To ask how much your wedding cost

[Foamybanana93]

Been engaged for 4 years now and finally about to start wedding planning, we wanted to buy a house first, I have no idea where to start, not sure about how much a wedding will cost to be honest, so wondering how much everyone spent ? I know it’ll differ for each person but just curious

£60 for the licence. At the same time, we put £30k down as a deposit on a house. We then sold said house for £800k, giving us £300k each mortgage free in equity when we divorced (not my choice) 20 years later. Just saying, but thank God we didn’t spend it on a wedding.

Would also add, perhaps uselessly, that I would marry DP wearing a bin-bag and with nobody there at all. I love him a thousand times over, and a fancy wedding would prove nothing.

were looking at somewhere in the northeast which ive had my heart set on since getting engaged, priced it up for 50 day, 50 night, 3 course meal, wine with meal, drinks during reception, chair covers, dj, evening buffet and a few other little bits just from the venue is £5750 which i dont think is bad at all, it just seems all the little things that add to the cost ! would like to try and keep budget to 10-12k if possible

We got married in Northumberland last year. There can be a huge price difference between peak season and out of season - if you don't have a particular date in mind.

It definitely is all of the little things that add up, we made lists of things we definitely wanted, things we would like and things that would be nice and went from there.

I would suggest using suppliers recommended by people that you know and trust - it made all the difference to me on the run up and the morning of the wedding knowing I had nothing to do but enjoy getting ready because I trusted all of our suppliers to come through for us

Ours was around £300 for everything, and it was a fantastic day. It's what you make it in my opinion, not the cost. If you can afford it, then by all means go for it if that's what you want.

About £15k 20 years ago. We had it in my hometown and a lot of our friends flew over for it so we couldn’t just offer them a ham sandwich and a cup of tea! Instead we ended up doing the full works - Castle, 4 bridesmaids, champagne, wine, fancy cars, photographer, band, etc. etc. No way would I do all that nonsense again. We are conned into thinking we need so much. Does anyone really need a party favour? I still can’t believe how much brain space I devoted to that rubbish. It’s like a madness takes over - the hair, makeup, Tiara, - it’s all just a way of getting people to part with money. If I did it again I’d prioritise:

Good honest food and plenty of it.
Booze
A great band (that was one of our biggest costs and so worth it)

People will remember your wedding for whether or not they had a good time. They won’t remember or care about your dress, or your shoes, or the bridesmaids lipstick.

About £1,500. I did a lot of stuff myself (flowers, buttonholes, invitations, centrepieces etc). My dress came from EBay and I just paid for alterations. My H already had a suit. We got married in November so everything was cheaper. Most of the cost was food as I hate being hungry at weddings.

About £10k

We had a small country style house in the local park which meant once the park closed to the public, we had the whole area to ourselves!

The venue was a large cost (around half) but use for the ceremony and included all the food and drink (evening buffet included) and use of the venue for getting ready.

The rest was everyone's outfits and decorations. We spent around £75 on a load of cupcakes from M&S for our cupcake tower cake!

£18,000 in 2010 luckily my parents had been saving for my wedding my whole life so it didn’t cost me much . Now I look back on it as a massive waste of money I could have done it so much cheaper .

15k ten years ago which included a 2 week honeymoon in Sorrento. Priorities were food, booze and band. My dress was £40 from Monsoon but I spent over a grand on flowers! Seems ridiculous now but was an amazing day x

£13 (for the licence)!
Just me, DH two witnesses and a registrar.
That was in 1981, and we had a wonderful loving marriage right up to his death.
I think (by and large) the more extravagantly vulgar the wedding, the less solid the marriage. “Hello” and “OK” magazines provide some convincing evidence!

KnightlyMyMan

Thanks for essentially describing my wedding in such sneery tones

My dad said that it was lovely to attend a wedding that both felt special and grand and homely and communal at once. I sent most people away with a few bottles of leftover wine from the free bar, that one friend cheerfully told me was the best wedding ever - and she got married two months before!

Having friends and family take a few snaps and move a few chairs didn't make our day any less in their eyes. Making the cake myself was far more satisfying than choosing from a stranger - I especially enjoyed the compliments! My bouquet was handmade by my sister and I get to keep it forever. Our music wasn't picked by a stranger - it was picked by us, and funnily enough, our guests really enjoyed dancing to music since they share our tastes and not having some overgrown child playing the hokey kokey.

Yes, I had a 5 experience and 3 prices. I don't for a second think our guests felt stiffed for helping be part of the day - most were evidently honoured and many went out of their way to make it extra special and really personal. That's bloody priceless.