Although Terry's budget is a real challenge (the average wedding in the UK is now estimated to cost over a staggering £19,000) he's absolutely right to set it from the very beginning, before making any decisions. He's got a date too, 27 April 2008 so there's a challenge in the timing as well (they say the average wedding takes six full working weeks to plan).

The couple are both Roman Catholic and would like to be married by a priest. There's loads of information about how to go about this and where to get more advice here.

Terry and Kelli want to get married not far from Farnborough in Hampshire where he lives and plan to invite around 70 guests. I wouldn't consider this a small, intimate wedding and they will be hard pressed to feed and water all those guests within their budget, so here's how I think it could be achieved:

The bulk of the budget's going to go on paying for the rings (or maybe there's an heirloom in the family crying out to be re-loved), the registrar's fee, the priest or celebrant's, services and a venue.

Here are some tips to save money - send invitations online, and in lieu of wedding gifts ask guests to bring a dish of food or dessert for the wedding breakfast, a bunch of flowers or some candles to decorate the reception venue and a bottle of bubbly to toast the bride and groom. Ask a crafty guest to make a cake as a wedding gift. Get guests to take photos of the day with their digital cameras and ask them to copy you a disc and once the wedding's over remember it all again by compiling a digital album made up of guests' snaps. It's a wonderously eco friendly and spontaneous way to record your big day. Just be sure to make a list of any group shots or individuals you know you'd like for posterity and ask a friend with a loud voice to announce the groups for guests to snap away at.

For your wedding attire choose outfits you know you'll wear again and for a venue, find a local village hall (or Google village halls for individual halls with their own websites). Lots of halls have been beautifully renovated and equipped over the last few years thanks to lottery and EC funding and they're very reasonable to hire, often less than £100 for a Saturday evening. Hiring a village hall also goes towards sustaining the local community.

Save on expensive 'wedding' cars and get yourselves to the ceremony by public transport (there's nothing like making everyone's day than being seen in your wedding attire on the bus!) or take a cab - its far cheaper and lighter on the environment.

Get your guests to take the bus or lift share to the wedding and arrive early to help decorate the venue - make it a pre-wedding party, get everyone into the spirit of the day, before the celebrations begin. Some village halls have their own sound systems or hire in a small system and compile CDs of your favourite sounds to dance the night away.

When you've arranged all this make sure you hand over the reins to a reliable and organised guest on the day, so that you don't have a care in the world and have the day of your lives.

Happy planning!