How much do you earn and how much did you spend on wedding?

[Rehne]

Joint income = £160k (but London)
Ages: 29 and 33
Wedding cost: £25k (5k from bride’s parents)
2023

Just curious. So many of the quotes we had were crazy. And obviously Dh and I doing okay financially. Who is spending all this money given the average income?

Got married ten years ago
His income - 19k
My income - 16.5k
Total income - 35.5k
Wedding cost - 4k (in laws paid for the church which was about £200)

We did lots ourselves but prioritised spending money on the bits that mattered to us. Friends and who had gotten married before us had still been paying off their wedding well past the first wedding anniversary and we didn't want that.

Married 2024

His income 35k
My income 22k

wedding cost 12k
5k given by family.

£155k joint North
£30k total cost (not including honeymoon) around £16k from parents.

2021 wedding

Joint income around £220k when we got married.

Wedding cost £20k approx in 2017.

We spent almost as much on our honeymoon - that cost about £15k in 2018.

Joint income about 120k.

Total wedding cost inc honeymoon, rings, stag and hen do, etc: approx 40k.
From family: 15k

Got married in 2012, while earning about £150 k between us. Total spend on wedding about £300, including lunch for witnesses.

Married 23 years ago

joint income at time about 120k

wedding about 60k

Parents paid most of it.

Joint income £100k
Wedding £300-400

Our joint income was £60K, our wedding cost about £12K and that was doing it on the absolute lowest budget we could (we had 150 guests, both have enormous families, not inviting all of them just wasn’t an option. Local church, village hall, DIY decorations, wine brought over from hyper market in Calais, bridesmaid dresses bought off Amazon, no hen or stag do, cake made by a relative, cheapest caterer we could find… my parents ended up paying for a few little “extras” that we weren’t going to have but they thought we needed, like cars and my hairdresser. It’s amazing how it all adds up!

Married 5 years ago, joint income then around £55k.
Wedding cost £7,500, including a week in Las Vegas and a reception at home with family and friends.

Ok income.

Eloped because we don’t like people. Cost around £2000 for everything including honeymoon I think.

Joint income £180k
Spent: £65k

Forgot to say we paid for it ourselves x

Join income: £200k ish at the time
Wedding: less than £10k

Married in 2011. Joint income was about £200k. Wedding cost less than £8k. We did lots ourselves because we did not want to use a commercial venue and wanted a traditional country wedding. Church then marquee in parent’s garden, no car as it was the same village, dress down from £1200 to £250 and mum painstakingly repaired the torn lace, friend’s ceilidh band played, amazing local smokehouse did a big buffet, MIL bought the flowers down from a London flower market and did beautiful arrangements, all drink provided - kegs of local beer, lots of wine/champagne in a refrigerated van and loads of bottles of single malt. It was brilliant!

Bloody long time ago. Nearly 30 years back.

Trying to remember. The wedding cost about £500 and that included our rings (20 quid from Argos I think), our outfits, the registry office, lunch, and the buffet we put on in the pub that evening. We paid for it ourselves.

At the time I brought home about 800 a month and my husband maybe about 600.

Married last year - registry office and reception at home. We are both fifty. Joint income £230k. Wedding cost including clothes about £2k honeymoon was considerable more - our income goes on adventures!

Joint income £180k (North England)

Wedding was £25k of which £10k was a gift from parents - that was plenty tbh and we had all the bells and whistles etc. don’t really understand how people can spend more!

DH spent almost as much on my engagement ring (about £20k) and we had two “holiday of a lifetime” honeymoons that came to roughly £20k between them. So we were roughly 1/3 ring 1/3 wedding 1/3 honeymoon at about 1/3 of our annual income which feels about right.

I don't know why anyone would want to spend 25 grand on one day. It baffles me.

£120k joint income, £5k would have been less but the bar bill was £1500 🤣 very small wedding

Is this a board for the super wealthy??? Average income in the U.K. is £34k fte

I'm spending £5k this year but second marriage, income plenty, but we aren't spring chickens so not comparable to youngsters getting married

Married 2008
joint income £160k
wedding cost £4k

I’m just confused by the averages.

Average wedding (UK) in 2023 was £20700.
But the average household income is £38100 after tax.

Just curious how the average person can afford this. Sister is getting married but it feels like the wedding industry genuinely acts like everyone is a millionaire.

Our join income would have been about 74 and we spent as little as possible - maybe about £1000. This was early 2000s when people were spending 10-15. I'd been to some really boring, miserable weddings for that cost, so we got married abroad as cheaply as we could. It was a gorgeous, relaxed wedding and I wouldn't change a thing.

Married 2008 - joint income about £76k at the time (clearly we were the poor relations given this thread!)

Wedding cost about £17k and both sets of parents contributed £5k each.