When is a budget wedding not a budget wedding?

*waste

It may happen in other countries but I have certainly not heard of it in UK. So okay, they contribute in some way to their frocks etc. But asking them to then serve guests and tidy up afterwards is a real cheek. How much would it cost to bring in a couple of waitresses. Not that much I think.

Years ago I did run a Restaurant and did lots of weddings, the nicest was a young couple paying themselves, very relaxed, cost £20 a head back in the day.
The worst I remember well, the brides mother (Hyacinth Bucket) wanted everything perfect, lots of extras to put the cost up. The groom turned up late having spent the night in casualty after a fight at the stag night they cleaned him up as best they could but it was awful.

Not the best start to a marriage

I cringe at the amount of money people spend on a wedding these days, especially as it seems more about show and getting things than about the special moment and joy of the actual occasion. As a yorkshire woman I also think to myself how much that amount of money could help them set up home etc. My first husband died and I later met and married my second husband and remember the wedding with great happiness and a lovely old fashioned day which everyone remembers and loved. My parents came to the wedding and also stayed and looked after my son while we had 4 days away at a small place outside Ludlow. We were members of the local methodist church and so there were no cars,people walked to the church. I had bought a lovely turquoise suit in the january sales and had not worn it, so that was my outfit with dark blue shoes, a lovely dark blue fascinator, carrying flowers from my own and a friends garden. My father walked me round to the church and the lovely neighbours all came out and clapped as we went by. I am a singer and have sung solo and in choirs and all my family sing too. So we had people from 3 different choirs etc, our lovely minister married us, and of course the music was wonderful, with of course J S Bach played by my friend the organist. After the ceremony we invited all our friends to have champagne and cake with us so that as many people as possible could come. It was held in our house and was a lovely time with much singing and reminising. Then we drove off for our little honeymoon and bought a lovely painting of Ludlow when we were there to remind us of our honeymoon and it is still hanging up here, reminding me of our happy lives together as I am now a widow. Financially we did not have a lot of money, but we always tried to pay at the time and not have debts, so we had no big bill outstanding before or after the wedding and paid our way. Our money was saved and we furnished our home over time with secondhand and sales things, and filled our place with things that we loved and enjoyed.

I suppose the thing is, madeleine, lots of people are now married after buying and furnishing a home. Many even have children. They may have different spending priorities but, I hope, people marry when they have found someone they believe they want to spend their life with

My son and partner married last autumn and had an enormous "do" - they had bought their first house together eight years before.

Their day was just as memorable as the one my daughters and my other son had. Each of these four weddings had different budgets but all were memorable and important.

But madeleine It is only some people who spend a huge amount on a wedding. There are still plenty of people having small quieter home made weddings like that do not have to be sold to or marketted to so don't hit the headlines.

True M0nica - only one of my four married children had an expensive/luxury wedding.
Also, none of mine called their weddings "budget" - though all four (even the fanciest one) did have a budget...
I think all would have been cross with the idea that they were "budget" weddings to be honest.

None expected the bridesmaids to buy their dresses.

Just realised saying only one of my four married children had an expensive/luxury wedding sounds odd. I was really just agreeing with M0nica saying it's only some people who spend a huge amount.
One out of four I'm my family!

Having only one child married. All I can say is that it was a community wedding, church wedding, village hall reception, photgraphy and much else were wedding presents.