If you ask my husband. he would say that the planning of our wedding was really simple. It was for him! He mainly just needed to collect the suits and turn up at the right time. Both of which he managed. I, however, spent months planning everything. Unless you have an unlimited budget, you have to think carefully about what parts of the wedding planning you want to prioitise. I have been thinking about our wedding and there isn't actually anything I would change, so I am going to share my top priorities, as well as how we saved hundreds of pounds.



1. The Venue.

We wanted the reception to be able to hold around 80 people, with more friends able to attend for the evening reception. We wanted a place where photographs would look nice whether the weather was good or bad. Unfortunately our venue no longer exists. It has been made into private housing. But the sun shone and we have some beautiful pictures and great memories.


2. The Photographer

When it came to choosing a photographer, we wanted someone who we were comfortable with and who would take a a mixture of staged and unstaged photographs. Choosing a wedding photographer you get on with and whose work you like is so important. They are documenting what is hopefully going to be the best day of your life. Things have moved on in the world of photography in the last twelve years. If you choose well you will get some beautiful images. You will also see parts of your day that you didn't actually see. Shots of people enjoying themselves at the reception were some of my favourite shots of our day.


3. The Cake

I love cake and I wanted a chocolate one. Whilst you can make savings on your wedding cake, by buying tiers from a supermarket and adding flowers, I was happy to spend more money on something special. I had a fantastic white chocolate cake with dipped strawberries and even made my own version for our 10th wedding anniversary.


So how did we save money?

Luckily the dress that I fell in love with was actually reasonably priced, but that was luck more than anything. Our biggest savings came in the things we did ourselves.

1. Stationery

I made all the wedding stationary myself. From the invites to orders of service and menus. I felt it made it more personal. You don't need to be particularly creative to make your own wedding stationery.

2. Favours

Now favours are a funny thing aren't they. I think the loveliest favours I have received at a wedding were some homemade biscuits by the grooms family. They aren't really necessary, but everyone does them - a grown ups party bag! We chose to do something very simple and combined our two favourite childhood sweets. My husband went for a swizzle lolly and I opted for a drumstick. I tied these together with some curling ribbon.

3. Flowers

Now I have my Mum, friend and IKEA to thank for these. I wanted my flowers to be quite simple and went to my local garden centre the day before and bought a lot of roses. My Mum made the bouquets for me and the bridesmaids. My friend the button holes and I did the table decorations. I bought some cheap vases from IKEA, white stones from the garden centre and simple added some roses to some oasis. Altogether, we spent less than £150.


4. Make Up

I am not the kind of person that likes to be heavily made up. I felt more comfortable doing it myself. A few weeks before the wedding, I went to my local Benefit counter and had a makeover. I then practiced at home and felt comfortable with my make up on my wedding day.

5. We stayed at home rather than a hotel.

As our reception venue was 15 minutes away from where we lived, we didn't really see the point of spending an expensive night in a hotel. Instead we got a taxi home. It was actually really nice after a fantastic if exhausting day to be back in our own home.


What were/are your priorities on your wedding day? What ways did you make savings?