The bride who saved £15,000 on her dream wedding

Lauren Kennedy, 28, a statistician from Belfast made use of her financial know-how to help you save 1000’s on her marriage ceremony to Adam, also 28, a clinical technologist. Listed here she shares her amazing dollars-saving strategies…

At any time because we started relationship as teenagers at 14, I often realized I’d marry Adam. But I was nevertheless blown away when he received down one knee and proposed to me.

He pulled out a diamond ring through a weekend away in Dublin at a fancy lodge to celebrate my birthday in November 2019. Though we’d talked about taking the upcoming step in our romantic relationship immediately after returning from travelling in Australia, I hadn’t fairly realised it would come about so before long. It was perfect timing actually as daily life was settled and it gave us a thing to appear forward to.

Popped the concern

I by no means dreamed of a classic fairytale marriage ceremony with Adam – likely because we had been alongside one another for so lengthy – but I seriously enjoyed throwing myself into planning the day. There was no chance of me turning into a bridezilla even though. We didn’t come to feel the need to validate our relationship with a showy marriage, we just preferred it to be a delighted working day.

When we married on 27 July 2021, it was a magical day in additional approaches than just one. We managed to conserve ourselves £15,000 which was a big accomplishment.

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My working day job as a statistician means I perform with figures and details. It is not the most inventive task which is probably why I cherished arranging the marriage so a lot, but it does make my brain assume in an organised way. I was in spreadsheet heaven through the arranging!

I had a variety of spreadsheets for the attire and groomsman, the venue and the food stuff and extras like bouquets, music, lights and confetti. Neither of us preferred to commit dollars we did not have on just one significant working day, so we drew up a real looking finances right before we started any organizing.

We were being currently preserving cash to invest in a house and a car, and we did not want to lose sight of people as they are actually significant to us extensive-expression. This meant we experienced to be thorough with spending on the marriage ceremony. So many couples get themselves into financial debt just from celebrating their a single huge day, and we did not want that to be us.

Story carries on

We set a full finances of £6,000 and started to conserve into a joint account in excess of the up coming 18 months. Each and every thirty day period, we saved £500 involving us. We weren’t usually tremendous rigid – situations like Christmas or birthdays, we wouldn’t make the £500 but we manufactured up for it for the duration of quieter months.

The very first factor I did was work out which sections of the day that needed the most money. Every night soon after get the job done, I’d do analysis on the sofa scrolling by means of Instagram and Pinterest and emailing for estimates so I could assess prices.

The surprise location

We arrived across our location by incident. I visited a industrial marriage location inside Glenariff Forest Park in the vicinity of our property in Northern Ireland. The huge 1,000-hectare woodland with scenic lakes, waterfalls and gorges was astounding. But I realized we would not be capable to manage it…

Then on the way property, I found a indication for a spouse and children-run cafe in the park. As shortly as I acquired household, I googled it. Immediately after 1 fast phone simply call we had been back again there for a tour. We both fell in appreciate with it – the restaurant was correct next to a spectacular waterfall the place we could have the ceremony.

It was a more cost-effective solution at £1,300 and saved us a huge £10,000. We just had to shell out for 30 eating visitors in a personal facet room, no excess location retain the services of. We could embellish it ourselves and have our individual entertainment. We weren’t reducing any corners – we celebrated with a 3-class marriage ceremony breakfast and champagne flowing on the tables.

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I could not consider how blessed we have been to uncover it – specially for a Saturday wedding. We even had glorious sunshine! We were in a position to get together into the evening outside the house on the patio as the weather held out. We experienced scones and tea then handmade meals, mini cupcakes and drinks with a disco for the added 30 evening guests. All attendees were invited through a cost-free web-site link I established saving us £200 and paper.

I’d predicted the 2nd largest expenditure to be my costume, but yet again, I received blessed. I was procuring close to with my bridesmaid and mum when I came across my dress… on the sale rack. I didn’t realise when I tried using it on and seemed at the wonderful buttoned-back of the dress in the mirror.

My mum cried tears of joy. I truly panicked it was far too dear, so I could not believe that my eyes when I browse £400 on the selling price tag. I’d budgeted for £1,000. In the conclude my mum paid out for it as aspect of our wedding current, which was charming.

Bargain hunters

Despite this preserving, neither of us needed to invest countless numbers on the groom’s suit for it only to sit in the wardrobe for good. When we shopped around for Adam and his pretty tall three brothers, suits ended up coming in nicely in excess of a thousand kilos. And then a pal outlined seeking into choosing them which was genius! We managed to hire 6 suits – all customised – for £350. This saved us an approximated £2,000.

I wouldn’t generally connect with myself a bargain-hunter, but we managed to obtain our wardrobes at a steal. The exact same occurred with the bouquets. I found a new modest small business and due to the fact I was their very first wedding ceremony, they gave me a price reduction – with some wonderful personal touches like supply.

For a bridal bouquet, three bridesmaids’ bouquets and six buttonholes, I saved all over £250. My other clever concept was I purchased dried arrangements which signifies I nevertheless have my bouquet sitting down in my living area currently.

Our relatives also assisted out with preparations. My aunties spent months drying rose petals for the confetti – a cost-conserving and eco-helpful strategy. My dad and his spouse grew our willow arch for us underneath which we received married – the exact same would have cost us a number of hundred kilos.

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The lovely backdrop for our marriage ceremony photographs was completely free of charge much too – as was our photographer who was a good friend. I nonetheless can’t quit on the lookout at the shots taken on best of the Glens. We would by no means have acquired such beautiful pictures at a traditional wedding ceremony venue.

Savvy bride tips

My finest dollars-conserving suggestion is to look for an abnormal location. Some marriage organizations have so several added additional costs like hundreds for fairy lights or expenses for corkage. Do you analysis and try out and personalise your day to accommodate you as well as your finances.

I found the craze for personal vows on Instagram. Adam and I get anxious speaking in front of a large amount of men and women so we exchanged our vows different from our ceremony. It was so intimate.

The place we saved, we were being then in a position to leading up the spending budget to invest on a lot more important issues like my diamond ring and the songs amusement. I also managed to claw some funds again by marketing on decorations to other brides after the marriage ceremony.

I was so chuffed I obtained the day we wanted for a portion of the cost. We were on cloud 9. My mom and dad were so impressed too. And my mother in legislation had the ideal working day. No a person felt like we experienced scrimped on everything.

The pandemic restricted our honeymoon plans, so we didn’t get to holiday getaway in Rome until before this year, but that was ok. We’d had a best keep in a minimal cottage at the top rated of the Glen on our wedding day evening for less than £100. The lovely views we woke up to on our initial day as a married few had been worthy of millions.

Our following funds-saving venture is generating a new house for ourselves. We bought it a month right before the wedding and we’re learning a large amount of Do it yourself work from my dad. There is no spreadsheet as these kinds of this time, but I do have a Pinterest board…

Lauren has teamed up with Diamond Manufacturing unit Island to share her top rated funds-conserving guidelines on throwing a wedding.

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