A wedding on a budget

Updated 13.00 Fri Aug 08 2008

A money conscious couple are spending the biggest day of their lives on the smallest of budgets - £407.

Christopher May, 21, and 19-year-old Odette Fenwick, picked up bargains on the internet, at charity shops, and high street stores for their wedding essentials.

"One of my favourite bargains was the rings. We bought them from a jeweller's on the seafront in Ilfracombe. It was £19 for the two of them" - Odette Fenwick

The price tag covers everything from the rings, cake, dress and the wedding reception.

The couple, from Ilfracombe, north Devon, will wed at Barnstaple Register Office on August 16, rather than the added expense of a church wedding.

Ms Fenwick said: "I am just surprised how much help you can get when you actually look around.

"One of my favourite bargains was the rings. We bought them from a jeweller's on the seafront in Ilfracombe. It was £19 for the two of them."

Ms Fenwick's found many of her wedding essentials on eBay. Her dress was £52, satin gloves £5, and of course the little extras - suspenders, belt, basque and thong for £12.99, and a tiara for £7.99.

Her £5 veil came from a charity shop, and food for the reception cost £40 from a budget food supermarket. The couple is even having a three-tier wedding cake - which cost £80.

"Now all we have got to do is wait for things to arrive from eBay - and buy Christopher's mum, Dawn, a dress," she told the North Devon Journal newspaper.

The couple's wedding reception will be held at AA Engineering in Barnstaple, where both the groom, an engineer, and his father, Geoff, work.

The newlyweds will even be saving on their honeymoon - they are not having one.