Five Items You Can Do Without On Your Wedding Day

When you're planning your wedding, it's easy to get caught up in the whole swirl of events.You're go


When you're planning your wedding, it's easy to get caught up in the whole swirl of events.

You're going to have a fabulous time flipping through wedding magazines, reading wedding blogs like this one, following wedding Pinterest boards and getting your visuals, theme and look absolutely right.

But along the way you need to take a deep breath and think about what elements are really important to you and what you can do without - particularly if you've got a tight wedding budget to stick to.

We've listed five items that you don't really need to have a great wedding day (and tomorrow we'll list five items that you really DO need to have in place for your wedding.)

1. Wedding favours. Okay, so it's cute to arrive and see a little parcel sitting on your place setting. But you know, you don't really need to give your guests wedding favours. Even if they come in at only £2 a head, if you're having just 50 guests then you're still going to be spending £100 and wouldn't you like to put that towards something else - like better wine, more food or a bigger wedding cake?

2. Wedding transport. If your ceremony and reception venue are both in the same place, then you don't really need a snazzy vehicle to transport you - because who is going to see you in any case? Nobody sees you drive up at the ceremony and if it's close enough, you and your bridegroom can walk to the reception.

3. An engraved cake cutting knife. Do you really need this as a memento of your big day? And will you ever use it afterwards or will it just linger in a box in a drawer somewhere.

4. A professional make up artist. If you're saving money then you can do your own make-up. Really you can. (Kate Middleton did after all, and the eyes of millions were on her!) Just have some lessons beforehand - find a brand of make up that suits you and your skin and practice, practice, practice.

5. A master of ceremonies or toastmaster. On the one hand, it's relaxing if you can hand over the responsibility of herding people into the right place at the right time but if your husband to be has picked a good best man and ushers then they'll be all to happy to help with all of this. Save your pennies and forget the toastmaster - just make sure that the males in the bridal party are fully briefed beforehand (and that at least one of them has a commanding speaking voice!)

Anything else you can suggest?