Can you look a million dollars on a budget?

I’ve already blogged about my lovely gown and homemade bouquet, but what about the rest of it? Bridal hair and make up can add hundreds more onto the budget, so what to do if you’re trying to cut costs?

I have never had very good experiences of make up done by other people, so I wasn’t keen on the idea of getting someone in on my big day. The main thing I wanted was to look myself (but the best version of myself I could be!). 

Although I used to be a bit of a make-up-o-holic in my teens and early twenties, my look has mellowed over time and since my other half prefers the natural look I very often wear no make up at all, or just a splash of vaseline rosy or gloss on my lips. I’m also a BIG fan of Benetint, as it gives a really natural flush of colour and is very durable.

My make-up loving days gave me the confidence to decide to do my own bridal look, and I am really glad I did. I spent a bit of money on some quality products- and made use of some deals on magazines* and freebies from No.7 at Boots.

I am fortunate to have a number of friends who are a dab hand at hairdressing, so I enlisted the help of my old flatmate Marianne (a physio in real life) and entrusted her with my locks on the big day. After some discussions and even buying a cheap veil just in case, I decided for simplicity and went for just lovely hair and no veil. Marianne did an amazing job and my hair not only lasted to the end of the night but looked awesome for the first few days of honeymoon too!

Getting the look

My ‘natural bride’ look consisted of:

• No.7 tinted moisturiser
• Benetint (cheeks and lip stain) by Benefit. This was a gift, but canny brides could recently have got a free sample sufficient for wedding and honeymoon with Glamour magazine*
• Benefit ‘Primpcess’ eye kit (with eye pencil, mascara, brow definer, eyeshadow and highlighter) I got this at cut price on an easyjet flight for £20
• Jemma Kidd lipgloss ‘Candy’ (free with glamour mag*)

* Budget brides to be should keep a look out from free magazine make up deals. In the UK, Glamour are particularly good at these- especially my fave brand of Benefit.

the finished look

The budget wedding dress

As I posted a few months ago, I took the plunge and ordered a dress online, which I then got customised by a local seamstress  in Putney, as well as getting the normal alterations you would expect (taking up length).

The total cost of the gown including delivery was £230 and I paid £200 for the alterations and customisation (including a lovely wrap which was made from the excess material). This was amazingly good value given the volume of material involved and the fact that my seamstress was taking up 4 layers of material when she altered the length.

Normal wedding dress alterations apparently come in at around £150, so for essentially £50 extra I got a totally customised gown- Awesome!

The proof of the dressing is, in the wearing, however- so without further ado here’s an unofficial snap:

the final creation!