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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

How much did your wedding cost?

322 replies

WomanEmpire · 13/03/2018 11:08

Average wedding is around the £27k mark in the U.K. I can't think of a wedding I've attended or known of that could of cost this much? no judgement if people do pay this amount, but it seems pretty crazy! I can't believe that it is the average, unless most are paying £5k and the £1,000,000 do's are throwing off the averages?!

How much did your weddings cost?

OP posts:
Lollyb86 · 13/03/2018 11:23

£2k including honeymoon in 2012

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 13/03/2018 11:24

Ours was about 3.5k including the honeymoon

It was over 27 years ago though

sozzled · 13/03/2018 11:24

Probably between 10-15k. My parents made a large contribution towards it though.

NualaCassia · 13/03/2018 11:26

About $1500 so £750ish. That was for everything including the meal for the guests.

RadioGaGoo · 13/03/2018 11:26

20K including honeymoon. DH's grooms outfit was far more expensive than my dress!

seedsofchocolate · 13/03/2018 11:26

50k. And I don't have a single happy memory.

OrangeHorse · 13/03/2018 11:27

I think mine was probably somewhere between 6-7k.

Tomorrowillbeachicken · 13/03/2018 11:27

About 4k in 2005

TheShaniaTwainExperience · 13/03/2018 11:28

seeds Flowers

KochabRising · 13/03/2018 11:30

Ive been to weddings that I know have cost upwards of 60k and weddings that have cost a few hundred quid.

Honestly, there’s not much relationship between the amount spent and the fun had at the wedding. Nor has there been much correlation between amount spent and longevity of marriage so far.

You can do it ultra cheap (some friends got married in a lovely campsite, others on a beach in the Hebrides) and you can spend pretty much an unlimited amount (I went to one where I know the venue alone was 25k for the night and that was a fair few years back.)
I think the important thing is to not get into silly debt for it and to do something that you’re happy and comfy with.

We already had a flat so no need for a deposit. We spent what we could afford and that seemed reasonable, no debt, all saved for beforehand. Yeah

GoodMorning1 · 13/03/2018 11:32

£5500, 14 years ago. At the time the reported average was something like £16k and I remember thinking you'd have to be mad to spend that much.

AnnaT45 · 13/03/2018 11:32

That figure will include everything! Engagement ring, honeymoon, all the outfits - sometimes even mother of the bride, hair, make up for the whole bridal party etc. They include everything in these stats to bump the price up to make it more headline grabbing

That said ours was around that five years ago (don't know the actual figure) but we had a big wedding and a three week honeymoon. I wanted to elope DH didn't. I'm glad we didn't, we've both lost a parent since and having that memory was worth it.

EmmaJR1 · 13/03/2018 11:33

£12k in 2016 - 140 guests, church and reception plus 2 weeks all inclusive honeymoon in Mexico. Best money we ever spent!

whiskyowl · 13/03/2018 11:36

£2k on the wedding - it was tiny, registry office affair and I didn't even have a dress. Most of the money was on accommodation for all our guests - we didn't want anyone to have to pay.

£2.5k on the honeymoon - we splurged wildy (for us!) and went to Japan!

£800 on a massive party later in the year to celebrate with all our friends!

Stephisaur · 13/03/2018 11:36

Ours cost around £30k last year, not including the Honeymoon which was £8k. We were very fortunate to have ours paid for by our parents. Wedding costs were high mainly due to the cost of the venue (£10k) and my dress (£2k). Food was another £5k or so, photographer was almost £3k, Videographers were about £1k, Mum's outfit was around the £2k mark as well... I don't know the full breakdown as my parents paid for it all. My Mum tells me it was around that though and the best money she's ever spent.

It really depends on what you want at your Wedding. We wanted to make sure it was memorable and enjoyable, so money was spent accordingly. We certainly believe it was worth the money and the best Wedding we've ever been to, but we're obviously biased lol

MissDuke · 13/03/2018 11:37

We spent around 5k 15 years ago, which included honeymoon, rings, etc. Was a brilliant day, lots of happy memories. We decided our priority was a deposit for a house which has really paid off, so no regrets in not splashing out [heart]

RedRobin87 · 13/03/2018 11:37

We are planning on getting married this year and refuse to spend more than £2/3k. It's one day and i would rather spend money on other things!

Osopolar · 13/03/2018 11:38

£2k in 2013 which is everything other than the honeymoon which was another £1k but was 5 months after the wedding so it feels like a very separate cost.

My dress was a gift, family made the cake and invitations and my friend who worked for a jeweller got us a discount on our rings. Family also paid for our room at the hotel.

The key things that enabled us to save money were that we decided against formal seating arrangements, table favours etc. And no bridesmaids. We also didn't have a photographer as a friend is a keen photographer and offered to take them for us.

We booked our reception venue less than six weeks before the wedding which got us a 4* hotel for free as they knew noone else would book at such short notice. They had also massively over ordered on food for another event so as long as we were happy to have the same food we got a significant discount. They upgraded our hotel room to a suite also and we have free breakfast.

I think to keep things cheaper you have to decide what is important to you. For us it was food and drink so we had a hot meal and a free bar (for house wine, beer and soft drinks). We discarded the more formal aspects of a wedding and went for laid back. We got married at Christmas so the hotel was already decorated beautifully. We made sure the ceremony venue and reception venue were less than five mins walk from each other so didn't have to worry about transport.

AnnaleeP · 13/03/2018 11:40

10k in 2012. The vast, vast majority of that was the food and wine, we booked out a very good restaurant for 75 guests who gave us a great deal as we'd been regular customers. My total outfit cost was £290, dress, headwear, shoes, undies, the lot. The venue where we had the ceremony and the evening do was £1400. No photographer, expensive cars, table decorations or flowers. It sounds quite austere but the restaurant wouldn't let us decorate the tables and the venue was beautiful and didn't need it.

Dipitydoda · 13/03/2018 11:41

About 5k for wedding and 5k for honeymoon. We had a full church wedding, nice wedding cars, flowers full wedding breakfast for 50 hot full buffet and disco for evening guests in a hotel for 100. 3 years ago. I fail to see what people spend their money on tbh! It’s usually useless shit that no one notices or picking a venue that doesn’t offer accommodation at all or is v expensive just to get some pictures you’ll look at about 10 times

susurration · 13/03/2018 11:41

Around 7-8k in 2012 for a church and country hotel wedding. We got a really good deal on our venue, £4k for venue hire and all catering, linens etc. After that my dress and the car hire were the next biggest purchases.

BevBrook · 13/03/2018 11:42

About £10K 10-ish years ago. That included a £1k dress that my mum paid for, and a two week honeymoon in Indonesia.

twinkledag · 13/03/2018 11:43

Around the 20k mark.

Went to a wedding last year that cost 35k.

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 13/03/2018 11:44

£1500 but it was 27 years ago. A "friend" rushed to get her wedding in before mine and her parents were still paying off the loan they took out to pay for it (her dress alone cost more than my entire wedding) when she married her 2nd husband. They refused to contribute when she married for the third (and so far last) time.

MaderiaCycle · 13/03/2018 11:44

About £1700 in the end for 28 guests - I bet people lie and no-one wants to say "we did it really cheaply".