Wedding invitations
 

Hiya,

If your interested in handmade invitations, I received 2 beautiful samples from www.blissfuldesigns.co.uk, they'll send you two of your choice free. Also have a look at www.weddingaccessories.net and www.invitesgalore.com both have international shipping and loads to choose from.

Good luck,
colmsmum.

as many of you may know , I m involved with a local charity shop.We got inn a NEW, with tags size 8 dress, but they are selling it for 50 euro..big saving , its worth about 500..so deffo hit the chairty shops.
Cathy

wedding tips
 

I'm just after been on ebay looking at cheap dresses, not for a wedding just for myself and a couple of lovely dresses were on the pages, they said prom or debs dress but when you actually click into them there wedding and bridesmaid dresses... This person makes them to fit so if you see something you like you can contact her via ebay or email and she makes them to fit...
They are fab i couldn't belive my eyes... If you want i can try get her email address for you... or ebay details... they are cheap too the wedding dress was 11.00euro but 50.00euro to post and the bridesmaid/debs were 40.00euro
but only 18.00 to post... Really worth a look...

Green Wedding Videos
 

Three Green Wedding Videos on JumbleTown's "GreenTube"...here:

http://www.jumbletown.ie/forums/showthread.php?t=45282
http://www.jumbletown.ie/forums/showthread.php?t=45284
http://www.jumbletown.ie/forums/showthread.php?t=45286

Kiara's Wedding
 

Young Kiara has decided to wed
So she’s looking quite hard for a bed
So JTers please do your best
To make sure Kiara has rest
Colour? Doesnt matter as long as it’s red.

Tips for getting married
 

For our table decorations we collected shells from the beach and spray painted them silver - but you could use any colour - we scattered them all around the table.

We got the hotel to make a punch, bought white wine boxes in lidl and mixed with sparkling water and added berries, eg blue berries and strawberries etc, went down very well as people entered the hotel.

We also had a buffet, we live by the sea so took advantage of the local fishing boats!!

Got our rings locally made - cost 500 euro and they are unique - only two in the world!!

Hope this helps!

Oh and sent thank you cards as Christmas cards!!

Marks and Spensers Wedding Cake
 

After reading posts in this thread I notice ppl talking about the marks an spensers cake. I used it and was very pleased with the result. My florist gave me cut roses to theme in but any flowers would do.. Also I used an Avon ornament for my cake topper as I loved bears. In total it cost € 120 as opposed to the €300- €400 quotes I'd been given

hi just thought i would tell u about my wedding. the money was very low and we didnt want to cancel it so we had the reception in our local pub. we had a hot and cold buffet. we still had the band followed by the dj. it was an amazing nite and because we had more money to spend on it we were able to ask all our family and friends for the whole day. we both really enjoyed it and didnt cost half of what a hotel would have cost us. if i could i would do it again tomorrow.

Cheap wedding:

Meal: Get everbody to go to a drive through fast food joint and buy their own.
Music: Get all cars to tune into the same radio station and you are sorted.
Photos: Let the local papers know in advance (preferably the local free paper). Pick up your free paper and cut out the photos.
Video: Let your local RTE, TV3 and TG4 reporters know and have someone video the news that night.........it will surely be on.
Total Cost: Approx €15 for meal deals for the two of ye.


I proposed the above to my fiance 11 years ago. Surprisingly she didn't go for it and even more surprisingly we are still happily married.

My Book
 

Hello everyone, I stumbled across this thread doing some wedding research. I just wanted to stick my head in to the discussion and say hi! I wrote a book about saving money for your big day, 'How to have a Champagne Wedding on a Buck's Fizz Budget'. Recently I partnered up with Aisling Mackey of www.diywedding.ie (stationery, favours, decorations) to put together www.budgetwedding.ie We are happy with it so far, it is evolving with publicity which is bringing in lots of new suggestions.

I really like your suggestions and would love if you would contribute some of them to our site! Or just have a look and tell me what you think?!

All the best,
Sarah

Budget weddings
 

Hi I will be married 22 years in August, I know weddings these days cost a fortune and one wedding has to be better than the next. I have been to a number of weddings in the last few years an cannot believe the amount of money wasted just for one day. I know of someone in England that borrowed £50,000 for his wedding went to all the rounds and a year later was getting divorced and was still paying the bill!!!

I don't want to sound like an old fogie, but I think weddings are really getting out of hand, I think nowadays when there is a recession you will be respected more for saving money rather than wasting it. (The new trend now, and the bragging seems to be OH I SAVE MONEY BY GOING HERE, OR I'M CUTTING DOWN BY?)so you will actually be more trendy by cutting down on costs.

When we got married we were living in England and came to get back to Ireland to get married, we had the expense of staying in Ireland for 2 weeks and 2 weeks honeymoon in Spain (I know Spain wouldn't be good enough by today's standards but it was an achievement for us).

My sister did the flowers, my sister-in-law made a fabulous cake, the dresses were hired (on the Monday and we were getting married on the Thursday), my cousin drove me to the wedding and to the reception and we had the best time ever. Both families were down to earth and there was no pretense at trying to live a high life, we had an ordinary band with lots of singers from the family including myself and everyone had a ball. We had invited just family with an open invitation to the evening celebrations and we were told that it was the best wedding that they had been at in years. A few weddings that I attended were so well organised and there was no sing song etc. and everyone complained that they were boring.

Oh, by the way I did everyone's hair, including my own, (I'm a hairdresser) and at 10 to 2 (the wedding was at 2) I was asking where everyone was gone, I was still in a track suit with rollers in my hair, only to be told everyone was gone to the church!!

Just a thought, be yourselves and have the craic, don't try to be too fancy nobody appreciates it, everyone just wants to let their hair down at a wedding not watching their Ps and Qs as what seems to happen at weddings now.

At the end of the day, we are still married after 22 years and have 4 fabulous kids. We still live simply and it works, that's the important thing. Kind regards.

Hey Sarah, had a look at the site...looks good...was actually considering setting up a similar site a few months back with another girl I know off the wedding forums but to focus more on DIY projects from scratch rather than buying DIY kits. Personally I think if you are going to make your own invites, favours, wedding stuff....a huge part of the experience is actually designing the stuff yourself, whereas if you buy one of the DIY kits that you refer to, then the designs are usually more or less set out beforehand and you are just assembling rather than designing.

I actually started this thread to share some of the ideas/tips that I had gathered through posting & reading posts on a variety of wedding forums and because there are soooo many talented, creative people on here that I wanted to hear the views of.

I have just set up a blog a few days ago instead of a website (www.iscratchyourbackyouscratchmine.blogspot.com) as I would like to offer whatever skills I have to help people out on a voluntary basis. I feel that during the Recession, people need to help each other out as much as possible and having seen the excellent generosity and spirit demonstrated here on this site and other recycling/freecycling sites, I'm sure that there are other people that share my views on this.

I'm on a year out from studying architecture myself (after 3 completing 3yrs of a 5yr course) and instead of finding architectural work experience as I thought I would during this year, I have discovered that my chosen profession is now in danger due to the Recession.

I'm currently making favour boxes for my friend from scratch....cutting out the actual boxes using a free template I found online....printing little personalised labels...as I can source the materials close to home and hand them to my friend in person and its nice to be able to help out.

I also helped my other friend out with DIY projects for her wedding last summer and I'm hoping to do a few for my sister who is getting married this summer as well.

I enjoy crafting and I'm more than happy to lend a hand to anyone that wants an extra set of hands to make stuff for their wedding (for free of course!)

Not sure if you have looked at this site already Sarah, but I love reading the posts on www.projectwedding.com - forum section - do-it-yourself - loads of excellent ideas on there for very achievable diy projects with fantastic results.

Best of luck with the site!

Cheap weddings?
 

Cheap weddings, never in my family. Advice from generations back, "Son, be like yer ancestors, stay sober and single and bring yer kids up the same way"
I'm not breaking that chain !

Hi folks, i was married in december 2006 and know how expensive weddings and all the related things can be.

In relation to budget wedding tips, we got a friend to make the cake, but the M & S cakes are lovely just add fresh flowers, or if any one knows some one who would make cake for you (we just had a normal fruit type ike christmas cake) and then you could just pay for some one to ice it
Wedding dress: Ebay is where i bought mine, and only needed small alterations, we were married on a thursday so had the use of the whole venue for the entire day and night free of charge (they charge for friday and saturdays).

PS Those paper flowers sound lovely.

Kila2008 - I am sorry i am only returing to this thread today, I didn't realise you had replied. Well done on the blog, it is a great idea! I love that site projectwedding, I hadn't come across it.

Making invitations from absolute scratch, design etc sounds fantastic. I had mine designed by a girl in London for my wedding! (cheaper in England to get them designed!) I'd love to see your handywork! Aisling Mackey (who set up the site) runs a craft supplies company as well as www.diywedding.ie so there are lots of from scratch items there too. A lot of people would be afraid to go completely DIY on invites (me! - all thumbs) so I think the kits fit for them.

I must PM you.

Sarah

DIY Ideas
 

I'm sure some of these have been mentioned before but if it helps anyone then I have one or two tips...
Flowers - Pick your own from your garden and tie them the day before and stick them in the fridge. If you want some different ones then plant them in time and grow your own.
Wine - Check out German Wine and get the names of some local importers/restaurants. The wine is cheap and amazing (Organic in most cases so no hangover!)
Shoes - They only hurt so get a cheap pairt of runners and stick on a few frills. You can get actual wedding runners on line from America for about $40 or so which is still cheaper than uncomfortable shoes. I wore them and you couldn't see them and when I lifted the dress to show people they loved them!
Cake - Anyone got an Auntie, Neighbour etc. that makes a good Christmas cake? It will be perfect. You can decorate it or get some one who is good at Art to do it!
Invites and Favors - Cara Craft Supplies... Google them. SOOOOO Cheap
Car's - Nobody really looks at the car. Borrow a nice Merc or Jag of someone. Some hotels will include it in their package.
Video - Get a friend to do it.
Photo's - Everyone has a digital camera. Put your email address on a nice card where everyone is sitting and ask them to send them to you. Can also put your thank you cards here and it will save you the price of a stamp! It can add up with 100 guests!!
Band - No avoiding... Good band = Good wedding. Barter with them and see if you can get them to drop the price.
DJ - Get your gadget obsessed mate to down load all your fav disco tunes to an ipod and plug it in. Most hotels have disco lights already!
Good Luck!!!

cake stand
 

hi, I'm getting married in july, my aunt is making the wedding cake. The hotel don't have a cake stand to suit the cake she's making. Does anyone know of where you can buy or rent a cake stand at a reasonable price? I need a two tier stand.
appreciate any suggestions

Bump^

...there might be a few more helpful ideas for couples who want a wedding but cannot afford the expense most ppl get into debt for!

Here's a link with cake stands on sale but it's in uk so check postage. Still looking for ya.

http://www.sugarshack.co.uk/category/250/2_tier

Cake Stands
 

Have a look at ebay. I just googled cake stands and found some there.

Actually, why not just use two cake boards trimmed with fancy wrapping paper and an acrylic cake separator or something like that?

Yeah but did you see the postage costs? Some of them are charging €35 for postage when the cake stand costs €17-18!!!!

How to make your own cake stand
 

Here's a link:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...ake_stand.html

Diy
 

More links for making your own cake stand:

http://www.projectwedding.com/post/l...stand-pictures

These are made from old vases, egg cups, plates....
http://www.craftynest.com/2008/10/re...d-cake-stands/

Help!
 

Does anyone know were you can buy sugared almonds for wedding favours ive got all the stuff to make them and was even in england the weekend just gone and could not find 1 place that sold them? just curious if anyone would know were u can buy them from? either Dublin or Northen Ireland?

Thanks

Hi,

There is an old fashioned sweet shop on the main street in Enniskillen
http://www.mrsomalleys.co.uk/
I have just checked the Enniskillen website and they do have them.

But I use this shop in England and they post over here. They are lovely people and nothing is too much trouble for them!
If they haven't got any in stock, they will try to source for you.
http://www.somethingsweet.co.uk/

Hope this helps

http://www.diywedding.ie/candypress/...?idproduct=119

Cheapest sugared almonds I've found so far and there's a jt member running it as far as I know.

Sugar Almonds
 

Thanks so much! ill check them both out and see what i can get Thank you

Budget wedding and bridesmaid dresses
 

Hi

Fashion Express Dresses has just launched a wedding and bridesmaid brochure, all bridesmaid dresses only 150 euro. You have to email them and they will email the brochure to you fashionexpress@live.com, their website is http://stores.shop.ebay.ie/Fashion-Express-Dresses they also sell debs and evening dresses.

To recycle after sell the dresses on buy and sell or donedeal for 50% of the price, bridesmaid dresses would only cost you 75 euro's then.

And they have a sample dress that you can view to see the quality.

Cake & Wine
 

WEDDING CAKE:

I got married 1.5yrs ago and as a cost saving measure we decided to have 2 fake tiers and only 1 real for our wedding cake. This was great, as there was enough to go around on the night, without being left with loads to bring home the next day and feel that you HAVE to eat it! :-)
I used a lady based in Glenageary who does it as a hobby more than for the money, so you're not going to some company chain that is thinking of the pound signs when you utter the word 'WEDDING'. I can forward her number to you if you would like to contact her - pls send PM.

WINE:

We decided to go down the 'corkage' route and bought our wine in Tesco's. I'm not sure if they offer the same deals now, but we bought wine that was on offer at the time (obviously tasting it first) and then got an additional 5% off for every 6 bottles of wine we bought. Even with the corkage fee at the venue, we still saved money, AND were given about 12 bottles back the next day that weren't used. Now that's honesty for you....

Plus, you're gaining clubcard points when in Tesco's....

Hi, i was going to make my own wedding cake as realised icing was really easy and i told my mum in law and she went and baught me a cake stand im not sure were from but ive decided to get a cake from marks and spencers cos its cheep and they look nice without the hastle so next time i talk to her ill ask her were she got it from and let you know what kind of stand do u want like a traditional 3 tier stand as now u can get the stands that go in a row kind of thing, but also marks and spencers sell the tiers roughly £6 for pack of 3 so u could put it on a cake board with fancy paper on the bottom as someone already sugested but depending on how many tiers ur cake has on how many packs of the tires ud need to buy.

Also just to add tesco now sell the wedding cakes as noticed last week and there cheeper than marks and sparks but bit smaller.

I was in dublin few weeks ago and went to shop called Alexander Bridal as my friend was picking up her daughters conformation dress, and as i was walking out they had a rail with about 20 dress's on from ages 4 to 11ish and all the dresses were reduced to 25 euro and my neice is coming to my wedding and didnt have her dress so baught one just hoping it would fit and looks perfect on, its was a propper flower girls dress and only cost 25 euro so if anyone only having 1 bridesmaid then deffo worth a look!

Regarding the cake stand...is it necessary for you to have a space between your tiers? My sister made a 4 tier wedding cake recently for her boyfriend's sister and instead of using a cake stand, the different tiers were stacked directly on top of each other. The lower tiers were dowelled (she used white plastic dowels she bought online but perhaps you could use timber dowels??) in order to support the next tier overhead. Each tier has its own cake board but just the type that are cover in tin-foil type stuff. She was putting black ribbon around the tiers so she also covered the edges of the cake boards in thinner black ribbon.

I have to say that it looked absolutely fabulous and I would usually be a criticising cow...lol!

I got my cake stand today... well it wasnt a cake stand it was 4 tiers in a packet that u just put on top of each other but ive seen the ones ur on about with no tiers just the cake and they do look really nice but my bf is old fashioned and wants tiers but they had the price on and it was 6.10 euro from birthdays for a pack of 4 tiers but sure if you go North ull get them cheeper these were just plain white but they have some in marks and spencer which i thorugh was nice for the same price

wedding dressess for the party
 

i recently stumbled upon a site called bridesfirstchoice which allows u to rent all the dressess for the day which i thought was a great idea..at i would assume a fraction of the cost

Instead of having flowers in the church I had candles. Family and friends donated candle holders and stands for the day and everyone comented on how beautiful the church was. The people who got married the day before had so many flowers to go to the hotel they got left in the confessional booths and nobody noticed!!! Is there a need?!

I have noticed that a lot of weddings in my local church lately are using plain cream/ivory pillar candles with ivy (free from the garden) on the windows and they look beautiful and you can get pillar candles cheaply in a lot of pound (sorry euro) shops. Also, if time is one your side, keep an eye out in Lidl coming up to xmas as they usually do packs of ivory/cream candles in different shapes/sizes and packs of pillar candles and usually they are quite reasonable in price.

savings all the way
 

Just a couple of saving ideas for you.....without losing attention to detail.

Invitations - buy the cream cards and envelopes - approx 50 in a box for 9.99. (Art and Hobbie Store) Print the information on white paper and glue to the inside. Get indian cotton paper to match your colour scheme and rip it into uneven squares (use 2 colours and overlap them). Put a gold sticker on top. Get gold stickers that say Wedding Invitation and put in the bottom corner. In total - for 150 invitations - it was €52 and everyone comments on how unusual and beautiful they are. If I have any left, I will take a photo and put up.

Photographer - Try asking a graduating art student to do the photos. Many want to increase their portfolio and are a fraction of the cost. Get them to put on a disc and print as you want them - not the €30 for each photo I paid!!!

PArty favors - only give to women. Men do not appreciate them. Alternatively - on ebay you could get candles in tins that have your names, date and picture on them for the women and match books to match for the gentlemen. I think my wedding favors were approx €60.

Another option - and I think it is one that everyone should consider - is get family members to buy something towards the wedding - like the cake or favors or maybe several contribute towards one thing.

Will post more ideas when I get a chance

Hey all, i'm not getting married but i think this could be an interested money saving tip for ye! I found a site called swapshop
http://www.swopshop.ie/gallery.php
You swap your old clothes that you dont wear anymore (and i know us ladies have loads of those that just hang in the wardrobe lol) in exchange for other clothes (some designer) there are some lovely things like dresses, maybe they could be useful for bridesmaid dresses, they have hangbags and shoes also.
The shop is in dublin so just though it may be a useful thing to know for money saving!

Best of luck with everyone's wedding :)

Rose.

flowers/table favours
 

Hi, I got married on a really tight budget, as we were paying for our own wedding and my husband was still in school. I was the only one with a job so I paid for the whole wedding. It was in early October in Canada, which is when sunflowers bloom and when Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving. It's a time of year when everything seems to be ready to harvest so, in keeping with the season, I did my table decorations in a harvest theme. I planned ahead and bought three little terracotta pots for each table, some soil, and a few envelopes of mixed miniature sunflower seeds and planted them on the date recommended on the envelope. Now I'm no genius, but sunflowers are pretty easy to grow and they all came up and bloomed in time for the wedding. They looked great on the tables and since there were 6 people at each table every couple got to take one pot home... so there was no need for table favours. Total cost of flowers: $40. Also, I bought a mixture of small autumn produce items like apples, pears, mini squash etc. and put on on each person's plate with a little name tag pinned on the front that I had made myself using a calligraphy font on my computer at home. That cost around $15. I had lots of seeds left over and sprinkled them on the tablecloths with some red leaves and voila, the tables looked quite pretty. I know that it is different here in Ireland but I'm sure you could adapt these ideas to suit a season here, for example have a spring wedding and do potted bulbs or something... anyway, that's my two cent worth. Best of luck!