Resources for weddings on a shoe-string

Weddings are notoriously expensive, so in today's blog we look at free resources and inexpensive ideas for creative weddings.

There are lots of blogs that give you ideas of ways to save money, so rather than replicating those, we've linked to them. In this blog, we give links to resources for different aspects of a wedding.

Wedding Planning

Bridebook is a brilliant free app that will help with all aspects of wedding planning. The app includes a wedding checklist, advice, budget and guest list. When you sign up, you can enter the details of your budget etc, and it will return options for venues, caterers, florists, cakes etc. They have a great selection of ideas & apps listed for Wedding gift lists too. You can also find free wedding planner templates here, as long as you sign up. If you prefer spreadsheets, this site has a range of free spreadsheet templates.

Wedding Venues

Wedding venues are notoriously expensive. One of the great things about Bridebook is that it searches for venues based on your budget. However, the least expensive options may be to look for local halls and rentable spaces, and ask friends and family to help with the set up and clean up, and hire caterers, or even order a range of buffet food.

Wedding invitations

Wedding invitations (menus; order of service etc) can be expensive to print. You can design your own on services like Snapfish and Vistaprint, (make sure you search for budget codes before ordering) or use a free template and print them yourself on nice card. Vista Create has a free option that allows you to use their design features to create your own invitations.

Other sites that offer free templates for you to use are:

Free and second hand stuff

Buying everything brand new will significantly increase your costs. However, if you source whatever you can pre-loved or free, you will save a fortune.

Ebay has a huge selection of Wedding gowns, bridesmaid gowns, tuxedos etc - Generally, these are outfits that are only worn once. There are also vendors who sell new clothing. (If you're buying from China, beware of clothing sizes!)

You can also find wedding decorations, cake stands etc all at a fraction of the cost. This can often be even cheaper than hiring outfits.

Freegle ; Freecycle and even Facebook marketplace have a wealth of free stuff, which sometimes includes decorative items, and items you can upcycle.

Savy Shopping

If you are going to buy anything new, then make sure you shop around online, and use voucher codes. See our previous blog on savy online shopping.

Wedding cakes

Wedding cakes are expensive, mainly because of the time involved in making them. A single sugar rose can take up to an hour to make, so the more elaborate your cake, the more expensive it will be. Some ways of saving include:

Have a friend or family member bake the cake
Buy an iced fruit cake and decorate it yourself with fresh flowers, or sugar flowers. Waitrose offers these.
Decorate it with fresh flowers, artificial flowers, or sugar flowers you buy onlineonline (Etsy, Ebay, Amazon)
Buy (or hire) a great cake stand to display your cake.

Wedding decorations

Amazon has a huge range of wedding decorations, as does Ebay. Many of them come from China, and can be very cheap. The Range also have a great selection of items at excellent prices.

These sites show you how to make your own decorations:

Wedding flowers

Fresh flowers can be very expensive, especially if you want flowers that are out of season. Using artificial flowers can make a massive saving. Ebay, Amazon and the Range have a great selection of these already in posy form, and some in vases.

You can also consider buying fresh flowers, such as roses, carnations, tulips and putting them into decorative vases for each table.

These blogs have additional great ideas to help you save money

Resources for Weddings on a shoe string