Right then, here we go, I’m getting married for the second time this year and thought it might be useful to publish the ways in which myself and my delightful fiancé have managed to keep our budget down. In tough economic times we thought it best to try and manage a reasonable budget as money is getting harder to keep hold of right now.

Here we go then onto the real ways to save money….

Hire the suits early

These were the boys suits, the hire shop was doing a 25% off for bookings made six months in advance, a further 5% was offered if they were paid in full at that time. A little negotiation later and we had secured our suit hire at 40% off list prices and put it on the credit card for two reasons. One was so that I could pay it off next month, two was that the credit card then shoulders responsibility if there was a problem like the shop going out of business for example. Under the consumer credit act of 1974, any purchase over £100 is covered and the card company is liable.

Book the venue late

Eah? Surely you mean early? Nope, the early bookings are at a premium as they suit the booker. We asked for what was available to “fill in” their bookings and also booked the Sunday rather than the Saturday or Friday – Sundays are nearly half the price of Saturdays – but you have to check that your local civil service conductors will operate on a Sunday – some don’t.

Forget the Limo / Wedding Car

We just picked the best car the family had gave the job to them and offered to help with the wash and wax the day before hand, bit of ribbon – job done – cost nill.

Grow your own flowers

What – are you mad? Not really, four bags of bulbs bought in December and planted in four £3.00 grow bags and the blooms are lovely – pity they are two weeks early for the May wedding but, hey we are drying them out and will use as centre pieces for the tables. My fiancé has practised the button holes and they will be made the day before and kept in water.

Make your own cake

Yep and guess what its chocolate – we thought that its daft spending loads on a cake no – one likes so its chocolate and orange cake it is. Just test out the recipe first so you know its yummy!

Dress

Well we didn’t find this in time but you can now get wedding dress hire online – at a tenth of the cost of actually buying something you are going to wear for just a few hours – they even have designer gowns like Maggie Sottero – brilliant!

The £30,000.00 diamond encrusted dress they had on would be accompanied by diamond necklaces, rings, tiaras, and would be set off nicely in the gold plated horse drawn carriage pulled by 12 white stallions. Most girls grow up and get a bit more realistic about what they can do and indeed, afford for their wedding

It is vital that you learn to set up things like budgets to help insure you do not overspend in any area and if you do, then you know you will have to sacrifice equally on something else to ensure that the budget is hit. You may think that your dream wedding is a creation of your own imagination but in fact we have numerous influences from family, friends, to the media

Television has a lot to answer for. We see big weddings on television and cannot help but be swayed a little by the extravagant nature of some celebrities fantastic bashes. The thing about watching such programmes is sometimes we forget it is only entertainment and not very useful for real life situations. You don’t have an endless pile of cash to start spending away so you have to come up with a realistic budget for your day

You have sit down as a couple and write down what you would like and what the costs for each item are – not what you think it could be. Your budget needs to assign a cost to, the venue and food cost for the amount of covers you will be expecting. Rings, flowers, button holes, posy, table decorations, invitations, suit hire, dress, or wedding dress hire, civil fees, cars, honeymoon, dj, band, gifts, shoes, bridesmaids dresses. It’s a big list. The national average for a UK wedding with 100 guests is £18,000.00 (Sourced from guardian newspaper 18 June 2008)

In order that costs be kept low maybe lean towards a quality wedding more so than a quantity wedding. You could have 300 people at your wedding but are they your close family and friends? Remember this day is about you and you need to decide what you really want. Always be willing to compromise and give a little quantity to get a little more quality. You need to make sure this day is as you want it and you are not obligated to invite everyone who ever knew you. The more you do for yourself the less your day will cost you and the more intimate it will feel on the day – enjoy!

Once your big wedding day is over, in the years to come you find that your memories of this special day are more important

than you thought they would be. All of your guests will have chance to say a line or a page, it doesn’t matter which, as

you will have this forever.

The wedding guest book is a wonderful keepsake that can be looked back at anniversaries, you can share with friends

and family.

It is also great to remember those who came and the ones who couldn’t make it. Like the children that come along

in the years to come. Some guest books have photo pages to help keep the names and faces together.

There are many styles of guest books available in today’s market. Those brides and grooms that choose a theme or particular setting for their big day could include this theme for their guest book too.

For example for a beach wedding, a white satin book would work but a beach theme guest book and pen set would be perfect.

Or you could keep and stick some shells on a plain cover from the actual beach. Then there are the

ones that are for those who want their fantasy wedding too. The Fantasy Heart shape guest book and pen set for the fantasy

wedding of your dreams. When planning your big day check out your options and find the book that fits your theme perfectly.

As time go by, the memories of your wedding will continue to be very special. The wedding guest book is a great keepsake and written signature of the good time you had that day.

The theme and/or the decor need to be considered  when choosing a guest book and pen for your wedding. There is a large variety of guest books to pursue from, no more so than on the web. Online stores tend to carry a larger variety than most local bridal shops. The choice is what you would prefer, not what someone has on their shelf or in storage.

If you cannot find your exact book you were looking for – don’t fret, as its not the book but the contents that are the most important thing here!

If all the accesories to your wedding seem to be adding up and eating into your budget for your wedding dress then why not consider hiring your wedding dress from an online company – one more thing ticked off the list!