Frequently Asked Questions

1. QUESTION:
   weddings abroad?
   Me and my partner wish to get married abroad next yr (between may & september).I would like to no if anyone could recommend somewhere and a rough price you paid if you married there.Were not really bothered about location as long as its warm and beautifull.Thankyou

   • ANSWER:
     Go with Hawaii…I saw some all inclusive packages for like under 00 a person it includes airfair, meals, hotel and tours. You dont need witnesses and there are many many many services all over hawaii that will do everything pretty much for you. The packages I have seen start as low as 0 and range up to a couple thousand depending on what you want. Its always warm in Hawaii.

2. QUESTION:
   how does weddings abroad work?
   im planning on getting wed next may in cyprus. ive priced a holiday up and if i want it they will add a package. it’s only me my partner and my son. what legal requirements are required from us and do the wedding planners so to speak sort this out? has anyone ever been aaabroad to get married? it’s going to be really low key and very simple. xx

   • ANSWER:
     The guys have a set price for getting married in Cyprus including the ceremony, wedding licence, flights, honeymoon etc.

     They also have a “legal” page on their website so you can see exactly what you will need.

     http://www.CyprusWeddingPlanner.com

     Good luck !!

3. QUESTION:
   Wedding on a budget? Tips and idea of costs?
   Me and my partner are looking to get married, but with finances being restricted, I’d love to hear of any tips or suggestions people have, to lower the costs.

   I don’t want anything big, I just want a small intimate get together with immediate family and maybe some food after.

   Would it be cheaper to go abroad or stay in the UK? I know the register office does weddings for a reasonable price.

   Thanks all!

   • ANSWER:
     Hope this helps a little from http://www.softtonesphotography.co.uk (Blog):

     Ideas to save money as you start your married life as often simple and obvious. If you have already considered the following ideas then you are well on your way to saving money. One of the highest reasons for marriage breakdown is dept. So I have set out a number of money saving ideas for your wedding, drawn from personal experience.

     There are however a number of things that we should remember, the dress should be wonderful, the reception the best it can be, and of course the wedding photographs should be the best they can be at the best price.

     ■One of the most expensive parts of the wedding can be the reception. Although a buffet can often be cheaper than a sit down, you may prefer a sit down meal – A simple idea is to cut down on the guest list if you are trying to save the money, and invite others to a reception party after the main reception.
     ■Serve Cava in place of champagne to greet your guests and for the toast – no one will mind or notice!
     ■Get married later in the day – it saves having to feed your guests twice
     ■Serve your cake as dessert – choose a chocolate or lemon cake in place of the traditional fruit cake and ask your caterers to serve with fresh cream and berries.
     ■Get married on a week day – many venues are much cheaper then at weekends
     ■Choose flowers in season – they cost more if they have to be flown in
     ■Avoid Christmas and Valentine’s Day – although popular, the costs will go up – flowers in particular are more expensive at this time of year
     ■Ask friends and family to help – when my wife and I married, my Father made the cake, my Mother decorated it, we used a friend’s cream Mercedes as the wedding car and another made my wife’s wedding dress.
     ■Make your own stationery – that way you save money and have something very personal to treasure – the Confetti website offers a free print download service
     ■Oxfam now has a fabulous service of second hand and unworn dresses, but if your heart is set on a new dress, consider having your dress made by a local dressmaker – or as one of my clients has done have your dress made in china! Her dress was made to measure in pure silk, and cost just £80 from an e-bay advert.
     ■Do take out wedding insurance as this can give you peace of mind should anything go wrong
     ■Make your own favours – favour boxes filled with sweets look lovely and don’t take long to do, or make cookies and initial them with your names and the date of the wedding
     ■Don’t scrimp on the photographer (“you would say that,” I hear you cry) – But those images will live with you forever – Ask if you have will be given the right to copy the photos, and if you will be given a CD that is of High Resolution of your pictures for you to print as you wish.
     ■Also check the photographer is a member of a professional body and remember to ask for to see their membership card, no one who is a member of a professional body would ever object to that, if they do, don’t use them.

4. QUESTION:
   Best print and bound Photobooks for Weddings and Events.?
   I want to make a quality Photobook for an Event(Memorial) I shot recently.

   I had a plook at Apples Iphoto books in their Apple shop but the quality is too low as this is a commerical venture and not for family and friends.
   Read about Blurb from online reviews but heard its not that good.

   I have come across companys Like Graphi Studio, Queensbury and Asuka Books but their prices are to high for me at the moment.
   Im looking for a mid range option where I could spend not more than 160 uk pounds.

   I am UK based and would prefer local companys but dont mind ordering from abroad to get the job done properly.

   looked at a few companys so far namely
   Bobbooks (UK based) …WHCC…..Shuterfly……Mypublisher…..Mpix( all based in USA)

   All advice greatly appreciated

   • ANSWER:
     Look at Jessops, Tesco, Asda, (yes, they do them).
     All can be found online.

5. QUESTION:
   Any ideas for location of wedding for just us and 4 guests on a very limited budget?
   We would like to get married in the next year but have both been married before, we need IVF to have a child together so need to save for that but would love to be married before going ahead and want to keep as much of our money aside for the IVF. Ideally we would like it just to be us, my 2 children from my previous marriage and 2 friends. But it would be great to still have it in a nice location as our local registry office is awful. We would consider abroad if price is reasonable. We intend to have a big party back in our home town to celebrate maybe a week or so later but have an idea on costs on this so it would just be the ceremony. Any ideas on a nice budget wedding, I’m great at organising things myself and have helped to organise quite a few friends weddings but just need help with the initial ideas.
   Forgot to mention we live in the UK

   • ANSWER:

6. QUESTION:
   Is this dress gorgeous enough to be worth the price?
   So there is absolutely NO WAY on heaven or earth that I would buy this dress at the current price of 8. Normally I won’t go over in a dress. I’m just so in love though with the nordic crewelwork as I’m very fond of my Norwegian heritage. I also love the vintage look of the ivory material used in the skirt portion. It’s just so me it’s astonishing! I’d plan on wearing it to weddings, parties studying abroad in England, fancy dinners, but I just don’t know where else I could wear it. Certainly not to parties where I’d worry about someone spilling their drink on me!

   Where would you wear this to and would it be a good investment if I wore it for the next 7 or so years? Is it ok to wear to a wedding since half of it is ivory? Do you think it will go on sale? Judging the other dresses on sale I think it could go down to ~0-150.
   Oops silly me!

   http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/productdetail.jsp?subCategoryId=CLOTHES-DRESSES-SOLID&id=18294231&catId=CLOTHES-DRESSES&pushId=CLOTHES-DRESSES&popId=CLOTHES&sortProperties=&navCount=10&navAction=top&fromCategoryPage=true&selectedProductSize=&selectedProductSize1=&color=011&colorName=IVORY&isSubcategory=true&isProduct=true&isBigImage=&templateType=&tabStyle=Info

   Also I feel like I’m not pretty enough to deserve such a gorgeous dress… like it would be a waste of money because I’m just fooling myself.

   • ANSWER:
     It really isn’t worth it as far as I am concerned. (I paid that much for my formal dress which was made of much better materials and had a lot more material and a lot more detail that went into it) I also don’t think it will be formal enough for half the weddings you get invited to.

     If you really like it I would suggest you at least wait until it goes on sale – especially if you are sure you will wear it a lot. But to be honest it doesn’t look like it would be that flattering on… I could be wrong though. Are you able to try it on before buying? Because if you can’t then I definitely would NOT buy it.

7. QUESTION:
   Bar tab at Wedding Reception?
   I’m getting married this July. The reception is being held in a hotel, where the drink prices are naturally inflated, but not too over the top.

   My parents want a tab setup, though purely for the use of our side of the family. This is basically because numbers of our family at the reception will be quite small and they want to treat them, and most of them are from abroad where bar tabs are expected at events like weddings.

   Now, my fiancee didn’t like the idea because she feels it would alienate her side of the family (which I completely understand) and there’s the chance that someone from her side would try to put drinks on my family’s tab. Her family (due to the fact they can’t afford much) are more used to the idea of a pay-as-you-go cash bar.

   Rough numbers family-wise will be about 10 on my side, and about 50 her side.

   I’ve tried to explain my fiancee’s reasoning to my parents, but they are still adamant about it. I’m caught between two sides at the moment and can’t seem to win. Any suggestions?

   One thought I did have was to perhaps put a little bit of money aside myself for her family’s tab, and let them cover the rest, but (considering her family is quite large) I have no idea what the potential cost would be. Help me, please!
   Oh, forgot to add:

   We have already arranged to provide our guests with a few drinks, which amounts to a glass of something when they arrive at the reception, 2 glasses of wine during the meal, and a glass of sparkly during the toasts.

   • ANSWER:
     Sorry, thats rude.
     Either a tab for all or no tab at all!
     How would you control that, you and your Fiancee will be stressed about it on the night, and your parents will probably come up to you and say, “Did you see so and so, try and put a drink on our tab?” at the end of the day it will impact on YOUR special day.
     60 people is not too much to cater for, I used to work for a wedding company and when the bar was on a tab, for 100 people it was never above 0. If your families are not known heavy drinkers, you will probably not get more than every 5th or 6th person drinking more than 4 drinks!
     Dont let your family be petty, this day is about two families joining, not seperating!
     Good luck
     x

8. QUESTION:
   My boyfriend doesnt pay for me? Is this a problem?
   My boyfriend doesnt pay for me? Is this a problem?
   tomorrow we are going to a wedding of his friend and it is going to be in a restaurant. he told me the price (30 dollars per person) so that i would bring enough money. so, it is obvious that he wont pay for me.
   it is not a problem for me because we have been dating for only 3 months and this is the first special occasion we will go. but my mum doesnt think the same. she says that if its his friend’s wedding, then he should pay. but i dont agree with her.
   other times he is open handed, he always asks me if i want anything special if we are cooking at his place together or buys me little surprises (like my favourite dessert). so i dont think not paying for this wedding doesnt mean that he is stingy.

   what do you think?
   and other times hes the one who pays.
   and i must say that his family are a little bit short of money, he has a sister who studies abroad and im sure they send money to her. and he might be sending money to his family as well.

   ABOUT THE INVITATION : actually he didint invite me cos hes told me before he doesnt like weddings, so when i asked him if were gonna go together or not, he said that he doesnt like to go there cos its a wedding but its a close friend so he better go. but he thought i wouldnt think of coming since its not one of his favourite occasions. but we decided to go together.

   • ANSWER:

9. QUESTION:
   My boyfriend doesnt pay for me? Is this a problem?
   tomorrow we are going to a wedding of his friend and it is going to be in a restaurant. he told me the price (30 dollars per person) so that i would bring enough money. so, it is obvious that he wont pay for me.
   it is not a problem for me because we have been dating for only 3 months and this is the first special occasion we will go. but my mum doesnt think the same. she says that if its his friend’s wedding, then he should pay. but i dont agree with her.
   other times he is open handed, he always asks me if i want anything special if we are cooking at his place together or buys me little surprises (like my favourite dessert). so i dont think not paying for this wedding doesnt mean that he is stingy.

   what do you think?
   and other times hes the one who pays.
   and i must say that his family are a little bit short of money, he has a sister who studies abroad and im sure they send money to her. and he might be sending money to his family as well.

   ABOUT THE INVITATION : actually he didint invite me cos hes told me before he doesnt like weddings, so when i asked him if were gonna go together or not, he said that he doesnt like to go there cos its a wedding but its a close friend so he better go. but he thought i wouldnt think of coming since its not one of his favourite occasions. but we decided to go together.

   • ANSWER:
     If he invites you, he pays. If you invite yourself, you pay. He should have at least offered but something like that in this case isn’t a big deal.