C is for ....

Chair Sashes - I wanted hessian to go with the vintage rustic feel. The options were (A) Buy them ready made at £8-00 a pair - £280 total; (B) Buy 9" rolls from the USA for £40, then over £200 in shipping; or (C) Buy a 48" wide roll of hessian from Amazon for £45.00 and cut it up myself. Yep, went for (C). Savings £235 :)

CD - No DJ, so as Joshua takes after me and has a good taste in eclectic music, he's going to create a compilation CD for us - or more likely put them on the ipod! Nil cost :)
Champagne - Seems to cost anything from £15.00 a bottle to the world's your oyster! So, Jeff and I have agreed Prosecco, less than half the price and we've had an excuse to try some different types out over the last few months :)
Cutlery - Loved this idea on Pinterest. Bought loads of second hand cutlery from car boot sales, then handed them over to Jeff to engrave ........ well, I've got this bad wrist ....... Total £25.00

Cake - We're having two! Jeff always makes a fab fruit Christmas cake so he's providing that one. And Dad and Sandra are treating us to a sponge one for those peeps that aren't fruit fans :) Cost, not a lot - and certainly nothing like the cost of some wedding cakes!
Candy Trees - Plan to have one in each apartment, therefore 12 in total. The cheapest I've found, with not a lot of sweeties, is £15 a tree - that's £180!! So, 12 pots in Poundland, £3.00, dowels and cement in Jeff's garage (of course .... let's be honest, if we looked hard enough we'd probably find The Lost City of Atlantis, Lord Lucan, the Ark of the Covenant and the kitchen sink in there!!) and bags of sweets from the wholesalers :) Total - about £20. Savings £160

Okay, so making stuff (my fav word ever!) is time-consuming, but with just 2 things I've saved £395! and have exactly what we want :)