Hi i would love to get married very soon but have nothing saved at all. how has everyone managed to save, how long has all your saving took and when did you start booking things (eg when you had half you budget, full budget or just bit saved) x
CommentAuthorLauraY27
Hi,
We're managing to save what we can afford every month which is about £500, and have just started, so it will take us about 13 months to have saved up for everything. We do have half of our venue balance due 6 months before the wedding though and are buying things as we go.
When we first got engaged we had nothing saved and I was unemployed for a further 9 weeks. Although we didn't have £2000 given to us by h2bs dad as part of a divorce settlement so we used that to book the venue with, which we booked straight away x
CommentAuthorkatielea100
Our weddings costing £3000 Registry office Just evening reception no wedding breakfast High street/bh5 dresses Preloved wedding dress DIY invitations DIY flowers DIY centrepieces A starting out photographer so a lot cheaper An outside caterer Wedding cake made by my bm Suits hired Look around as much as you can to get the best deal and DIY as much as possible Xx
CommentAuthorShowgirl
Our parents are being very generous and have offered to pay for everything between them (to a certain point) but I just love getting a bargain and between haggling prices and buying things when they've been on sale I have so far managed to save £6000 from our budget. Another way I was able to save money from the budget was to accept my Mum's offer of paying for the invites as my birthday and Christmas present.
CommentAuthoralmost a year wife!!
our day is costing us just shy of 10k, weve been buying and saving for 2.5 yrs now and each time we got paid we would pay for something. my parents have given us 3k (price of food) and his parents have give us 1k, we shopped around for deals as weve had to pay for everything ourselves as our reception is not in a hotel, were on a military base. the majoirty of our costs were on my outift inc hair makeup, dress everything is 4k alone - which made me feel a little ill tbh!!! my dress i paid with the my rebate money! woop!
catering (4 course wedding breakfast, full hot eveing buffet, staff costs, linens and napkins) - 3k car, photobooth, hair & makeup, church, photog - £1k me - 4k (this inc ring, dress, tiara, makeup, hair, shoes, underwear, garter, jewelery) everything else is homemade ie flowers, invites, sweetie table, special touches, gifts, favours, reception decs, bm dresses and mens suits, church decs - 2k
We are literally cutting out things we don't need and only buying things we 100% need. I'm saving my wages and literally putting them straight in the bank, but H2B is away and gets a bonus in his wages, then another bonus in July so that is benefitting us a lot. x
CommentAuthorKirsty
We have been saving for 14months, 400-500 a month. My parents have been very generous and gave us 1500 towards our venue and have paid for my 1000 dress. There have been months unexpected bills pop up, we should be just shy but im going to put some on my credit card (about 500) for 2 weeks as most people want paying before the day and we get married on my payday!
CommentAuthorDonnaH39
We already had some money saved up and my mum has saved some for us as well, that adds up to £11,000 and since getting engaged we have started putting away about £320 a month (getting married in 18 months) planning on putting more away on months when we can as well, that way hopefully we'll have plenty for the wedding and the honeymoon and maybe some left over to start a holiday fund for next year.
We went on our first holiday abroad together last year and said we wanted to start going each year, not going this year as saving so don't want to end up not going again after the excitement of the wedding is over
CommentAuthorAllishiaW
We are doing our wedding on a budget!! we sat and worked out what wed like,a realistic price of how much it costs and then set an amount down each month and then add bits as we go along (like the bms presents one week,invites one month etc)!! We are doing pretty much most of it ourselves-fil is paying for our car,my nan is paying for our cake,my mum is paying for our honeymoon suite and my dad is paying for our honeymoon!! My advice is be realistic with prices-my church was more than I expected and then added on was an organist and verger!! Our bridesmaid dresses were cheaper-so really look into prices x
CommentAuthorNicolaG1
I started booking things straight away. Every pay day I transfer what we need to save into a savings account. Our wedding is coming in at around 12-13k. I started booking in April and paid deposits on a credit card which id pay off in full come the next pay day. (Give or take a couple of months like when I booked honeymoon flights which I couldn't pay off in full) by november we had paid off half of the wedding so I divided what we had left by the number of pay days and have transferred that figure into savings each month. Got another two thousand to save by the big day and we will probably be short by around 500-700 but I am lucky that I can whack it on a credit card ready to be paid off end of April.
Also for the past twelve months OH and I only allowed ourselves 500 each as disposable income (this includes petrol, pension payments, phone bills) the rest I put in a joint account, paid all the bills out and spent the rest of wedding stuff or savings. I cant remember the last time we went out for drinks or for a meal but it will all be worth it in the end. Xx
CommentAuthor*KelBel*
We have h2bs parents helping with £3k and buying the cake, my dad bought my dress, I got my shoes brand new off eBay at £50 off the price, we also have a pot money jar which I've been putting notes in every week so that'll be fun to open when it's full :-) h2b also bought 6 of those tins u have to open with a tin opener from the pound shop and put a sticker on each with one thing to save for written on each then is putting shrapnel in it, this sort of saving adds up.x
Velcro...my wedding day twinny! The Two Kel's!
Got engaged 14/10/12 in Central Park NYC!
Became Mrs Macdonald 13th September 2014
Mummy to 4 girlies and baby blue boy Due 10/05/2016
CommentAuthorJoJ67
I am amazed at how much money you guys are saving a month. Its amazing. Our wedding is on cc at the mo and we pay it off monthly. Wont be paid off until at least 3 months after the wedding i think. X
CommentAuthorCoral
We haggled our rings down from a high Street store got 15% off and yearly cleaning and recoating (white gold) so saved £130 Bought an ivory bridesmaid dress £250 including alterations Mum knows a baker - mates rates Bought in the sales flower girl dress £21 down from £52 Wanted silver accessories bought at Xmas when its easy to find Join cash back sites to get a little more off things your going to buy online Small bridal party less people to buy for and my bridesmaid is amazing bought her own dress and is letting us all stay at her house in Edinburgh for the hen do Also reduce household costs and save all that loose change it adds up take it to the bank or self service tills where its all yours
CommentAuthorsALLY
Wow you have all done so.well. our family won't be putting anything towards ours and ours is coming to £6000 I better get saving just means its gonna be a few years away :( has anyone else got a loan out or put it on credit card? Would you say its worth it or not to bother?
CommentAuthorthefuture:Mrs_Hurren
Hi April,
We are also not getting any help from our family. Everything for our day will be paid for by myself and my h2b. Our wedding is going to cost around the 5000 mark and we are saving around £200-£250 a month as once the deposits are paid the final costs need to be paid closer to the wedding date.
I really wouldn't be putting any part of my wedding on a credit card or taking out a loan. I've always been brought up by my parents with the attitude that you have what you can afford. if you take out a loan/credit card you can end up paying money back a long time after the wedding and is it really worth it. You wont be any more or less married if you keep costs down or get yourself into debt. Also you need to consider how things could change in the future ie work situation/mortgage/children which could all affect your ability to pay it off.
Ill be proud to start my married life debt free. Obviously to any one reading this it is just my own opinion so please don't take offence if you are credit card/loan happy. Its just not for me. xx
CommentAuthorAmyH608
We started planning our wedding about 13 months ago, i bought a lot of smaller things (favours etc) in the january sales and then we booked 1 thing at a time over the year. Some people (ie photographer) have been great and allowed us to pay monthly. Like the future Mrs Hurren said it will be great to start married life debt free. Everything can be bought in budget within reason :) You just have to shop around :) xx
CommentAuthorrachymoo
To be honest we had nothing saved when we booked our wedding, we booked it 2 years in advance and have just paid bits off here and there as we've gone along. We're getting married abroad though and a lot of stuff (our venue etc) doesn't have to be paid until we actually arrive in Rhodes so obviously that's given us a bit longer to save x
CommentAuthorStephanieM71
We sat down and worked out a budget for the whole wedding and how much we'd need to save each month to get married by a certain date. That amount is transferred by standing order, half into an ISA and half into a regular savings account that we can access immediately to pay deposits.
It was hard at first knowing that the extra money would've come in handy, but you soon learn to forget it was even coming in in the first place. We haven't gone out for ages and take-out is now a real treat, but it's paying off and we're on target so far.
The wedding is however over budget so we've had to do a quick reshuffle and see if we can either cut back on wedding costs (unlikely) up our savings or do overtime. Hoping it will work out x
CommentAuthorDonnaH39
How much are you planning on doing on your own?
I've been offered chair covers and thinking of making our own sweet buffet, invites and possibly centre pieces.... my only worry is with things like the chair covers, sweet buffet and centre pieces is when do we get it all organised on the day? Are venues quite happy to help out with sorting the room with things like that or would we have to organise it all ourselves before the ceremony?
CommentAuthoralmost a year wife!!
April do not put anything on cc or loans you will be paying it forever don't start married life with a huge debt x
Ill marry my hero
CommentAuthorBecky1608
We're trying to put away 500 a month. Some months are easier than others. Panicking slightly over how much we still have to pay for and book but just trying to get the essentials sorted for now and then everything else is an added bonus!! We also have a money pot that you smash. We're putting £2 coins in and hoping that when it comes time to smash it that we'll have enough to pay for something like the flowers or cake Xxx
29/09/2008 - The Day we met
12/11/2008 - When we decided to be more than friends
04/11/2012 - A proposal in Central Park NYC
08/11/2014 - The day we say I do!
CommentAuthorsALLY
Things are just hard at the moment when we got together we were both in debt and are finally debt free, so i would like to avoid loans and credit card. i know people who have only just paid theres off after 10 years :(. My partner is the only one with an income as i look after the kids but looks like hes leaving work in 2 weeks and has no new job to go to.... this is such bad timing
CommentAuthorAna40
Becky I've got one of those pots, I think if you use £2 coins then you end up with around 1k. X
CommentAuthorCharlotteE98
We've got savings, H2B's parents are giving us around £6k, Dad and Step-mum are giving us £1k and Mum and Step-dad are paying for cake and invites. H2B's parents will lend us money to cover any shortfall (they wouldn't let us get a loan). We've found it's not what you know it's who you know and have managed to pull a few favours from friends and family. A family friend will be able to help us with the cars and my Mum loves to sew so we can make the venue decorations (bunting etc). We also got a discount from our DJ and Photographer.
CommentAuthorGhilaL
A lot of the high streets do wedding cakes now too and you can decorate them yourself if you like
CommentAuthorKirsty
I was lucky that my parents pad our venue deposit (£1500). We then took 500 out of pur wages each month and put it in a savings account. I was really strict and some momths we did have to dig into it, but we just cut out take aways and cut back on the amount of food we buy. Its been easier than expected to he honest. We have about £400 to go on a cc but only for a month. The rest £9500 we have saved in 18 months. Quite proud really lol!
CommentAuthorVelcro
we're lucky to be getting help off the parent, but we've worked our butts off to pay what we have done so far. I had to get a job lol.
diy'ing a lot of it though, to save on costs, which is helping as im not having to pay for stationary or bouquets.
Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey
*Kelbel* is my wedding twinny!
CommentAuthorMrsL2be
We sat down and went through about 3 months of our bank statements and realised we wasted so much money it was untrue. So we decided to stop and put the money in a savings account. We were spending around £150-£200 each weekend and didn't even realise until we looked at the accounts closely so now we "try" to limit our spending to £50 a weekend and put rest away then at the end of every month whatever money is left in our accounts gets transferred to savings.
Book early and haggle. We got our photographer for £600 but same package it is twice the price now for next year but because we booked well in advance got a fab deal. When you see the money adding up its a great incentive to keep saving. Xxx
