Planning a wedding can be both an exciting and challenging experience, especially when it comes to budgeting for the venue. It’s essential to determine your overall budget early on and allocate a significant portion to the venue, as it often represents the largest expense. Fortunately, there are beautiful venues available to suit every budget, from intimate gardens to grand ballrooms. When choosing a venue, consider how it aligns with your vision and priorities for the day. If the venue of your dreams is slightly over budget, you might consider adjusting other aspects, such as the guest list or opting for a different catering option, to make it work. Remember, the key is to focus on what matters most to you and your partner, ensuring your wedding day reflects your unique style and love story.

I started off with preparing shein fake flowers and was going to do my own bouquet because looking at florists as soon as you mention ‘wedding’ the price goes up, I gave up pretty quickly not that the bouquet I made wasn’t great because I still use it today as a bunch of flowers in the lounge I just struggled to gather the correct flowers and I was planning to make bridesmaids bouquets and I wanted a floral crown too. I joined facebook DIY wedding groups to inspire me but did I have the right headspace to take on DIY flowers = ‘NOPE’ as I gave up I ended up leaving my mom with this task and she actually got a really lovely range of seasonal flowers which also went lovely with my tumeric copper hair tone.

DIY Invites

A few things I did cheap and cheerful sticking to a budget even my invites I created them had them printed using a local printing company then spent time cutting them down and sticking them together attaching little details along the way to make them extra special for me.

The little things

It all started as an idea an idea we took from one of our friends wedding, and then made it into our own idea. We love exploring castles, we decided to name each table with the castle we have been too instead of numbers. The groom then suggested we have photos of us at that castle along with the table centre piece, in order for the photos to stand up and for the sake of the table name I picked these little stands from etsy and the seating plan I had Kraft card with names of guests printed on then I sat cutting them to make them look like castles. The name places I chose matched the table centrepieces everything was/is cheap and cheerful and it matched my rustic theme. I brought log slices for the table centrepieces to stand on, they were only 50p from an end of season sale. My favours I sat for hours filling seed packets I brought from hobby craft, filled them with wild flower seeds and blue cornflower seeds took a while but it was worth it. My confetti packets I didn’t order enough of, they were personalised and already filled with biodegradable petals which was 1 less stress to tick off. And because I felt my guests needed something extra I decided on a very last minute few extras that helped with those boring spots while waiting for food the games and dares ‘n’ I spy cards I chose were a great idea especially for the kids and my cousins who are big kids at heart I hope enjoyed them too!

Venue décor

Some items I really couldn’t find to get done as cheap as chips so we hired a venue décor company, Finishing Touches. We opted in for a venue package so we didn’t break the bank. We hired the essentials such as the blossom canopy trees, we used them for the ceremony then paid an extra £80 to have them moved and used in the wedding breakfast which was definitely worth it. We hired lanterns for the aisle, a postbox, and a welcome sing which all fitted into my rustic theme. Alongside the venue décor I purchased a guest book board from Etsy which is really cute especially once it’s finally hung up in the kitchen and sweet jars from IKEA.

There’s a lot to accomplish in the final weeks leading up to your wedding, but assembling an effective wedding day emergency kit is a task you shouldn’t overlook. With any luck, you won’t need much from it.

While I didn’t personally create this kit for myself, I did however prepare bathroom (colour theme matched) baskets filled with essentials for my guests. Most items I brought were from the Body Care shop all ‘inexpensive’, a few items I brought from Boots and the only 2 things I purchased from Tesco was little brown paper mini shot glasses as everything had to stay on the theme for me (unfortunately this link only provides white or red) and tissue cubes they had a lovely sage green design on the day of purchasing ‘clearly it was a sign’. Essentials included little recovery kits, deodorant sprays for the men and sanitary items for the women, allowing my guests to fully enjoy the celebration!