We had a cheap wedding and saved £16k – my dress was £90 from eBay & we served £3.50 bottles of Aldi booze

A savvy couple saved £16.2k on their wedding – by bagging second hand outfits and buying Buck’s fizz from Aldi.

Amy Louise Barnes, 34, had been engaged to her partner, Rhys Pryor, 32, for 13 years before the pair finally decided to tie the knot.

Up until that point the couple had decided to put their money towards a house deposit and raising their three children – Lola, 10, Mila, seven and Charlie, four.

But the pair decided to finally tie the knot – setting themselves the challenge of a tight £4k budget.

They hired their local church for £531, village hall for £250 and spent £550 on fish and chips for the evening meal.

Amy found a new princess style wedding dress worth £1,150 on eBay for £90 – and picked up her son and daughter’s outfits for as little as £12 on Vinted.

She decorated the village hall herself – finding decorations such as glow sticks and fake flowers from charity shops and bargain sites such as Shein.

The couple loved their special day and estimate they saved £16,202 on the average £20k wedding in the UK.

Amy, a teaching assistant, from Ashford, Kent, said: “For me spending huge money on nine hours is not worth it.

“I’d rather put it towards buying as bigger house

“My dress was £90 from eBay. It was worth £1,150 – it still had the price tag on it. It had come from a bridal shop and been on display.

“It’s beautiful.

“I wouldn’t want to have spent anymore on the dress – it’s completely black now.

“It got caught on brambles but I wasn’t concerned.

“The decorations are Vinted, Shein and charity shops.

“It was completely magical. You don’t know how it is going to turn out when you’re planning a budget wedding.

“Everyone was very complimentary. It was the best day.”

Amy and Rhys, a plumber, met in a club in June 2010 and hit it off straight away with Rhys getting down on one knee to pop the question a year later.

But rather than planning their wedding the couple clubbed together to buy a house and start a family together.

Amy said: “We bought a house. We never had the money to do it [have a wedding].

We didn’t want to start our married life in debt.

Amy

But after 13 years engaged the pair decided it was about time they wed and set about planning a budget wedding.

Amy said: “I didn’t want to spend more than £3.5k.

“I enjoyed the challenge of finding things on a budget.”

Amy managed to find her perfect dress on eBay for just £90 and her shoes for £12 on brand new Quiz – which she sourced from Vinted.

She spent £50 on supermarket flowers to make her and her bridesmaids flower bouquets.

She said: “It’s a princess dress with pretty lace flowers and trails down.

“The shoes are brand new, never been worn and they match the dress.”

Rhys found his three-piece suit in the Next sale for less than £100 and Amy found the matching trousers for Charlie on Vinted for just £12.

Amy said: “It costs £200 to hire and he’s very clumsy.

“The kids are going to want to end up changing anyway.”

The couple wed in Orleston church in June, 8 2024, on their 14th anniversary, before moving to their village hall for the reception.

Amy decked out the venue herself – spending £473 on decorations and small touches such as a basket of flip flops and glow sticks.

She said: “I made all our table decorations and all the bouquets myself.”

Amy had her hair and make-up done for under £100 and spent £399 on a photographer.

The fish and chips for 55 guests cost £550 and their wedding cake cost £120.

The pair didn’t have to pay a corkage fee, won a bar in a competition and bought other alcohol from Aldi.

Amy said: “Everyone likes fish and chips.

“It was £3.50 per glass for Buck’s fizz – I can buy a bottle for that.

“I had so much fun finding and planning everything.

“It was absolutely incredible.”