Expert Wedding Advice - Part One : The Bride

In this new series of blog posts, I will be sourcing the most sought after information regarding wedding planning, to provide you with a foolproof how-to guide. Harri Moran, who tied the knot just a few weeks ago, was kind enough to share her words of wisdom with us for our first post in this series.

Weddings are extremely expensive!  Were there any traditions that you were happy to change or overlook in order to keep to a budget, or did you feel that it was important to take a classic approach, whatever the cost?

"We decided not to have a wedding breakfast. It cut hundreds off our bill and the day had much more of a fun feeling because everybody knew

the party was coming next! it also meant there was lots less waiting around and that kept the guests happy as its easy to get bored"

How did you decide on your initial wedding budget, and did you have any problems sticking to it?

"We looked at what would be reasonable for us to put away each month and then looked at what was most important to us for the day we decided we wanted a posh wedding and a fun party where everyone felt at ease!we then worked the budget to suit these wants.we went over budget by about £200 which was nothing in the grand scheme of things"

Would you recommend any websites in particular which helped you to plan or save money on your wedding?

"We bought almost everything from eBay for the party - all of the decorations,napkins and cutlery etc. We also went round lots of pound shops for plates and other bits. EBay was a life saver for us we got lots of quirky bits that made the day really unique to us.  It was important to us that we had things people hadn't seen, or that put smiles on their faces.  We could get things like napkins personalised as keepsakes."

Did you feel that you could add  DIY aspects to any parts of your wedding to save money? Or is it safer to trust the experts?

"We did lots of the wedding ourselves we bought the decorations for the reception and decorated it ourselves. This was nice as we could make it look exactly how we wanted it to. We also bought the suits,shirts,waistcoats and cravats separately from different places, and this gave the boys the look we wanted.  We were able to pay for the suits as, and include them as groomsman's gifts, for the same price as hiring them would have cost.  I did do most of the wedding DIY as that suited me, but people shouldn't feel they have to do everything themselves. Sometimes spending a little more to get someone else to help out with things for you saves headaches - and looking back i should have used the wedding coordinator at the venue more!!"

Which services are best left to experts-what would you recommend paying out for?

"We catered the wedding ourselves and it saved lots of money but on the day it was very stressful getting everything sorted logistics wise.  Other than that we enjoyed being super involved in the process it was stressful before but the day was amazing and totally worth it!!"