Cheap Party Dresses - wedding. I have no idea how much to budget?

wedding. I have no idea how much to budget?

Im starting to plan my wedding but Ive got no idea how much of my budget i should allocate to certain things. How much should I expect to pay for a basic wedding cake, nothing fancy. how much should I expect to pay for a photographer? again, nothing fancy, just a basic package. what on earth are wedding favours for? do i really need them? other than bouquets (one for me, one bridesmaid and one flower girl) and buttonhole for each guest, what other flowers do i need? Most venues ive looked at provide table flowers and if they dont I think i'd put something else in the centre of the table, (candles feather or something) is there anything Ive missed?I dont want any unexpected surprises... venue invites/table plan/name cards dresses/hair/makeup/shoes rings (I've seen one I love for £200) cars (I can arrange this for free through work) sit down meal/champagne for toast/wine for dinner buffet at evening (he can arrange this through work, very discounted) DJ (my dad) entertainer (magicial - best man) photographer registrar/legal fees honeymoon (hoping to get an all inclusive deal for £500-600each) cake groom/bestman suits Ive only got about £6-7k, I know its a very small budget so any suggestions to reduce costs would be great.

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We would kill for 6-7k at the moment for our wedding! there are loads f ways you can save money, most of which are on the website i have linked you to. For dresses, you can get brand new made to measure ones off ebay nowadays and they are only like 6o pounds delivered so there are lots of ways you can get round the whole pa-lava of having a big budget as believe me, some people will make up how much they have spent to look flashy and there really is no need! Have a lovely day and (hard i know) try to not get so stressed with the organising that you feel tense on the day..... this is YOUR day so do it how you want to
Anything you can make yourself do it, it will save you a fortune. Make your own invitations, do your own flowers decorations ect. Own make up and hair ect. Get family to take photos too if family or friends you know have a nice car use that instead of a limo ect ect
Sounds like you have a lot of questions. This will be my attempt at answering them. For your wedding cake, I would allocate around $300. If you go somewhere like Wal-Mart, which by the way makes lovely wedding cakes, you will probably come out quite a bit under that. I would allocate $500-$1000 for the photographer if you are planning on getting a simple package and a simple photographer. It is also a cute idea to place disposable cameras on the table during the reception, let the guests take photos, and then develop them later to go along with what you purchase from your photographer. Wedding favors are just gifts that you give your guests. They aren't essential, but they are usually given so that the guests feel appreciated for being there on your special day. If you don't want to go over-the-top with them, consider just giving out bubbles or rose petals, something they can use during the ceremony. Other than that, you sound like you have nearly everything covered. I suggest you keep to your budget and develop an organized plan that you stick to. It sounds simple now, but there really are a lot of things that can be added on that aren't really necessary!
when i started to arrange my wedding we set a budget of £9-10k for the basics, church, reception cars etc, which we met easily, it was allof the little extras which cost a lot and took our wedding up to 17k!!! basic cake is easy, get a friend to make one for you! spend around £50 for a good photogropher your looking at £400-500 for a basic package but im sure you can get one cheaper (all depending onyour region, in east mids you look at approx 500 basic, london etc may be more) only other place u may want flowers are onthe tables at reception but these can be substituted for anything really, balloons, fake flowers, vases full of crystals, anything you want... get creative! favours arent needed at all, why dont you cut costs by putting 2 or 3 little boxes of chocolates on each table, people will be happy to share but they usually end up going to kids to keep them happy during the speeches!! as for the list it looks like you have pretty much covered the basics, the only thing i would say is plan your day carefully, with you having a dj and an entertainer ensure there is enough time for him to do his best man duties then get ready for his entertaining! i dont know what time u plan on getting wed, we are having a 3.30pm wedding and the day is full to breaking point! hope this helps, we all go thru the same dramas when first planning our wedding, i am now prety much complete and ready to go!!
It really depends on where you live and how much shopping around to do. That budget is tight. I'll tell you your biggest expenses are going to be your photographer and your caterer. Work those out first and the rest of the budget falls into place. How many guests are you having? Guests eat a lot of food. Basic wedding cake- depends on number of slices really. Most places charge by slices but I'd say $300 was a good estimate. Mine was a little more for 200 guests. Photographers can be all over the board based on that package. Does it include engagement shoot? How many hours? How many pictures? I looked around for a long time to find an inexpensive wedding photographer in my area. I needed 5 hrs, an assistant photographer, and to own the pictures afterwards and it was $2,500 which was one of the cheaper ones I could find. However many packages are cheaper b/c you only get 75-100 photos. Wedding favors. It's a toss up. Most people don't care. Then again why does it have to be expensive? I can get 100 can koozies for $30. I got candles in a glass jar for my favors that were 50 cents each. You could do something really cheap. Buy some tulle and wrap up a Hershey's hug and kiss and say "hugs and kisses from the bride and groom". Birdseed to feed your own lovebirds. A package of flower seeds. No need to spend a lot here. You don't need flowers and with your budget I'd go tight here. I've never heard of a buttonhole for each guest. We don't do that in the US. Your groomsmen get bouts, your bridesmaids bouquets (which can be a single flower as well). Some people have corsages made. You should at least have a corsage for mothers. Some say grandmothers as well. Look for getting things with coupons and on sale. Look for previous brides selling their centerpieces. Invites- don't spend a fortune. People just throw these away. Some are $5 per invite and that's just ridiculous. You don't need place cards. Let people sit where they want and save the money there. You don't need to hire makeup artists and all that. Sales are the best. Shop ahead of time and don't change your mind. I was having a summer evening wedding so I bought tiki torches and other decor items at the end of the year before. Each item I bought for the table centerpieces I had a coupon for even though that meant I bought one-two items a week. Since you said most of your venues provide that, wow! That's really nice. Alcohol will be one of your biggest costs. A champagne toast and wine for dinner will be a lot depending on your guest list. I don't know if you can provide your own or if you have to go through the venues but if you can, look for less expensive wines. My budget was $11,000 a few years ago so really close to your 6,000 quid. I know what you are going for. It's definitely do-able to have a BEAUTIFUL wedding for that price. You just have to preplan and make some decisions. What is a big deal to you and what isn't? For me, flowers are not a big deal so I saved money there. Brides often waste a lot of money buying things they don't use when they change their mind. I didn't spend a lot to decorate the church. It was already gorgeous. I used some of their Christmas hurricane lamps and that was it. I just had one big arrangement for the alter. I spent most of my money at the reception. Especially in your case with having some t hings free through work, it should be very easy for you to not exceed your budget. Though if you find an all-inclusive for 500-600 each, please send me the link. I haven't found one that cheap.
Your wedding can def. be done on that budget. To help with your budget I would sign up with theknot.com or weddingwire.com. They have a budget chart that tells you how much of your budget should be spent on what. Anything you can do your self with help save you money. *have ceremony/reception in same place (no need to rent cars) *choose a location that is already beautiful (like a garden or park) *do your own stationary *if you have a friend who is good at hire and make-up ask them to do it for you *do a lot of shopping around for your dress (my sister went to this big sell and got a $750 dress for $50 bucks) *make your own ring pillow (costs way less than buying one) *go with simple elegant flowers (if you want do your own center pieces) *use lots of candles (always classy looking) *keep t guest list small *most places charge less if you book their venue during the week (monday - thursday) There are tons more ways! Best of luck!
you could have all that for the money you have budgeted. -venue you will have to shop around, we had a marquee a games room and a dancing room for 500 invites i made myself, i found a design i liked and copied it, it cost 40 quid to make invites that should of cost 400 - dress i got mine in the sale, should of been 895 i got it for 395, shoes off ebay and veil i got second hand- it should of cost me 200 quid brand new, - hair and make up- i went to a hairdresser and got mine plus three bridesmaids done for 75 quid,and make up one of my bridesmaids was very good at it, so i brought some and got her to do it, - we had a bottle of red and white on the tables, and a cheaper sparkling wine for toasting, the meal was a hog roast buffet - we didn't do an evening meal as i planned the main meal late so we didn't have to feed people twice - photographer- we were really lucky the lady who did mine was just starting up her business so we got her for 450, she doesn't charge less the 650 now, - honeymoon we got two weeks all inclusive to egypt 5* for that each, we did it last minute online, the money to pay for all that was what people gave us -marks and spencer do lovely cakes, we got a three tier sponge for 75 - grooms/best man suits, there is a online company you can use that charge from as little as £50 per suit onwards, we had to suit up 6 people and got them from a bridal shop that had just opened so got a deal, -registrar/legal fees, we had a church other things you might consider, thank you gifts, things to go in the bridesmaids hair, not everybody has favours, theremembereant to be a token for people to remembe the day, we had little mesh bags with little sweets in,
Hey, Congratulations on your wedding :-) Have a look at http://www.bookyourwedding.co.uk It's got lots of information on wedding planning etc. Hope this helps
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GO TO A WEDDING FAIR AND THEY WILL GIVE YOU IDEAS OF COSTS KEEP A FOLDER OF WHT YOUR LOOKING FOR AND ASK