Weddings...

Hello

We're aiming to get married in the summer of 2011, and although we can't book anything for the moment I want to start looking.
Rich being a man, thinks it's far too early to even think about looking, but I realise that places (nice ones) book up dead fast!

Ideally I'd like to book about 18 months before.

Any advice?

Where to start?

I can't say for sure how much we'll have. Our parents want to contribute ( I have 2 sets as they're re-married) and if Rich's grandparents are still with us, I know his Grandad would want to pay for some. I'm not at all relying on them, we'll be saving up regardless and don't believe they have to pay a penny at all.

At a very rough guess, I'd say £10,000 - £13,000 including a honeymoon. The average wedding in the UK is stupidly high, and although I want a lovely day. I don't think anyone needs to spend £20,000 on one day!!

Where would I start?

Thanks

Well Toffee, we picked several weekends we wanted in September, and then eliminated the ones that were home football games at the large Catholic university in our city (hotels get booked up). Then we reserved the hall on an away-game weekend. Then booked the church. I think we did that around 12 months in advance. I remember we sent out "Save the Date" notices with our Christmas cards and then got married the following September. Engaged June 2001, married September 2002.

For us, choosing a photographer was one of the toughest parts. We interviewed 11 photographers, I think. I had worked with commerical photographers before so I was a bit critical of the quality of some photographers' sample photos. Other we didn't like for one reason or another. One we liked, called her the very next day, and she booked the date just that same morning. Grrrr! Overall we were pleased with our final choice but he was not cheap. But to me, photos are the one thing you're always going to cherish from your wedding.

As far as money, our parents were pretty up front. My parents told us how much they were willing to spend, which just about paid for the reception dinner. But we knew what to expect from them. No surprises. Traditionally, the groom's parents pay for the rehearsal dinner, which they did. They also offered to pay for the DJ. And his parents also gave us some much appreciated money for the photographer since we declined an earlier invitation that year to go on a family vacation with them and the rest of the family.

I was keeping tally of the costs for a long time but never did total it all up. Got a bit depressing! It was a wonderful day though and neither one of us regret it!