Do you regret how much you spent or your wedding?

[Spacepocket]

Prompted by a wedding thread, whilst I absolutely LOVED my wedding and it was all saved and paid for without debt, I do occasionally think that I could have had a new kitchen by now instead

No we didnt spend much (about £4k). We got a new kitchen a year later which cost even less than the wedding as we did it ourselves (about £2k)

Ours cost about £1200, including outfits. Brilliant wedding! Registry office. We had everyone back at ours for champagne and tunes, then went around the corner for a slap-up meal and our gorgeous cake at a local restaurant overlooking the river. Small guest list of really, really good friends and family. We didn't put impossible and expensive demands on our friends. There was no stupid theme or travel destination. We kept it local. No gifts (most friends got us a little something, but we specified no gifts. We had plenty already, including kids ).

To each his/her own, but simple is best, in my humble view.

We spent A LOT but I don't regret it. We planned our day exactly as we wanted it to be, surrounded by family & friends, we also supplemented the cost of the rooms at the venue to allow those closest to us to stay over without spending stupid money.

It was supposed to be an amazing last memory with my DM, who was diagnosed with cancer 10 months before our wedding, but sadly she died 3 months before. So, although bittersweet, it was lovely to be with so many friend and family at such a tough time for me

There are things we paid out for that I am a bit annoyed about. In order to get the license I was told I had to have photographic id and they wouldn't accept my 5 year out of date passport so I had to pay for a new one (about £100 ish). Turns out I could of proved my identity a different way. I have no need for a passport. My Mum bought me a dress. £40 or so. I wasn't comfortable in it. I was self conscious in it. Would of preferred to get married in jeans or something. We married on a Saturday which costs more. I wouldn't have cared what day. I only wanted the two witnesses but I was talked into having a few more there (11 adults and 6 kids was too much for me). Total cost was about £500 I think. There are a gazillion other things I would prefer to spend 500 quid on. Obviously I wanted to be married so well did it but there is a bit of resentment about that £500 in the back of my mind.

I would do it again in a heartbeat. We spent about 20k. But that included hiring a big house ( slept 25) in Spain, that all our family and friends stayed in for a week , it was also the wedding venue. Other friends stayed in the nearest town in villas and came out with us every night for pre wedding celebrations. Our honeymoon was in Barcelona, straight after the wedding and friends came with us to that as well . We had been together 15 years already so didn't need a typical honeymoon, just glad to get away without the kids 😁. We had the best week and wedding and we are thinking of going back to the Spanish town for our 10th wedding anniversary, with all our friends, of course

We had a really cheap wedding. The whole day was utter shite and I really wish we'd spent a bit more and had a really good day and some nice memories.

Friends family helped no professional photos, stepmom brought me my dress which was in a sale, £1000 new but we got for £250 still have it today it will be cremated with me. My friend brought us our cake I cried, we made for church, and buffet at pub, we loved it.

Nah. We spent 20k and it was brilliant. Before it all went to shit

Certainly not. I didn’t want a wedding but made it a wedding with a dress and suit.

And no one was there apart from the witnesses and photographer. Most expensive thing was my welsh gold wedding ring.

Big fat Indian wedding here with 450 guests. Cost a bloody fortune, around £65k I think.

Was an amazing day but so not worth spending that kind of money on guests you don't want there

First time I've ever commented on MN but this one just hits home with me! Married last year spending around £16,000. We had the most amazing day and everything was perfect but couldn't help but wake up the next day and think 'thats it, it's done'

Can't help but look back and think of all the things we could have done with that amount of money instead

Hopefully only do it once!!

Yep. Spent maybe in excess of £16k and I hated the day. The only good memory is getting pictures with my husband.

Genuine question but where do people get all this money from or are these wedding cost actually all on credit cards? How can people seriously have that much money for a wedding? The highest amount of money I have ever had to my name at one time is about £3000. 'Normal' job, modest lifestyle.

We just saved and paid it as we went over the 2 years from engagement to wedding. We didnt put anything on any credit card. My parents gave us money to help but we put that towards our house instead. We spent 11k on 13 people in italy, and that was everything from the dress, food, hotel for a week, to the tiny things like bridesmaids hair bands. I kept a detailed record of every single penny spent. We obviously didnt do a honeymoon so we splashed out a bit while there on days out. Job wise, we were teachers earning 23k starting out in our career. We rented a teeny tiny freezing apartment so our cost of living was very low.

@bookmum08 I can only speak for DH and I but we’d bought our house already, we were both in high-paying jobs and we had the money put to one side. I don’t think either of us would have been willing to go into debt or borrow money for it, though.

My Dad offered to pay and we said we’d rather none of the parents pay so that we weren’t beholden to anyone. So on the day he gave us a cheque (which we hadn’t anticipated at all) that topped up our savings. I appreciate how fortunate we really were/are and don’t think you need to spend a great deal of money to have a gorgeous wedding.

No, we spent about 2k and had a lovely day. Our registry office is an old stately home, I didn't have bridesmaids, did my own makeup, did the flowers and table centerpieces myself etc etc. So we had a very nice wedding, I just did a lot of it myself. My wedding dress came from abroad and my husband wore a suit he already had. I do remember sitting up the night before the wedding making buttonholes, but it did save us a fortune.

My first wedding cost 30k. Not my choice, my exes family chose everything and paid for everything. I had no say at all, I couldn't even eat my wedding meal as they had chosen stuff I didn't like. Now that was a waste of money as I divorced their cheating son a.year later.

@bookmum08 in our case we could, technically, have paid for it ourselves (well paid professional jobs) but there is no way on earth I'd have spent near £30k on a wedding. We'd have gone for a smaller wedding (which is what I wanted anyway) and used the money for our house deposit instead, or an extension.

However the in-laws (who are extremely well off) wanted a large wedding and were happy to pay for it, and they didn't interfere with the planning or pressure us to do anything. Except when DMIL decided there weren't enough flowers in the church–on the morning—went to the florist nearby to get some extra, and proceeded to half block the aisle with the bouquets. I had to sort of hop down the aisle around the trip hazards.

I've been to some beautiful small and low key weddings. I prefer them.

No regrets whatsoever. We got married in a beautiful part of the Lake District, under a lakeside pergola, surrounded by mountains. The weather, unusually for the Lakes, was glorious, the wedding itself was just gorgeous and the best day of our lives, it makes us feel very happy to reminisce about the day, the memories we have are priceless.

It cost a lot but we could afford it and have no debt from it. I would never get into debt to pay for a 'dream' wedding.

No, spent £450. Small wedding, no stress, had a lovely day & no pressure on guests to buy posh outfits or presents. The divorce on the other hand, cost much more.

Totally, we paid £25k 12 years ago we remortgage our house to pay for it, it was an amazing day but we could have used that equity in the house to move to a bigger house sooner than last year.

£25K wedding.
Yes I do regret some things about it. Including each person's meal and drinks was £120 on top of plenty other expenses. So why did I feel like I had to invite some friends who I don't like that much and people's plus ones who I don't know. Could have saved over a grand! Had I been more careful with the guest list.
Also didn't really need an expensive venue. I just wanted it to be tasteful and comfortable for the guests with good quality food drink entertainment etc ~ but I shouldn't have worried so much, hardly anyone else I know has cared much about guest experience when I've been invited to weddings.

My wedding was relatively expensive, but we had saved for it and I had the best day ever. I’ll never do anything like it again so I don’t regret it. Some things I wish I’d spent more on!!

I do regret spending so much on my dress though. I got caught up in the whole “wedding dress” shop thing and my dress wasn’t actually my favourite thing I’ve ever worn in the end. Should have bought a regular beautiful dress rather than the bridal one I got.

No, no regrets but it was a low cost affair with 12 guests and what we wanted. In hindsight I would have spent more on the honeymoon because it was great and I didn't want to come home.

No, we only spent a couple of hundred - can’t remember exactly but well under £500, maybe around £300? Tiny registry office wedding with no evening do about 20 years ago though; perfect for us and a lovely day, but probably on a much smaller scale than the average.

I don’t regret how much we spent but I do regret spending money inviting certain people I didn’t care about because I felt I had to.

I also regret saving the money and not getting a videographer. I realised after the wedding you only see the day from your perspective, I would love to know how other people saw the day.