To not get paying thousands for a wedding?

Ours was a big wedding and cost a lot.
It was fantastic. I'd do it all again.
Been married 27 years.

Ours was maybe 15k (in the early 2010s) but a good deal of it went toward catering for our 500ish guests as I recall. No regrets! It was the best day, nobody went into debt or had to save for years.

We got married 15 years ago. I'm not an extroverted person and have hated being a bridesmaid in the past, so being the bride filled me with horror! All of DH's family live scattered across the globe, so we had a registry office wedding with 2 guests (4 were invited, but swine flu took out the other 2). My dress was traditional for a bride from his country of origin, not a big expensive white thing. We went straight out for Dim Sum, followed by a lot of cocktails with friends - perfect! No regrets. We just wanted to be married and are still very happy. Probably spent less than £500.

I do feel sorry for people who think they have to spend lots or don’t get married because they ‘can’t afford it’. I had a nice but low cost wedding and over 20 years later zero regrets. Our good friends are same.

Our was 50k. Yes there's probably better things to spend it on but it was all paid upfront, no credit and you're a long time dead. Why not, we have big families and wanted a big party after covid!

It's the meal. Ours was £12K plus VAT for the wedding breakfast. My Dad paid as he was hosting.

My wedding was around £1500. Small wedding, doing it the way we wanted to do it!
Fabulous day!

According to the BBC on The Wheel, the average cost of a wedding in the UK is £18,400!

Shocking to me. I know people value the day but I didn't know so many people value it so highly.

Ours cost somewhere between 4 and 4.5k, which is still a lot more that I would have hoped to spend. We had around 40-45 guests.

It was nice but I'd have been happy to do it smaller still!

I definitely won't be! We're going to have a very small intimate wedding (just parents and siblings) somewhere like Greece or Italy.

Ours was very small, and we both enjoyed it very much. It was a long time ago, so I don't remember the cost, but it was minimal. The photographer was probably the most expensive thing we paid for, and our parents, from memory, paid for the reception. If I was to get married again - not going to happen - I would still have a small fuss free wedding. No matter how wealthy I was I could still find something better to spend a huge amount of money on.

As a pp mentioned, our guests all liked that it was informal and friendly.

I had a big wedding, 110 people if I could turn the clock back I'd chop it by a third. People we never see 10 years down the line.

But that really only cuts the food and drink bill not the other costs, flowers, dresses, etc etc.

We spent 1k including dh suit and my dress, We simply didn't have the money.
Many said it was the most relaxed and informal wedding they'd been to.
Registry office, few drinks down a wine bar. I also hate fuss so this was perfect foe everyone.

We had a tiny wedding. It was a good day, no regrets, you’re not “extra” married if you can afford a big wedding. We preferred to use our money towards furnishing a house as we were starting with nothing.

Im now watching my youngest and his girlfriend plan their wedding. They’re spending thousands. She doesn’t work, he’s got a part time job, they live rent free with us. I assume he’s wiping out his savings for it. I’m dreading it, I know we’ll have to help with the expenses and we just don’t have it.

Indeed. My first wedding cost just over £100 and didn’t last a year.

300 guests

we married abroad and then had party evening do on return for 30” guests

total cost 5k for both
donrt regret it as me and dh paid the lot

grown adults having expensive weddings paid for by parents are incredible selfish imo

many people i know who did so, have parents on much less money than them

i wouldn’t let my parents contribute anything

“Our guests said it was the best wedding they’d been to”.

That’s what people say at weddings.

Ours was a church wedding, 100 guests for dinner, free bar, all night for everyone- canapés, 4 course meal with port and cheese and then a hog roast.
Cost us 10k as the hire of the venue was free (family friend).

I don't regret it at all. Cost around £15k excluding honeymoon. It was within our means and we wanted to be able to invite all the people we cared about, which was a lot. I can't imagine ever being surrounded by so many people I love again.

Catering for that many people is expensive. Considering the number of people (160) I actually think we were very frugal!

I don't really like the sneering about people spending ££ on an expensive wedding and the smug comments about short marriages

Was reflecting on this recently, having just been involved in 2 weddings where the behaviours of the brides in the run up was borderline outrageous. Your own wedding day might be one of the single most important events in your life, but for the majority of your guests it's not given a second thought once the day is over. People will place value on what is important to them and you can't really blame them for that, but I do appreciate where you are coming from.

I prefer the old fashioned village hall where everyone contributed and was part of sending the happy couple into the future. I'm old

Friends and relatives contributed to ours by helping with the catering and spending the previous week setting everything up. It wasn’t that long ago.

Ours cost £16K in 2002 and was the absolute best day of our lives.

When I got married we only spent money on the registry office and material for my dress, which was £45. Mum made the cake with a friend doing the icing. I catered and we had a very slimmed down guest list, our parents and brothers, in our flat. The groom wore a flash jacket made by his mum. It was her wedding present.

We were brassic and didn't want to get into debt. The marriage lasted 8 yrs.

Conversely, I heard that a local resteraunteur spent £65K on his daughter's wedding for her to be back at Mum's 3 months later.

I prefer the old fashioned village hall where everyone contributed and was part of sending the happy couple into the future. I'm old.

My wedding cost £30k 10 years ago. About half of that was paid for by my parents and in-laws, the rest we had saved. There were 150 guests, an open bar, lots of food and it was in a stunning venue. Cheesy as it is, it really was the best day of my life. My jaw ached from smiling so much. After a really difficult few years as a family it was wonderful to have everyone together. I don’t regret it in the slightest and I couldn’t care less if I’m judged for it.

It's all about those Instagram pictures rather than actually getting married.