These days weddings should all be about fun and individuality. We've all been to weddings that served soup, then chicken and vegetables and a pudding on a plate. These days there's so many more tasty and fun options and the added bonus is that whilst a three course dinner may set you back up to £50 per head, these ideas will save you money too.

I was at a wedding fair with Pizza Monkey recently and their stone fired pizzas went down a storm. They're hot, fresh and delicious and great value for money for either a main course or an evening food idea. They are served outdoors under a gazebo and presented on rustic wooden platters with hand written blackboard signs  and a choice of salads and look as good as they taste. There's even a sweet Banana pizza!

                                         
                                          

                                          

You can visit the Pizza Monkey website for more images and a list of the yummy flavours.

If you like ice cream, how about an ice cream cart. Living the Cream have a vintage ice cream tricycle serving Luxury Somerset ice cream flavours like Chocolate Charisma, Mango Madness and Turkish Delight. At £2.50 per head it's a great cost effective way to serve dessert to your guests.

                                          

                                          

Check out their website for a full list of flavours or to request a quote for your wedding or party. For drinks and snacks for your guests, how about a gorgeous vintage tea van. A Couple of Mugs offers a range of   refreshments in the form of tea, iced-tea, soft drinks and homemade nibbles like brownies and cookies. Or if you prefer, they can be a part of the nighttime festivities providing a plethora of cocktails

                                             

                                             

Visit the website for more information. I think this would make a really refreshing change to traditional canapes, especially for a fun and relaxed wedding. If you need any more fun food ideas, then contact Steph from Sweet & Pretty Weddings to arrange a complimentary wedding planning consultation.

Image Credits: Pizza Monkey, Living The Cream and A Couple of Mugs

Did you know that Matalan sell a range of bargain clothing for weddings? The men's range includes morning suits from £55 and single breasted lounge suits for just £85.00. They also have coordinating waistcoats and ties and a boys range available in early May. The tie shown below is just £3.00.

                                                     
           
                                                     


                                                     
For little bridesmaids there are pretty dresses from £25.00 and for the guests a great range of shoes, fascinators and hand bags. Check out their website or selected stores now.

Planning a wedding can be stressful and time consuming so planning a romantic and relaxing honeymoon to unwind after the big day can be one thing that keeps you going through all of the hectic times.

However if your budget is already stretched a luxurious honeymoon can be extremely expensive. Voyage Prive is a site that brings you reductions of lots of luxury breaks and could mean that your honeymoon budget stretches a bit further.

                            

They have breaks available in Europe and more long haul areas like the Caribbean and USA. They currently have 33% of breaks to the Hilton Hotel in Sharm El Sheikh and The Crane in Barbados (show above) and 54% off a holiday to Sicily. As all of the resorts are named you can check out reviews independently on sites like Trip Advisor before booking.

 

You can sign up to Voyage Prive here.

Image Credit: The Crane Residential Resort Barbados

Today, Bristol Wedding Planner Steph Allison of How 2 I Do Wedding & Event Planning looks at ways to keep to a smaller wedding budget and focusing on the tricky subject of the all important guest list.

When you get married it's great to share your wedding day with all of your friends and family, but before you draw up a mammoth list, remember, you will need to allow approximately £50.00 per head for a day guest at your wedding. This should cover welcome drinks, food, wine, toast drinks and evening food. However, some upmarket venues may charge closer to this sum just for a three course sit down dinner.

Once your guests lists reaches 150 people, that's £7500 just on food and drink alone and if your total budget is £10,000 it's not going to stretch to cover venue hire, entertainment, wedding clothing, ceremony fees, transportation, rings, accommodation and all of the other endless costs related to your wedding.


So how do you keep numbers in check? Firstly make a list of everyone you would like to invite and see what figure you reach. To have a wedding with a budget below £10000, you ideally want to keep to 50-60 day guests, with another 20 or so guests arriving for the disco.


                           


Evening guests will only cost you the price of any evening food you arrange, normally around £10-15 per head and you can often only cater for 80% of guests for evening food as many will have eaten a big evening meal before they arrive.

If your list is on the larger side, you may have to be a bit ruthless to keep your budget on track. A good way to cut guests is to create some simple rules such as only inviting people that you have seen in the last year prior to getting engaged or only inviting work colleagues that you have socialised with outside of work.  Perhaps stick to immediate family and close friends only.

If you can't cut numbers due to having a large family or circle of friends, then you will need to look at some creative ways to reduce your food and drink costs to keep a smaller budget on track. Consider buffets, hog roasts, afternoon tea or fish and chips as cheaper alternatives to a three course meal. You can also buy your own alcohol if your venue allows and their corkage charge isn't too high.


For more useful help planning your wedding, visit  How 2 I Do Wedding & Event Planning

Image Credit Sidney Diongzon