- This topic has 27 replies, 19 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 3 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Hi girls I am organising my wedding and I am looking to stick to a small budget. I would be very grateful if you could summarise your wedding stories. I suppose like making your list for your hospital bag going in to have a baby (covering everything!)
I have a general idea. I would love a hotel but then a function room with a buffet can be just as nice, anyone ever done this in Louth area???????? Hotel recomendations?????
What does it cost roughly for Hotel etc etcThanks in advance
oh it’s so exciting getting married the whole planning etc…..depends on really what ya want and how ya want to do it, we spent a small fortune on our wedding and i wouldn’t change it i loved it…….oh wish it was happening again….lol….
we got married in Cavan in Cabra Castle so regards louth there is a few places i know of that are nice, and most places now have reduced their prices, bettsytown court are having a wedding fair soon so it’ll be good to go to that to see people supplying items such as cars, stationary, chocolate fountain etc etc……
Scholars is a beautiful hotel and they cater for small weddings…..have a look at websites and see what they’re offering and try and get to see the function room when it’s done up which makes a huge difference, when we were choosing our hotel we went to Cabra Castle just to view in order toshut my dad up as he said he really liked the place having played in wedding band for years it was were he thought his daughter would marry, we were like yeah we’ll go see if we like it if not we’ll go elsewhere, but when we drove up we liked it and what really sold it to us was the fact the room was done out exactly how i wanted it to be done and i fell in love with the whole romance of it……so see if you can view rooms that are prepared for weddings as will be an indicator of what it will be like on your day….
oh yeah the excitment of it all
i had a registry office wedding in navan then i had a reception for 47 in the ardboyne in navan in their small room – have to say i loved it and they couldn’t do enough for us on the day, we even got an engraved vase from them when we were leaving the following day. They do have a big function room but it’s only a small hotel and as most of our guests were staying the night the hotel was pretty much booked out and the larger function room wasn’t booked.
Re dress – again it can be as expensive etc as you want I got mine off the rail in hickeys and it cost a fraction of some of the dresses in wedding shops – bought my bridesmaid/wittnesses dress in the jan sale there was exactlly what i wanted and cost €80.
I also know someone getting married, very small wedding, she wants a dress but not full wedding thingy – she’s wearing a stunning bridesmaid dress in ivory – again a fraction of the cost of "bridal gowns"
if you’re thinking of having your girls as flower girls look in likes of dunnes or debhanems around easter always have really pretty dresses but not too expensive.
oh i used Eamon Tole for the evening entertainment – cost ~600 was himself and one other for the evening then he did an hour or 2 of DJ -everybody and i mean everyone at the wedding loved him and were all talking about what a great show he put on – i think i still have his number at home – he plays regularly in slane i think, he did a friend of my mothers wedding and i went to see him to shut mam up to be honest but booked him straight away. He has other band members so can tailor to small or big wedding.
best advise i can give is to enjoy the whole thing – i’ve seen so many brides get stressed out etc, i know one who was on antidrepressant in run up to wedding – it’s supposed to be about you & hubby. my dh told me when we got engaged if there was any hassle at all bout wedding we were eloping 😆 😆 ENJOY and you know all you have to do is ask and i’ll give you handOh you will love organising it!! I had mine in the Ardboyne and they were brilliant, couldn’t fault them at all. My sister had hers in the Newgrange and they were great aswell – both hotels have smaller rooms too.
Main thing to do is get the church and hotel booked asap, and have your guest list done to give the hotel an idea and bargain them aswell!.. after that, photographer, video, church music, flowers, cars, invites, the list can be endless really!
The hotel prices can vary so much too, make a list of those you like and make appointments to see them, don’t know anyone that has had a buffet for theirs but I know its pretty popular in England…I got my dress in Protocol… is the bridal shop in Duleek gone already? I know it was closing down and selling off all the stock…
Have fun organising it all! Wish I was doing mine again! 😆Hi Happymammy,
I am married 10.5 years now so things were a lot cheaper then. I had mine in the Glenside hotel. It was lovely.
My hubby plays in a band who play mostly at weddings. If you want a price just pm me and I will get him to give you a call. They also have a DJ with the band. Also one of the band members is a videographer and I could give you his number too.
I think nowadays the things like favours on the tables, chocolate fountains and other extras are what put the prices of the weddings up and really there is no need for them.
You could have a look in TKMaxx for the bridesmaids dresses. I have seen some fab dresses in there lately, (even saw a couple of brides one) and they were very cheap.
Go onto http://www.weddingsonline.ie too, you will get great help there from people in same situation as yourself.
I would just love to be going through the whole thing again.
We re also gettting hitched this year.
I have a wedding planned and booked now for 50 guests for around 6 grand.
We are getting married in Gougane Barra in West Cork, its a tiny church – then we are having a reception in the little hotel opposite the church. As its a small hotel we have it fully closed off for us for the whole day and night.
I think if you ar etrying to keep it small Scholars would be a lovely place to hold it.
Second that about Weddingsonline its a great resource.
Weddings on small budgets can definately be done especially if you cut out the unnecesary c**p 😉 aka rose petals strewn on the floor/ favours/ bay trees/choc fountains etc etc…but sure if these sorts of things are important to you then its gonna start costing ya!!
Our wedding is about good food, drinks and chat. We are having a trad group play for a bit after the meal then having our own play list done thru an i pod ( as it is a small intimate hotel it is perfect as we a reusing interconnecting drawing rooms for the afters)
Been to so many weddings where you cant hear yourself think and some older members of the family have to go away early because of the noise..in my opinion a wedding is a time for familys and close friends to enjoy each others company not to be raving about at a loud disco ( thats just me tho!!)
As for photographers we have a woman who is just starting out and wanting to buid a portfolio, she is very cheap and we will edit and do an album ourselves ( good at that stuff), videographer we are winging it ( we have a fab video camera ourselves!)
Bridal gownwill be coing from one of the American sites or even better http://www.preloved.com or any second hand site.
Flower Girl dress- Debenhams are fab.Bridesmaids – nah not in to it
Groomsmen-nahMonkey suits -nooooo way- chillout folks – enjoy -relax
Well thats our day 😆
nikkih here is a photographer in her spare time i bet she would jump at the chance to do it for you if thats what you want. my dad also does weddings and dj’s too so you have your pick dont ya hahaha as for the rest well i iant got a clue but good luck to ya!!
I got married six years ago, had a big traditional irish wedding Church & reception in the Boyne valley Hotel & it was lovely.
Since then, I have been to so many weddings from tradional church & hotel, registry office, buffet receptions (donabate & swords) & abroad on the beach. They are all very special in their own way. It is the people who make a wedding enjoyable. One of my favourite weddings was the registry office & a meal with 30 people – just a very fun day.
A few ideas for keeping the budget down:
Cake – My mam made one tier of mine & my mil made the other tier (we just had two), mam iced it & bought flowers for the top – it was special. You can also buy wedding cakes in M&S, a few of my mates have done it & it has been prefect
Cars – we borrowed a nice car (think it was a merc, non 100% as not really into cars) from a friend of my dads for the day & my uncle drove us to the church in it.
Bridesmaids & Flower girls – I just had one of each & got both dresses in Debenhams sale for under €150 – when getting flower girl, go to the girls clothes section rather then the bridal section as the dresses their are much cheaper.
Flowers – My friends mam did them at a fraction of the price of other quotes that i got. She is a florist & doesn’t agree with adding on a fee just because it is a wedding, she is great & has good idea’s if you need her details please pm.
Favours – i didn’t have any but was at a wedding where they had Kinder surprises & it was a real hit, everyne was making thier little toy & laughing. It got everyone talking around the tables.
Mass booklets – we made our own on the computer. Just copied ones we had from other weddings.Two things that i considered important were the Video & the rings. They are things that you will have after the wedding day. We watch our DVD every year at our anniversary & love it, so does our son. It is very special as some of our family have passed away since the wedding & as lovely as photos are, you don’t get peoples facial expressions & personality like you do in a video.Any of my friends who didn’t bother with one, have regreted it. If you have the money to get it done professionally, i would advise it.
Also, you want to love your ring for many years to come, so i think that you can justify spending money on it.
I spent a lot of money on my dress & did love it on the day but dont think i would do that again. You really only wear it for one day & then it is pretty much useless. Then again, if the dress is your thing, then you will probably only get one chance to splash out that much on an outfit & it is your wedding, so go for it.
Thats all i can think of at the moment, put will let you know if i think of any more.
Enjoy. As the others said, i would love to do it all again but i know others who found it all very stressful, try not to let that happen.
oh cake – i don’t like traditional wedding cake and dh isn’t bothered so we had a chocolate cup cake as our wedding cake and used it as desert
forgot we had reception in same hotel Yvonne – have to say i thought they we’re really good on the day – though i almost walked out the day we went to view it i’m so glad now we didn’t!BETTYSTOWN COURT HOTEL WEDDING FAIR 15TH JAN – just if ya wanted to have a goo at what people are offering service wise etc…..
enjoy the preperations and do what you and hubby to be want to do, you’ll get lots of interference by people who think they are only trying to help, think it’s part of the course….but enjoy
You could also use your wedding cake as your dessert! It was just a pity that I didn’t think of that for my own!
My two cousins are florists, they both live in Duleek too, if you want their numbers let me know! And there is a girl in St. Cianans Villas who is a great singer!we got married in rome with close friends & family around us… the wedding was sept & i started planning in jan… had a budget for everything & i pretty much kept to it!!! got the bridesmaid dresses in debenhams, got the wedding dress in protocol in town (but they have a shop in drogheda). the wedding planner arranged the hairdresser, photographer, cake & flowers for me & the hotel we stayed in did the food for us which was lovely! the photographer was only 200 euro & he had the photos for me at the airport when we were coming home at the end of the wk!
all in all it cost about 5 grand, but everyone paid for their own flights & accomm & my folks paid for the meal. we would have loved to pay for everyone but we had just moved to bettystown & couldnt afford any more than what we could!
when we got back we had a huge party in the green isle hotel in dublin & had a dj & live music & a buffet & i’m happy to say it was all exactly what i wanted…
even weddings can be done on a budget if u plan properly…
best of luck!I myself got married 6 yrs ago in the registry office, quite cheap €20 !!!! 😆 😆 Well i was 8 mths pregnant so was out of luck fitting into a wedding dress!! My cousin is getting married this month in the Westcourt Hotel with reception and hotel all under one roof. If i can find out a price i’ll let you know.. I’ve been to a wedding in Cabra Castle its amazing up there, especially for photos.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.