Understanding that brides already have a long list of to-dos before they even get to say "I do", Katie has saved the day with a solution so brides don't have to resort to the DIY option -  adding yet another time-sucking-up-task to the list.

"If you're anything like me you want your wedding to look & feel a million dollars without necessarily having to spend it and there are ways of cutting your wedding costs without compromising on style.

Whatever your budget it's imperative to find a way to get what is important to you both prioritised and forget the rest. I speak as something of an expert as I was once given 8 days notice for my best friend's wedding – seriously. Guests flying in from all over the world, venue, cake, flowers, dress all done in 8 days! Yes, compromises had to be made, but was it a happy, special & stylish day? It was all those things and more.

One of the most common ways for couples to cut costs is to employ their own talents, or more often those of family and friends. I know of one father who took a basic flower arranging course and created simple and unique floral arrangements using roses from Tesco & glass bowls from IKEA. M&S sell plain wedding cakes that can be made fabulous with your bouquets simply put on top. Recently a client made personalised tea-lights for all her guests which doubled as table decorations and wedding favours.

All wonderful if you have the talent but only possible if you have the time. Never truer is this than when it comes to making your own wedding stationery. Thanks to the beguiling availability of stamps, ribbon, pretty paper & home computers it's very tempting to take the DIY route. All very well until you find yourself up at 3am with carpal tunnel syndrome, you've run out of paper due to misprints, folding errors or glue mishaps and you're up to your eyes in glitter & with glue stuck in places you didn't know existed.

The Lighthouse Drawing Rooms we have another solution for budget conscious brides who still want professional hand-finished stationery. Many brides tell me they love the Lighthouse Cards style of stationery and the 3D inks we use but although the traditional Lighthouse range is very competitively priced, every card is individually hand painted and the time involved puts the cost outside some of their budgets, so I've created the Wedding One range that takes fewer man hours to create but still has that personalised hand-crafted finish and will save your sanity into the bargain!"

Meet Katie from The Lighthouse Drawing Rooms at the Wedding Journal Show (Stand H9 on the Balcony) at the King's Hall 25-27th February.