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Writer's pictureNorbert Campbell Photogra

Bride On A Budget! 20 ways to save money!

Updated: Mar 15, 2021

Congratulations! You are getting married! But it's so expensive, the average cost of a wedding in the UK now costs.....take a deep breathe.... a whopping £30K !!! But should it not be about two people falling in love & tying the knot? Not trying to pay off an enormous loan burdening them down in the first few years of their life together? Don't fancy being in debt forever, then read our bride on a budget blog, for lots of ways to save money on your special day!


OK then let's think long term for a moment, it's good to acknowledge that after the wedding day is over, the wedding feast & cake has been eaten, all you have left is one another & your photographs, be they delightful professional ones or disappointing snapshots taken by non-photographers....It's good to realise that some of your decisions regarding your wedding day have far reaching effects, other decisions are not so important. Thinking this way can help you to identify what's essential to you & what's not, which allows you to carefully determine, what areas deserve your money...which allows you to...


* Prioritise. Knowing yourself helps you to decide, what's really important to you & to set priorities. For example do vintage cars & limousines not float your boat? Why not ask a good friend who has a nice, roomy car to be your chauffeur for the day? Just add white ribbons, rosettes & voila your chariot awaits!


* What are you good at doing yourself, do you, a family member, or a close friend excel at doing makeup, styling hair? There could be a saving lurking in this sentence!!


* The venue. Why not consider less popular dates, weekday weddings & out of season weddings are significantly cheaper then mid summer Saturday dates. If you want to be super frugal, why not book a wedding date in the week in Autumn/Winter?!!


* Careful negotiation with your venue might result with a reduced price. For some venues to have a booking, is better than an empty venue. However, a word of caution, be reasonable & realistic when haggling, don't go too low, it's insulting, annoying & will just prematurely close down your negotiation, without the desired result!


* Buy your own booze when special offers are on. Do your maths, even if your venue charges corkage fees, buying your own & paying corkage often still is cheaper!


* Bake off your dessert table, get relatives & friends to bring a homemade dessert /cake.


* Don't want to spend a lot of money for a wedding cake? Buy M & S pre iced fruit / sponge cakes, just add coordinating fabric flowers to decorate! If you buy varying sizes of the round pre iced cakes, you can still stack them & get a truly stunning effect!


* Stick to close friends & family & then if you want to, open up your wedding to more guests for an evening buffet.


* You will likely pay more for a wedding venue situated in stunning grounds, so you could book a cheaper venue without the luxurious gardens & en route stop off at a local park before your wedding breakfast? The beautiful grounds shown in the photos are Walsall Arboretum, West Midlands, on a delightful sunny day in June!


* Companies can charge £100's for a sweet cart, complete with goodies, scoops & bags. A trip to any cut price shop i.e Poundland, Costco or Makro, & you can do a sweet table yourself for £50+


* Make your own favours. Cut organza fabric into a 8" square, fill it with your choice of sweets, chocolates, truffles etc. Twist the top & tie it with a ribbon & hey presto delicious favours done!


* The dress. Use your personal social network, let all your friends know you are looking for a wedding dress, one of our lovely brides got her wedding dress, brand new & absolutely free, from a friend of a friend of a friend!


* If you live nearby Wolverhampton, Compton Hospice is an excellent charity, which takes amazing care of cancer patients, it has a number of charity shops including the Compton Care shop in Zoar Street, Gornal, Dudley. This particular shop has a beautiful array of brand new & used in excellent condition, wedding & bridesmaids dresses. The last time I visited the shop, I saw wedding dresses by the award winning designer Ian Stuart for about £150. BARGAIN!


* Check out preloved, gumtree & ebay for some amazing bargains for your wedding dress/ veil / bridal shoes etc.


* Still not keen about buying a dress which you can only wear once? After the wedding day, have the dress dry cleaned & sell it on!


* Think out of the box you don't have to be married in white, if you like buy a dress of your liking which you can wear time & again!


* Rings, here in the West Midlands we are spoilt for choice for engagement / wedding rings. The Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, holds a fabulous array of different design, which are fairly priced. However, why not opt for wearing a family heirloom, it will look stunning & have more sentimental value knowing your Aunt Floss worn it in 1802!!


* Our lovely bride below did her own flowers, she got married in June in the UK. Fresh peonies are readily available at that time, so more affordable.


* A tip from my own wedding! Re-purpose your flower arrangements. A close friend offered to take our beautiful fresh lily & rose arrangements from the hall where the ceremony had taken place & settled them on our top table at our wedding feast...who will ever know?


* Never underestimate having a beautifully executed record of your wedding day, view it as an investment. Precious moments can be lost relying on friends taking pictures & they are your guests after all. Professional photography captures fleeting emotions, seizes romantic poses which freeze that moment in time & catches the spirit of your happy day... Then over the following weeks, months & years much pleasure can be had, by picking up that wedding album & reminding yourselves what a wonderful day you had when you tied the knot...oh & by the way did I tell you, we did it on a shoe string....!


Ingrid Campbell

Norbert Campbell Photography


The following beautiful photographs were on taken at Walsall Arboretum, one glorious summers day...











1 comment

1 Comment


hannahelizabethwebster89
Nov 19, 2019

What great tips! We did most of these for our wedding day! For our party favours me and my groom made our own Honeycomb - an easy, cheap crowd pleaser. Also another great memory together. We also designed and made our own invites together. It's great to look back on our wedding and be really pleased at the results whilst knowing it didn't cost the earth (no debt!!!) and we have so many great memories doing things together and with other loved ones.


I also love our photos at the Arboretum- thank you Norry and Ingrid! 😊

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