A Thrifty Family Wedding

Miss Thrifty8 September 18, 2012

thrifty family wedding When we got back from Brittany, we had a card from my cousin thanking us for being at her recent wedding. 

Ah, what a day that was: a proper thrifty family wedding! As I’ve mentioned before, my family lives in Essex – but, thank goodness, far away from the strange world of TOWIE.

The ceremony took place at the church in the pretty village where my aunt and uncle live. I am afraid that Thrifty Baby decided to replace the official order of service with loud, squawking vocals, and was soon whisked out into the churchyard, to squawk at his leisure. Fortunately we got lucky with the weather, and it was a sunny day:

thrifty baby

That’s my Marmite bag in the foreground: it’s my favourite little bag and has, over the years, been wheeled out for plenty of weddings. It’s an Anya Hindmarch bag, but I got it for free back in the day when I worked as a magazine journalist, from a friendly fashion editor who thought it was perfectly frightful.  I love it. Besides, it matched my hat.

The reception was held in the goods shed at a local railway museum, out in the sticks…

wedding at east anglian railway museum

…Albeit one with an illustrious pop history.

blur gig

This wedding reminded me why I love homespun weddings, or ones with thrifty touches. Now that I’m in my thirties, I’m a habitual wedding guest in the style of Hugh Grant in Four Weddings And A Funeral – and the big posh dos, with their identikit trimmings, are beginning to merge into one. The smaller weddings, with their one-off trimmings and homemade edges, are the ones that stand out.

My favourite touch? My aunt has a thing for teapots! And teapots were a theme at this wedding, from the signposts to the table decorations which came straight from her collection:

wedding teapots

It was a good buffet. The favours were tiny pots of apricot and white chocolate jam, and the wedding cake was topped with ornate sugar flower sprays, saved by Frugal Grandma from her own celebration cakes. They have been passed onto my cousin now.

thrifty wedding cake & favours

The railway museum was opened up to the guests, but we spent a lot of time in the goods shed, lazing around in this gorgeous old carriage and coming over all Hercule Poirot.

miss thrifty on the train

My dress came from a sale at Beale’s Department Store, reduced from £50 to £35, and which is still available online. I’m very pleased with it: I wanted a smart, unfrumpy dress that was also baby-friendly, i.e. I could breastfeed in it and chuck it in the washing machine at the end of the day, which amounted to a tall order. But this one fits the bill. I have also been wearing it to work.

The hat came from Hats On Top: an amazing hat shop in Harrogate, where the assistant steamed the glue on the headband and adjusted the hat until it sat on my head at just the right angle. It was £40, and I’m getting plenty of wear out of it. I decided to invest in a hat because I was fed up, damn it, of buying those fiddly little fascinator comb things at £10 – £20 a pop. They are too fragile: they get squashed so easily and they get scruffy so quickly. I was done with them. The other thing I like about this hat is that in the future, Hats On Top will dye it a new colour for me if required.

thrifty wedding

All in all, it was a lovely wedding. I liked the teapots and the trains, but if you asked Thrifty Baby, he would tell you that his favourite part was the bubble machine that kicked off when the beautiful bride and her groom had their first dance.

wedding bubbles

 

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8 Responses to “A Thrifty Family Wedding

Thriftwood says:

How lovely … Much better than the 20k weddings … Original, personal and quirky,definitely a memorable day. Love the Marmite bag!

Claire xxx

September 18, 2012 at 6:44 pm

kathleen murray says:

I have to say that your own wedding was pretty cool and lots of thrifty touches. I was honoured to be part of it Miss Thrifty.

September 18, 2012 at 7:18 pm

Miss Thrifty says:

@Thriftwood – Thanks Claire! While I’m here, I just want to say: I can’t comment on your blog because it keeps asking for my wordpress.com password & I can’t for the life of me remember what that is, BUT, I love your latest post about autumn! Your house looks amazing, and I love all the thrifty nick-nacks. x

@Kathleen – Thanks Kathleen! I have never really posted here in detail about my own thrifty wedding. I should do that some time. x

September 18, 2012 at 10:35 pm

Claire says:

I have always been worried about getting married because of the cost but this looked like the most beautiful wedding and what an awesome venue! Feel a bit more excited that a wedding is possible in this day in age on a budget x
Thanks!

September 19, 2012 at 7:39 am

Miss Thrifty says:

@Claire – Oh, it was a beautiful wedding. I think that if you can avoid the MASSIVE markups that you have to content with when planning a wedding, you can really make a budget stretch…

September 20, 2012 at 12:52 am

Rachael says:

This is round the corner to my mums house! I had no idea it could be used for weddings, such a great idea!

It looks like some very creative and personal ideas have gone in to the planning and the results look just as good (if not better) than some of the more expensive weddings!

Looks like a wonderful day….love the marmite bag! 🙂

September 20, 2012 at 10:26 am

Becky says:

Wow, what a beautiful setting for a wedding! I love it. I’m wanting to plan for our wedding (been waiting 13 years) but cost always puts us off. Things like this inspire me and give me hope we’ll be able to think of something. 🙂

Becky x
beckysboudoir.blogspot.com

September 26, 2012 at 10:15 pm

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