The Cost Of Weddings

I still have the list of buffet options for our wedding reception in 1975.
For 75p a head :
pork pie
sausage rolls
vol au vents
cold beef and ham
gherkins and onions
crisps
fruit trifle
We went for the expensive option at £1.25 a head as it included exotic extras such as coleslaw. Russian salad,olives and trifle with..cream!
Unfortunately, this proved to be a false move as we had a family group photo in front of the 'spread' and my Dad leaned back and sat in the trifle, totally ruining both the trifle and his suit

Some great wedding tales and ideas on here already! I suspect the invitations for my daughter's wedding will be small works of art and a lovely keepsake as her husband-to-be is making them and he is a graphic designer; she has told me she wants packets of wildflower seeds as favours; and one of her 'other mothers' has offered to make her dress. .

Movedalot...have a look at the Marks and Spencers cakes. You can have sponge or fruit both of which taste lovely. The icing is low key but nice and all we did was add a bit of ribbon round and put a flower on the top. They are strong enough to build into tiers if you want and M&S even sell the columns.

ninathenana thanks for the explanation, makes it a little bit clearer. I can't remember exactly what we were invited for, all I know is we couldn't eat and turned up halfway through the meal! It was embarrassing, standing around waiting to be told it's okay to come in now.

grannylin great story.

My Mum and Dad said we could either have a posh wedding or the cash to put towards our first house. Chose the latter of course. In 1976 we really didn't want the 'meringue' frock, it was a bit too 1950s and we were too cool!!!

Mum made vol au vents etc. Ordered the flowers the week before. Friend took the photos {which were all green when printed.... ooops so no album} reception at home in brilliant sunshine at beginning of April.

We had no stress, just excitement. We must have broken many of the wedding rules. DH helped me choose my outfit and visa versa. DH got to the registary Office 10 minutes after I did. My father said ' Come on we might as well get going.' Lovely memories and guests who we chose apart from a few old aunties.

A simple wedding leading to a wonderful happy marriage. I do think that a wedding is not about the flowers and ribbons but about the love.

I think what I have learnt and which has been brought to light by this Thread is it is all to do witht the atmosphere of a Wedding and not what was spent on it and I totally agree with that and now the challenge is to persuade my eldest of that.

The money saving tips on here have been brilliant and do make loads of sense so I will pass them on.

Thank you for your help, it is much appreciated!

Can I add my recent experience. My daughter and son-in-law actually made a profit from their wedding last October!They had already been together for several years, had an small son and another on the way. They wanted to get married but didn't want too much fuss.

So the married at a register office with their two best friends as witnesses.
Thirty people (parents, siblings + children and a few close friends) were invited to the reception which was in free function room at a beautiful old pub. They asked for no presents but asked the guests to pay for their meal, which I thought was brilliant. We also paid for hers and the bridegroom's parents paid for his.
She bought a stunning evening dress on ebay (which one of her grandparents paid for)
She made her bouquet from silk flowers, made all the table decorations and little boxes which she filled with heart sweets (love hearts and jellies). She bought party poppers and bubbles for the children and we made activity packs for the children too. The cake was a plain iced one from Tesco which she bought in two sizes then decorated herself and a friend who does them made icing people (bride, bridegroom and toddler) in the right clothes. My sister and my mum got in touch with the hotel and paid for sparkling wine for the toasts as surprise.
Her dress was deep burgundy so her boys both had burgundy waistcoats to match and all the decorations were the same colour.
People didn't buy presents but nearly everyone gave them vouchers or money and one grandma chipped in with £500 which is what she had done or will do for each of her grandchildren. The whole wedding cost £300 and with the profit they bought a new mattress!

At one point I went out to the loo and bumped into my new son-in-law on the way back into the room and he said, "This is perfect. Because everyone who is here wants to be here and we have everyone here that we want to be here"
He was right. It was absolutely perfect and I only cried three times!

One of the nicest and simplest weddings I've been to was when there were just bride and groom plus 10 guests. After the ceremony we went to a lovely country restaurant where we all sat at a large round table which meant that everyone was able to join in the conversation and laughter - it was all so lovely and informal. Some weeks later the young couple had a "bash" for all their friends to celebrate with them.

York46 that sounds like a wonderful idea and a perfect solution.

We got married in 1970. My husband bought a new suit from John Collier and I had a lovely hippyish dress from Bus Stop which cost £7. I tried Biba first but they were heavily into droopy grey satin which didn't really work for a wedding. We were married in St.Pancras Town Hall with about fifty guests. The reception was in an Italian restaurant who did us 3 courses and wine for about £1.25 a head! My mother made and decorated the cake and his mother made little bags of sugared almonds for everyone. We did pay for a photographer but in those days it was strictly black & white. My lasting memory of the day has always been my husband's Italian grandfather, who was nearly 90. chatting up my girlfriends while the empty wine bottles piled up under his table

coastwalker I just read your post properly. Am going to suggest some of it to my daughter, there are some really good ideas ... .

Granntknot - H would be delighted to know that. I actually thought asking for no presents but for guests to pay for their meal was a stroke of genius

I think the main aim is to avoid getting drawn in to the wedding frenzy which can easily take over, utilise the talents of close friends/family and go for something a little different which they really like to make it a comfortable and memorable day.

In our cases DD1 had 28 guests - their close friends and really close family - we took over a country house hotel for the weekend and the dogs came too. Monsoon dress, big hat, novelty cake, BiL took photos, SiL did flowers, mini bus to registry office. Wonderful weekend.

DD2 waited until her DB was working in Antarctica, we were on holiday in NZ and then 'eloped'. Married in local registry office, with sister and friend for witness, then rang a few friends who rang a few friends and they all meet up in their favourite bistro - 40 turned up - the guests paid for their own and the happy couples meals and booze. We had a posh family meal with DSiLs immediate family on our return and gave them money towards their new home. Wonderful evening.

DS married in a country house hotel on the Broads with 24 family and friends followed by a reception on a river boat which, with 50 more guests, collected them from the hotel and pootled around the Broads for 3 hours. The boat worked out surprisingly reasonable and no wedding cars. Aunt made cake and again BiL did photos and SiL the flowers. Wonderful weekend.