Zoe and Perry’s wedding was a minimal budget, maximum happiness kinda day. They created a laid back, fun, bohemian day with loads of cute, cheerful decor that was entirely ‘Zoe and Perry themed’, and overall they only spent about £300 in their own money, with the rest coming from donations and contributions from their pals.
“My inspiration was to create our wedding with what I already had”, Zoe began. “The idea of making something from unsuspecting cheap materials and charity shops was great for us – I do love a project! It was simple, bohemian, unconventional and very us.”
Having originally begun wedding planning five years ago, before Perry was in a bad accident, their perspective on the wedding industry, and getting married, had totally shifted. ‘We know that if we got married when we originally planned to it wouldn’t have been the wedding we wanted and it would have ruined us financially and emotionally. We did lose money cancelling but looking back feel like we gained a good insight into what could have been.”
Their parents gifted them £3500, but instead of spending this on the wedding Zoe and Perry chose to spend it on a holiday in Morocco, where they rented a large home and invited all of their family and friends to join them. Instead, Zoe and Perry’s friends and families helped out by providing various contributions to help pull the wedding off. The day was hosted in their own garden, Zoe’s friends did her hair and make up, and her aunty lent her an anklet to wear for her barefoot ceremony. Her dress was a lace mini dress from the FCUK sale, whilst Perry wore a navy flecked woollen suit from TK Maxx.
Zoe decorated the space with some bunches of flowers bought from Tesco and her own plants and succulents. A talented friend made her headpiece and matching buttonholes made from more succulents and wild flowers, and they made their own confetti by growing and drying wildflowers in their area. The rest of the decor were pieces from their own home, and also lots of their friends’.
They also managed to save on their photographer by a lucky meeting. “Perry and I met our photographer Kat on a photo shoot where we were bride and groom for the day and Kat was my bridesmaid. We got on really well and she offered her time to help make our wedding day amazing after hearing our ideas and aims. Kat was amazing and it was great that she had a true perspective of who we were. Everywhere, friends were happy to lend a hand and what they own for our wedding day.”
Zoe’s favourite part of planning was all the time she got to spend with her friends. “They helped us achieve my many crafty decor ideas, especially when they would be the first to admit that they weren’t too confident when it came to arts ‘n’ crafts”, she concluded. “The many evenings we had brought us all closer, even the ones planning walks around our local area to collect flowers to dry. The worst part was when it was all over!”
