The following is a list of things that, while they can significantly encroach onto your wedding budget, could actually be the difference between calm and stress levels!!
Cars – we opted not to have fancy cars, as I was already at the venue before we got married. However, we still needed to get from the ceremony venue to the reception venue, so we ended up enlisting the help of A’s husband, who has a rather nice Range Rover! BUT it was very sweet of him to drive us around, and even made sure there was a wedding ribbon on it, had champagne chilling in the back, and had Bon Jovi (my fave!!) playing as we drove around. Thank you, S!
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| S was a huge help on the wedding day and ensured that we were driven in style! |
However, one thing we did research was unusual cars, as I reallyyyyy don’t like the old-style Rolls Royce's. You know I’m a film buff? Well, there was a replica DeLorean available for hire in our area! At £400 for hire though, this just wasn’t a part of the budget I could part with. BUT, how could would it have been for that to drive up for us?! And it was only a two-seater, and J doesn’t drive, so it would be me going back to 1987 – ha!
Wedding Night – haha! I bet you’re wondering why I regret my wedding night!? No not in that way, get your mind out of the gutter. Being a budget-bride, J and I weren’t fussed about where we were staying on our first night as Husband and Wife. We were currently living with my parents to save money, and they’d said that they were staying in a B&B on the night of the wedding. My brother was seeing someone in the next town, so we assumed he’d stay with her. Ideal – we had the house to ourselves!
Nope.
When my mum showed us the B&B they’d booked, I’d sniffed my nose up at it – it just wasn’t my cup of tea! My mum got really defensive and quiet, so I think actually she’d booked it as a surprise for US! At the reception, my cousin asked where J and I were staying, and I said “at home, it’s just us!” to which my mum promptly replied “no, we cancelled the B&B, we’ll be home too!” (Of course, my cousin fell apart laughing at the look on my face.) And my brother decided it was too late to drive to his girlfriend’s, so EVERYONE was at home on our wedding night. Not very romantic!! In hindsight, we should’ve looked for a cheap apartment to stay in on Air B&B or something, but at the time it was a relatively new concept which didn’t sound legit! Even a Travelodge would’ve sufficed at that point.
Actually no! I take that back! The night before we were due to fly to Las Vegas, we stayed in a Travelodge at the airport. Again, we were just being budget-friendly. But staying in a cheap room with barely the basic necessities wasn’t the best start to our honeymoon. I wished we’d stayed somewhere a bit classier, like a Hilton or something with just a bit of décor that wasn’t red and blue!
Honeymoon – I've said it already, but yes, we probably should’ve invested in something a bit more luxurious. Even if you just fly business class for one leg of your journey, or upgrade your room for the last few nights of your trip, it probably makes all the difference – after all, you only honeymoon once! BUT we still got the trip of a lifetime for a fraction of what the high street wanted us to pay, and we had a blast!
Photos – I’m really disappointed that some of the shots I wanted didn’t turn out as I’d hoped. Now, let me be clear here - I absolutely loved my wedding photos. But what I'm talking about is the fact that I’d scoured Pinterest and Google for perfect poses that were a little bit interesting and off the cuff, and they turned out rubbish. I asked for a photo of me slipping on my shoes/garter, and the resulting shot had crap strewn everywhere in the background, and my legs were pasty as hell (note to self: use fake tan)! Then there was the classic “Dress Hung Up Somewhere” shot. I’ve got one, but there’s a bright pink holdall that wasn’t cropped out of the shot, and I was a bit like, "come on! Even I know what makes a frame look like rubbish." BUT, with all the shots that I’d researched and wanted, there were LOADS of photos that had been slipped in without me even noticing! And they’re absolutely beautiful! So maybe don't pin all your hopes on the fancy shots you see on the internet - remember that your photographer has your best interests at heart and is snapping away at those precious moments you didn't even know you were missing!
Sign Offs – now, this can cover a range of factors. Confirm, confirm, confirm! At the very last minute 48 hours before, to be precise!) both my wedding photographer and videographer welcomed babies into the world! I was due to meet with them around this time to just go over last-minute preparations, however they were understandably preoccupied! A stand-in photographer came to the rescue, and I ended up meeting my videographer for the very first time whilst I was wearing my PJs - smooth.
Dodgy Suppliers – Whilst our reception venue was fabulous for the food, they did let us down on a number of points, which is why I have refused to name and shame them. They’re a great restaurant, our guests had a fabulous time, and the price was amazingly cheap... but actually J and I know what went on behind the scenes and let down certain elements of the day. They were kind enough to set up a “practice table” and sent me a photo, so I knew that they were correctly laying out the tables according to our vision. But despite my numerous instructions (I literally gave them a printout of all of my decorations, how many there should be, where they should go, and what they need to be fixed up with!) the venue just didn’t fit the vision. Things were where they shouldn’t be, paint was flaking off the walls, and they had hurriedly hung some of our decs with Sellotape, which just looked like shit! Like hello?! It’s a wedding, not a child’s birthday party down the local church hall!
They also messed us around with guest numbers, quoting one amount in the first breath, then claiming that we had too many guests once we gave them our final menu choices. Sorry, but I had everything written down as they told me, and what could I do? Uninvite guests at the 11th hour?! So they just had to make do, and all 72 of us ended up slightly cramped around our tables! Because of this, they also had to draft in extra chairs from their sister hotel, which didn’t match with the rest of the restaurants’. If I’d known this, I would’ve splurged on chair covers!!
So, from ruining our cake, to throwing it away, messing up our decorations, messing up our guest list, I would say to just confirm, confirm, confirm if you have any part of your wedding that doesn’t deal with weddings! This goes the same for a friend who’s pitching in as your “photographer” or someone who has minimal experience of baking cakes – it's your one wedding day, so make it perfect!!
BUT on the flip side, all the mistakes that were made with our venue was only known by US. As said before, our guests had a blast and were none the wiser that things hadn’t gone to plan! This is something that I had to keep reminding myself of whilst we were on honeymoon. I was so ANGRY about some factors of our wedding that I forgot that only J AND I would be the ones to notice! I have a friend who refused to hang wedding pictures for like a year because she was so disappointed with the service her wedding dress boutique gave her on the week of her wedding. But she looked down-right fucking fabulous, and we were none the wiser that she was so upset with how she looked?!
KEB x
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