Weddings on a budget?  We’ll show you how!

Weddings- fairytale, formal, large or small, whatever you are planning all come with a hefty price tag and many parents still reeling from university support, tremble at the thought of daughters and weddings. How can it be suggested to cut corners without seeming to be mean, how can a day of days be constructed out of an already exhausted bank account and let’s face it, credit doesn’t come cheap. Couples trying to finance they’re own soon find that even simple discussion become impossible when it comes down to curtailing a fantasy.

My Story
Viv Mitchell founder of Ribbons and Pearls has just gone through this process, and found the whole wedding provision leaving a scary void somewhere between £25,000 and not bothering. Viv and Richard met online, both having gone around the wedding track once before and with 6 Children between them to consider, soon found that the informal “Day to Remember” began to look horrifyingly expensive, as numbers grew on the first draft list of people to invite.

The problems encountered spurred Viv into a new business venture to promote the idea of affordable splendour.

She needed to prove to herself first that a wedding day can be planned to fit your dream and your purse, and with 130 guests, a live band and Church blessing complete with choir and bells has done just that.
After setting the day for 28th August, the work began in earnest to ensure a perfect day.

The Dream

Big dress
Top Hat and Tails for Groom
Tails for Male Supporters
3 Bridesmaids
Good food
Live Band
130 Guests
Lots of Flowers

The Budget £10,000

Sourcing the dress

Wedding Dresses take an unbelievable length of time to order, 5 months seems average, it was a miserable experience having to choose a dress from a rack of perfect size 10 samples, and imagining how it will look on a size 16, knowing that when it comes if it looks awful there will be no time to reconsider, and so a hefty seamtress charge will apply trying to make it fit. The pre-owned market seemed risky either you are faced with an original bride and the embarrassing prospect of not liking her dress, or buy blindly from the internet and hope for the best.

Hiring was an option but seemed very costly, and all the dresses bit samey in the “larger sizes” and when attended by a bored Saturday girl, the joy diminished somewhat.  In the end Viv chose a new dress, and sure enough it did not fit as hoped (and expected) and then cost a further £150 to sort out. The feeling of being elephantine and diaphanous and frankly past it did not help to help the dream to flourish.

“If I had had access to an easier and cheaper option I would have certainly looked at alternative provision, but I felt that if I buy a dress on online and take a risk of buying unseen where silk can mean anything from cheap polyester acetate to finest silk, or worse still risk offending an original Bride in her own home, this dilemma,  I decided, must be faced by many and that there was a business opportunity to become a middle man between sourcing and buying a pre owned dress and so taking this opportunity started to formulate a plan to create a business based around being just that, and Ribbons and Pearls was born. Having just had to give up my fulltime job as a Trainer for new business start ups following a back injury and facing surgery of the female kind I decided to kindle the idea whilst I convalesced. In the meantime I purchased the new dress as I am sure everyone else in the same boat does”.
Final cost £1180.

Undeterred the planning continued with the hope that the dress would become stock.!

Top Hat and Tails for the Groom, matching Tails for the 5 male attendants all were hired at a reasonable cost
Total cost £424

Next the Girls
The chosen wedding dress was quite distinctive and standard bridesmaid dresses left my 3 Girls 22, 19 and 16 looking for a way out! The a stroke of luck at the factory outlet gave us 3 perfect ivory silk skirts and plain corsets, that we imagined adorned with ribbons and corsage in colours to match the dress. 
Cost £83.00

Later a boned corset was spotted in a high street boutique that would mirror the theme of my skirt and so 3 were purchased to the delight of the girls.
Additional Cost £180
Total cost £263 (2/3 the cost of 3 traditional dresses)

Venue
This was a tough one, original guest list exceeded 200, and most venues could not cope with this number and prices per head varied from £125.00 to £50 (if you wanted to serve sausage rolls), plus additional room hire, so we considered church halls, and were amazed at the sheer size of some and the beauty of others. A tentative contact with the key holders revealed that a hall could be hired for £10 an hour or less, and there was no obligation to be a member of the congregation. A blessing was suggested (which had not even been considered seeing as we were both divorced) the local Vicar gave us a ring and a meeting was arranged, we were both surprised at the changes that had taken place within the Church and we were both humbled to be reminded that our promises were to each other in the presence of God, not directly to Him and that a church was the best place to go public with that promise. We were charmed and felt completely accepted and so it was arranged. Registry Office for the legalities, and God’s House, for the public declaration of love.

The Hall held a maximum 100 guests, complete with tables and seats, and outside there would be room for a further 50.
Cost Register Office £60

Church fees
£300 to include organist, bell ringers and small Choir.
Hall fees £160 from 8pm Friday until 9.00am Sunday
Total Cost £520

Stationery
Invitations were produced and printed at home and duly sent out. Cost Paper, Ink Cartridges, Envelopes, Stamps and Time
Total cost £100

Food
Self Catering for 130 people and getting married at the same time is a daunting prospect even for Viv who regularly feeds 8 -10 on an average day. It seemed as soon there is mention of wedding, all the prices go up, just as if it were a large corporate event as opposed to a small firms annual dinner. Again pricing was high so DIY it was to be then it was suggested ‘A Hogroast’ internet research found a great company. Cost £1200 to include nice platters of impressive accompaniments.
A further £400 on puddings and soft Drinks, a trip to Calais gave us 40 bottles of recommended Champagne, 60 bottles of good wine, and 120 Cans of lager all in for £724, plus a Firkin sized Barrel of Beer for £80.
Total Cost for Food and Drink £2500 including Euro-tunnel fare.

Flowers
Red Roses for the reception and Oriental Lilies for the Church with Gypsophyllia, to pad out. Ordered on line and posted directly in the week before the wedding, 60 Lilies, 120 Scarlet Roses, 25 Stems Gypsophyllia. Additional ribbons and oasis, adhesive tape, corsage pins and bouquet holder. Extra Calla Lilies for bouquet
Total Cost £300

Reception decoration
Balloons, Helium, Napkins, Rose Creams, Champagne Bubbles, small vases, rose petals, small candle holders and coloured night lights, Chiffon swag, Ribbons, coloured lanterns Ivy and Rose Garland £200
Table covers, Crockery, Cutlery and Glasses and Chiller Buckets hired with dirty collection service all in for £300
Total Cost £500

Cake
We were very privileged in that as a wedding present the family made and iced a beautiful 3 layer cake that had I made it, would have been a further £50 at least. Cakes made professionally retail average from £200 -£500.

Band
5 members of a Local Band, enticed with food and beer! They had the flexibility to allow ad- lib players from the audience to participate in playing should they wish to and there were quite a few budding Rock Stars among our guests, all adding to the camaraderie and informality of the day.
Total Cost £470

Photography
Being close to 50 makes one a little camera shy and specialised photographic shots can be the best way to emphasise the best bits and avoid the ugly shots. There are many levels of photographers from traditional to zany, and I think that you have to meet a few and create some frisson with them to work out exactly what you want, our photographer was a friend who was more than competent and as a gift to us both charged only for the raw films and processing. We were very priviledged to have such a friend so shop around and like a good hairdresser pay as much as you can afford and reduce costs elsewhere.
Average Cost £500.00 - £1500.00

Token thankyou Presents for Attendants
Total Cost £100