Weddings, Weddings, Weddings.
So my best friend is getting married in July, the 30th in fact, and yes of this year. She has done hardly anything. She has had a couple of quotes from caterers and booked the church and seen some marquees that is all.
So yesterday I dragged her along to a wedding fair, to have a look at some of the local companies that are around us for her to get some ideas and book a few things.
Well after sitting through a not very good singer, who was offering his services, and looking at some not very nice wedding dresses in a fashion show. There were nine dresses only one was OK, the rest well lets just say they wouldn’t have been given a second glance in the shop. We decided to look around the stalls.
Well we nearly fainted at the price of the wedding cakes, they were lovely but really for the price they were asking I would expect them to be coated in gold! She had to look at stationary and she wanted to have a look at the make up stands to see if any of them came out on the day. The one she really liked didn’t come out on the day, the one she didn’t like came out to your house and did you hair. The hairstyles were not nice and would have never have suited her. So that was not a success.
She did order these fantastic tables decorations, that are huge candle holders, sitting on a round mirror that is decorated with candles and gems. The same lady is going to do all of her flowers as well, she just needs to go for a consultation so we got something done! Yes!
What amazed me was the stationary, I was in a state of shock the prices that people were charging for invites, and some really simple errors were made in the whole concept of the stationary. The lady that she liked didn’t have RSVP cards to match the invites and the day invites didn’t match the evening, as the one she liked only came for the whole day invite. Now to me you are paying a few hundred pounds for this stationary, I would expect everything to match. I know I am particular about stationary and things like that. I don’t buy any of Baba’s party invites, or the christening, baby shower etc I just don’t like things that you buy. But this stationary was lovely, but it just didn’t match. I was I have to say really unimpressed with this. I would be so unhappy if I were getting married and trying to find stationary. Her response about the RSVP was that sending guests one didn’t mean that they replied quickly, well no but it is still nice to send a matching set!
I came home a bit shocked and just in awe really. Firstly I jokingly said to Mr L that I was missing a trick not being in the wedding stationary business, the mark up that is on these products is just amazing! They are not difficult, in-fact very simple and like most of the stuff at the fair, they could be made so easily. It comes down to time, people don’t have that spare time, I know my friend doesn’t have it so they pay the price that is put to them, but to be honest it is so expensive.
I know it is a major factor into Mr L and I getting married. We just can not afford it unless some lovely people would like to sponsor us to get married! There is no chance that we will have that spare cash to go through with an event like that.
What was getting married like for you? Did it cost you a fortune? Are you still paying for it? Or did you manage to do it on a budget? I would love to know as it is something that I do want to do one day, but going to that wedding fair I don’t think it will ever be possible.
It really is so expensive. I personally am not bothered about getting married lol.. but if I was I would def look at ways of doing it more cost-effectively – making my own stationary and wedding cake etc… I guess it doesn’t need to be a big lavish wedding, but it’s all down to personal preference!
Isn’t it so expensive, I could cope not getting married, I don’t think we will ever afford it anyway xx
How weird…
I’m hoping to set my own business up within the next year that is solely about…
Wedding Stationery…
How strange…
I don’t understand the prices people charge for this, when what they make isn’t up to scratch. The one thing I want is nice, matching stationery when I get married – I’m making my own… x
You know it was the first thing that I said to Mr L was about starting my own wedding stationary business I hope it goes well, as there is some wierd stuff out there. Maybe we could help one another out? xx
Yeah, that’d be a good idea. I’ll need any help I can get!
There’s some borderline-ridiculous stationery out there for prices that are even more ridiculous. Hopefully, it’ll be a nice little earner!x
I should imagine that it would xx
We’re finalising all our details for our wedding now. It’s easy to get sucked into the expense but you really can do things a lot cheaper than the wedding fayres show you. I did my own invites for a fraction of what they would have cost.
Yeah I know, I just can’t believe what people are charging for it all xx
We’re getting married in Sept and yes it does cost a bomb! We were planning it and set a date and venue but had a very small budget but when they realised we were actually doing it properly our folks offered us some money which has allowed us to invite more people and do some things we were not going to bother with. As it is having family and barely any friends the catering cost alone gives me palpitations every time I open my spreadsheet!
It can cost a lot but like you said it’s all time. Have you seenthe Money Saving Expert website? There is a really good wedding-on-a-budget forum and some of the ladies on there are doing small weddings for a few hundred pounds all in. They have some really good ideas you might want to use fir your friend.
Oh thank you I shall go and have a look over there that sounds great xx
I think you should definitely make that your business Kerry…..you’d be bloody brilliant at it. When my brother got married he was amazed at how much everything cost and came to the conclusion that as soon as you mention the word ‘wedding’ prices shoot up ridiculously. They ended up doing most stuff themselves and spending the money on the reception instead of all the other bits and it was the most beautiful wedding I’ve ever been too!
I totally agree with him everything gets overpriced once you mention weddings. I think the waay forward is making everything yourself as it is stupid otherwise. Thanks for your vote of confidence xx
I know its crazy and I’ve gone through the whole caboodle twice. Thankfully the second time was with the right guy, I stayed up late making my (matching) stationary, had a French Fancy wedding cake (I love them and everyone commented on how cool it looked) and had a nap with the baby in the afternoon before returning to a huge party. Probably sounds really unappealing to those who want a big wedding (not that I turn my nose up at big weddings- you should have what you want on your big day) but we loved it! I would suggest your friend scoured the internet for lovely little shops that will make her special day exactly that. Good luck and great blog!x
Thank you that sounds like a lovely day, something that I would love myself have to say xx
When my sister got married we made all her stationary ourselves. By splitting it between her, my mum and me it lessened the load a bit and as she planned her wedding *very* in advance (she is one of those people who has lists of her lists she is so organised) we had enough time. We came up with a design together based around her colour scheme – it was very simple and just involved buying some of those silver outline stickers from a craft shop and some decent gold and silver pens. It all looked great in the end too.
My dad made and wrote out all the place names for the table as he can do calligraphy and I was put in charge of the table plan and titles – I was 16 at the time. My sister is Winnie The Pooh mad and had all the tables named after the places in the books (House at Pooh Corner, Roo’s Sandy Pit etc) and I spent hours carefully hand drawing pictures of all the characters (I’m rubbish at art, it took *many* tries) and colouring them in. We then just laminated these and stood them necxt to the flowers in the middle of each table.
People all commented on how nice it was to see the personal touches because they were totally unique to their wedding rather than just a ‘personalised’ version of a standard set. Even if Eeyore was a bit wonky and some of the invites weren’t totally identical.
I can’t afford to get married at the moment either but I really really want to at some point. I think when I do I will try and be organised my my sister and start doing little things like that way in advance. It saved her hundreds of pounds and made it all at bit different.
That sounds lovely, that is the type of wedding that I would have. However my best friend is getting married in July, she doesn’t have the time to do any of the hand made stuff. xx