TOUGH times call for novel ideas and, for this British couple, it paid off.

To cut their wedding costs, the couple decided to barter their services in return for discounts on their wedding items or free use of things.

It came up to be a lavish wedding with an unbelievable price tag - they spent £3,000 ($7,600) for the wedding worth £12,000 ($30,300).

That's about $23,000 saved, not a small sum.

Dan and Gemma Scott, both 31, managed to barter for the church, the reception, the cars and the photographs, reported The Telegraph.

Said Mr Scott, a plumber and part-time firefighter: 'When the wedding was over, we didn't owe anyone else.

'We pretty much got everything we wanted by bartering. We got the cars, the suits, the church, the reception and part of the dresses.'

The couple walked down the aisle with an elegant reception and ceremony in a historic building, Ringwood Hall, close to their home in Staveley Derbyshire.

This, after Mrs Scott, a part-time catering assistant, agreed to work two days a week as a housekeeper there during the run up to the ceremony. Mr Scott did manual work on a site owned by the same establishment.

Mr Scott joked: 'I was working on what turned out to be our honeymoon suite.'

He also worked for free setting up a new spotlight at his local St John the Baptist Church in exchange for a free wedding service.

It was all thanks to Mrs Scott's mother, Barbara, who hit on the idea of bartering.

For if they did not manage to cut costs, the couple may never have wed.

Said Mr Scott: 'We didn't have any choice because there was no chance we could have afforded it otherwise.

'When Gemma started planning the wedding, I knew we didn't have the money for it. I was in a situation where I had proposed to her but then couldn't afford what she wanted.

'We actually split up for a time and Gemma moved back in with her mum. It was Gemma's mum Barbara who came up with the idea of the bartering. She saw an item on the BBC.

'We talked about it and decided we had nothing to lose.

'At the time it was very hard work because I have two jobs already and Gemma also works. We were working for the wedding in our free time. But I am glad we did it.'

Father Martin Daniels who conducted the service said: 'Dan and Gemma got a £630 ($1,600) wedding in exchange for installing three lights.

'I think at the end of the day we lost out slightly because I didn't factor the cost of the bells in.

'But I was very glad to do it on that occasion. It was a bit of a one-off and bloody hard work for Dan.'

The couple is just one example in what appears to be a nationwide trend.

Reports show that British consumers are turning to bartering in a bid to cope with the worsening economic crisis.

If they are not swapping via websites, they are doing it offline. And it could be in the form of surplus food and drink, personal possessions, their skills - and even their homes - with each other in a bid to save money. People are resorting to this because they no longer have any faith in money anymore.

This article was first published in The New Paper on October 13, 2008.