成人论坛

Are you getting married this summer? Is the wedding planning going well or are you ready to elope?

It's one of the most important days in your life! But they can be costly events, and we are in the middle of a recession.

So how do couples go about making their wedding day special, without breaking the bank balance?

成人论坛 Leicester's been speaking to the couple from Leicestershire to find how the lead up to their wedding day is going with only a day to go...

"In a panic a little, but I'm OK! We've been in the hall since half eight in the morning and the tables are nearly laid. All the chandeliers have gone up and it actually looks like a proper wedding.

"We've planned everything ahead of time and we've a really strict schedule up on the wall all week.

"Although it has felt hectic, it has been organised chaos and it's all coming together.

"What everyone said to us is true... 'It'll be here before you know it!' It comes round so quickly."

Five Days To Go

"Things felt that they were coming together a bit more over the weekend because Ben's mum flew in from Ireland and we've been making some real headway.

"Anything that we can do in preparation we've been doing. Even if it's staking plates and putting on serviettes. We've been printing, sewing, sticking things together and tying ribbons on things.

"You get so distracted with all the plans that suddenly you think, 'I'm actually getting married!' It's such a huge thing."

Nine Days To Go

"I'm a bit stressed, but I'm OK.

"I feel like I have scrambled eggs for a brain at the moment because we are trying to balance everything and we're trying to make sure that everything is going to be OK.

"I'm waking up very early, not sleeping very well and having very weird dreams. So, it's a funny time at the moment."

What's Important?

How did the couple decide how much the wedding was going to cost?

Ben believes that the decision has to be made at the very beginning. "We sat down and thought do we want to be spending thousands of pounds on a day.

"It was quite early on that we decided that we would be creative about how we went about things."

When Claire was growing up she thought she would have a lavish wedding, but when the happy couple started to think about what was important to them and what wasn't - Claire's ideas of what she wanted started to change.

"We live in a village where my parents live, where my little boy goes to school and everything that we love and care about is almost within a hundred yards of our house.

"We realised that we wanted to invite people to come to the wedding and it wouldn't cost them a lot to come.

"So we decided to have our wedding in our village church and an afternoon tea in our village hall, which is across the road from our house."

"It was a challenge for us. We thought we would get creative, find some really good solutions and not try and cut corners on things.

"Claire will have a nice dress and I will have a nice suit. We will still have the formalities and the traditions in the church - the white wedding and speeches, but in a lower key environment.

"We will decorate the village hall ourselves, we are working out the table plan and other details that are personal to us and hopefully the guest will see that as well."

Claire believes that their wedding will cost under five thousand pounds. "That will be for 80 guests in the afternoon and a hundred for the evening reception.

"We have negotiated good deals and we have used all local businesses for everything.

"We have put a lot of thought into things we can do to make a difference. For example we have made a little something for every guest, which has taken us months and months."

Claire and Ben would rather pay off a large amount of their mortgage than spend over 拢30,000 on their wedding.

Top Tip

Claire's top tip to plan an inexpensive wedding would be...

"Sit down together and make a list of all the things that you have always wanted and the things that you will not compromise on, and then start to work backwards.

"Think about what you can cut back on that's not important. For example we cut back from salmon and salads to an afternoon tea - sandwiches and cakes."