Abby’s Cheap Wedding

Abby had always wanted a pretty, traditional white wedding, but she’d never fancied the idea of going into debt or spending tens of thousands of pounds on a single day.

Besides that, since Abby and her fiancé had a new baby around, they didn’t have a lot of money to spend.

Each set of parents gave the couple £1,000 to spend, and they pitched in less than £2,000 of their own money.

In order to get her dream wedding for under £4,000, Abby used , did some things herself and shopped in a lot of sales.

The wedding reception venue

Abby and her fiancé hosted a wedding for 150 guests in the evening plus about 70 daytime guests at Lowenac Hotel in Camborne. Because they spent over £2,000 on the venue, Abby and her fiancé negotiated the use of the hotel's new Bentley for their wedding car and access to the hotel’s bridal suite all day and night for free.

To save even more, Abby set the ceremony for the late afternoon so that by the time the evening guests arrived, they would only have to serve a buffet. This ensured Abby could have an intimate sit-down dinner with her small number of day guests.

The clothes and accessories

Abby shopped around well before the wedding to get a great deal on her wedding dress, which she found at a January sale from Bride in Penzance for £100. The dress was off the rack, but it was perfect for Abby. The bridesmaids' dresses were also found during the January sales, so they were really affordable. Also, the couple decided to rent the suits for the groom and his groomsmen’s, which they got for £50 each from Burton’s - taking advantage of a 'rent four get one free' deal, saving them even more money.

Abby found her accessories in and in the January sales. Her biggest bargain was her veil from for £16.  Their wedding rings came from HPJ Jewellers, which she would highly recommend to other budgeting brides, as well.

Other wedding savings

Abby saved on photography costs by asking a studio photographer with no wedding experience to do her wedding.  The photographer charged only £200 and they ended up with some great photos for her portfolio. Abby’s fiancé had a DJ friend, who did the disco and Karaoke during the reception as a wedding gift to the couple.

For the flowers, Abby and her mother used a combination of large bouquets from Tesco and Asda and greenery from the family garden. When it was all said and done, the cost of the flowers was about £70. Abby also saved on wedding day necessities by designing and photocopying her own invitations and orders of service and by ordering a chocolate wedding cake rather than a more expensive fruit cake.

Abby’s best advice

On her wedding day, Abby made a lot from a little, but one piece of advice wasn’t about the wedding but about the honeymoon. Since they couldn’t have afforded to go on a honeymoon, Abby says, “We asked for donations towards a honeymoon as our wedding present and ended up going to Turkey all inclusive for a week in June. We still have money to spend on home improvements so would strongly recommend this!”

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