WeddingDates.ie

Are we drooling yet? These absolutely stunning wedding invites are from the aptly named LoveLetters.ie, and are currently on sale until the 18th of December.

Self-assembly packs offer a huge savings over most printed invitation options, and are surprisingly easy. The gorgous invites pictured above start at €2.00 per invite, which if you’ve been shopping around you know is excellent value for something this chic. All of the pieces come pre-cut in the right sizes, and include the coordinating ribbons, belly bands, etc - so all you have to do is compose and print your own invitation text onto the provided sheets, assemble the pieces into gorgeous, stunning invites, and post the lot off.

If you’re not feeling confident about DIYing your own invites, Love Letters has some helpful, confidence boosting information on how to do it with style. As they point out, “handmade doesn’t have to look homemade”and they are totally right - I’m only moderately crafty and did my own invitations, and frankly they turned out knock-your-socks-off posh. Go for it!

The results are in! Thank you so much to all the Irish brides (and grooms) who helped us with data for this survey. Over 100 of you let us peer into your wedding finances, and we really appreciate it. It would be lovely to have 100 romantic getaways to give out but sadly we only have one, courtesy of our generous and lovely sponsor, The Blarney Golf Resort Hotel.

Winner: The lucky winner of our getaway prize is Christine Duggan of Cork, who’s entry matched a random number draw. Congrats! Stash us in your luggage?

The results of the survey (a PDF with the press release and data) are available for download, but here are the highlights:

• Despite an average price tag of €20,000 not including honeymoon, almost half (49%) of Ireland’s engaged coupled never planned to take on debt to fund their weddings.
• Conversely, 35% have reduced the amount of debt they’re willing to take on or eliminated debt altogether from their wedding planning budgets.
• Only 16% have remained comfortable with the amount of debt they’re planning to take on and made no budget adjustments in light of the recession.

So with almost 70% of couples reducing budgets, where are the biggest budget savings?

• 21.56% are DIYing more elements of their weddings.
• 17.37% are dispensing with optional extras like wedding favours.
• 17.37% are sourcing and purchasing more things online.
• 14.37% are reducing their guest lists to make savings.

Irish brides would also rather chop guests off the list than compromise on food, drink, or (God forbid!) wedding attire, and really: who can blame you? Regardless, it’s certainly possible to have a special, memorable and gorgeous wedding on a recession budget, and we’ll be passing on the tips and looking for yours, too. Thanks again!

At WeddingDates.ie, we’re interested in all things bridal, and of course, all thing bridal budget! Given the state of the Irish economy, we’re keen to find out: is the Irish recession eating into your wedding budget?

The survey takes less than two minutes to complete, and you can automatically be entered to win the fabulous prize sponsored by the Blarney Golf Resort Hotel:

Prize: Escape to the luxurious, four-star Blarney Golf Resort Hotel. Enjoy a Four Ball Golfing Day package, a gorgeous gourmet dinner for two, one night’s accommodations in a stylish guestroom, and breakfast the next morning. It’s the perfect engagement get away!

And really, with all the craziness and stress of planning a wedding, who doesn’t need a four star resort get away? To be eligible for the survey, you simply need to be living in Ireland and be engaged. We’ll select one survey respondent at random as our winner and announce the results on 26 November, 2008. Good luck!