Wedding planning

[what_no_pies]

Looking for any advice from wherever we can get it.

Wedding will be in the North East so not likely to get venues out of you lot but perhaps you can share some wisdom based on own experiences. We're trying to keep cost down so thinking afternoon tea rather than 3 course meal - I've been told my suggestion of a burrito stall and everyone gets a meal ticket is too cheap. I also suggested crowd sourcing it out to let our friends arrange the whole thing - no idea why the the future Mrs thinks I'm cutting corners, i thought that was genius but again overruled.

So far we've been given loads of reasons to have it adult only which we weren't gonna do but it's definitely a thing now. Saves it ending up being a kids party, saves money on food they wouldn't eat and means our guests are less likely to leave early. That's a winner right there.

So, accepting I'm setting myself up for some classic responses from the resident comedians, what advice would you like to share with us?

[tim_noone]

Only advice ....dont do it!

[Rick_Muller]

Went to my mates wedding a few weeks back and whilst there was a sit down wedding breakfast for the small number of us who attended the ceremony, the evening do was superb in that the food offered was chip shop based products - Chicken and chips; fish and chips; sausage and chips etc all served in newspaper and cones - that was an idea to cut costs - the local chippy did the honours and it was well liked by all.

[LeadBelly]

Round of pease pudding stotties (do Greggs do these still in the NE?) followed up by a round or two of broons down the Bigg Market.
Females to wear very short skirts and no coats.

[john'sroseyspecs]

I know it's boring but what's wrong with an old fashioned buffet? Cheap, people can eat what they want and no niche foods that people will moan about. Just hold some back to foil the first in the queue/load the plate people

[what_no_pies]

Pease Pudding (the George hummus) appears to be everywhere but I don't recall seeing it in Gregg's funnily enough. We actually have Gregg's outlet stores up here where you can bulk buy sausage rolls - come to think of it that could be the catering sorted! Whilst on topic I was in a boozer the other day and they served a burger called 'the dirty thoughts of Cheryl Cole' - it was a burger with a Gregg's sausage roll on it. It's a funny old place but I'm kinda stuck as evidenced above.

[tybfc]

Don't book it during the football season like my daft wife did against Ipswich.

Priorities and all that.

[Vintage Claret]

Get married on a Friday rather than a Saturday if you can.

My sons getting married this year and they found all the venues they looked at were much cheaper if the do was on a weekday.

[what_no_pies]

Don't book it during the football season like my daft wife did against Ipswich.

Priorities and all that.

Yes! A very sensible suggestion. I've always said weddings should be out of footy season and then when it came down to it I'd almost completely forgot.

[what_no_pies]

Week days is an interesting one. Our preferred venue at the moment is open to the public weekends whereas a weekday we'd have exclusive use. Tempted by this.

Would being invited to a weekday wedding be an annoyance? I'm a bit torn on this one. Keep thinking to myself 'it's our wedding' but we don't want to put people out too much.

[Vintage Claret]

Weekday weddings seem to be becoming more common these days and personally I don't think family and friends would mind as long as they have plenty of notice to book time off work and make any other arrangements they need to.

And it's a perfect excuse for a long weekend off

[starting_11]

I've been to expensive weddings and cheap weddings...

Some of the expensive ones were ****.

Have you thought about saving the money, just inviting a handful of close relatives/friends and going abroad doing it your way? Las vegas... Hawaii etc?

Defo get married on a Friday if you're doing it over here.

[HunterST_BFC]

what_no_pies

Where in NE? and when are you looking for (dates between)?
Numbers of people?
Then there is the budget... to fit the above, with compromise.

These days smaller weddings, no gifts, "just be hear" weddings are by far the best. Keeping the numbers down.

A good couple of days with those closest to you is far better than just one day that disappoints.

[what_no_pies]

Ideally Newcastle but not restricting our search too much. Circa 60/70 day guests and upto 150 for the evening. Currently looking at Tyne Bank Brewery as an option but considering different types of venue still at this stage. There's a venue called High House Farm that offer more of a weekend structure and excellent value for money but for various reasons we can't have it there and as yet we haven't found any similar venues that do 'free' venue hire (this is on basis of using their catering/bar). We loved a friend's one at Summerhill Bowling Club but don't want to have the same wedding somebody else already had.

[The Enclosure]

There used to be a ship moored up on the River Tyne.name escapes me...it was a night club but they may do wedding receptions...It would be somewhere a bit different.

ps just googled..it has long gone..it was called the Tuxedo Princess

[Fretters]

We were offered exclusivity at our venue. Instead, we took the cheaper option of booking all the bedrooms (there were only 11) and selling these to friends and family. We still had a chance of people wandering about during the day but at least the place was ours at night,

[Sidney1st]

When I got married it was in the middle of July and stupidly warm.

Thankfully we'd arranged for a buffet at the Cricket Club which worked out great considering the weather, everyone was sat outside enjoying the sun.

Cost effective, no fancy food people didn't really like and we weren't over charged for said fancy food.

A wedding only costs as much as you want it too, a couple I know borrowed loads to get married and they were divorced before they'd paid it all back.

[UpTheBeehole]

You can always tell a cheapskate because they get married on a weekday, inconveniencing every one of their hundred+ guests.

[Sidney1st]

Or they get married in the week due to a specific date they want that's special for them.

[UpTheBeehole]

99.999999% of the time it's because that day is cheaper than a weekend.

[CleggHall]

Newcastle Cricket Club, Osborne Ave, Jesmond is a decent shout particularly on a sunny day when you can spill out onto the field. Bar plus function room, good real ale but avoid Saturdays in the cricket season.

[randomclaret2]

Youd need an awful lot of weddings for that to be an accurate figure.

[beddie]

Son gets married in April, it's on a Sunday. With them both being Teachers they wanted to avoid the summer months due to the cost being double. It's up Darlington way. They had a budget but that soon gets blown out of the water. I think the earlier post about the Cricket Club is a good idea. Have a look at Durham Cricket Club, lovely venue for a Wedding.

[Goobs]

Round of pease pudding stotties (do Greggs do these still in the NE?) followed up by a round or two of broons down the Bigg Market.
Females to wear very short skirts and no coats.

Weird how that auto-corrected to coats

[Quickenthetempo]

You can have lovely barns etc that the National trust own for very reasonable prices but you're restricted on the catering side. They gave my sister the choice of 4 caterers they allow.

If you're on a budget have a later wedding so people only want feeding once.

[WadingInDeeper]

You need to decide if you want a cheap, forgettable, wedding. Or if you want one which is inexpensive but still has everything you want.

For a cheap wedding. Have it during the week, don't invite children, bridal party to buy their own suits, shoes etc, and get uncle john to do the photographs on his big camera.

For an inexpensive wedding, set your budget and work to it. Start by cutting down on the non-essential expenses. Have a small bridal party, hire outfits (are you really going to wear them again), who needs an over the top car (hire a nice one if you need to which a relative/friend could drive), if you are buying people gifts keep them realistic (it's your day not theirs), have a small sit-down meal limited to essential guests (bridal party, parents, siblings), shop around venues for evening parties, don't be swayed by the fancy buffet which no-one eats go for something normal which is often the most inexpensive, do you really need the expensive band playing cheesy covers when a DJ can do something similar. Shop around for photographers, but be realistic in the package you go for.

Ultimately it will be your day, and your budget.

[edlass]

Most of our decorations things were from ebay or the bargain shops but not tacky.

For example, we had a circular mirror on the table with an empty fish bowl on top with some flowers in (wow I make it sound beautiful don't I? But it was actually). Anyway, we got the mirrors from the range at about a fiver a pack and then sold them on ebay after the wedding for profit. The fishbowls we got from ebay and re-sold and didn't make a loss.

We baught two fake bay trees from B&M for £30 quid total and sold them on ebay for £60?! (who buys this stuff?)

The best money saver was (if there are kids coming, although adults loved it). In stead of hiring a sweet cart for £700 or having fancy jars of sweets we just bought a load in bulk from Costco for £15 quid and put them in the tins with a load of coloring in stuff and it looked fine and no one cared that it wasn't a cart or jars with a scoop.

Also we didn't bother with a fancy wedding cake that no one would eat, we got a plane white cake from Costco and had our florist put on a very nice large, pink, flower and it looked great, but our wedding was small so that might not be ideal for everyone!

[Spike]

My mates , fellow Clarets hired the Youth Hostel at Malham.
We stopped Friday night and Saturday.

He got a barrel of Real Ale, everyone took their own booze.

We all chipped in with breakfast stuff.

The Nippy chippy from Harrogate came Saturday night and everyone could have as much fish, chips and mushy peas as they liked.

I wasn't up for the idea but it was bloody perfect.

[Spike]

Alternatively you could be a tight arse like Rappo .Got married on Easter Monday in Birmingham when Burnley were playing at Bolton.

As a result very few guests went , which is what he wanted.
Also flowers were already in the church for Easter

[the_fat_shearer]

I got married in Durham in August.

A fair few things that we did weren't the cheapest but some good things that we enjoyed which were low cost were "garden games" --> bought stuff in cheap off Amazon like Giant Jenga, Connect 4, Limbo etc. rather than get a company to come in and set stuff up. Adults and kids loved it (and the weather was good for us).

After the meal before the music we also did our own pub quiz. We blagged a few prizes from different sources, got one of the ushers to run the quiz and also bought giant playing cards to do rounds of Play Your Cards right for spot prizes in between rounds. It was a good laugh.

[beddie]

[quote="Spike"]My mates , fellow Clarets hired the Youth Hostel at Malham.
We stopped Friday night and Saturday.

Spike, I wondered out of interest if it was Malham Tarn Field Centre rather than the Hostel. Just curious as my boss's son had a similar do at the Tarn.

[dushanbe]

Save as much money as possible and spend it on your honeymoon. In 12 months, you won't remember a thing about it, neither will your guests. You'll look at the photographs you paid a grand for once then put them in the loft.

[Healeywoodclaret]

Week days is an interesting one. Our preferred venue at the moment is open to the public weekends whereas a weekday we'd have exclusive use. Tempted by this.

Would being invited to a weekday wedding be an annoyance? I'm a bit torn on this one. Keep thinking to myself 'it's our wedding' but we don't want to put people out too much.

I think a Friday Wedding is almost a weekend wedding with the excuse for a long weekend.

Where abouts in the North East are you? We recently had a Pearl Wedding Anniversary Party at The Sun Hotel Warkworth. Great setting with the imposing Castle View. The buffet food consisted of chicken curry garlic breads chips and Lasagne and went down a storm with all our guests.

[Lancasterclaret]

Get married abroad.

Combine it with an ace honeymoon and you've got memories that last a lifetime.

We did it, and as long as both our sets of parents were not against the idea (they weren't!) it doesn't really matter who comes and who doesn't.

It is your day, and its sometimes hard to remember that.

[JohnMac]

Get down the Registry Office and then offer a finger buffet in a pub afterwards. It didn't spoil our day just over 40 years ago. Anyone who feels 'short changed' probably shouldn't have been invited in the first place.

It should be about the joining together of you and your loved one, little else matters.

[Dark Cloud]

We cleared off in secret and were married in Church with just 2 close friends in attendance and that only because you HAD to have 2 witnesses. The day was just about US and nobody else, especially all the free loaders you feel obliged to ask and who barely know you. If you're not careful you end up doing loads of things and spending shed loads of cash just "because you feel you ought to" and that's just plain daft. And in the end it doesn't make you any happier or the marriage any more enduring. Ultimately it's just another racket! File under Christmas and funerals!

[Loyalclaret]

Church /venue where you don’t need cars- or ask friends with nice cars to have a valet and tie a Claret rose on the bonnet.

Garden games speak to local youth clubs. I contact a local croquet club and lent the practice gear for free.

Make your own invites and tables stuff.

Paint guest names on stones for table setting/favours.

Ask groom/bridal party to buy their dresses & suits, my groom party wear theirs regularly.

Friday over Sunday in my opinion, some people hold back on Sundays.

Get married abroad and pass cost onto guest*

Out of season, the anniversary will fall on games forever + honeymoon.

Get an ok camera, tie a note saying take a pick and pass it on. They’ll be some budding photographers.

Do what you want and don’t listen to lists on the internet

*Mrs suggestion!

[ŽižkovClaret]

Bet Beamish offers something and that would be gorgeous