I've never had more questions about something I posted about than when people found out I did (mostly) a DIY wedding. It's gonna be a long(ish) one, so lets get into it
We got engaged in November 2021 and knew we wanted to get married asap for lots of different reasons. We loved the idea of NYE or our anniversary which would of been the same day we got engaged and is what we went for in the end
I always loved the idea of a winter wedding and not having to worry about a wedding cake in the sunshine and the summer months would of probably sold it to me if it wasn’t what I wanted before.
First we decided on the sort of venue that we wanted. We both hate being the centre of attention - so getting married is the perfect event for 2 people like that - knew we didn’t want a massive wedding or anything too formal. No sit down meal, no hotel or venues with loads of dark wood or red patterned carpets.
I had no idea it would be easier to find what we didn’t want rather than what we did. So we knew pretty early on that a registry office would be ideal for what we wanted and we chose Hertford register office because the outside is beautiful and inside is really neutral and inoffensive.
Then for the reception there were some places that offered weddings as an extra that we loved and booked 2 of them and they didn’t work out - which is a story for another time - but where we chose as a last minute venue was the best place we could of chosen. We chose a brewery with an events space. It was completely empty and really neutral. All that was up already was the fabric and the lights we did everything else. It meant we saved so much money because we just paid to hire the space and the staff and bar were stocked and included. Decorations were all from Amazon and then we made the best day ever sign and the crepe paper streamers.
The beer mats and wooden logs that had Badgers burned into them were ordered from small businesses that i'll tag below. We also made invitations, save the dates and i guess what you would call an order of service for the registry office. Sam designed all of these so if you can do that yourself that definitely saves money. The bottles we also saved up and asked friends and family to save any they had too.
We kept costs low by organising transport for everyone to the register office and the venue so everyone was together and it didn't cost the guests loads as the reception venue was further away so we hired a big red bus and we did gins in tins and beers on the bus for everyone which kept costs low and was another aspect we did ourselves.
I did a small business swap with Jordan from Little Jordigans - she had a cake that she swapped me for and painted our leather jackets. We all used old ones that we didn't wear anymore and they were one of my favourite things about the day
Dresses and suits. I hated the idea of wedding dresses by the end of the process. I tried on over 100 and the only one i did love was a one off and wasn't my size. I ended up finding my dress online and it was only stocked in 2 places in the UK, luckily i went and loved it. I couldn't justify spending thousands on a dress I was gonna wear for a few hours and luckily it was so reasonable and including alterations was around the £500 mark.
The girls dresses and the best mans suit jacket trousers shirt tie and shoes were all from ASOS. The groom and our son found their bits in Next and Spencer's jacket was from an Etsy seller as you cant get forest green velvet jackets for kids anywhere - who knew.
So aside from being at an advantage to do the cake, we did as much as we could ourselves but there were some bits that there was absolutely no way we could of done ourselves even if we wanted to.
It was important to us that we used small businesses and so these are the suppliers we used and would 100% recommend to anybody.
Wooden logs with pyrography - https://www.instagram.com/hairyartist67
Beer mats - www.bizay.co.uk
Red bus - www.thevintageredbuscompany.co.uk
Food - www.https://www.alternativecatering.co.uk/
Photographer - www.margessonphotography.com
Make up - www.foxstudio.uk
Hair - www.instagram.com/lorenjanecarter
Lights - www.camblights.co.uk/
Venue - www.thebelgianbrewer.co.uk/
Flowers - www.facebook.com/people/Ems-Florists/
Jackets - www.etsy.com/uk/shop/LittleJordigans
Dress - www.oliversbridalandformalwear.co.uk/
DJ - www.djmikereadings.co.uk/
Photo booth - www.pro-pose.co.uk/
After reading all of this - if you’ve managed to get this far well done - reading it back makes it sound like we are so indecisive but I think we just had a lot of bad luck.
The best advice I can give you is
Set a budget
Stick to your guns and stand your ground
Trust your gut. If you think somethings wrong it usually is. If we hadn’t listened to our gut then we would of had a completely different wedding and looking back on what we did have there’s no way we would of loved the day as much as we did.
Listen to yourselves
And just enjoy it.