- Lisa Davidson spent £758 - or an astonishing £3.79 a head
- Managed to spend a fraction of £20,000 average cost of a wedding
- Used a borrowed outfit, fake flowers, and decorations from eBay
She had the beautiful white dress, a four-tier wedding cake, and a party for 200 guests.
But Lisa Davidson was determined not to let her wedding costs spiral out of control.
So after months of careful planning she got the lot for just £758 – or an astonishing £3.79 a head.
Mrs Davidson and her new husband Mark managed to spend just a fraction of the £20,000 average cost of a wedding.
Lisa and Mark Davidson managed to pull off their wedding at a fraction of the cost of the average big day
The couple saved another £300 on the flower bill by buying pretend ivory roses, including bouquets for herself, daughter Courtney, six, five other bridesmaids and six flower girls, on eBay
Mrs Davidson's mother made the wedding cake, while she borrowed a long strapless dress from her stepdaughter
Their secrets to an austerity celebration included a borrowed outfit, fake flowers – and a wedding breakfast sourced from budget supermarket Iceland.
The bride’s cousin took the photographs and friends lent the couple a caravan in west Wales for a week for their honeymoon.
Mrs Davidson, 33, said of her determination to have a big wedding on a budget: ‘We’ve got such big families and so many friends, and couldn’t bear the idea of leaving anyone out.
‘And there was no question of feeding our guests sandwiches, or not bothering to decorate the room.
‘I was determined to create a day everyone would remember.’
After months of careful planning she got the lot for just £758 - or an astonishing £3.79 a head
They spent £100 for the chapel, but didn't have to pay a fee to the minister - and relied on the bride's cousin to take the photos
The couple have so many friends and family they couldn't bear to leave anyone out - and wanted to give everyone a day to remember
Explaining her decision to stock up at the couple’s local Iceland store in near Pontypridd, south Wales, the receptionist added: ‘It wasn’t just that it was cheap.
‘They had more interesting party food than anywhere else we looked.’
Her 52-year-old husband, an electrician, added: ‘A lot of wedding food looks all the same, but what was in their cabinets looked totally different, and I reckoned it would go down a treat.’
The couple fed their guests two kinds of prawns, which Mrs Davidson described as: ‘Some in crispy batter, others on trays with a dip’.
They also tucked into chicken cooked three ways, including, said the bride, ‘Some marinated drumsticks I cooked from scratch, some chicken tikka on sticks, and some garlic chicken rolled to look like lollipops.’
The couple spent £350 on food and believe they saved a third on what they saw shopping around and sampling
The couple fed their guests two kinds of prawns, three kinds of chicken and a dessert buffet which included cheesecakes, lemon meringue pie, and two kinds of gateaux
The happy couple managed to have a four-tier wedding cake to treat their 200 guests at their big day
The meat was accompanied by mini-stuffed jacket potatoes and followed by a dessert buffet which included cheesecakes, lemon meringue pie, and two kinds of gateaux.
Mrs Davidson added: ‘The whole thing went down a treat and was worth the cooking I had to do through the night and all the setting out on plates with the help of friends.
‘We spent £350 and reckon we saved a third on what we saw shopping around and sampling.’
The couple saved another £300 on the flower bill by buying pretend ivory roses, including bouquets for herself, daughter Courtney, six, five other bridesmaids and six flower girls, on eBay for their wedding in July.
She added: ‘They’re not real - they’re made of foam - but I wanted something I could keep, and I got for £96 as many roses as a florist had quoted me £400 for.’
The couple asked guests to buy their own drinks and paid £150 for a disco and karaoke
Couple stocked up on their wedding buffet from Iceland because it had more interesting party food than anywhere else
For venues, Mrs Davidson explained: ‘It cost £100 for the chapel, but I didn’t have to pay a fee to the minister.
A VERY COOL BILL THANKS TO ICELAND AND FRIENDS
Chapel service: £100
Hire of reception venue:£40
Reception food for 200: £350
Room and table decorations: £20
Serviettes: £2
Flowers: £96
Disco: £150
Dress: £0 - borrowed from stepdaughter
Cake: £0 - wedding gift from friend
TOTAL BILL: £758
Hire of reception venue:£40
Reception food for 200: £350
Room and table decorations: £20
Serviettes: £2
Flowers: £96
Disco: £150
Dress: £0 - borrowed from stepdaughter
Cake: £0 - wedding gift from friend
TOTAL BILL: £758
It was back to eBay to dress up the reception room.
‘I got paper tablecloths and table scatters for £14.99, and serviettes for £1 per 100,’ she said.
Then there were the balloons, at £1.79 for 300, plus a DIY balloon-inflating kit for less than £5.
The couple asked guests to buy their own drinks and paid £150 for a disco and karaoke.’
Mrs Davidson said yesterday: ‘We spread the cost by getting whatever we could ahead of time.
‘I got the artificial flowers and the tablecloths in six months before the big day.’
She added: ‘Friends can’t believe how much we managed to get for how little we spent. Now a neighbour who is getting married is planning to follow my lead for her own wedding.’
The Davidson’s wedding will feature in Iceland Foods: Life In the Freezer Cabinet on BBC2 on Tuesday November 5.
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