How to build a cheap but unique wedding day

The entrepreneur levies a service charge on the companies in her directory and co-ordinates the right product with the right bride.

The kitchen table business is expected to turn over £80,000 this year and has seen 128pc growth year-on-year, driven by an era of digital brides.

“Brides in their 20s and 30s are computer savvy and have grown up with iPhones, iPads and Google as part of their daily lives,” Willoughby-Smith explains. “People have caught up on the fact they don’t have to wait a whole month for the next edition of a bridal magazine.”

Marquee companies are doing a roaring trade, she says, while formal photography has been struck off the must-have list. “Gone are the days when you have to pose in a big line waving at the camera,” she says, as people increasingly ask guests to take reportage snaps and create their own online, memory books.

Mr&MrsUnique now has 150 companies signed up to the site, from Bubblegum Balloons – a business selling giant confetti-filled balloons with tassel tails - to Tukxi Tax – an Italian style tuc tuc for hire as the bridal car.

Willoughby-Smith also runs photoshoots and advises on styling, such this boho bride - picture below by Babb Photo.

The changing attitude of the digital DIY bride is disrupting the traditional wedding industry, often viewed as exploitative as providers charge considerably more for a wedding reception than alternative events.

Farmer and florist, Heather Gorridge, the managing director of the Great British Florist, which sells flowers grown on farms in Herefordshire, says many brides want ethical and local sourcing.

“Buying flowers through traditional florists means they are coming from countries such as Ecuador or Kenya and then sorted in the Netherlands which is very efficient at distribution,” she says. “But that doesn’t work for brides who want to be green.”

The Great British Florist is part of Wiggly Wigglers, a website selling country living products such as meal worms for wild birds and socks for goats, which won the Marketing Trailblazer accolade at this year’s Growth Accelerator awards – the Government- backed scheme that provides small businesses with a mentor and grants.

Wiggly Wigglers is forecast to generate a turnover of £2m this year, and its Great British Flowers business is blossoming.

“We have gone from doing two weddings a week to 11,” says Gorridge. “Our brides are not bridezillas. We cannot match both colour and stem as you would get if you ordered flowers that are shipped in from all over the world.”

But that’s what keeps her flowers competitively priced. “For many of our brides we provide headdresses, button holes and bouquets, but our blogs and video diaries help the brides arrange the big centre pieces themselves, cutting down the cost.”

More seemingly traditional companies are springing up in support of the wedding trade, such as Sargasso Shoes.

The West London-based start up makes bespoke shoes ideal to match wedding outfits. But these are shoes with a twist. Founded by banker Katie Owen while on maternity leave, Sargasso high heels are for those women with wider feet who struggle to find comfortable but glamorous stilettoes for events such as weddings.

The 35-year-old mum of two claims there is a gap in the market for bespoke, broader shoes because the elegant heels sold in many bridal boutiques are often made in a delicate and narrow fit. The firm is also due to launch an Autumn/Winter collection for winter weddings.

Pregnancy can change the size and shape of a woman’s feet and more women are getting married later in life or after childbirth.

“Weddings are probably the one occasion in a woman’s life where she wants to find the perfect pair of shoes and is going to be on her feet for most of the day,” Owen says.

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