Final Hints and Tips

My last post may make you think that I was being a proper Bridezilla and regretted my wedding day. Hell, no! But there are a few key tips and tricks that I picked up along the way that I initiated at my best friend's weddings, such as...

SOS Kit – keep a little bag on standby that has everything you could need if the shit hits the fan! Alternatively, pop them in a cheap basket and put them in the toilets at your wedding venue – but be prepared for people to take things home with them, so don’t include your favourite bottle of perfume! My cousin actually told me recently how much of a godsend it was to see this at our wedding, as she needed some emergency tampons during the day! And my dad got a splitting headache right before the speeches, so we grabbed some of the pain killers from the basket for him! Hit Primark, Poundland etc for cheap bits that you won’t miss! Things to include could be: 

- Sewing kit 

- Chewing gum/mints

- Confetti! Someone always forgets! 

- Tissues 

- Selfie stick

- Lipbalm 

- Tampons/pads 

- Deodorant 

- Hair grips/bands in a range of colours 

- Hairspray 

- Condoms (you never know!) 

- Perfume – see if you can snag a few samples from Boots or department stores! 

- Dry shampoo 

- Tights 

- Plasters 

- Paracetomel/Ibuprofen 

- Hayfever tablets 

- Gaviscon 

- Comb/hairbrush 

Make sure you either have a killer bag to put all this in - or pop it all in a cute basket and keep them on standby in the bathroom!

Pre-plan your hen/stag do – have a discussion with your bridal party before they jump the gun and book that weekend in Benidorm! Tell them what you’d really hate, what kind of budget you want to spend, the guest list etc.  

Don’t be afraid of eBay and Etsy – countdown calendar/gifts/personal anecdotes come in great here! EBay used to have a reputation for just selling second hand goods, but these days it’s just as much an online superstore as ASOS! 

Stationery – Don’t be afraid of doing your own stationery, it can be so cheap and easy to do! Many stationers supply premade layouts that you just edit with your own details, so all you need is a decent home printer, plenty of ink, and some cards! But if you really can’t be doing with all the hassle, Vistaprint can do it all for you, and for a fraction of what some independents charge! 

I created all the stationery for our wedding using Microsoft Word, recycled Kraft card, paper doilies and some rustic twine!

Flowers – If someone you know has a flair for creativity and you want a natural-looking wedding, look no further than your very own supermarket! Lidl and Aldi sell lovely flowers for a few quid, and if you just want them for venue décor then look no further! Equally, if you want to do your own flowers, look to a local wholesaler! We bought all of our flowers (white avalanche roses and million-star gypsophila) for around £120. We watched tutorials on YouTube for the arrangements, and don’t forget to practice with those cheapy Lidl flowers beforehand! 

I also preserved some of the petals from my bouquet and dried them in a clear Christmas bauble, so we have a wedding memento on our tree every year! I used alphabet transfer stickers from a hobby shop to decorate, and the ribbon is actually leftover ribbon from my wedding hairband! I used this same technique as a gift for H's first Christmas after she got married, but bought a personalised bauble from eBay, used dried petals from my bridesmaid bouquet for her wedding, and used leftover ribbon from her wedding cake - which, yes, I also made!

Our wedding flowers are forever preserved in a Christmas bauble that we can hang every year on our tree!

Post Wedding Blues - you've got married - woohoo! Now what do you do with all the memorabilia that's left over?! I scoured Pinterest for ideas, as I'm ridiculously sentimental and can't bear to throw things away! So I created this beautiful memory frame to house all sorts of mementos from our Big Day. It includes things like J's tie, my garter, my hairband, his buttonhole, an invitation, our personalised cake knife, the cork from the champagne we had in the car, our cake topper, ring box, confetti, a brooch from my shoe, and even one of my bridesmaid's bouquet! Of course, you can pay someone a small fortune to have your bouquet preserved in a frame forever, too!

Our Wedding Keepsake Frame - so easy to do, and it beats hiding these precious mementos away in the loft forever!

I also wasn't fussed about what to do with my dress afterwards. This must sound like a real shock for some of you brides out there! Remember, my dress was second-hand, and wasn't a part of our wedding that I obsessed over like many a bride do. My mum - who is also super crafty - took a pair of scissors to it and voila! Turned it into the absolute beauty of a teddy bear! She's called Lacey, as a nod to her material, and she'll be a keepsake for our family in years to come. I love this idea, and it beats putting your dress away in the loft for the rest of eternity!!

With all that’s said and done, I really hope that these blog posts have helped inspire you to create a beautiful wedding for a fraction of the expected cost. When the average wedding is around £20,000, it can be quite daunting and stressful for a couple at the most magical time of their lives! No one wants to start married life off in debt, and thankfully – we didn’t! Create budget spreadsheets, make notes of amendments as you go and list EVERYTHING you’ve spent money on, even your invitation postage!! I’m hopefully going to upload templates for you to use, including pre-wedding timetables and packing checklists, so keep a look out for them soon!  

In total, if you’ve been following our story from the beginning, we spent £12,283.51 on our ENTIRE wedding and honeymoon (and that’s even including £250 which was put aside for random bits along the way, such as food at the airport for our honeymoon!). If you think that I accomplished the impossible and I could help you do the same, please get in touch! 

KEB x