If you've just got engaged, congratulations! Here's how to have your dream wedding and cut the cost of invitations, the venue, photography, 'the dress' and other key expenses for the big day.
Sections
Invitations
Save the date cards
Save the date cards are an even bigger rip-off than the invitations. These can easily cost £1 per card, which means if you’ve got 70 to send out, that’s another £70 down the drain. Given that all save the date cards do is tell guests to put the date of your wedding in their diaries, we personally think they are completely unnecessary. What’s wrong with sending an email or good old-fashioned word-of-mouth?
Favours
Hair and make-up
These days it can cost as much as £100 to get your hair done professionally, and another £100 to have your make-up done – if not more. And that’s just for the bride! On top of that, you might have to pay out for your bridesmaids/mother-of-the-bride/groom’s mum etc.
To us, this just seems outrageous. After all, you’re only paying for someone to slap a bit of make-up on your face and make your hair look pretty. And what really bugs me is that even if you want something fairly simple, you’re going to pay out exactly the same amount as someone who’s getting their hair completely restyled, curled, pinned, and eight layers of make-up. Humph.
A far better way is to ask a clever friend to do your hair and make-up for you, or head down to a department store such as Debenhams and see if you can bag a free make-over (of course, this is only practical if your wedding venue is near a town!). Alternatively, ask a student learning to be a professional make-up artist. There are a few on studentgems or you could search for a local make-up course and email the course organiser to see if anyone is looking for work.
The same strategy could work for hair, or you could simply wear your hair down with a few accessories and ask your hairdresser to dry it curly or straight.
Photography
The dress
We’ve heard stories of brides paying out thousands for their special wedding day dress. How many times are you going to wear it? Oh yes, just once. Why would you want to pay £3,000 for a designer dress that’s going to spend the rest of its life packed in a box?
A far more sensible option is to head down to a high street retailer – many high street shops offer some great bridal wear at reasonable prices. For example, Coast, Monsoon, Phase Eight, Marks & Spencer and Debenhams all offer beautiful 'off the shelf' bridalwear for around £200, and there are some stunning, dirt-cheap wedding dresses if you don't mind ordering online (unless you can get to the US to try it on first) from top American retailer Nordstrom. What’s more, specialist wedding dress charity shops (such as Oxfam and St Ann's Hospice) are also well worth checking out for a bargain dress, as is the secondhand website sellmyweddingdress.co.uk.
You should also explore online shops like Milly's Bridal for bargain finds.
Finally, if you know which design you want and are happy to take the measurements yourself, you could consider getting a cheeky copycat version made in China or design your own and get it made cheaply.
Venue and the extras
To keep costs down, consider hiring a venue during off-peak months (in other words, not during May to September), and on weekdays. Consider using village halls, local authority buildings and country pubs for a more value-for-money option. Read 23 ways to have your dream wedding for less to find out more about this.
When picking your venue make sure you include the cost of the extras you will need on the day.
Quite often you will find that the price you’re paying for the venue doesn’t include extras such as bar staff, tables, chairs, crockery, and so on. As a result, you’ll find the costs soon stack up! So make sure you do your research fully – don’t assume that just because a particular venue looks cheap, it is!
So if you’re getting married in the near future, make sure you keep these rip-offs in mind and don’t get caught out! Good luck!
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This article has been updated.