To ask how much you spent on your wedding

[namechangefidodk]

I'm interested to know how much people really spend. I'm looking to spend less than a grand all in, and wondered if anyone has ever regretted spending a fortune/doing it on the cheap?

We spent about 8k altogether with the honeymoon. I did all the stationary but it still cost to get the supplies in!

Ours was about £1000, we were living over the other side of the world and no-one could travel to it so we got married on a beach on a Fijian island with no family or friends there. This amount included about 10 days staying on the island afterwards for a honeymoon.

photos were bring a camera. I dont usually carry dead flowers so saw no need. invites were letters. small group of course.

more fuss than ideal but the rellies enjoyed it and it was a pleasant few hours.

@TakemedowntoPotatoCity I'm always happy to talk about it!

We spent 10K on the venue and that didn't come with anything, so by the time we had hired tables / chairs / waiting staff / china / linens etc etc it was at about 15k. Venue was the main atrium of an art gallery in my home city.

The flowers were the biggest priority for me because I wanted them to really be amazing, so they were 12K. We filled the venue with metal archways covered in amnesia roses and peonies with eucalyptus, sage, lambs ears and succulents. We also had 12 trees covered in fairy lights with flowers and candles hanging from the branches, and the bar was a columned portico wrapped with flowers.

Food and open bar for 180 guests was 10k. We had pork belly salad for starter, then beef, then valhrona chocolate fondants for dessert.

Cake was £600, cheese cake was £250, food trucks for later in the evening were about £2k.

dress was £1200, bridesmaids dresses were about the same for 4 of them.

Band were £5k and did ceilidh mixed with disco, was very cool. DJ for after was £2k.

We had a wedding planner who was £7500

Lighting was 4k for reams of cafe strung across the ceiling and coloured lights for later in the evening.

Trying to remember what else... we had 2 classic cars to get us to and from the ceremony, fee for the church, piper, invitations and menus etc, favours (gift to charity on behalf of guests), hotel room etc.

We would have had a lovely wedding whatever the budget but I loved the day we had so much, wouldn't change anything.

£60 dress
£10 shoes
£25 new shirt and tie for husband
Flowers were a gift
£14 for the registry office
Parents paid for a meal for 8 of us
Evening party was a gift
£40 rings

Anything I'm forgetting?

@MyOtherUsernameisaPun 75k?! Wow!!! If you don't mind me asking; what did you spend it all on? I'm not sure I'd be able to spend all that!!

Less than 1k.
Hired outfits for TH and best man and "bridesmaid" - my brother.
I made my own dress/did my own makeup etc.
We had around 20 immediate family for a nice meal and then everyone came in the evening and we had a lovely party.

Nice and relaxed, totally our style. We all got pissed and danced a lot.
Twas superb!

Oh and photographer / videographer!

My other username we had almost the exact same flowers! (In small quantities, lol)

@Sprinklesinmyelbow you have great taste 😘

£2k all in including a honeymoon in the U.K. nearly 30 years ago all paid for by DH and I.

£1000 23 years ago. I hate being the centre of attention so 40 guests during the day and a night do for 150. I really wanted to do it with two witnesses.

Around 14k 3 years ago, had an amazing day and there are few parts I would change but now I think surely we could have done it cheaper somehow and gone on a few amazing holidays!

I think the most important thing if you’re doing it cheap is don’t try and make it something it’s not. The worst weddings are where people try and create a big white wedding on a tiny budget. It doesn’t work. If I had a grand I’d be doing a registry office and a private room in a restaurant after wards for less than 20. Even that might be a big ask to be honest

Depends what you want to include in the total. This was ours (we eloped)
£1000 for the venue (three nights including)
£400-ish on registrar fees
£400 for the dress with alterations
£70 shoes
£100 hair and makeup
Flowers were a gift
£120 for OH’s outfit and shoes (sale bargains)
£450 Photographer
£80 Travel
£120 cake
£30 other food
£1500 for wedding rings

We spent around £2500.

My parents about £1000.

ILs about £1500.

So all together 5k?

That includes everything though dresses, suits, the day itself, accommodation etc.

We have 73 guests about 60 stayed overnight so thought that was very reasonable.

It all comes down to yours, and sometimes your parents finances.
Some people are eyes on stalks at 75k, but if you are from a wealthy family, that's probably the same amount for someone else who spends 10k.
I think as long as you can afford it, you are in love and marrying for the right reasons, then what you spend is individual. As pp have said a 1k wedding can be as good as a 75k wedding.

Including rings an extra £400.

We didn't actually pay all of the £1k ourselves but that was around the cost once everything was added up.

We did skip a lot of the things people see as "essential" at weddings. We just didn't have the option to include everything.

That said I can't imagine spending over a grand on a child's birthday! People really do live very different lives, don't they?

I think if we'd been able to plan our wedding exactly how we wanted it it would have cost about £5-6k, as that's what we had to cut it down from when we were originally planning. We got it down to about £2k with a lot of sacrifices. Neither of these figures included a honeymoon - we never got that far! But we scrapped that plan entirely in the end because of the time crunch and season change.

About £22k five years ago. My parents offered £10k towards it - DH asked if we could have the money towards a house instead and they said no, it was for a wedding or nothing. DH's parents put in £5k and we found the rest. I have a big family that I'm close to and we both have quite wide social circles - it was about 140 people, country house deal, free booze, fireworks, live band. I economised on the dress (£150), the cake (didn't have one) and the car (family member had a suitable car they loaned us for free). I didn't care about being the centre of attention or feeling like a princess; I just wanted to have a bloody good time with the people I care about.

£105 for the register office service
£250 for the cake
£270 for the photos
£400 for the function room, buffet and dj
£260 for the car
£250 roughly for my outfit all in (dress, shoes, necklace, fascinator, earrings)
£400 for groom & best man suits, shoes and cufflinks

I can't think of anything else we spent money on. My mum and dh's mum paid for the outfits and dh happens to know quite a few people (photographer, hire car owner, cake baker etc) so he got a few things on mates' rates.

Upwards of 30k. I stopped counting.

I don't regret it at all, we had the money and had a beautiful day.

About £20k, wish I could do it all over again!!!

Under 1k.

BEST. DAY. EVER.

P.s. We didn't have many guests other than a few of dh's friends and our immediate families. we did it as cheaply as possible as we're perpetually skint. We don't regret a thing. It was a lovely day and ultimately we have a good marriage which, imo, is what counts.