Wedding Bells are Ringing! #Five Frugal Things

There has been a real buzz in our household this week because our sister in the States is getting married! You would think, it is happening here is the UK because we have been so busy with some of the millions of tasks that need to get done.

You see, we will not be able to attend as we will be filming for the Channel 5 programme, Shop Smart Save Money! I know!

We are so disappointed to know that we cannot attend but we have signed on the dotted lines already and our word is our honour! But we are determined to do as much as we can to help. Here’s our take on #FiveFrugalThings we are doing to get ready for this wedding.

We are linking with Cass, Emma, and Becky who also share frugal ideas each week.

The wedding dress

This age of technology is brilliant and we are so happy. Each time my sister fits another wedding dress, we get to see it live and in living colour! Not only that, but we get to talk to her and make suggestions and have a laugh as if we were right there in the boutique with her!

I think it’s fair to say that her final choice has had input from us here and that helps to give the process a little confidence boost.

 

Getting the back garden ready for the wedding

From the hustle and bustle here though, you would not know the wedding is not here. We have been cleaning up, doing up the garden and decluttering the house.

On the day of the wedding, in fact, we will be having a garden party to boot! We have already baked the cake, and shipped it off! Yup! We have. And yes, it was expensive to ship but it was still a fraction of the exorbitant price that my sister was being quoted.

The wedding cake

Now a traditional Jamaican wedding cake is no simple fayre! Look into the details online and you will see. Being the frugal people we are, we would not agree for her to pay so much to make the cake, as intricate though it may be. So we have made it, wrapped it securely, and we are pleased to say that she has received it and will be topping it with Red Label Wine weekly to keep it moist. She is quite capable of doing this herself and so a week before the wedding she will add the marzipan and icing to it.

Cake boxes for the wedding

Traditionally, a bit of the wedding cake is given to each guest in a cute little box. Well, guess what? We were able to find some cute little boxes in a charity shop.

Someone maybe had too many cake boxes left over after their wedding and so donated them to charity. We got them for £0.55 for a pack of 10!

We found the exact amount that she wants too!

Would you buy them? Why or why not? Tell us what you think.

Some people would normally add the names of the bride and groom and perhaps the date of the wedding. But those, we think are unnecessary costs so we advised her to avoid doing that. They are cute enough as they stand. The folks are going to eat the cake and bin the box anyway so what is the point?

Preparing the back garden and fence for the wedding

So in preparation for the garden party, and with sunshine out today, we started to get the garden ready. Every two years or so the wooden fence get a spruce up and we were thinking that they do look ok so they can be left for 3 years this time.

But no, the wedding beckons so we will have to do the entire garden! So I went to my trusted garden shed and found that we had locked away perfectly good Cuprinol so we avoided having to buy more. Fence done! Check!

Well, the part of the garden which enhances its beauty is the planter sections to the side and back of the garden. At the very start of Spring, we had sprinkled some flower seeds that we got free from Kew. I can see that they are coming up nicely. It never ceases to amaze me! The array is really beautiful to behold. We have also packaged some of the flower seeds rescued last year from the free flower seeds we got and we will be giving those to neighbours and friends.

candid shot of me trying to get this garden ready for the wedding! (You’d think that Megan was getting married again).

As you know, (you must if you have been following us) we keep a compost heap. Well at the first sign of sustained sunshine for the season, we usually go to check our compost.

We were amazed at the amount we had! The plants will certainly love it.  If you have not yet started to do composting, I urge you to begin. The rewards are great.

We are sure that our efforts to help our sister with planning her wedding and getting virtually involved has resulted in some savings. Such a pity we wont be able to go, but we will certainly enjoy our own celebrations here until we get to celebrate in the flesh later on in the year.