AIBU.. To ask how much your wedding cost?

[LouBlue1507]

From what I've read, the average cost of a wedding is now £20,000-30,000! This can't be true surely? 😫

How much did your wedding cost? Any tips?

Thanks!

£40k not including honeymoon. Half us. Half DPs DILd and my Dear Uncle. 2 days. Country house. Amazing dress I couldn't afford but DM paid. It's a ridiculous amount really. But we all had the best weekend ever. Loved every minute.

Under £5,000 including honeymoon in 1998.

Afternoon wedding with lunch after; 60 guests. We provided lots of food from posh caterer and free flowing alcohol in a heritage building in Manchester.

But no evening do nor extras etc to pile on the cost. MIL made my wedding dress; step mum made bridesmaid dresses; DH and best man had M&S Italian collection suits and ties (that they wore for work after); we arrived and departed in black cabs Flowers from ceremony reused in restaurant and certainly no 'wedding favours'/ chair covers etc.

Less than £1k 25 years ago. Cos we were practically children with a mortgage at 11% and both our dads had lost their jobs. It was mostly spent on booze. Registry office , reception at home catered by my mum. We have had a great 25 year marraige though!

10 years ago, 90 day guests 139 evening. Church wedding, evening so at local sports social club. We had the most wonderful relaxed happy day. Total spend for wedding £1700, honeymoon £2,550. Worth spending for more on the honeymoon imo.

We set a top budget for everything we wanted, shopped around for cheapest of everything even taking quotes to other companies to try and beat them. We also have lots of friends and family who had skills or useful things so hairdresser friend did mine and bridesmaid's hair for the price of a piece of wedding cake and a few drinks at the reception. Workfriend made wedding cake and only charged for the ingredients. Friend's dad had an awesome vintage car that he drove for us for the cost of a bottle of whiskey. Made the invitations between me, mum and sister (wished we hadn't as it was a boring nightmare).
We didn't have a posh sit down meal as we find them boring, so had buffet food that a friend did for us. Our photos were done by my niece who is a professional photographer - ours was her first wedding and she did it for free, so we were really lucky there.

The most important thing is to work out what your budget is and what you want from the day. For us, it was to get married, have time with our families and get on the dance floor later on and what we had ticked every box.

Big big tip is to set a dress budget early and don't try on any dress over the budget. Tell the bridal shop what your budget is and they'll happily find you dresses which are affordable. My wedding dress cost £300.

Don't scrimp on a wedding photographer. Take time to find someone whose work speaks for itself and, importantly, you feel comfortable with.

Oh, and if you want to buck the trend then don't feel pressured into doing what you feel you should do to appease others. Your wedding should be about you and your OH, no one else.

We get married soon and although there are a few bits to finalise so far we have spent 20k excluding honeymoon. This time last year our budget was a fraction of that and we admit we have got carried away and definitely could have spent less. But, we've decided that we'd rather have the day we want than have any regrets. Occasionally we do have a moment of horror when we think about what else we could have spent that money on. We're sure it will be worth it tho and we'll have fond memories.

£1000 - register office with 25 guests followed by pub for 60ish. My dress was £124 in the sale at Liberty, DH wore M&S suit. Roped in family members to do photos, did my own hair etc, no flowers. Had a buffet in the pub and put a few hundred quid behind the bar. It was 14 years ago and we were saving for our first flat. It was a fab day and exactly how we wanted :)

£7k. 3 years ago. 30 guests, free bar. Cost so much due to food, free bar and beautiful location. My dress cost 200 quid. Do spend on the hosting stuff, folk like to be fed and watered. Good luck.

£2,200 all in

8 years ago 6k for church including bells and choir, old manor house venue, dress, drink, car, food, photos, music for 40 all day.

About £25k in 2013. Not including honeymoon.

Hotel package, registrar fees were around £400 to come out, 60 day guests, 120 in the eve.

Baileys Fountain and magician 😁

Registry Office £320
Rings £580
Kilt Hire £130
Dress £0 (well £300 but paid for by my Mum)
Flowers £0 (again, gift from my mum)
Beauticians £100
Hair £0 (gift from my regular stylist)
Wedding Car £0 (gift from best man)
Hall Hire £100
Wine £200
BYOB Corkage Fees £100
Cash behind Bar £100
Sit down meal for 40 £600
Evening Buffet £200
Cake £200
DJ £140
Favours £150
Other bits and bobs £200
Hotel Room £160

£3690 (if my maths is correct!)

That was in 2015 and we had our reception in a local bowling club which was lovely.

We had 38 guests during the day and another 25 at night.

However I think we spent that again on the honeymoon! We went to Hong Kong, Vietnam and Thailand.

A Baileys? fountain?!

That sounds fucking fantastic! JEALOUS

Er - 16k ish excluding honeymoon, but that was 14 years ago! So would be above the 20k mark now for the same thing for sure (85 guests, one venue, sit down meal in marquee, disco etc, open bar)

£17k in 2009.
Honeymoon was £27k!!!

£500, 20 years ago - 30 guests, we had top floor of a spanish restaurant for the afternoon, stacks of tapas, case of champagne (present from friends),wine for all throughout the meal, port etc afterwards, was a lovely day. My parents had £15000 put aside for my wedding and offered it to us, we paid off a chunk of our mortgage with it instead. The day was lovely and special but for us getting married was not about one day.

As soon as I saw they were a thing I had to have it!! I was looking at chocolate fountains but got distracted! They were quite new then but more common now I think. I've seen champagne and prosecco fountains advertised more recently.

It cost £500 plus the cost of 5 litres of Baileys. Chocolate shot cups - bliss! My Dad (RIP now) declared it was the best wedding ever based on that. Fond memories of him having around ten shots 😁

6k, 14 years ago. 35 guests. It was faaaabulous.

Just over 12k 6 years ago. That included everything even down to the stamps for thank you cards! Also included honeymoon. Had 80 guests all day with sit down 3 course meal and another 30 in the evening with chips and other bits to eat. It is a lot of money but we had the best day and I love looking at our photo album and showing my ds.

€2,000 7 years ago.

Town hall ceremony at 12.30, slow wander through (lovely old Roman) town to the restaurant, nibbles and mingling, then big sit down meal at 2. We had 45 guests.

That was it. We went to a tapas restaurant in the town square that evening and invited anyone who wanted to come (it was May and v warm - and v busy). Some friends had a nap then came back out with their kids, some stayed home/hotel with their kids. Some came out for a drink, some stayed out until 3am. Some came who couldn't make the ceremony.

Engagement ring off ebay, dress off ebay, simple gold wedding bands from local jeweller. I made my bouquet and buttonieres, we had no other flowers. No disco. I made activity packs for the kids.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I'd love to wear my dress again, it is languishing in a box on top of my wardrobe

Approx £200, including dinner. Magistrate office, two witnesses, borrowed wedding dress and a private dinner for DH and me.

Tbf, if we had had the money we would have wanted to spend more, make it into a bigger and more special event and share it with our family and close friends. We were calculating our ideal wedding and it would have come to about £2000-3000, most of it going to renting a villa and catering. Maybe one day we'll get it done.

About 5k 10 years ago, including rings (£1500) and a fantastic band (£1300). Those two were our priorities, we made our own cake, MIL did flowers, catered it ourselves and hired a rugby club for the reception. My dress was £80, did my own makeup (but popped into hairdresser near registry office to have hair put up). A friend made invitations as our present.

It was fantastic, and I wouldn't change a thing. We couldn't have afforded much more, and had to really keep an eye on things that seem "cheap" but soon add up - chair covers would have been c £400, favours can easily get out of control (and are often left behind) - it is easy to spend another couple of thousand on things that aren't really needed for a good party.

About £1000 - it was a long time ago!
DD and her DP are considering when to get married - I think we can cover what they want for under £5000 and I've offered £1000 and am hoping ex DH will do same

£87 Little White Chapel on the Strip. We were on holiday in Las Vegas, been together 11 years and decided it was about time we got married so we got married whilst we were there. That was 17 years ago today!

I'm sure we would have tipped the limo driver and official but I can't remember how much but I remember the wedding itself showing up on the credit card statement as £87.

Ours is in December and budget is around 12-13k. Venue is by far the most expensive thing at around £110 a head. We're having around 80 day guests.

Honeymoon will be on top of that.