Let’s be honest with ourselves. We all feel an element of “keeping up with the Joneses” when it comes to our wedding planning. It seems like there’s more pressure than ever on couples who are about to tie the know to create a wedding with the wow factor. From the moment we propose, or are proposed to, we can feel as though we are locked in a race against the clock to deliver the grandest possible wedding. The wedding by which all future weddings are measured. What’s troubling is that we don’t just feel the need to compete with our friends and family. Oh no. We feel that we need to compete with the staggeringly ostentatious celebrity weddings we see on TV or read about online.
Image by Shelley Panzarella via Flickr
Perhaps these are some of the reasons why the average UK wedding now comes with an eye-watering total price tag of £30,355. Still, perhaps that’s a small price to pay for the best day of your life. Just so long as it is the best day of your life. Don’t fall into the trap of compromising what you want for what you feel that your guests want or deserve to see. Make sure that your wedding is completely and uniquely yours. The good news is that you don’t even need to spend a fortune to do this.
Here are some fun and affordable ways to make sure that your wedding audibly pops with personality…
Take your guests on a guided tour of your relationship
Whether it’s in a photo album on a shelf in the wardrobe or scattered across your social media platforms, it’s more than likely that you have a whole lot of images to paint a pictorial portrait of your relationship together.
Why not use these images to take your wedding guests on a guided tour of your relationship when they enter your wedding venue?
Start out by decorating the foyer with images of early dates or raucous student outings before building up to graduations, birthdays, the proposal night and other key romantic events throughout your relationship. It’s an infinitely renewable source of talking points and helps guests to get a real feel for your personality and experiences.
Use a local cake company
If the traditional pristine, white, three-tiered affair simply isn’t to your taste, there’s no need to be beholden to tradition. Get in touch with a local cake company. For a good example, check out these wedding cakes baked and delivered by Anges de Sucre. You’ll see all of the popular traditional fare as well as less orthodox cakes which are just brimming with personality. The more you book ahead, the more chance you have to work on a cake that is uniquely yours not just in terms of the design and aesthetics but in terms of flavour. Working with a local company means that there’s more likelihood that they’ll take the time to get to know you and work a little bit of your taste and personality into the cake and all its affectations.
What’s more, they can work with your dietary wishes and requirements if you’re gluten intolerant or vegan.
Make your dress your own
Of course you don’t have to make your own dress from scratch (unless you just happen to be a master seamstress). Still why pay several grand for an off-the-rack wedding dress that you’ll only wear once and which doesn’t capture or accentuate the unique things that make you so beautiful?
Some brides find that it suits them better to buy a cheap used wedding dress and take the time to customise it in ways that will make it their own. Even if you aren’t a dab hand at sewing, the more time you have to plan, the more time you have to source the materials and skills to create a wedding dress that is well and truly yours.
Image by Parekh Cards via Flickr
Do your own makeup
Okay, okay, we all love to be pampered. But do you really need to part with hundreds of pounds to get a makeup and hair stylist round to make you and your bridesmaids look fabulous on the morning of your big day? Did a professional stylist craft your look when your significant other met and fell in love with you?
Probably not.
The unique way in which you do your makeup is part of what makes you so very… you. All the little quirks and idiosyncrasies that people associate with your face are a combination of what you were born with and how you choose to use makeup to accentuate it. A professional makeup artist can’t gauge your personality in a morning or translate it into their craft which is why DIY wedding makeup is a thriftier and safer bet for brides who want their personality to shine through their makeup.
Write your own vows
Not religious? Think the traditional wedding vows are a little too parochial or patriarchal for your tastes? No problem! You’re completely free to write your own vows. Your marriage and the commitment that it represents should be as unique and personal as your relationship. Therefore, you should ensure that the attendant registrar will allow you to write your own vows.
Not sure how to put your love and uts sheer weight into words? Here are some tips to help you get started. Of course, even if you can’t make your own vows that doesn’t mean you can’t add personality to the proceedings with a specially chosen reading or hymns or songs which resonate with you.
Make your menu your own
The best day of your life needs the best meal of your life. And if you’ve never been one for high-concept fine dining, there’s absolutely no reason that you should have to serve haute cuisine to impress your guests.
Make your menu your own with dishes that have brought you together over the years… Or simply a handful of personal favourites.
Any one of these will help you to save some money while also helping to ensure that your wedding is well and truly… Your wedding.
