According to a magazine last year, the average price for a UK wedding is a staggering £24,000 – the equivalent of putting a deposit down on a new home or buying a brand new SUV.
For many newlyweds, this means they start married life with a huge debt (an amount just under the average UK salary of £27,000).
If you are getting married, but want to save your money, the good news is that you can get married on a budget – and still have a memorable and special day.
Here are a few ideas that may inspire you …
- if you are not bothered about having a big wedding or religious ceremony, then get married in a registry office. It will cost approximately £110 (£35 each for entering a Notice of Marriage; £4 for a standard marriage certificate; and around £46 to marry in a registry office with up to 12 guests (this is a typical price across the UK);
- if you want a church wedding, then you can expect to pay around £486, which will include the church, the vicar, calling your banns, a banns certificate, the marriage certificate, lighting, and all administration;
- Wedding attire – either borrow something from a friend, wear something nice you already own, or buy a second-hand wedding dress and shoes on Ebay, or from a second-hand shop. You can do the same for the Groom’s and Best Man’s attire, or hire them (from £57 per suit);
- wedding flowers: Do a short floristry course (from £90) and learn how to make wedding flowers;
- ask favors! Rather than asking for wedding presents, call in favors from friends – someone handy with a needle could make bridesmaids’ dresses; a baker could make your cake; or your friendly pub landlord may let you hire his pub garden as a venue at special rates, etc;
- for an intimate celebration, you could have a picnic in the park; pie and mash at your local shop; or a party at home. Again, call in favors and get guests to bring food/drink;
- if you want to give wedding favors to your guests, then several cheap options look more expensive than they are – for example, for just under £1, you can get a personalized mini bottle of drink;
- photos – get your guests to take photos on their smartphones and upload them all to one place (such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or some other type of Cloud service). You can then choose the ones you like best;
- music – create your playlist on an iPod, buy some cheap speakers, and be your DJ.
Hopefully these ideas will show you how you can have a wonderful day, without breaking the bank.
The above example will cost between £500-£1,000 depending on whether you get married in a church or registry office – which can cost from as little as £253 a month to repay over 3 months if you take a short-term loan of £500. This means that no sooner has the ink dried on your marriage certificate, but the cost of your wedding is paid for and you can start your married life debt-free.
