According to recent research by wedding services comparison site Fizzbox, the cost of the average wedding in the UK is now £21,403, an increase of 7% from 2022.
Weddings certainly don’t come cheap when you consider spending money on:
But is it possible to have a dream wedding without paying so much money? Surely you could still have a wonderful wedding on a smaller budget?
The good news is that you can ignore the average cost of a wedding and still have the best day of your life for a much smaller price tag.
Here are our top tips on how to do this:
Wherever you decide to have your wedding ceremony, there will be fixed costs that you will need to pay. These cover the cost of the registrar and the marriage certificate and usually amount to around £400. But it can be cheaper to have the ceremony mid-week rather than a weekend.
It can also be better value if you have the wedding ceremony in the same venue as the reception. Or, if you are having a wedding in a church or other religious venue, see if there is an adjoining hall where you could have the reception afterwards.
There are many other possibilities for good value reception venues, such as village halls, community centres, a function room in a pub or even a home if there is enough space either inside or in the garden.
Professional photographers and videographers can be very expensive, so take time to look around for the best person to record your day. A cheaper option could be to ask at a local vocational college to see if they have any potential students to do the job for you.
Or if you are happy with a less formal approach, simply ask all family and friends attending the wedding to take photos and videos throughout the day, and set up a DropBox or other shared drive afterwards for them to copy the best ones into. If you take this approach, you may want to ask one or two to take specific shots / videos of aspects of the day that you particularly want to capture, just in case they get missed.
Flowers are a wonderful way to express your personality at your wedding, and you may be able to involve friends and family in helping you do this. You need to decide exactly what colours and styles you would like, then if you have someone who is talented at flower arranging, why not ask them to do your bouquet for you?
You can then coordinate other flowers and venue decorations with your chosen colours and styles and, again, this is something that friends and family would probably love to help with.
One of the largest expenses for weddings can be the food and drink for the reception. But it doesn’t have to be. Keep remembering that the most important thing is not how much you spend, it’s how much you enjoy your day, celebrating with those you love.
So be creative when thinking about food and drink, and don’t get drawn into thinking it has to be an elaborate sit down meal. Instead you could choose to:
When considering your wedding cake, a cheaper option is to buy a good quality celebration cake from a supermarket and decorate it as you wish, rather than spending a lot of money on having a cake specially made. At the end of the day, a wedding cake doesn’t last very long and unfortunately quite a lot of the cake tends to get wasted. So this is an area where you could cut corners without affecting the fun of the day.
Wedding dresses and bridesmaids dresses do not have to cost a small fortune from an expensive bridal boutique. There are many other options out there.
The first thing to do is decide the style of dress you want, remembering that it is your day and it is completely up to you whether or not you want a traditional wedding dress. Many department and high street stores and online fashion retailers stock lovely ranges of wedding dresses in all kinds of styles.
If you would be happy to wear a used dress then another option would be to explore second hand selling sites such as eBay and Vinted. There are also specialist bridal second hand sites such as Bridal Reloved and Rock My Wedding. Or you may decide – like Carrie Johnson – to rent a wedding dress from a site such as By Rotation or Hurr.
And of course another option to consider is whether there is a family member or friend who might be able and willing to make something for you.
As for the groom, if he already has a smart suit and you are both happy for him to wear this, then just dress it up with a new shirt and tie, ideally that matches or complements what you are going to wear.
Many of us have visions of a dream honeymoon somewhere exotic. And if this is your dream honeymoon, why not ask for contributions – either money or holiday vouchers – towards it for your wedding gift. You will then be able to spend time choosing your honeymoon and book it at a time that works for you.
And in many respects, it makes more sense to have a delayed honeymoon than go away straight after the wedding. At the time of the wedding you will have so much else to think about that organising your honeymoon as well might be one step too far. So it could perhaps be better to have a couple of nights away immediately after the wedding, then have a big honeymoon to look forward to later.
We hope that the above information helps you to plan a lovely wedding without breaking the bank. If you do need some additional funding for your wedding, remember that Munzee offers 24 month loans that may be able to help.
Check back here soon for more lifestyle and financial tips from Munzee Loans.
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