Tips for Brides and Grooms to Create a Dream Wedding
Having a dream wedding is every bride and groom's fantasy and to make it real, they invest a lot of money and time to make everything perfect! When I got married, my family and I spent a lot of money on the different wedding functions to ensure that everything goes well. In Asian households like mine, we have lots of wedding celebrations starting from Mayon and Mehndi to Barat, Valima and some people even extend it to Chauthi (the post wedding function). For every event, we have to choose a venue, and although for the initial celebrations, the guest list is small and includes just the relatives and close friends making the guest list range from between 150-300 people, the main wedding functions have a much larger guest lists ranging from 500-1000 people.
Talking about my own wedding, it was pretty lavish and the main function was held at a known 5 star hotel in the country, making it definitely a dream and ideal wedding for us. However, things will be pretty different when it comes to my son getting married, as we'll have to ask the family to fly from thousands of miles to come and attend his wedding in the UK, some 2 decades later. I would definitely like to hire a spectacular country house as a wedding venue that would be perfect for family and close friends to stay. Although we have lots of exclusive wedding venues in the UK, I've just recently come across the Silchester House, a stunning house with the option of a stylish luxury indoor ceremony. To cater to the Muslim community, they also provide Halal options and other leisure facilities, which can definitely make it a versatile wedding celebration as one won't have to rely on the vegetarian options or on sea-food.
I also want to share some tips for brides and grooms not only to create their dream wedding, but these will also help in saving money.
DIY - This option has helped us save a lot of money during some of our functions. Both my sisters and my sister-in-law are very creative, so they took the lead for the decor and planning of the functions held at home. All the decor was done by them, and they spent very wisely on the materials used to doll up the house.
Cook at home - For the functions planned for lesser number of people (100-150 people), we decided to get some food from a catering company and some was prepared at home. In this way, we could increase the number of dishes, and could stick to the budget. It's normal in my household to prepare food for these numbers as we hold functions regularly, but maybe some people might not be comfortable in cooking for these numbers. In that case, it's best to take a few quotes from the catering companies, and then finalise the best option instead of finalizing the deal with the first choice available.
Wedding Cake - In our tradition, we generally don't have a wedding cake or you can say that it's not a must. Our wedding cake was provided complimentary by the 5 star hotel where our main wedding function was held. You can liaise with your wedding venue provider to arrange for it, if it's an essential for you, and you never know they might just agree!
Do not waste money on Henna services - Bridal henna and mehendi services are quite pricey nowadays, and I saved lots of money by not opting for a bridal design. I kept the design normal and it looked pretty decent on me as a bride.
Look for packages for Bridal makeup - I had to get my makeup done from a salon on 2 main events, but one known salon in the city offered me a package and provided a free party makeup which I availed on my Mehndi function. The day I went there for my wedding makeup, I also spotted a very popular actress of the country sitting right next to me, getting ready for a modelling shoot.
Do not hire professional photographer for all functions - Professional photographers charge too much money, so we just hired them only for the main wedding events. In total, we had 5 events and 3 were covered by the professional photographer while the other 2 were covered by my sister who photographs very well.
If you have any tips for brides or grooms to create a dream wedding or to save money, then please share them in comments below.
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Weddings can be quite pricey can't they. I found that placing disposable cameras on the wedding tables meant we got a lager range of pictures and some were really good.
ReplyDeleteI love all these tips! I personally could use all the extra ideas for planning as we are planning to finally have a ceremony for ours. Packages is a great way to go for sure.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of saving money on food by cooking food at home although it depends on how many guests you will have. And limiting the use of a professional photographer sounds like a good idea as well.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of guests. I was looking at a venue it's a mansion but not modern in style and I think it was £10000 to hire the whole place including all the rooms plus facilities like a spa etc. Way out of my budget but it is beautiful it's in West Yorkshire I can't remember the name of it but I'm sure it was near Leeds x
ReplyDeleteI was married over twenty years ago and it cost a small fortune then! I would consider getting married again but would possibly go abroad. Kaz
ReplyDeleteYour wedding sounds amazing. We went small and saved a lot of money by making our own wedding cake and favours.
ReplyDeleteThese tips are great and would help anyone planning a wedding.
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! I did lots of DIY bits for my own wedding and as well as saving lots of money everyone loved the personal touches too! x
ReplyDeleteLots of good tips, I’ve only been to one Muslim wedding before and it was spectacular, so much colour and great food. I couldn’t believe how big it was though, catering to around 500 guests who mostly came in waves and only stayed a while. It was such a great experience, Mich x
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