Planning your wedding - the heart-warming extra-mile stories

jen150912  @quoth_the_raven Smashing thread idea I don't know if it's becasue we've got 14mths to go, but we've not had the 'stresses' that other brides to be seem to have had. A few things have stunned me into silence since we got engaged.

We took my mum & stepdad to the venue we wanted, and my stepdad paid the £1000 deposit for us, totally out of the blue. I told him I'd square him up after (thinking that he was doing it out of convienience (sp)) when he just winked

Mum told us she wanted to pay for our photograher and the church.

My sister is giving us £400 towards whatever - so far it's paid for the florist and cars deposit, and we have £250 left over.

Brian's mum and dad have offered us £4000 - and it's so far paid for his kilt outfit...

We thought that we'd be saving for a long time - their generosity has helped us bring the wedding forward by a whole year only 14 months to go!

xx

futuremrsconnal  @quoth_the _raven So far its all been pretty good for us, no MiL horror stories as yet! Everyone has been really helpful, going to wedding fayres with me, offering to pay for things, its great! Then again I do have 11 months still to go! x

mum_of1  @quoth_the_raven there a few of my fam members helpin out to save money! my stepmum n aunty doin food for buffet for me, my cousin doin my hair n make up n my 2nd cousin doin my weddin cake for me every1 been gr8 really apart from not had as much support from my best m8 as i though i would. Would have to say the most helpful has been my stepmum she never gets annoyed we me when i constantly talk about the weddin and has helped me with the hen ngt as well as some wedding things

becky260512  My grandad (who is in a wheelchair) and my mums step sister asked if it would be ok if they did the photo's (mums step sis has done lots of photography courses and grandad has won awards) I was so relieved, I wasn't looking forward to having someone I didn't know doing the pics mums step sis will also do getting ready shots and put them on a a disc after she has tidied and edited them, which is perfect because I will enjoy looking through all the pics and putting the album together with htb.

quoth_the_raven  @jen150912
@futuremrsconnal
@mum_of1

Awesome! I had a nice experience with my venue - aside from how much they're giving me for a very low price (comparitively), I was a bit worried as to whether or not they were going to insist on us having an evening buffet since we're otherwise paying them essentially nothing for the evening. Not only did they not care, they've told us that if we want to bring in some of our own nibbles and things for a mini-buffet they'll put them all into bowls for us. Ridiculously kind.

mrslightfoot  We've had a couple of lovely people we've dealt with and we've only been planning a month and a half. MiL has said she will pay for our honeymoon and arrange it all with H2B as a suprise for me
my parents have given us money to pay for the wedding and have said any left over is to go towards a house deposit in future
H2B's step dad is arranging free photography and videography for us
the lady at our reception venue could not do any more for us if she tried! she's such a lovely lady and really cares about giving us the reception we want (no sit down meal, dead informal buffet and party. but she's still throwing in the red carpet arrival and free honeymoon suite!)
The priest I have known from my childhood really put H2B at ease when we met him, he was so nervous coz its a roman catholic church and he generally isnt and was worried it'd be dead strict and stuff. tho saying that Fr Jack has always been a legend

sophie2bgillies  My mum and dad- they are paying for a lot of our wedding and i could not be more grateful as they have made it possible for us to have our dream wedding. As soon as we got engaged they said ooh that's going to be an expensive time and I said you don't have to pay anything but they just said of course we do we are the bride's parents! Very lucky girl. Also really happy with our venue- they don't make us do anything or abide by any rules, we can have our wedding our way The lady where I bought my dress also reduced the price of the dress as it was over budget, gave me £100 to spend on accessories and free hoop hire which she didn't have to to but she was wonderful! x

sheadpalmer  @quoth_the_raven - Brilliant idea for a thread.

My lovely encounters have got to be;

1. My one in a million best friend who even though her wedding is in 4 weeks time is more than happy to trawl through websites to find me the best deals, and also take me dress shopping :D she is wonderful and I love her dearly

2. Yvonne and Keith - the owners of the house that we are renting for the weekend for the reception venue...they have basically said "tell us what you want and we WILL do it, we WILL get it" they will do anything and everything, and have gone the extra mile for me and I still have so far to go, they have said I can do my own food, or they can do it (formal, informal, cheap or less cheap...) nothing is too difficult or too great a task (AND they are building a room especially for us to have as a honeymoon suite!!)

3. My H2B - who despite his broken ankle, has not stopped laboring away - doing the manual work of 5 men by himself so that he can squirrel away the funds for our big day...I worry about spending all the time. He said and I quote "this is your day, do it all regardless of cost, for once in your life I want to you to feel like the princess you are. Because you are a princess even though you don't know it. Your wish is my command"

charlie11_12_11  My mum is fab, even though she has several medical conditions which restrict her day to day life and make her very week and tired,has bent over backwards for me, Never missed a dress shop visit, was with me to book our venue, sat at the table with me for hours doing all the invitations, favor tags and what not. Also after already paying for loads saw me fall in love with my dress which was way out of my budget range told me that she wouldn't let her daughter get married in anything second best to what she wanted and offered to cover the whole cost, my dress was £1100 alone. Couldn't live with out her! x

brideofcharlie  Loving this thread idea

I know lots of you have said it but for me it's definitely my Mum who has stepped up to the plate and been amazing!! She offered to buy my dress from the offset, but when it came to trying them on, after trying on lots of lovely dresses around the £600-700 mark, I tried on the dress that had caught my eye in the window of the shop and instantly knew it was the one!! But when I took it off again I caught a glimpse of the little tag on the dress and was shocked to see the price of this one was £2299! I told her I loved it but wouldn't have it because of the price, to which she just winked and said 'I know I've already seen the price but if it's really the one you want then have it!' Because of the price I offered to pay half of it, and although she's accepted some money towards it she wont accept nearly as much as I'd like to pay towards it!! Sometimes I do think it is an awful lot of money for something I'll only wear once so I am thinking of selling it after the big day and buying her a holiday or something with the money - seems like the least I can do

Also my venue have been amazing - they invited us to a free taster evening to sample some of the things on their wedding menu, so we happily went along thinking it would be a few tiny sample style nibbles and planned to get proper dinner later - well it turned out to be a huge three course meal with a little of everything on! We were really delighted at their generosity and so far they have been so helpful with everything!

xxx

peaches  My Granny and Granda have really helped us out loads. When we started looking at venues and found one quickly that we liked, they gave us the deposit we needed to secure the date. On the sly, my Granny has also given me £500 towards my dress, and wants to pay for my veil. She has also said that she and my Granda will cover the costs associated with the church (at least) and possibly more. I really don't know what I would do without them. They are like my second parents. My Mum and Step Dad were also really helpful in quickly offering to pay for the reception meal costs and my Mum has been at every dress trying on session so far :D xx

tassarella  @quoth_the_raven brilliant idea for a thread

1. My Grandparents. As soon as we got engaged they offered to buy us the cake, the guest book and the photo album. They have also paid for all my dress alterations and lent us the money to book our honeymoon. They've also been brilliant acting as guarantee for us for our new home and helping us raise the money for deposits etc

2. My Dad who gave us £700 for the wedding and then gave us another £400 towards our honeymoon and when I told him the other day 'ooohh we have some extra money that I didn't realise' he turned round and told me to stop spending money on the wedding and for what other people will enjoy and spend it on our honeymoon so we can do something extra .

3. Our Minister who is travelling down from Angmering to Plymouth (about a 200 mile journey) to do our wedding ceremony for us and isn't charging us

4. The woman at the church we will be having our blessing at who is going to do floral decorations for us for free

5. Our reception venue who are doing everything they can to make our day exactly how we want it

6. Our florist who has gone above and beyond for me making sure I get exactly what I want but at a price I can afford

goldentramp  Echoing what everyone else has said about it being a good thread.

My mum has gone craft-mad! She has made us bunting, and stitched our names and date into the flags to hang up at the reception. Not only that but she has painted loads of jam jars with hearts on for tea lights; making the pine cone bouquets for the bridesmaids, and; made 60 button hearts with all of her collection of ivory buttons and plant wire which will serve as decorations on the wall and the for guests to take home instead of this new fad 'favours'. My mum is also paying for my dress.

My best friend The Doorbell (her nickname) is organising the Han-do (as I'm calling it as my name is Hannah) as a surprise and the only things I know about it are the people who are going and the day it's on. It's a summer Han-do for a winter wedding (as lots of us our teachers with nice holidays. For the record, I chose not to strike!).

My fiance as he is organising the transport and honeymoon (both details are secret from me!).

missmaxine  my parents are paying for everything except church and rings (which we have decided to get a year after we get married). but grandma keeps throwing money our way, i suppose its because she refuses to come to my wedding because "shes too old"

aisling  Loving this thread, there are so many people who have been great since we started planning the wedding.

My Dad & Stepmum - for my sisters weddings they paid £1000 towards the dress, organised the music (Dad's a musician) and gave them £1000 towards the honeymoon - they know what I'm like with money, weren't surprised at all when I said my dress only cost £250, so just gave us the cash to spend as we like!

Claire at The Wedding Club and her seamstress for working out I can have my gorgeous dress!

Mary at our venue for being so wonderful when we had to find a new venue 5 months before our day, for giving us so many ideas so we can have our day the way we want!

My friend Kate for taking over the planning of my Hen Day cos I was too stressed!

Sam's parents for offering to cover drinks costs at the wedding.

Our friends Alys & Andy of http://www.alysgriffithsweddings.co.uk who I went to uni with for agreeing to photograph our wedding and be our guests as I hate having my photo taken, and I'm much more comfortable with friends, for being absolutely fabulous, amazing and unbelievably not charging us!

My Mum for buying the girls shoes and organising our wonderful fuit cake.

Sam's sister Daisy for agreeing to make us one of her gorgeous chocolate cakes for our second cake!

And finally, my Sam, for lovng me a proposing even though I was a health nightmare at the time!

clareandjason2012  love this thread!

my parents- who are paying for the largest part of the wedding - a week after we got engaged they asked us had we thought about the wedding yet and what sort of wedding we would like H2B was not working at the time so he said to them "yeah but we got to save a bit first" my dad said to him "jason, clare's our only daughter, were paying for the larger costs of your wedding" which i thought so nice

H2B's mom - for making our invitations and making them so good

my cousin and bridesmaid - for offering to make our cake for us

and my H2B - to proposing to me to make this all happen and loving me unconditionally no matter what xx

quoth_the_raven  Ooh, my photographer! She definitely deserves a mention - she's my h2b's ex-boss, who left a few years before he did to become a professional photographer. When she heard that we were getting married, she told us that 'if we wanted', instead of a traditional wedding gift she'd do our photography for us absolutely free, with an album of forty pictures. Obviously, we wanted.

Also my best friend's parents, of all people, who I've known since I was about thirteen. On hearing about our engagement they sent us a card to congratulate us and a cheque for £50 for the wedding. Naturally, they've been invited to it!

glass_doll9  It's got to be my parent's first and foremost. Early on in the planning process we were chatting about some costs and how much rooms at the hotel were. I said I didn't think it was a problem for people to pay for their own rooms and other stuff when my dad just throws into the conversation that they will be paying for nearly everything. They haven't batted an eyelid at the cost of things, even though it looks like it'll be around £8k.

My nan has been great too. She's paid for my dress and veil, refused to take no for an answer. And she's giving me the money to make my cloak as well.

The organiser at the venue threw in a room upgrade to our wedding package so we can have the suite we want for no extra money and they're coordinating the Christmas decorations to our colour scheme as well.

boycee  bumping this up as I would love to hear of anymore heart warming stories in the lead up to your weddings

laraandsteve  My parents helped us with the deposit on our house and have also helped fund my shoe shop yet mum's still offered £1000 towards 'me' which will be more than enough to cover my dress, shoes, hair and make up with some left for mum to be spoilt too

My dress maker for me has gone above and beyond. She still works full time and does my wedding dress at a weekend. Not only did she come with us, she drove to Bradford to help choose my fabric and she's been really patient. She's turned into a friend, so much so that I invited her and her hubby to our evening do as I'd love for her to see me in my whole outfit.

missglovesteas  @quoth_the_raven when our cake lady cancelled my dad went on a secret mission to find a new cake with the exact result I was looking for, then he put the cherry on top by paying for it :D They really can't afford it, but won't take no for an answer! Bless him, he's also been the most understanding person over my mini meltdown during last few weeks, love him! x

darbyshire05  we had been engaged for 7 years and booked the church once already and cancelled it due to becoming pregnant with our first child after that there was no sign of us getting married anytime soon so the years passed and then one day my mum, dad, Grandad, and sister called me up and told me the fantastic news that they were all going to put money in to pay for us to get married.. i was absolutely so excited as finally was gonna be Mrs Garner at last.
I soon found out that my Grandad was actually paying for the venue which was in the end 3500 and mum and dad and caroline paid for all the outfits flowers etc i was so very grateful for everything that everyone had done.
they had even put there 3000 in from the compensation they received and was planning on spending that on decorating their house, they really did sacrifice alot for a wedding and we are so very lucky to them in our lives, just to say thank you to my mum and dad we did something very special for them at xmas which they really appreciated.. xxxxx

mrsmorrisontobe  Oh my i feel like kate winslet at the oscars!

1) my parents- my mum comes to everything after i ask her as she doesnt wast steven to feel pushed out! My dad for starting to think about his speech 5 months before the big day. And obviously for all of their money!
2) my sister and 3 of the other 4 bridesmaid for always showing an interest and getting excited with me.
3) all of our suppliers who have been friendly, patient and happy to take our wishes on board. Lets hope they carry on doing this till the actual day!
4) lastly but not least h2b the big man for coming to absolutely every appointment (except for my dress & bridesmaids), searching for new photos of wedding ideas or honeymoon places and generally getting as excited as me.

Really i could not have asked for anything better xxx

ruthee  My parents who have point blank refused to let us pay for a single thing meaning we can have the big wedding and still save for somewhere to live.

The company who are making our cake we met at a wedding fair when we first got engaged and J had a long chat with the lady about our theme, 6 months later we saw the same lady who said she had loved our idea so much she had made sample decorations the next day and had been carrying them to every wedding fair since in the hope she would see us again - and they were beautiful so we had the cake ordered before anything else!

emma89  Aww love reading these stories

1) My MIL and FIL for letting us live with them when we lost our house and while we're saving for the wedding

2) My mum for paying the deposit for our reception venue and paying for my dress and tiara even though she has no money for herself, and she's doing my make up so I can save money on that too

3) My amazing best friend!! She has helped organise everything, and has been at my side through everything, even though she isn't a bridesmaid!! She is planning all of my hen doo (after MOH stresses) and won't let me know anything except the date and place! And she's doing all this despite her baby being due meaning she'll have a 1 month old at the time of my hen!

4) My uncle for looking after me since my Dad died, and walking me down the aisle! And paying for our DJ. Oh and my aunty for sorting out the favours, saving us stress and money!

5) My SiL for making our cake and not wanting any money towards it!

6) All you lovely ladies on this site for answering my ridiculous questions, and helping de-stress me!

7) And of course my H2B for proposing to me in the first place, buying me my jimmy choos to walk down the aisle in, taking a job 3 hours away to get the money to make it all possible, being very enthusiastic and excited about the wedding planning (most of our wedding has come from his ideas!!) and of course loving me unconditionally despite me being a horrible cow to him sometimes, and despite my medical condition that results in me being useless half the time and lots of hospital stays and operations!!

Writing that has really cheered me up by realising what lovely people I have around me! I actually felt really miserable, and now I feel lucky right, I'll stop talking now ...... x

mrslightfoot  The hygienist at the dentist I work at is getting married 2 weeks after me so we're having a joint hen with work. She suggested a Motown night with a 3 course meal which sounds fab so I've been emailing them and it turns out that its being run by one of her patients who is going to arrange some free wine for our table on the night