-cars- my uncle and brothers who have classic cars
-made the invites myself, cost about €20 for them, stamps cost nearly more!

think that is everything, if you want to do it you can! i was adding it all up only last night to see how we were going and it is just coming in at over €7500 so far!!
i was lucky that my bridesmaids loved the dresses that i liked too but there would be a line, i am not into shopping at all so i said right can we go shopping on saturday and we are getting a dress that day rather than draggin it out. its a costly enough day......remember it is your day, i know they have to like what they are wearing but when will you get them all to agree on one dress! i think i was very lucky there! we are all so alike!
good luck with it!

BroomBurner · 06-08-2008 11:25AM

There's loads of good advice in this thread, and in the Money Saving Wedding thread also. We're doing the whole lot for between €10K and €15K, with 15K being the absolute most, so it is possible. I'm trying to keep everything as close as possible to the €10K, think overall, it might work out about 12ish. The reception is going to be on a Sunday, so it's off-peak, which means that the hotel is offering us 10% discount, free chair covers, free favours, free flower arrangements for the tables and a couple of other little niceties that we wouldn't have bothered with otherwise and some additional monies-off. As previous posters have said, haggle as much as you can with things. Esp. with the bar opening late charge. If you don't want to pay for it, tell them to close the bar and see how much money they'll lose by doing so.

For dresses, there are loads of good websites. Check out therosedress.com, they're based in California, USA. Got my BM dress from them for 85 dollars, bought it on the monday and it arrived on the wednesday, same week. Just one tip for buying online though, make sure you get yourself properly measured first so you can buy the right size, or know a good seamstress that will pull everything in and buy a bigger size.

boxplayer1973 · 06-08-2008 04:53PM

We got the whole lot including hotel rooms for family, car rental, and honeymoon for under 10,000.

Savers - registry - so no candles, flowers etc. No fancy hair and makeup (friend). No photo or video except for friends (in the digital age emails of photos should give us plenty to look at). And who wants to watch themselves on video??? No fancy car (I drove and it was great and personal), bought wine (and am bringing some home), no favours (free food and drink for everyone anyway?), and no best man or bridesmaids (not really required in the registry office).No seat covers (I heard of someone who spent about 1,000 on this???!??!?!?!).

Just cut out the surface trimmings - the stuff that no one really notices [honestly, when is the last time that you really looked at the seat covers??].

helios · 07-08-2008 10:08AM

I did mine for under €1,000 but it was a very simple wedding, and the cost didn't include the honeymoon.

For €1,000 we got serveral bottles of wine, we made the invites ourselves, paid the Registrar's Office fees, I rented a suit and she bought a dress, and had the reception at my brother's apartment. Photos were done by a friend as our wedding gift and we even managed to get 2 really nice cakes from a pro in Dun Laoghaire.

cckavs · 31-01-2009 03:47PM

Marks and Spencers do lovely plain wedding cakes too - just if you dont know anyone.

I am getting mine there, and they are yummy!

Sizzler · 31-01-2009 06:30PM

s.cahill wrote: »

Has anyone managed to have their wedding within 10,000 to 15,000? i would love my dream wedding but cant afford to do it for anymore than this amount. this price needs to include EVERYTHING!
if there is any person with advice for me on how to achieve this, i would be really greatful!
damsel in distress!

Hey OP, I know you have said "everything", does this include the honeymoon though?

You have got lots of great advice so far but you havent said how many guests you are having or if you are having it at a church or registry office, are you in a particular part of the country? You wll probably get even better advice from people if you be a little more specific on the details

Good luck with it though, as long as you arent asking 150 people and dont want to go to Oz on honeymoon I think your budget is realistic!

Ebonyellie · 02-02-2009 12:42PM

I got married on a budget like that two years ago, i didnt cut corners but i certainly didnt have fancy stuff like doves etc. My biggest money saver was the reception, we had it in february, being off peak meant we were given a great deal. i know people may choose the summer because of the weather but we had a mild dry day and the weddings we went to that summer were a washout, and because it was off peak we got better service/attention and extras like free bar extension etc. My friends made the invitations & the table favours, they were gorgeous and had that personal touch. You really do have to shop around for the rest, maybe the recession will work in your favour if competition is increased and prices lowered. Best of luck!

GettingMarried · 02-02-2009 03:52PM

Got my dress on Saturday!!!!

It cost me €140 - NEW, WITH TAGS (THAT SAY €1695) - with brand new shoes, tiara, pearl hair things, silk stole, dress bag.... all from my neighberhood charity shop.... The ladies in there were delighted & even though it needs to be taken in a little (hopefully more when my super diet to end all diets is complete) one of the ladies was a dressmaker & helpfully pinned the dress so I could see what it would look like when altered!

I am only starting planning & have about 10/11 months left to plan, I am on a mission to have the whole thing come in for less than 5k....

The other thing we have decided is to have a cup-cake cake (having a cake weekend soon as a trail run with MOB, MOB, all the sisters etc. so it will be a mini party in itself) - that way if one of the cup cakes is awful, it can be chucked & replaced with a better one - will still have the cake cutting photo but it will be of us cutting a cup-cake!

stranagaone · 18-02-2009 12:06AM

Hi,

I'll second that. There are so many ways to cut down without spoiling your day!

My uncle and brother drove us to the chapel and reception. We paid the choir from the chapel to come in. Also, we made a contribution to the priest towards the flowers that were on the altar so only had to get bouquets.
I baked my own cake and shortbread although I paid to have it iced.
I got my dress through www.dresstrader.com - there were a few for sale near (but not too near) me and I went and tried a couple of them on. One just needed a few adjustments and was beautiful. I had one bridesmaid and got a dress in BHS for her.

We had a late wedding 3pm although it made the day go too quick. I would try and get a band which played all night, ours did so there was no lull in the middle while a dj set up and half the wedding escapes to the bar never to return.

If I was doing it again I would have it smart casual for the guests. I'm fed listening to him moaning about putting on a suit!

damo9 · 18-02-2009 12:20AM

EASY! dont invite 150+ people, the majority of which u dont even know! This is something that always bothers me, why do people feel the need to have BIG weddings???????

There was a piece on the rte news a few weeks back about people travelling north for the reception. Top of the range hotels at the same price as middle of the road hotels down here.. Is going abroad an option?
if so there are now a number of companys to help,just google it. Apart from being cheaper, you wont have to deal with the usual hangers on that acompany every irish wedding!! only people who are truly worthwhile to you will come along

Remember, the day is about you and your partner. Dont concern yourself of what others thought of there "day out"

ash_18x · 18-02-2009 08:46AM

[quote=GettingMarried;58859752

The other thing we have decided is to have a cup-cake cake (having a cake weekend soon as a trail run with MOB, MOB, all the sisters etc. so it will be a mini party in itself) - that way if one of the cup cakes is awful, it can be chucked & replaced with a better one - will still have the cake cutting photo but it will be of us cutting a cup-cake![/quote]

we had a cupcake cake too, it was really different and everyone loved it, we just had a small cake to cut on the top for photos and everyone got a 'lemon flavoured cupcake' each although they were in muffin cases!
i have attached a photo of it, i wish i still had one!

Julie Make-up · 25-02-2009 03:19AM

If you want a photographer...you can get someone to do it for free if they are just qualified as they can use they could use a couple of your photos in their portfolio and could do with the experience. I can ask a friend of mine that i do photo shoots with if she would be interested?

Julie

cathy01 · 01-03-2009 08:35PM

the local charity shop have dresss from 50 euro.I know one is new and a size 8.maybe have a look there.also other wedding forums may have unused items, .My sisters friend makes head dress things pm me if you want her number.
Best of look and congrats.
cathy

Darlie · 09-03-2009 08:05PM

Currently in the process of sorting our wedding, can't believe some of the prices being mentioned!! They're so high! The biggest cost involved in getting married is worrying about what other people think. The only contribution the likes of seat covers, professional car services, superfluous hotel decorations, favours, etc. make to your wedding are to the bill. As for the dove, etc, brigade. More money than sense!!
We're having a normal church and hotel wedding, just under 200 guests, full menus, church flowers, table flowers, wedding band, dj, 30 hotel rooms, photographers, all the rest. We reckon we'll have change from €7000. Given that a significant portion of guests will probably give cash as a gift, the hit to our bank balance won't be great. My friend got married on '06, also had the full works wedding and made a profit as they had no wedding list so nearly everyone gave cash!
Most couples know either musicians, photographers, someone with a nice car, someone who can arrange flowers, someone who can bake cakes, etc. Use them!
I understand that it is a (hopefully) once in a lifetime special day, but that doesn't mean you have to lose all sense of reality and go throwing money at crap that will not have any bearing on your special day.

MagicMarker · 09-03-2009 08:11PM

You could always give your money to me, so I can spend it on something useful?

10-15k on a wedding is moronic.

caitherron · 06-07-2009 07:35PM

can anyone help me,we want to have a marquee wedding in mayo. To sit 200 guests and tables,chairs,stage,stage,linen and lights all ads up and the quote is about 7000,can we get all this cheaper:rolleyes:

caitherron · 17-07-2009 12:00AM

need to know what wedding dress shop have sales on? i have seen the dress i want but wont pay 1400 for a dress for one day. Not getting married till April next year so we have some time yet, but the dress i have picked is 2009 collection and dont think i can get it in any secondhand shop.i have designer and ref no should any one need it. i will buy or rent to get the dress im looking for.

has anyone out there had a marquee wedding, any ideas on how to get costs cut on marquee without cutting out linen,tables,chairs etc for 200 guests
we just dont want a hotel wedding, thats all.

bolomore · 21-07-2009 11:22PM

You could opt for a photographer who might be looking to add to their wedding portfolio.

dewsbury · 01-11-2009 11:41PM

In order to keep wedding costs down...

Ask all your friends "Is it essential that I provide you with a 3 course meal for free? "

If they say that they don't need a meal (perhaps they could bring a home made sandwich) then this is good. This will say you thousands..

Perhaps you could offer an incentive such as "Provide your own food at my wedding and you need not buy me a pressie".

....Excuse the bad irony ... the point being .. don't just be a sheep .. think about the real issue rather than the media induced mindless cliches...

On the other hand if you feel the need to provide free meals then go for it !

Dostoevsky · 27-12-2009 08:29PM

This is a very useful thread. Does anybody have any more suggestions, particularly now that we are firmly in a recession?

Just got engaged the other day and €15,000 (in cash) is our absolute limit also.

HELP!10,000 to 15,000 max to spend on wedding.HOW DO I DO IT?

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