When I first started planning my wedding I was daunted. The cost of most weddings is over £20,000. It seemed insane to spend this on one day of our life. The majority of our wedding was paid for by my (now) husband and I so I had to keep things cheap. I decided to stop panicking and start researching instead. This research became my book, The Wedding Survival Guide: How To Plan Your Big Day Without Losing Your Sanity. I have an excerpt on wedding planning from my wedding book below. I hope this eases the stress and helps a little. You need it when planning a wedding.
Tips For Saving Money On Your Wedding
Cutting the guest list.
This is the best and easiest way to cut the budget. Every single person who comes to your wedding costs you money. So be ruthless and don’t feel you have to give everyone a plus one. Cutting children from your wedding will also save money but if you do this make it a rule across the board. If some guests have gone to the expense of hiring a babysitter and then see other children running around they are probably not going to be happy about it.
Cut the hours
The longer the wedding the more it will cost to feed people and give them drinks. You don’t have to have a long wedding, just do whatever you want. This will be easier if you have to be out of the venue at a set time but don’t feel like you have to use all of your allocated time, or pay to entertain your guests for the full amount of time. As long as you feed people and give them a certain amount of alcohol then they should be grateful and not too bothered if they have to put their hand in their pocket at the end of the night.
Marry off-peak
Getting married during the week will save money not only on the venue, but also with suppliers too. Your guests will have to take a day off work so factor this in. An autumn or winter wedding will also be cheaper.
Go Online
Buy things cheaply online and also check for cheaper deals than you have been offered. Car boot sales and charity shops will also have cheap stuff that could come in handy.
Getting Organised
Being organised and booking things in advance will save lots of money.
Minimoon
This is a mini honeymoon that couples have when they have to delay their honeymoon. You can also extend your first night hotel stay into a mini honeymoon. Staycations are best for minimoons. There are plenty of amazing places in the United Kingdom where you can have a romantic getaway. Cornwall, Brighton, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Devon, London…the possibilities are endless.
Have Your Honeymoon in Europe
If you live in the United Kingdom then not only will having a honeymoon in Europe be easy to get to, it will also be a lot cheaper. There are plenty of beautiful, romantic places to go.
Have Prosecco Instead of Champagne.
It is cheaper but tastes just as good. As long as you buy the right one.
The Wedding Survival Guide: How To Plan Your Big Day Without Losing Your Sanity is available in print, ebook and Kindle. The Kindle version is only £2.99.
The movie doesn’t waste any time setting things up (if you haven’t been following the events from previous movies, good luck) and we’re straight into our first big action set-piece. It may feel a little rushed at times but it all flows seamlessly together. The whole MCU is already established at this point, though the few scenes where it takes a break from the action is one of the highlights. The entire cast fits into their characters like a glove, fully adjusting to their roles that we’ve been following since 2008. It completely shows their camaraderie as working in a team, as what made The Avengers such a treat to watch. Their witty banter and emotional connection are probably one of the most compelling moments in this movie (especially a running gag with Rogers and the team). We’re even given more back-story to Barton and Romanoff, which fleshed out their characters in a huge way than before. Both Maximoff twins are a welcome addition, giving Avengers an extra challenge to tackle. Wanda uses her hypnosis to bring out the team’s fears, thus adding a human layer to their characterisation.There are a few additional characters put into the mix (Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue to name one of many and antagonist for future Black Panther film) and may feel a little much to take all in but you tend to go along with the ride. Though it’s James Spader who steals the spot-light and he’s the most charismatic and intimidating villain since Loki. His introduction is undeniably gripping and quite spine-chilling with his speech towards the Avengers. He observes the world with childlike perception, slowly growing incredibly intellectual but also persistent on bringing total destruction on a global scale.
had arrived at the top of my pile. In fact the book is more about family life and relationships than about travelling, but is none the worse for that. It tells the story of his journey around France in a Passat, which smells strongly of French cheese, with his wife and two young children and is by turns funny, poignant and insightful. A good follow-up to his earlier book Are We Nearly There Yet? – surely a question that every parent has heard far too often.
a thriller set in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, and the first part of a trilogy. I always enjoy his books and I think I’ve read most, if not all, of them. I’d be hard put to it though to distinguish one from the other in retrospect, and I’m fairly sure I’ll have to re-read this one in a year’s time before moving on to the second in the series. But I’d still rate it as an interesting and well-put-together book. And if you haven’t discovered Robert Goddard before, this is a good place to start.
has left me feeling confused. It’s most certainly a very original and well written debut novel, but I find myself at the end with a vague suspicion that it doesn’t work quite as well as it should. I wonder whether others have the same reservations as I do, and whether this dystopian tale of a totalitarian bee-hive really works on levels other than a fairy tale. But highly recommended if you want something different. Good books are supposed to leave you wondering, aren’t they?
. Another debut novel, this is a fascinating mix of history (17th century Amsterdam), intrigue and a coming of age story. A real page-turner. I couldn’t put it down. But yet again I was left feeling dissatisfied. I don’t think all the questions posed were fully answered, and I don’t think the plot quite held together. But perhaps I read it too quickly and missed vital information. I’d better go back for another look. I’ll enjoy doing that!
and no hesitation at all in recommending it. Yet again a debut novel, this one taps into a situation with which more and more of us are becoming familiar – how living with dementia feels, or how you cope with having a relative with dementia. The central character Maud is totally believable and the struggles she faces daily are sympathetically portrayed. And there is an intriguing storyline in here too. Ultimately, despite what you might expect, this is an uplifting and positive book. I loved it.
is a cookery book with a difference. It’s the inspirational story of how one young woman changed her way of eating to enable her to cope with massive health issues, devising a gluten and dairy free plant based diet. It’s a fascinating read from beginning to end – and the recipes I’ve tried so far work well too.
