As lockdown hit the UK, my fiancée and I were devastated that COVID had cancelled our wedding. But now we sit down to make new plans, I’m wondering if it can actually save me money.
For those of us with nuptials booked in the Summer of 2020, a tough decision has had to be made: do we stick with our dates and make the best of a bad situation, or bump the dates to next year? The government this week announced that marriage ceremonies can now go ahead, but with limited numbers and lots of guidance about how the ceremony should go ahead – including having to wash your hands before exchanging the rings! For us, this was confirmation that moving our day to July 2021 was the right move – we want to celebrate our marriage with the people we care most about. It feels very strange to think about what we would have been doing had the pandemic not happened: final bills were due around now, suits needed to be bought and I’d have no doubt spent more money on decorations from Facebook. But it occurs to me that this sad situation actually gives us the chance to pull back a bit on the spending and save ourselves some cash… so how will we do that? Shop around for the best deals for our wedding outfits My partner Luke had a few things on his list, one of which was to buy the suits for him, his groomsmen and our two little boys. He’s a man, so obviously he hadn’t even started looking into this yet! But these extra 12 months will provide us with the time to shop around and see what we can find, perhaps we’ll find something suitable in the end of summer sale. The same is true for my bridesmaid shoes and lots of other things. If you’re still looking for dresses, there’s bound to be some great offers on Prom Dresses with the school leavers having their special nights cancelled too: check out www.promdressfinder.co.uk Save up for the things we really want at our wedding We have a budget in mind and we’ve been saving towards that, but, if I’m honest, we were still a little way off reaching that total amount. What’s happened has given us the breathing space to pay for the car we really love, the hotel in the perfect location, the idyllic honeymoon and the surprise treat I’ve not told anyone about - all without having to dip into our credit cards. This is a relief for me because I’ve always believed you should try not to get into debt for your special day, but it’s a fine balance when you want make it memorable. Make our own decorations for the wedding tables Possibly the worst kept secret from our wedding is that we’re going to have a Harry Potter theme and the decorations are mostly going to be made from the pages of the books. With a newborn baby and a toddler to look after, I’ve not got as far as I would have liked in making the gorgeous paper roses for our tables – so, the extra 12 months we’ve got will save my money as I won’t need to hire someone to create them. Plus it’s going to feel so good walking into that room and knowing I made all the bits that make the room so gorgeous! Sign up to an app where guests can share photos This has been a major concern: I know people will share their images on Facebook, but the quality will be lower and getting hold of them a challenge. Our guests are coming from all over the country (and the world), so when they head home with their phones they will take the wedding photos with them and that poses a challenge for getting hold of the lovely, candid images they’ve taken of the day. The Wedding Photo Swap app is a great solution, guests can share their pictures during and after the event and we could even create a live feed so we can relive the day. I love the idea of this! We actually have a photographer booked, but this would be such a great way to save money. Often your guests can capture the party in their own, unique way and that is more than enough. All in all, when COVID cancelled our wedding I was really disappointed, we’ve been looking forward to this day for so long. But every cloud has a silver lining, and in this case it’s that we have more time to make the day perfect, with perhaps a little less pressure on our wallets! This is a sponsored post created for Wedding Photo Swap
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