Thrifty bride KNITS her own dress from charity shops for ￡5,000 recession wedding

When Lydia Tayler and Ash Pears wanted to hold their dream wedding and still have money left over to buy a house, they knew they needed to be inventive.And thanks to Lydia's handicraft skills, they managed to hold a wedding for just ￡5,000 - nearly ￡15,000 cheaper than the cost of the average wedding.She knitted her own dress, decked out the reception with homemade bunting and served nearly 80 guests on crockery scavenged from charity shops and car boot sales.She and husband Ash got their big day for a snip - ￡5,000 compared to the ￡20,248 average bill which the bridal industry says couples face in 2012 for their big day.
It allowed the happy couple to splash out on a 18 night dream honeymoon in Bali and Singapore and have enough left over for a deposit on a new house.One of the biggest savings was on the wedding dress which Lydia, 26, knocked up for less than ￡200 - using a ￡3.99 pair of knitting needles.Lydia, of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, spent four months making a made-to-measure dress which would make 26-year-old Ash proud, using 300g of yarn and 100,000 stitches.She said: 'I looked at a few dresses first but only for inspiration. I did try a couple on but had already set my mind to knitting my own.'I did not look at the price tags but I know from my friends' wedding they would have cost a fortune.
'Even if we had had the money to spend on a big wedding we would not have done it. What most people spend is a very good deposit for a house.'If we had won the National Lottery the only change we would have made is a free bar for our friends.'Everyone just loved my dress. They could not stop looking at it and taking photographs. It was lovely to wear - not only nice and warm but as light as lace because I used very fine yarn.'Knitting is a huge part of my life and I always knew I would want it to form some part of our wedding - I just didn't set out for it to play such a huge role.
'The dress is the hardest, and most important, garment I have ever made but I'm so glad I did it.' After the ceremony in Huddersfield Town Hall the wedding party moved onto a reception at the local rugby club.Lydia and her family decorated the conference suite with home-made bunting and fed the 78 guests off crockery from car boot sales and charity shops.
She carried a bouquet of stitched together fabric and fake flowers and handed out home-made wedding gifts of pear pin cushions made out of stuffed fabric.