Lowri by Winifred May
The Bridal Studio Cardiff

Call 0845 2244809 to arrange an appointment

You want to throw the wedding of your dreams, but you’re not Richard Branson’s kid. What do you do?

Statistics say the average wedding costs £15,000. Most young girls dream of the fairy tale wedding: long white gown, 8 bridesmaids, a sit-down dinner, the band everyone dances to.

Many brides have been dreaming about their wedding day since childhood. These dreams come with an expensive price tag and the realization of their fairytale day may be distant. Although weddings are very costly today, your dream day can happen. I am going to share some tips to cut corners and save money without making huge sacrifices.

By taking the time to plan and investigate, you will be amazed at the amount of money that you save. Would you arrive at an interview for your dream job without prior preparation? No, you would not and that is why preparation and research will make your wedding a success without re-mortgaging the house!

It’s only natural to want the Cinderella fantasy wedding, complete with ice sculptures, a heavenly cake, and thousands of guests who’ve flown in from around the world to enjoy the accompanying dinner. It’s only human to cry at the bill that this dream can rack up.

Costs can add up quickly. Factor in the meal, the drinks, the music, the dress, the flowers, the photographer, the decorations and the dream wedding can seem way out of your league. But it doesn’t have to be How can the average person have a beautiful wedding with all the bells and whistles on a working person’s salary? Perhaps the three letters/words that say it best are – DIY (do it yourself!)

Spending your life savings on your big day is crazy. You can have elegant, beautiful weddings without breaking the bank.

Having a low cost wedding doesn’t mean giving up style or sentimentality. It means using your imagination, using your own hands or the help of friends and family. Ask anyone you know to help out. Almost everyone will be happy to oblige. They’ll be part of your special day which makes them special as well!

The attitude to take for your budget should be Save Big Without Skimping!

Plan the wedding you can afford. Don’t try to compete with anyone else, including magazines.

Money is a HUGE cause of stress – but if you know your budget, know what you can and can’t afford, and STICK TO IT, you won’t have any money-related stress or surprises.

Why look at 5K dresses when you only have the budget for a 1K dress? You’re just going to stress yourself out. Don’t even look at options that aren’t in your price range. Plan the wedding you can afford and be proud of it.

Consider extending your engagement. A longer planning period means a better chance of getting the best vendors in your price range. Plus, you can typically lock in rates that might increase by the time your wedding date arrives.

Avoid Saturday weddings if possible. Wedding vendors charge their highest fees for parties that are held on this evening. If you’re willing to move your event to a Friday or Sunday night, you’ll probably get lower rates-and even better ones for a weeknight wedding.

Marry in the off-season. Prime wedding times are from May to October in most parts of the country. If you instead plan your nuptials for January, for instance, you’ll have a better chance of finding vendors who will drop their rates.

A Valentine’s Day wedding will mean higher costs for flowers-and for nuptials on New Year’s Eve, your venue may charge you overtime rates for staffing. So stay clear of holidays!

When searching for a gown within your budget, avoid luxury materials and embellishments. Instead, go for textured fabrics like silk organza, crinkled silk and silk faille, which look and feel more expensive than they are.

Ask about freebies. Some venues include a cake, flowers or a honeymoon suite in wedding packages.

Look for a multipurpose venue. If you use one site for the ceremony and reception, you’ll save on site fees and won’t have to pay for transportation to both spots.

If you can fit all of your reception information on the wedding invitation, you’ll save on the materials and printing costs, and possibly even on the postage.

Look for non-floral centrepieces. Mix fruit with flowers to create a beautiful centrepiece for half the price of a flowers-only design. Or ask for extra greenery to fill out the arrangement at a lower cost.

For a destination wedding, select a hotel with an on-site wedding coordinator so you don’t have to pay for an independent planner. Also, choosing an all-inclusive resort can save cash; if there’s a reception fee, it tends to be small.

Throw a brunch (or lunch) bash. You’ll save on the food (breakfast and lunch entrées are cheaper), the bar (daytime tabs tend to be much smaller) and possibly even the fee for the space.

Look for a dress in sale or a sample. Twice a year, many bridal salons sell samples of the dresses they carry at a significant discount. You could land a bargain (but first find out what dry cleaning and alterations might cost, so you can take that into account before your purchase).

Guests will see flowers for only an hour or two, so stick with the basics. Consider placing one or two big arrangements up front, where all eyes will be, and leaving the rest of the room decorated very simply.

Instead of specifying the blooms you want for your wedding, ask your florist to choose the best bargains available in your color scheme on your big day.

Hire one car to get you and your groom to and from the ceremony, and then another for the end of the night. Often, you’ll end up paying less for two cars than for one with overtime charges.

Certain types of bouquets, most notably pomanders and nosegays, can be used twice. After they are carried down the aisle by your bridesmaids, they can be placed in vases to grace guests’ tables.

If you serve hors d’oeuvres when guests arrive at the venue, you can get by with a simple soup or salad, followed by a main course and dessert (or just wedding cake) for the meal.

For Centrepieces choose less expensive flowers that are in season (such as dahlias or local hydrangeas) to use at the base of the arrangement, since they’ll ultimately be covered by pricier blooms.

Play with texture and scale to make all of your centrepieces appear costlier than they really are. Three simple glass cylinders each holding a cluster of stems interconnected with a curly willow, for example, can be just as attractive as a traditional candelabra that’s packed with many blossoms-and way more unique.

Before you commit to a venue, inquire about all the little costs-for example, some sites will charge to cut your cake or uncork your champagne. You can save by adding them up and factoring this into your decision about a site.

Instead of carrying a big, lush bouquet, opt for just a few dramatic flowers, like sunflowers or calla lilies, tied with ribbon. You’ll get a chic look for a lower price.

A venue’s affordibility depends in part on how much decorating it requires. A grand historic estate, for example, may need only minimal florals for decor-so in the end, this venue might actually cost less than a bare reception hall.

Sites usually charge extra for toasting bubbly, but you can decrease the cost if you substitute a sparkling white wine for the French original. Or skip the champagne service entirely: No one will notice it’s missing-they’ll simply raise a glass of whatever they’re drinking.

To free up funds for other areas of your wedding, have craftsy friends (instead of your planner) create your welcome baskets, or ask a relative with neat handwriting to address all of your invitations.

Its obvious, but it bears mentioning: Each additional attendee means an extra meal, a bigger bar tab and one more invitation you’ll have to pay for. With eight to 10 extra guests, you’ll also have to purchase another centrepiece.

The bar tab can be the biggest budget breaker for many couples. Those in the know make it more affordable at their wedding by offering guests beer and wine only (at least one red and one white), along with a sophisticated signature cocktail.

You can save a lot by doing your own hair and makeup. Get ideas and tips beforehand from magazines and makeup counters, and ask a friend to help on the big day.

If your site allows, it can be cheaper to buy drinks from a supermarket and pay your site to provide a bartender. You can use any leftovers to stock your home bar.

If the photographer you have in mind seems priced beyond your reach, you may still be able to hire him without going over budget. Ask him/her to provide proofs only, then craft your own album out of those. You won’t have to settle for a different photographer-and you can always order more prints or a polished album later.

Scale back on videography costs by asking your supplier to give you just a very basic edit. You’ll get the footage you were looking for, in the style you wanted, and you can always save up to have him edit it further later.

Most top DJs charge a lot less than top bands. An added benefit is that a DJ can act as an all-in-one entertainer and announcer.

Forget the favours. Your guests will hardly notice that they’re missing. Another option: Give one favour to each couple instead of one per guest in order to pay half the price.

If you have time for this budget-friendly DIY project, make your own favours. (Enlist friends or relatives to help!) A bonus: Since homemade treats are more personal and unique, they’re always a hit among guests.

Consider delaying your honeymoon to your dream destination until the off-season, when rates will be lower. If you can’t be this flexible, try to schedule your departure and return on a Monday or Tuesday to secure better airfares.

We’ve split up our guide into easy digestable chunks, so here goes with part 1 -

The months and weeks leading up to any brides big day are vital in setting the tone for the whole experience.

Remaining stress free whilst planning the wedding will have a knock on effect for your wedding day.

So how do we minimise the stress whilst planning the wedding?

A lot of brides in my experience become overwhelmed with the planning experience. I have known some brides to pick out one or two elements of the wedding that are important to them and take a “whatever” approach to the rest. This may work for some but do you really want to take a chance with the remaining elements of your wedding??

Delegation of tasks to people you trust is vital trying to do everything yourself is daunting and can be extremely stressful.

However delegating to the wrong person (or delegating with unclear instructions) can up the stress even further!! I would advise asking someone outside of the main wedding party who is particularly organised and trustworthy.

Don’t keep looking back at things once you have made a decision…

For example, after you’ve ordered your dress don’t look at other dresses – because you’ll just confuse yourself or find something that you like better. Don’t second-guess your decisions. Trust that you made the decision for a reason and that it is the right one. Make it and don’t look back.

Figure out your priorities and focus your time and budget on them, rather than trying to have the best of everything and spreading your resources thin.

Unless you have unlimited time and money and your day-to-day life stops until your wedding, you’re not going to be able to do it all, so focus on what is important to you and your FH rather than worrying about everything.

Choose professionals that you trust. Then step back and allow them to do their jobs.

For example, you should not choose the photographer with the prettiest sample photos, as anybody can take some good photos and display them well. Chose someone with whom you ‘click’, someone who seems pleasant to work with and trustworthy as well as professional.

Don’t sweat on the details. Put down the wedding magazines and step into the real world.

Yes, displays in wedding magazines where the napkins perfectly match the sashes on the bridesmaid dresses are beautiful. In real life, however, wedding guests rarely notice or care.

Is it really worth it to spend 3 months looking for the perfect fabric to make your own chair covers when you could rent ones that ALMOST match and then spend those three months living your life rather than stressing about chair covers?

Don’t live your wedding. Yes, it is important to you – but remember that nobody (not even the groom) is as invested in the details as you are.

Your friends and family want to talk about things other than your wedding every so often. Your other half might like to go on a date without it turning into a wedding meeting.

Realize that things will come up. You do not need to make a backup plan for every possible thing that might go wrong, but think about some of the things that are likely to go wrong and how you would react.

If something goes wrong, take a deep breath and think about the best solution. Or let the people you’ve hired deal with the problem. If the cake falls over, the bride does not need to clean it up.

Don’t stress yourself out by looking at wedding planning timelines and realizing that you’re ‘behind schedule.’ These things are guidelines only – and most of the time, there is no reason to do things as early as they suggest.

Some of them suggest that you have your venue booked a year and a half or two years in advance. Some brides are not even engaged that long!! So how could you book the venue that early? And guess what – everything will get done. Follow your own schedule, and don’t worry about what a timeline or an online planner says you should have done by a given point.

You are probably a busy person, with or without having to plan a wedding. Your time is precious. Don’t try to do everything in person.

For example, you don’t have to visit a vendor/supplier in person to get their prices. Any vendor worth doing business with will provide you with some information before meeting them in person (sometimes this takes a little convincing, as they WANT to get you there in person and make the sale).

I would advise meeting some vendors in person such as the photographer (for the reasons mentioned before)

At some point, you will reach the point of no return. Stand back, let things happen, adapt to changes if necessary, and ENJOY YOUR WEDDING!!

Don’t stress if the salad is served before the champagne toast, when you had planned it the other way around. Nobody except you will know or care.

Don’t stress over decisions at all. Nobody will know the decision you didn’t make – they’ll only see the one you picked.

You are the only one who will be comparing your dress to the dress you almost bought. Everybody else will just think you look beautiful.

Be flexible. So your ideal venue and church aren’t available on your ideal day. It’s not the end of the world.

Either pick a different day, or pick a different venue or church. Your wedding will be special regardless of whether it’s on a special date or in a special location – if you can’t get the ‘special’ stuff, don’t stress it. You’ll just have new special stuff.

Don’t make any key decisions two years in advance, including your wedding party.

Brides frequently change their minds on everything from dresses to food. And a lot can happen between friends in a year or two.

Go ahead and think about it two years in advance, but don’t ask anybody or book anything until (at the earliest) a year ahead of time. You just need to look through the posts about bridesmaids in any online forum. There’s ALWAYS at least one issue, many of which are due to the bride asking people too far in advance.

Know the things you can control and those you can’t.

Scenario A: DJ plays the wrong first dance song. Ok, this you can control. Correct the mistake and have him play the right song.

Scenario B: Best Man gets a flat tire on the way to the ceremony. Not much you can do about this one. Just send someone to pick him up and let the guests know that the ceremony will begin 15 minutes late (or whatever).

Don’t stress about the things you can’t control.

And later in the day…

… set aside a few minutes after the wedding ceremony to spend with your new spouse. The day of the wedding is extremely busy, and these may be the only moments for many hours that you will have that are just the two of you.

Be sure to catch part 2 of our Where To Start wedding guide…

Everyone who is everyone within the wedding industry was at this year’s British Bridal Exhibition to have a glimpse at precisely what the up coming influx of designers are coming up with. And they weren’t unhappy, with a lot of gorgeous new wedding dress styles to chat about.

Wedding Dresses 2011

Wedding 2011 is really a riot of blooms, with floral adornment and trims on everything from shoulders and necklines to waists and hemlines.

Floral detailing on tiaras, as trims on veils and as adornment on shoes and bags is a key trend this season and 1 that is uncomplicated to carry through the wedding day – see the new Some thing Blue collection for pretty floral detailing on wedding favours, invitations and confectionary.

Designs are strongly detailed, with fitted bodices flowing in to complete, ruffled and pleated skirts. A-line styles function effectively when swathed throughout the entire body, along with side ruching creating structure and control to this flattering appear. Halter necks make a return, often with a daringly low deep v at the front as well as a plunge back – get the fake tan out now!

Vintage detailing remains, along with lashings of lace, utilised as a trim or as detailing across a bodice or sleeve. Small shrugs in lace provide a Spanish air as well as a new craze from The us begins to build its presence here, along with illusion sections giving the impact of bare, toned skin showing as a result of intricately patterned lace or maybe cut out appliqué.

Colours get a tip from catwalk trends, with soft tones of blush, nude as well as oyster a flattering option towards the traditional white and ivory.

It is a sparkly season, with luxurious use of diamante and crystal trims across bodices, necklines and also as detailing on those full, ruffled skirts. Sparkly tiaras complete the search and also the new trend for veils will be to wear them prolonged or tied around the actual shoulder and back – a sort of cross between a shrug plus a veil. We adored them and quickly calling them shreils or vrugs – what exactly do you think?

Headwear and add-ons

No nicely dressed bride is going to be bare headed next year and also the wedding shows had been jammed full of chic headwear, from gleaming tiaras employing crystal clear or coloured stones, to fabulously chic hairbands trimmed with luxurious extra-large flowers in tones of pink, peach and lilac.

Feathers are fun and a little wild, again affixed to swish headbands or donned with combs in fabulous tones of fuchsia, blush, purple, blue and lime green. Crystals as well as pearls echo the trend for romantic detailing on dresses, and are worked into chandelier ear rings, multiple strand bracelets and lengthy necklace strands. Rings that cover two or a lot more fingers tend to be a fun selection for weddings for both brides and bridesmaids, and stylish pearl chokers create a return for day and night chic.

Wedding Lingerie 2011

With all the figure conscious designs for the new season, great lingerie is usually a important component on the bridal attire. Shaping lingerie has come a prolonged way, and it’s will no longer be all about magic pants! Seamless, flesh coloured lingerie along with streamlining technology arrive in a variety of shapes for any figure fix , from stomach tightening to thigh handle, from raising your chest area to toning your sides. Bodies really are a fantastic selection, several along with lower backs as well as multi way straps to suit any design of dress, and there are a wide variety of hip and thigh trimmers in all manner of lengths and strengths to make sure a smooth line below the smallest of dresses. Remember to try your own lingerie on with your dress properly just before the large day and ask a excellent good friend to examine you for any signs with the feared ‘VPL’ just before it’s as well late!

Bridesmaid Dresses 2011

Short and sweet may be the method to go subsequent season with prom dresses arriving to the front. Off the shoulder types are accompanied by fairly sash belts to highlight the waist. Off the shoulder detailing is accompanied by layers and ruffles, along with jewel shades of ruby, sapphire and jade overtaking from pastels.

Some other favorite styles consist of the column, an elegant method countered with gorgeous tiaras and feather fascinators as well as using the alternative of lace, tulle, or even marabou shrugs.

The most recent trend for bridesmaids is to pick a tone and after that select bridesmaid dresses in diverse designs and lengths. This kind of complements everybody and also allows every single bridesmaid can possess a gown they may wear once again. Top to toe co-ordination works nicely, therefore have shoes dyed to coordinate each and every dress for a gorgeously stylish look.

It’s one of the very best moments of any wedding, when you first see the bride walk down the aisle in her stunning wedding dress. Our private bridal studio features beautiful wedding dresses from our exclusive dress designers. Whatever your bridal gown budget or style, Cardiff Bridal has got a wedding gown for you!

Here are a selection of the dresses we currently stock -

Ellie by Winifred May	cardiff bridal	Chloe by Winifred May
Emma by Winifred May		Georgia by Winifred May
Cerys by Winifred May		Catrin by Winifred May

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The Cardiff Bridal Studio is well worth a visit. A family run studio call them on 0845 2244809 to arrange an appointment.