Video Production

Best and Worst Buys For Your Wedding BEST BUYSA vodka luge!?Our best buy would have to be the ice vodka luge that we had forthe evening reception. It cost around £200, and was a great talkingpoint on the day ? we had fantastic fun pouring the vodka down it!? -Tabatha.

Magic man?We paid around £250, including travel from London to Somerset, fora magician to entertain our guests while we had our photos taken.Everyone commented on what fun he was.? - Ann

Find a magician from the Magic Circle at Wedding Magicians UK ( 01903 211785, www.weddingmagicians.co.uk )

Picture perfect?Our best ?purchase? was our photographer, Tim Fisher. He was quiteexpensive, but our wedding pictures are beautiful ? a wonderfulreminder of our day. I wish I hadn?t bothered with the guest book we?dbought for everyone to write in ? I left it in the boot of the car bymistake, and it stayed there till we got back from honeymoon!? - Jo

Contact Tim Fisher on 01923 333373 or visit www.tfp.dircon.co.uk

Second time around?I really wanted a cathedral length veil scattered with pearls, butmy budget wouldn?t stretch to the £120-odd it would have cost to buyone brand new. Instead, I bought a second-hand one for £15, and a fewpackets of faux seed pearls from Hobbycraft for a couple of pounds.Handstitching the pearls to the veil meant getting up at 6am for awhole week, so my fiancé didn?t know what I was up to, but my veillooked great on the day and I saved a small fortune.? - Lucy

Find second-hand bargains in classified advertising papers like Loot ( www.loot.com ) or Trade-It ( www.trade-it.co.uk ). Find your nearest Hobbycraft at www.hobbycraft.co.uk

Egg-stremely good!?I was really pleased that we thought of buying Mini Eggs to use asfavours. We got married on Easter Sunday and everyone ate them, enjoyedthem and commented on them ? unlike sugared almonds, which, to myknowledge, no one eats!? - Louise

Potted plants?We hired potted bay trees from a local garden centre for £15 eachto decorate our reception venue. Draped with plain white fairy lights,they made the otherwise rather plain room look really atmospheric andspecial.? - Jayne

Ask your local garden centre if they have decorative plants for hire, or buy bay trees online for £29.99 at www.crocus.co.uk

Video memories?Our best buys were our photographer, Mike Dearden ? expensive butworth every penny ? and the videographer, Venus Video of Swansea. Ourvideo is incredible and we?re so glad we had it done ? I cry every timeI watch it.? - Jenny

Party bombs?We were really glad we bought party bombs, which were filled withparty poppers, games, bubbles, sweets and toys. They were a fantasticice breaker, and a fab talking point too. It was also well worthshelling out for a wedding organiser, Susie Richardson. She made thewhole day go so smoothly and seem very posh ? everyone was impressed!?- Suzie

Contact Susie Richardson at www.everythingorganised.com

?We had fortune cookie favours??Our best buys were the Chinese fortune cookies we bought to use asfavours. They had our wedding date inside them and were a bargain. Andour best bargain was the bar bill ? the hotel never sent it to us!? -Charlotte

Click the Cookie sells fortune cookies with personalised messages inside for weddings. Order online at www.clickthecookie.co.uk

Sensational venue?We paid above the odds (about £10 extra per guest) to get the venuewe really wanted ? a five-star hotel in amazing grounds. We just had 50guests, and that extra £500 was a bargain! It made our day feel soclassy and special, and we were treated wonderfully by the hotel.Everyone commented on it, and many people still say it was the bestwedding they?d ever attended. With a bit of creativity, we managed toincorporate everything we wanted for the day (like canapes, a pianistand a choice of dinner menu) for a reasonable price.? - Anna

Visit www.forbetterforworse.co.uk for a list of over 600 stunning wedding venues ? from Norman keeps to stately homes

?Flip flops kept me comfy??I was worried about wearing traditional bridal shoes because I?museless at walking in heels and was sure I?d be consciou of my achyfeet all the way through saying the vows. I searched for ages, then Ifound the perfect pair of white beaded flip flops ? I was on my feetall day and danced all night without a single blister.? - Sarah

Bridal shoe specialists Rainbow Club sell wedding flip flops and flats. Visit www.rainbow-club.co.uk

Fab fireworks?We had an amazing fireworks display at the end of the reception.We?d kept it a secret, so it was a real surprise for the guests when weshepherded them all outside. We paid £350 for the display, but it wenton so long we began to wonder whether they?d actually invoice us for£3,500! It meant the night ended on a bang instead of just fizzlingout.? - Kate

Find a fireworks display company in the Yellow Pages, or search under ?fireworks? at www.yell.com

WORST BUYSCamera catastrophes?Our worst purchase was the disposable cameras on the tables. Wenever did get round to developing the photos, and we ended up throwingthem away when we moved house three years later!? - Tabatha

?We wished we hadn?t bothered with table cameras as the pictureswere awful. If you buy them, make sure people know how to use theflash, and don?t let kids have them!? - Louise

Blow-the-budget buffets?We regretted spending so much on our evening buffet. The daytimeguests had already eaten a large meal, and the evening guests ate athome.? - Jayne

Online favours?We made a mistake ordering our favours online. The ribbon we wantedwas supposed to be in stock, but it took eight weeks for it to arrive ?just a week before the big day!? - Jenny

Sugar Boy offers bulk-buy sweets from jelly beans to Love Hearts for wedding favours, along with bags and boxes. Email \n shop@sugarboy.co.uk This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for a quote. Alternatively, look at www.love2invite.com

Banner mad!?My only bad purchase was some tacky wedding banners ? luckily, we realised they were naff before we put them up!? - Suzie

Dress dilemmas?My worst buy would have to be my wedding dress. It looked brillianton the day, but it had a more wrinkled appearance in the photographswhich I wasn?t pleased with. I?m sure I could have spent half the £950it cost, and had something that looked as good, if not better, in thephotos.? - Anna

Car capers?My worst buy for my wedding was the hired wedding car. It lookedgreat, but wasn?t worth the £300 we paid for it, as it was less thantwo miles from our home to the church and then on to the receptionvenue.? - Mara

Three ways to be budget-savvy. Not sure whether it?s worth blowing the budget on your dress at theexpense of the luxury bridal carriage? Here are our three top ways tomake sure your wedding budget stays under control.

Draw up a spreadsheetUse a computer programme like Excel to plot your anticipated costsfor each wedding purchase against what you actually spend. It makes iteasy to see where you?re making savings ? and where costs arespiralling ? as well as how much you?ve actually spent. Have acontingency fund. The last thing you want is for money to run out justas you?re about to put the finishing touches to your big day. Make sureyou?ve got a contingency (10% of your total budget is ideal) to coverunexpected costs.

Talk to other brides. All?s fair in love and weddings, so profit from other newlyweds?experience ? ask where they found the best bargains, which suppliersgave good discounts and how they managed to cut corners. Considerhiring a wedding organiser The up-front cost may seem daunting, but shemay be able to save you a small fortune by negotiating discounts onyour behalf ? and will rein you in if your ideas get too big (andexpensive!).

Buy wedding insurance. A basic policy costs around £50 and covers anything from losing the rings to being let down by a photographer at short notice.

Find out more at http://www.weddingideasmagazine.co.uk

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