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Weddings can be ruinously expensive. Read the magazines and websites and you will be amazed at what you could spend your money on. But the point of a wedding is not to start your marriage broke. It is to give your life and love to each other and to celebrate this with your family and friends. You could look here for a cheap marriage, a budget wedding or even a low cost wedding but this page is really about how to have a fantastic wedding without breaking the bank. I’m told that the average wedding costs some £25,000. It needn’t do so! Follow Graham’s tips for a wonderful day at minimal cost:

1) The Reception Venue: Village Halls are cheap and have car parking. They can be quickly glammed up. Chairs and tables can be hired at remarkably low cost if you don’t like the hall’s standard stuff. Food: Perhaps the best reception I’ve been to was a DIY effort. The bride and groom had all they needed for their house so asked guests to bring food instead of a present. You could even ask them to bring their own bottle as well. Cost: £0 Plates, Glasses & Cutlery: Go to Wilkinsons and pick up some plastic plates and cutlery & some plastic glasses (much safer than the real thing). But you will often find that the hall has all this included anyway.

2) The Evening Reception This is a new innovation. But pubs and clubs have all the facilities you need provided for free, so why spend money on a DJ, etc.? Just invite your friends to turn up to a large enough venue.

3) The Photographer Be careful here. The good professionals are worth their fee. But do you really need 200 pictures? If you do have a good amateur - friend or relative, bring them up to the church a couple of times, once in the sunshine and once when its cloudy, and get them to take some pictures of you. Have them printed and then decide if you need to call the professionals. If you decide to go ahead with the amateur option, have a back up. 4) The Video. And how many do you know that have been played more than once?

Uncle Danni did the pictures for £50

5) The Car. Yes, some girls have a helicopter and others a horse drawn carriage but you don’t have to………

When a Chinese groom asked online for some help with getting his bride to the wedding he got a whole convoy of Kias. Click the picture to read the story. Cast around your friends for anyone with a rich or eccentric parent with a nice car that they’d be willing to take you to the church in. Put some white ribbons on and rent the driver a chauffeur’s cap (Graham’s got an engine driver’s cap you can have that would do the trick.) Or why have a car anyway?

You could walk along either the road or the bridle path (an apt name but it’s not suitable for stilettos). In the old days, and still today in many continental countries, the bride walks to church with her friends. Get dropped off at the Bell and walk down with a cheering crowd. Book the village hall for the reception and you can walk from there and you and your beloved can walk back there afterwards as well. Or how about a motorbike? No, maybe not. Unless it has a sidecar and your dress doesn’t have a train. Or, as this is a village church, a tractor and trailer?

6) The Church: I will never allow someone to not get married because our fees are too high. Usually the church is the least expensive bit of the whole caboodle but talk to the Curate if it is genuinely a problem. Being a regular at the services will get you even more sympathy (hey, I have to get a congregation somehow!)

7) The Dress: Something Old: Ask your Mum or even your Gran. Retro is quite fashionable. Something New: Rent one. Or look for an evening dress in an ordinary shop. I’ve seen a beautiful creation put together at Monsoon for less than £100. The one on the right is not much more. Something Borrowed: Try your friends, younger Aunts, etc. Something Blue: Call into the second hand shops (they usually have blue fascias!) The church shop sold a superb one for £25. (A Word of Caution: Some sensitive clergy have heart attacks when confronted by bare flesh – ask before ordering a strapless/backless dress if you’re not at St Peter’s. We’re happy with anything that’s legal)

A Monsoon Bridal Outfit, £225

8) The Honeymoon www.ryanair.com or www.easyjet.com or, if you’re really desperate, www.wizzair.com And travel on to anywhere east of Berlin. If you pick the right town you will pay no more than £50 a night for dinner, bed, breakfast and a bottle of wine in a nice room with attentive staff. Don’t stay in the big cities and don’t hire a car or use taxis – they are too expensive. Use the trains and buses – great fun and very cheap.

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THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF SOUTH GILLINGHAM Registered Charity Number: 1130544 The Parish Office, St Matthew’s Church, Drewery Drive, Wigmore, Gillingham, Kent ME8 0NX