Self Sufficientish Weddings

[ajs88]

Hi,

I'm getting married in June 2010 and am wondering what things you are guys have either done or are planning to do for yours?

Obviously the dream would to be to have grown or made everything, but its for 120, and i've just got a balcony and work full time, so im having to be a bit realistic.

My ideas so far have been:

Making my own cake- an apple and cinnamon tea cake glazed with apricot jam
I've seen, but waiting to see if i can get it cheaper once the wedding season is over, a ceramic pair of birds cuddling to go on top, which i hope will make it more wedding like as im not icing it (not keen on the stuff)

Making the stationary- not sure on this yet. I was thinking that I may try and make an email version for people whom i know would prefer this.

Making favours- lavender filled hearts (im looking forward to this one)

Making the bride and bridesmaids hair accessories (beading)

[red]

we designed and printed the invitations ourselves

I made my dress (actually a skirt and top, but looked like dress, in dark greem, thus the skirt has been worn many times since) , and a waistcoat for himself (first sewing projects ever!!!)

I asked if instead of presents friends could help decorate the village hall instead.. we gathered ivy and other greenery and draped is around the walls, then had xmas lights in those and candles in jars on the table.

we had no photographer, but asked people to contribute photos they had taken.. we got lots and from diffferent angles and perspectives - all via email.

We provided our own music by playing with other folky types in the afternoon

We didn't do the food ourselves - and bought a barrel of beer, for the ceilidh in the evening.

a cheap do.

[Nomada]

Tons of DIY!

It's been put off until things pick up financially but we had most of it planned. We are making invitations, decorating the place with glass painted jar lanterns, we might also do herbs in pots as favours. It's outdoors so we don't think we'd need more than that. I bought my dress off ebay for £12, think it was a sample dress, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. If you want flowers then do you have anyone who could grow at least some of them? If you want loads of them then it's hard to do according to some who've tried it but possible to do some. You're doing the cake yourself which will save you a fortune but you could also rope family or friends in to do some of the food if you wanted. We've brewed some mead which is maturing a bit in the meantime. Takes a lot of effort not to drink it! I think the best place for specific ideas is a forum called the offbeat bride tribe which has groups dedicated to eco friendly weddings, making stuff yourself, etc. They've got tons of ideas.

[Nomada]

We provided our own music by playing with other folky types in the afternoon........

.........and bought a barrel of beer, for the ceilidh in the evening.

That sounds amazing!

[StripyPixieSocks]

We're getting married (if we can scrape together the money) in Sept 2010 :D

Apart from booking the wedding venue for just a ceremony, skipping the meal and the reception as we are only having immediate family we are having a cream tea after the ceremony because we are getting married in Cornwall :D

We will also be booking a week for our family and two weeks honeymoon for us down there (IF we don't move there in the meantime *crosses fingers*)

EVERYTHING else will be done my myself and the OH!

Making my own invitations, dress, cake, favours, bouquets and button holes (which will be made with silver wire and gems instead of flowers), jewellery and even the wedding rings.

In total it will cost £3,000 including the ceremony AND the holiday for all our family for a week!

There are a myriad of websites out there these days which help you plan and make things for a DIY wedding, just take a quick look on Google or Yahoo and get crafty :)

GOOD LUCK!!

[growingthings]

We had a bit of a DIY wedding too... so that we could save the money and buy a camper instead !

The outfits were bought off the sale rail (my dress cost £40) and I made the bridesmaid dress.
All homemade were, the invitations, the flowers (we grew our own) and our friend who was training as a florist at the time used us as one of her projects, the cakes (batches and batches of cupcakes), friends provided the music, friends provided the fire twirling. Thats the basics really.

I think that the key to the success of our day was the willingness of our friends to be involved, I am a bit of a perfectionist, but I am not a control freak so they felt able to offer up help and it be accepted and the fact that they were all involved makes it all that more special. Pool your resources find out who can do what, if you can recruit them you'd be amazed to find out what your friends and rellies have up their sleeves!

We did it on £2500, that was with 40 at the church and around 120 at the reception (at a local pub) we had a fork buffet which rivalled any sit down meal we could have paid for, and then a barbeque in the evening as well, as experience told us that by then most of our guests would need something to soak up the alcohol!

It was a beautiful day and quite rightly one of my most memorable and I think that that is so much enhanced by the fact that there was rather alot of sweat and (a few) tears of our own in there too... You'll love doing it, and if your friends are anything like yourselves it will be much appreciated too.

[invisiblepiper]

We did my daughter's wedding in November last year - it was a great day, cost under £3000 - which is not exactly a shoestring, but not too bad these days.
Bride's dress - online- custom fit in a sale ( Gothic Weddings)
Bridesmaids dresses - Monsoon sale
Groom and best man - hired outfits
Cake - made by Groom's Mum
Invites - me( Evening invites looked like luggage labels with roses attached)
Confetti - dried rose petals from the summer
Photography - by a friend as a wedding present
Car - A vey vintage jaguar - driven by the groom's friend as a gift
Favours - boxed home made tablet - me
DJ - reduced cost - friend of bride and groom

40 people at the registry office and for a full meal
Another 40 for evening reception and buffet
champagne on arrival at hotel
we walked from the registry to the hotel - blessings of a small town

Have a wonderful time!

[Annpan]

We did our whole wedding for well under £1000

I made my own dress and my neice's flower girl dress, OH wore his own kilt, a friend did the 2 bouquets, registry office wedding, we used an uncles car, no photos, chinese carry out for 35 for the main meal then indian snacks later for 80, we bought wine glasses, bowls and chopsticks (which we still use), we had a BYOB rule, my sister made the cake, we hired a council owned glasshouse in a local park for the reception, decorated with fairy lights and tea lights, a local Swing band were the most expensive thing.... and no honeymoon.

It was just how we wanted it - and I would do it exactly he same if I could do it again.

I think we ended up making money out of it.... because both our families wanted to 'contribute' but both gave too much and wouldn't take it back... mind you OH was unemployed at the time, so it paid a few bills.

[ocailleagh]

This probably won't help much..or even at all, but back when I got married, for the ceremony itself the only people present were my (ex) bride-to-be and myself. As Pagans, we performed the ceremony ourselves and wore nothing at all. We'd cleared our living room, and I decorated it with candles and a largeish circle of dried rose petals on the floor (for the ritual area). We'd made the cake ourselves (a must, traditionally speaking. Its symbolic and bond-y) and flavoured it with coconut and rosewater.
We had a bit of a party the following evening, it was Hallowe'en, so fancy dress-with homemade outfits (we were a vampire bride and groom, she wore red with a headress/circlet of rosebuds left to dry once made). We had it in a small community centre with about 40 of our friends, and altogether it cost around about a giro, which back in those days was about £80 I think. Oh, except for the rings, they were silver, celtic-style and locally made, and we'd bought them weeks before, quite cheaply I seem to recall...

Sigh...I wanna get married again now..any offers?

[barefootlinzi]

I am planning on getting married in June/July 2010, but it depends on the money situation, it might have to be put off a year. We are planning a really cheap money wise do, with small amount of guests, hane made wedding dress, my nan used to make wedding cakes so that our present from her. Going to be totally DIY, the only troubleiam having is fnding a nice venue for the reception that is cheap but not tacky like all the halls round here. Id like a place with a bit of character. Oh, and it will be totally family friendly, as there will be lots of kids so if the budget extends to it a bouncy castle might be in order!

[rockchick]

We didn't have an especially ish wedding but it wasn't overly extravagant either. We hired a converted watermill where we had both the ceremony and the reception. Was sooo lovely to walk straight out of the ceremony for drinks in the garden. OH bought a new suit, shirt, tie and shoes which he has since worn many times, wish i could say the same for my dress (nothing big, just a relatively simple number I just never go to fancy doos). The food was locally sourced where possible and everyone got a veggie meal (as we were at the time) and we had local cheeses and fresh bread for supper. We had gobstopper sized seaside lollipops from Weston-super-mare which I tarted up with tissue paper as favours and I painted everyones names on pebbles for place settings. The invitations were off the shelf and I made thank you cards with stamps - sounds naff but they looked great! A relative made the cake and the most beautiful sugar flower decorations to match my flowers. Actually my flowers were probably the most extravagent touch to the whole wedding, very bright colours with stargazer lilies and magenta orchids. I dread to think of the airmiles but they were stunning. We had a ceiligh after dinner then my brother-in-law carried on the DJing. It was such a fantastic day, just went too fast

[ajs88]

We did my daughter's wedding in November last year - it was a great day, cost under £3000 - which is not exactly a shoestring, but not too bad these days.
Bride's dress - online- custom fit in a sale ( Gothic Weddings)
Bridesmaids dresses - Monsoon sale
Groom and best man - hired outfits
Cake - made by Groom's Mum
Invites - me( Evening invites looked like luggage labels with roses attached)
Confetti - dried rose petals from the summer
Photography - by a friend as a wedding present
Car - A vey vintage jaguar - driven by the groom's friend as a gift
Favours - boxed home made tablet - me
DJ - reduced cost - friend of bride and groom

40 people at the registry office and for a full meal
Another 40 for evening reception and buffet
champagne on arrival at hotel
we walked from the registry to the hotel - blessings of a small town

Have a wonderful time!

we've got a friend of mums, a pro photographer for free & my OH is insisting on making a playlist for the whole reception and thats fine by me, hes quite good at it.

the idea of making your own conffetti is brilliant and i think i may pinch that of you

im hoping to make the most out of the sales once the season is good, i like the moonsoon stuff so i'll keep my eye out for that

[invisiblepiper]

We got the monsoon dresses in June I think - go for it. I did have to visit two stores to get the dresses - we needed two size tens - and they only seemed to keep one of each size per store.
really pleased you like the confetti idea too!

we hired a council owned glasshouse in a local park for the reception, decorated with fairy lights and tea lights,

Annpan - that sounds so beautiful.

[Thomzo]

A friend of mine got married last year. I made her stationery as her wedding present. You could try asking friends and family for contributions towards the food, flowers, hire of the hall etc instead of presents.

For the invitations, I got some blank card (try freecycle or your local scrapstore for cheap or free card). I then got a craft punch in the shape of a heart (about £5 in a craft shop) and just punched hearts out of glittery junk mail. Stuck them on the front of the card and printed the inserts on the computer. Very easy.

Cheers
Zoe

[MuddyWitch]

Our Wedding cost us £50!

My parents paid for the registry office, (81 ppl), licence etc

His Dad paid for the finger buffet for 100 ppl

My bro paid for the cloth & my SIL made my suit & the Bridesmaid dress (my 4 year old daughter was the Bride's maid)

My Matron of Honour, (best mate) made the three tier cake

An other friend made the bouquette & buttonholes from silk flowers (it was February)

Various friends took photos & gave us copies

The room was donated for free as we'd met at the pub & the Landlady is an old softy

My Dad drove me & Bridesmaid, best mate drove herself, everyone else came by train or on foot!

Honeymoon was the use of an other friend's flat for one week in the Summer, (they slept at her PIL on their floor!) at the seaside, (Hunstanton), by which time I was preggas!

His youngest sister paid the train fair to Hunstanton

His eldest sister planted a tree

& the £50? the cost of the rings.

MW