I'm a bride, rip me off

[six]

I'm getting married next year. I have to work to some kind of budget so ive been making enquiries.
First one to irritate me was a limo company. All cars are white, all come with a bottle of champagne & chauffeur.
Me - How much to hire a limo during the day (gave date) for an hour?
Limo company - £100, whats the occasion?
Me - My wedding
Limo company - In that case its £500.
Me - Why, what extra's do i get?
Limo company - We provide ribbons & flowers on the car & take photographs.
Me - I dont want ribbons & flowers & you took photographs when we hired you for our works night out a couple of months ago, i cant see a difference.
Limo company - Sorry its the same price, you want excellent service on the most special day of your life dont you?
Me - Do i not get excellent service if its for another occassion?

Do you see where i'm going with this?

Next Fireworks company

Fireworks company - got list of prices, quite extensive so i wont go into it all. I asked if package 2 would be suitable for the end to a 40th birthday celebration. Oh yes they say.
What if i take package 2 & use it at my wedding?
Oh no that wouldent be suitable at all, you'd need package 4
Guess what? package 4 is £350 more

 

[fozzyo]

We had our wedding a on the 23rd July at a hotel in Birmingham - it is possible to have an amazing day with all the bits for a very reasonable sum!

Some suggestions on cost savings that we used: Limit the flowers, we had just button holes, get a friend to do the photos. We had a friend who is a bit of a photo geek so loved the fact he had permission to take as many photos as he wanted! We are convinced the photos we got are 10 times better then anything a pro would have done. We gave him a list of photo's we wanted and to someone else to shout at everyone when taking them and the rest was up to him. The best shots are the ones that aren't posed - just the random snaps as people are chatting and enjoying the day. Those are the ones that really caught the atmosphere of the day.

If having a do at a hotel check other websites for room rates ... we had a rate from the Events team, but found they had a web offer that was cheaper and better.

On the fireworks, have a look at Kimbolton Fireworks. How long would you like your display? How about 2mins continuous firing of a range of effects into the air? How about that for £150 and all you need to do is get someone to light one fuse and leave it to do its thing. No setup other then making sure the box is on secure ground and everyone a good distance away, they can also do some lance work with initials, wedding rings etc to order that you could light then have the barrage effect launching behind.

Good luck!
Mat xx

 

[fozzyo]

Oh another suggestion for the car, try a company such as Tri Star Chauffeur or Addison Lee. They offer car hire and driver services around the country, Tri Star for example are used by Virgin Atlantic to take their Upper Class passengers to and from the airport. You can get some really nice swish Merc's or fancy cars to collect and drive you.

 

[Amethyst_Angel]

I'm getting married next year. I have to work to some kind of budget so ive been making enquiries.
First one to irritate me was a limo company. All cars are white, all come with a bottle of champagne & chauffeur.
Me - How much to hire a limo during the day (gave date) for an hour?
Limo company - £100, whats the occasion?
Me - My wedding
Limo company - In that case its £500.
Me - Why, what extra's do i get?
Limo company - We provide ribbons & flowers on the car & take photographs.
Me - I dont want ribbons & flowers & you took photographs when we hired you for our works night out a couple of months ago, i cant see a difference.
Limo company - Sorry its the same price, you want excellent service on the most special day of your life dont you?
Me - Do i not get excellent service if its for another occassion?

Do you see where i'm going with this?

Next Fireworks company

Fireworks company - got list of prices, quite extensive so i wont go into it all. I asked if package 2 would be suitable for the end to a 40th birthday celebration. Oh yes they say.
What if i take package 2 & use it at my wedding?
Oh no that wouldent be suitable at all, you'd need package 4
Guess what? package 4 is £350 more

GRRRRR!!!! Oh that makes me so annoyed!!!!!

I *HATE* it when companies charged extra because it's a wedding! It seems that as soon as you mention the magic words wedding, bridal, etc people can charge double or even triple the regular price!

I'm getting married next year and want it to be perfect, but I hate the thought that I'm getting ripped off left, right and centre about all of this! :irked:

 

[Classy Claws]

I'm finding similar... all thou I am pretty savvy and wont let them get away with it.. I lock in the quote without them knowing what the "party" is.. then spring it on them... Flowers would have to be the worst here, you can go to a florist and say I want a "bunch" made up like this with this and a few of these... sweet no probs.. looks excellent... Switch the word 'bunch' for "Bouquet" and the Price quadruples lmao.... this is why I am about to put down 80 Calla bulbs and grow all my own!

 

[loubylou]

You could always hire a car for the day or half a day from a prestige car hire firm that stocks all the flashy cars and get a friend or family member to drive it for you, that would work out a lot cheaper than £500
hope you have a fab wedding by the way :hug:

 

[Katelisa]

I do think its ridiculous that people try and rip you off for your wedding. but if it was me i would save my money and go do it on a luxury holiday. or an almost luxury holiday and take mine and bf's parents aswell. because really, for me they are the only people that really matter and that i would want at my wedding. I hate all this big wedding stuff. alot of people just do it to show off!

What is the point of a wedding? taking it right back to basics. its the (legal) joining of two people. Its not a big cake or a fancy dress or even loads of guests. its about commiting to the person you love for the rest of your life. None of the fancy Stuff should matter really. imo anyway.

Just run off to vegas!!! get married by a midget elvis haha!

x

 

[rouge]

You could always hire a car for the day or half a day from a prestige car hire firm that stocks all the flashy cars and get a friend or family member to drive it for you, that would work out a lot cheaper than £500
hope you have a fab wedding by the way :hug:

Good idea, this. We used my husband's car - he had a Merc at the time - polished it up, tied on a bit of ribbon, got my friend to drive for us which he was only too happy to do.
Mind you, our whole wedding was done on a budget. My dress was under £300, my friend made the bridesmaids dresses, another friend works at a flower wholesalers so we got a really good deal on all the flowers - my and three bridesmaids bouquets, buttonholes and table decoration, plus two big arrangements for the church (these got transported to the reception hall after the ceremony). Yet another friend owned a shop at the time so he let us buy all our stuff for the reception using his trade account at the local wholesalers - tablecloths, plates, cups, food, wine......
As we both had a home before we got married we didn't really need any presents, so we asked everyone to bring some food for the reception and asked a friend to coordinate it all. That worked fantastically well, all we needed to get was a few sandwiches from a local caterer which didn't cost much at all. Nicked some ivy from a friend's garden to decorate the top table.
I think the only thing we paid full price for was the cake, and even that was under £100.

The moral of the story is, call in all the favours you can think of. Ask your friends to help out - they'll be delighted to. Make it a day where as many people as possible get involved. Everybody for months afterwards was telling us how much they enjoyed the day, and I'm sure that's a major reason.

Most important of all, ENJOY it, and don't get too stressed. Remember the reason why you're doing it - because you want to spend the rest of your lives together. All the rest is just window dressing.

 

[Sassy Hassy]

I do think its ridiculous that people try and rip you off for your wedding. but if it was me i would save my money and go do it on a luxury holiday. or an almost luxury holiday and take mine and bf's parents aswell. because really, for me they are the only people that really matter and that i would want at my wedding. I hate all this big wedding stuff. alot of people just do it to show off!

What is the point of a wedding? taking it right back to basics. its the (legal) joining of two people. Its not a big cake or a fancy dress or even loads of guests. its about commiting to the person you love for the rest of your life. None of the fancy Stuff should matter really. imo anyway.

Just run off to vegas!!! get married by a midget elvis haha!

x

Couldn't agree more Kate, like everything in life it has gone so commercial! Mind I think the way my love life is going I'll end actually marrying the midget Elvis :lol:!

One of my clients in the UK told me how she went to a "no expense spared" wedding. They had one of those huge 7 tier chocolate cakes made ... all for the bargain price of FOUR GRAND!!!! They decided to have this as the desert, but when they went to eat it it was off ! So the kitchen had to rustle up a load of fruit salads asap. It's all very silly just for one day! It's the rest of your life that really counts ... and I bet your hubby never lets you spend that much money on a dress again!!!!!!!!!!

 

[fozzyo]

Four grand?! Our entire wedding with 22 guests, canapes & champers, meal, wine, room for the day, and our hotel room for two nights (in most expensive suite that was HUGE) cost less then that!!

Sometimes its not surprising companies just add a few extra 0's here and there for weddings as too many people seem to loose common sense!!

 

[becki x]

Having just done it i know onlt too well that when you mention the W word they add £'s on,life stinks sometimes !

I just want to say that in the run up,it was all about detail,blah blah blah.

They only thing i would change would have been me,how obsessed i became,take the dress for example,it's worn for a few hours and yet for what it cost i could have passed my driving test,and then had a deposit for a car i wish i had bought a "pre loved dress"

What i'm trying to say is that none of it matters,so don't be ripped off ,oh and huge congratulations :hug:

 

[Nco London Gina]

There is a wedding show on at Earls Court at the end of Sept and also in Birmingham in October

We are going to be at the London one !!

National Wedding Show

Gina x

 

[Kim Lawless]

get married by a midget elvis haha!

x

I did............it was a short marriage. BOOM BOOM!

 

[Kim Lawless]

I went to my mates wedding recently (£37,000) and she had one of those new cup cake wedding cakes. What a rip off!! It was literally a plastic tiered stand and each one was filled with one layer of shop bought cup cakes and the lady who 'made' it, put their initials on a few at random. She paid hundreds.

 

[Nco London Gina]

One of our Trainers got married in a helicopter in Vegas

Inside the helicopter !!

Gina x

 

[Katelisa]

One of our Trainers got married in a helicopter in Vegas

Inside the helicopter !!

Gina x

i would SO much rather do it like that!!!

...was there a midget elvis too?! lol.

 

[Katelisa]

I did............it was a short marriage. BOOM BOOM!

lol. :lol:

 

[pinkmummy]

One of my clients in the UK told me how she went to a "no expense spared" wedding. They had one of those huge 7 tier chocolate cakes made ... all for the bargain price of FOUR GRAND!!!! They decided to have this as the desert,

I had a 4 tiered stacked chocolate fudge cake filled with brandy gnash. It was decorated with fresh roses and ivy to match my flowers.
I couldn't find anyone to make what I wanted for any less than £1000 (7 yrs ago) so I made it myself. I found a specialist cake decorating shop who helped me with boards and supports and hired the stand etc.
I had a trial run (2 tiers) so I could make any minor mistakes and learn from them.
It was fantastic, we also served it as a desert with fruit salad for anyone who didn't want it.
The only problem was a few people who had sneaky seconds or thirds (James uncle had 3 bowls full), so the final table didn't get any.
I'd do it again (if I was getting married again which I don't plan to do!), but this time with more tiers.

 

[fozzyo]

We had two cakes - my mum's drunk fruit cake (i don't do fruit cake) so we also had a choc cake too! Both very well received.

 

[Katelisa]

I had a 4 tiered stacked chocolate fudge cake filled with brandy gnash. It was decorated with fresh roses and ivy to match my flowers.
I couldn't find anyone to make what I wanted for any less than £1000 (7 yrs ago) so I made it myself. I found a specialist cake decorating shop who helped me with boards and supports and hired the stand etc.
I had a trial run (2 tiers) so I could make any minor mistakes and learn from them.
It was fantastic, we also served it as a desert with fruit salad for anyone who didn't want it.
The only problem was a few people who had sneaky seconds or thirds (James uncle had 3 bowls full), so the final table didn't get any.
I'd do it again (if I was getting married again which I don't plan to do!), but this time with more tiers.

get your orders in nw then people!!! lol.