Hi Hun. Finally got round to reading some of your diary. So sorry to hear about your dog.
Fab though, dd I read there that you lost 5stone. That's brilliant. That's the weight of my 5 year old and 2 year old added together. My SIL just worked out she has lost a big bag of dog food. It's amazing she you think our bodies were carrying it all around, where did it go!
Anyway, I see you are planning your wedding we got married 2 months ago , we did have a big wedding and loved every minute of it. If you think about the money spent on 1 party the yes, it is a lot, but I know we had the most amazing day ever and the memories are worth it.
Butsaying that, our biggest expense as venue and food and you can definitely save there. We chose our venue and the went for their late availability deals, where they are filling a weekend someone else dropped out at the last minute. Saved us thousands! Although only gave me 5 months to plan it, but that also meant I chose a dress off the rack in a shop, that was one of the try in dresses. That cost me £500, half price!
Then, if you marry in the afternoon, you can skip the whole wedding buffet plus evening buffet and just do a lat afternoon buffet. My friend had wedding at 3, afternoon cakes with cakes about 12 of us made and brought with us for her, and then evening buffet which was simple meat and veg.
Favours, again I don't see the point. We had sweet trees which were centrepieces everyone ate, they went down really well and you can make your own very easily. I also didn't use real flowers, fake ones are cheaper, and I have them on display in the house now to keep.
Also, of you use a forum like confetti, there are loads of brides on there looking at cost savings and they have amazing ideas. I would say though that a good photographer is important and worth the cost - that would be about £1000 alone! Wouldn't bother with chuck away cameras though, expensive to buy and develop and everyone there will have their own digital and can send you the pics afterwards.
I loved planning my wedding and discovered a shoe fetish I never knew about. If you want ideas or to chat, shout at me, cos I really had fun!