Throwing that cash around like confetti? You can expect to pay on average £7,500 for that one big day or, if your a reader of Brides magazine and you follow the fancy tips you'll be spending around £24,000, so how do we do all of this for less than at grand?
To legally get married the prices start on average around £167 for a weekday ceremony including the notice of marriage fee (£35pp). This cost of this basic service applies to anywhere in the UK even in and around London and other city centres where you would think the price would be higher.
If you want to do it in a local or meaningful venue, you first have to make sure it is licenced to hold ceremonies, you may find the local pub isn't. With this in mind, you will also need to pay for a registrar which typically can cost anything around £475 and you will still have to pay for the venue hire.
£1,200 is the average cost of a bridal dress and high street brands such as Debenhams are starting to cash in on the hype and offering somewhat stunning dresses for around £100 you could say what the point of buying such an expensive dress your only going to wear once? or you could browse the Oxfam online shop and help out a charity at the same time as reusing a once loved dress and save some of those hard earnt pennies, don't just limit yourself to bridal shops
Start by checking out the prices of venue hire on off-peak times, Sunday for example or winter weddings can have a dramatic price drop, even the venue may have quieter times so negotiate and see what you can get off when booking these dates.
If you opted for the Registry office ceremony, why not ask a restaurant if they have a private dining area you could use for a reception room or throw a party in your garden and put up a marquee and your own buffet could save loads of money! Hall hire the UK, have some great listings and you can find beautiful venues for anything from £4ph even castles and grounds the perfect thing if you want to get away from your own garden to take those all important wedding photographs with an amazing backdrop.
Averaging around £1,500 for catering for only 50 the ways you can slice those costs.
are simple, by going to a local restaurant and serving canapes for starters and wedding cake for pudding is an ultimate slash on costs and let's face it your not going to get rid of that 3 tier cake any other way.
For a substantial saving you can always make your own cake or ask a friend the average cake can cost £600 and we have found a way that for 50 guests you can make that for only 61p per slice take a look at the BBC's good food website for the zingy lemon wedding cake.
When living in a world who does not deal with royal mail why are we still sending out those gold edged wedding invites handcrafted to perfection to only get an RSVP text back from guests, why not set up a mailing list?
Wedding photography can also be hefty, so why not ask your preferred photographer if they have any deals that could benefit your day or what partial coverage would cost, you could always ask for the coverage of the ceremony and then lay out some disposables for your guests to take photos in the evening.
Social media sites such as pinterest can offer a wide range of making your own ideas for decorations and tableware, some of the most beautiful weddings have been those to come from the couple getting creative.
Growing your own wedding flowers is becoming ever so popular with poise seeds costing nothing more than pennies and can be cut fresh on the day, a fantastic flower to also use for buttonholes. Drying the flowers out can be a time saver too.
