Paying for a wedding really can break the bank, and expenses may vary by tens of thousands, depending on size, location and taste.
Regardless of price, your wedding day should be the happiest day of your life, but planning the money side of things can be a big stressor, especially when you go over budget.
To try and reassure those going through this right now, we asked a whole bunch of recent brides to spill the beans — anonymously, of course — on their every wedding-related expense, from the dress to the table vases...
Click through to find out how this week's couple spent £10,000 – and had a free bar!
Basics
Jobs: Digital editor and TV music composer
Ages: 29 and 31
Location: London
Combined salary as a couple: £60k
Wedding location: Surrey
Number of bridesmaids: 2
Number of groomsmen: 4
All we really wanted was for it to be super fun and laid-back, and for it to be cheap, convenient and easy for everyone to come and celebrate with us. Oh, and we were determined to offer a free bar.
We had 100 people to the ceremony, another 20 in the evening.
We’re not too bothered about traditions or fancy-looking things, so we focused on doing as much DIY as possible and creating a fun atmosphere that was special to us, rather than ticking all the wedding boxes. We called in a lot of favours from creative friends and in the end it was pretty Instagrammable after all.
Budget-wise, we were keen to keep it under £10k because we already had a lot of debt, which didn’t seem the best start to married life.
Essentials
Registrar fee: £468 including marriage certificates
Engagement ring: Free (heirloom)
Wedding bands: £530
Total: £998
Hen & Stag
Hen party: £90. We hired two narrowboats in Bath for the weekend. The bridesmaids brought food and drink for most meals and we went out on Saturday night for dinner and dancing.
Stag party: £300. The groom was the first of his crew to get married so they went really OTT and did a weekend in Berlin.
Total: £390
Venue & Reception
We got married at a motor museum near where we grew up because we’re both a bit geeky about transport, and there was a beautiful room that was registered for weddings. We hired a Routemaster to take the guests from there to my parents’ house, a 15-minute drive away, where we had a marquee set up in the garden for the reception.
Venue hire: £950 for the ceremony, £3,000 for the reception marquee
What did this include? The room and access to the museum for all the guests, and 100 glasses of prosecco. A caveat of having a ceremony-only event at the museum was that it had to be on a weekday, so we booked a Friday. The marquee cost included a dance floor, lighting, mat flooring, heating, tables and chairs. We also hired posh portable toilets so guests didn’t have to traipse into the house.
Wedding breakfast: £750. We had a prosecco afternoon tea, using a local pub’s catering service. They provided sandwiches, scones and cakes, as well as waiting staff. It was quite budget-friendly – the sandwiches were £3 per head, for example. A friend from Somerset is a pie-making enthusiast, so we got him to make a big pork pie for each table, and another friend made quiche – we paid for the ingredients. We did a big Tesco order for other bits and bobs, such as potato salad, which one of the bridesmaids rustled up. Not sure she’s looked at a potato since. Separately we made a mini hamper for the three vegans in the party.
Evening food: £450 for a hog roast and a cheeseboard. My brother made and covered the costs of a big pot of vegan curry for the non-pork eaters.
Bar tab: £800. We did a massive order of beers, wines and soft drinks from Majestic, which also loaned us the glassware and ice buckets for free.
Cake: £30. We did without a proper wedding cake. Instead, the groom made 100 ramekins and one normal-size cheesecake so everyone could have a bit. You can see why I married him. We put two figurines of our favourite TV show characters on the top.
Prosecco for toasting: £250. We bought bottles of prosecco at Sainsbury's over Christmas when they were on festive discount, so we got them for £5 a bottle. And no corkage as we were at home.
Decor in the venue: £50. Some clever friends made crochet flowers for the afternoon tea hampers, and another friend lent us bunting from her wedding. We put jam jars of daffs on each table, but really the food hamper was the main centrepiece. We got the hampers at charity shops or for free. We also made a DIY photobooth using an iPad velcro-ed to the wall and a bluetooth remote.
Band: Free. The groom is in a wedding band so they played, and some other musical friends took turns to give him a break. I played the saxophone on a couple of songs in lieu of a first dance (which we thought was too cringe). We also used their PA and microphones for the speeches.
DJ: Free. Friends lent us the equipment and DJ’d for free.
Transport for bride and groom: We used our Peugeot 206 because it’s been with us for our whole relationship. My brother put some decorations on her for us.
Transport for guests: Routemaster bus £250
Total: £6,530
Flowers
We didn’t have flowers but we were given some beautiful straw-woven seahorses to decorate the ceremony room.
Confetti: £20 for a job lot, which we put into mini envelopes and put into the ceremony goodie bags (along with a tissue and some fruit pastilles to stave off the hunger pangs).
Bouquets/pinholes/corsages, etc: My mum knitted tulips for my bouquet and the buttonholes. They took her ages and were quite a labour of love, but they looked great.
Total: £20
Dresses
Did you have a dress in mind before the process? I always assumed I’d wear a green dress because it’s my favourite colour but I went 'pretend' wedding dress shopping on my friends’ insistence and accidentally fell in love with a super expensive (£2,200) designer gown that I definitely couldn’t afford.
Dress: £860. I was really lucky to find the exact dress in my size on Preloved, in my city. I bartered a bit as it had a prosecco stain on the front that wouldn’t come out, and I took a gamble that no one would notice. I just had to have it taken up at the hem. I’m not really a dress person but like a massive cliché I totally fell in love with this one and it was absolutely beautiful. I still love it.
Shoes: Free. I wore some yellow and red Vivienne Westwood shoes I’d had for years.
Veil: None
Accessories: £6.99. I wore mostly borrowed jewellery. The only thing I bought especially was a small tie of flowers for my hair from Etsy.
Total: £866.99
Bridal Party
Bridal party hair: £250. I was lucky to have my regular hairdresser come and do mine and the two bridesmaids' hair. My mum wanted to do her own.
Bridal party makeup: Free. We all did our own makeup. I did buy a Laura Mercier foundation specially but it lasted me two years so I don’t count it as a wedding cost really.
Bridesmaid dresses: £180. I was quite chill about the colour/style as I wanted the girls to be comfortable in them but as luck would have it, they both fell for the same one, so matched after all. They were £90 each from Debenhams. They wore their own shoes.
Groom suit: £250 from Moss Bros. The groom decided he wanted a blue suit, after seeing Bradley Cooper in one at Wimbledon the year before.
Groom shoes: Free. He wore brogues he already had.
Groomsmen suits: We asked everyone to just wear their own suits.
Total: £680
Stationery
Invitations and postage: £28.60. Our artist friend designed our 'save the date' and invites for free and we printed them online. I used my office post to send them out, which was a bit naughty.
Photography: £500. A friend whose work I’d seen on Instagram agreed to do our photos. She set the price but in retrospect I think the job was worth more, and we got some beautiful pictures.
Thank you letters: £30. I made these on Photoshop and gave most out in person.
Total: £558.60
The Breakdown
Essentials: £998
Hen & Stag: £390
Venue & Reception: £6,530
Flowers: £20
Dresses: £866.99
Bridal Party: £680
Stationery: £558.60
Total: £10,043.59
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