Budget - what is yours?

My budget is about £9000, not including honeymoon. Have so far managed to stay within that, but can see some costs creeping upward! We've had contributions from both sets of parents which has been great, and paying everything else ourselves.

Ours is coming in, at the moment, at just over £2k with the evening reception venue costing 75% of that! We are paying for everything ourselves apart from the honeymoon, which isn't really a honeymoon! We are off to Ibiza for a week with my family which was planned anyway to celebrate Andy's 30th which my parents offered to pay for as a wedding gift.

We haven't asked anyone for help or expect anyone to so we have literally booked and planned for what we could afford with our wages, no loans or credit cards so I'm trying to be the thriftiest bride known to man ... as you can see from my £8 wedding dress post!!

Tbh, I'm sure every bride thinks their wedding is the best no matter what the budget. Also, it's interesting that no one actually said in the first place that a £30,000 wedding is better than a £6,000 one. ?

My first every post on a wedding forum, yay! We've only set a year, not got a budget but it won't be a lot. Any ideas of areas I can save on?

Welcome Miss L - Mrs H!

I'm the worst person to ask about saving money! ?

Our budget is £5,400. Pretty exact I know, but that's what we worked out by saving the money each month ourselves. We have no parental contribution whatsoever. However, we would easily have gone over budget if it weren't for a few money saving things.
Our most expensive item, by far, is the venue £1,500 for exclusivety and the food £1,200.
Currently, I am £700 under budget with still a few things to purchase, but with my expectations, we will go over by a huge amount - ok, not so much, just £11.

However, this isn't including a honeymoon - which we will save up for after. We intend to spend a couple of days away after the wedding, and I will be using my Tesco rewards to help out for this.

I think it's very easy to spend a bit more than anticipated, just mention the 'W' word.

NB. We've just saved £500 today by paying for the balance of the venue in full before the end of the month.

Our budget is £13k and that's not including our honeymoon. We are paying for the majority of it ourselves. We are going to have to be fairly strict on our budget because we want to move aswell so have lots of saving to do! x

I dont think its anyones business and I cant believe these questions get asked!

We have a budget of 10k but are hoping to try and come in as much under that as possible, My dad has contributed 5k to the cost of the venue, wedding breakfast etc as he is going to do the same for my sister so said it was only fair to do the same for me (although i did insist that he didn't have to )

Have seen my invitation i want from ebay so they have come in a lot cheaper than we budgeted for.

I can honestly say that they don't. Most of my weddings are between £20k and £35k and they are usually hard working couples who have saved very hard or have the ability to pay for it. It's very rare for daddy to pay for everything.

Ruth

I wonder if that might be anything to do with those at the 'lower end' of the budget not being able to afford a wedding planner?

Actually, if you'd looked at Finesse's website you would have seen that they charge £35 an hour to look at people's wedding plans and to help out organise their budget - surely that is affordable for those on the 'lower end' on the budget?

Our original budget was £12k in the knowledge that as we wanted to get married within a year we would have a little help from all the parents. Including honeymoon we are now edging towards nearer the £17k mark but that's ok it just means we still have to save up to the day. We are fortunate enough that with some creative saving we are currently putting over £1k a month into savings. If we had not been offered a contribution by our parents we would simply have waited longer to get married or had a very different wedding.

If I had more patience I would wait another year and spend an extra £5k-£10k as there are loads of things that I have scrimped on or compromised on that I wouldn't have done if we had had a bigger budget and I would not have felt bad for a second about spending my hard earned cash on things that would have made the organising of my day easier. But I wanted to get married within a year of getting engaged as did H2B.

I don't think my wedding would be worse with a smaller budget or better with a bigger one - I would just have done different things with the money at my disposal!

We didn't have an exact budget, however, all in, 50 guests for the wedding, 100 for the reception is coming in at £3.5k. The wedding is being paid for by ME..... no bank of mum and dad, and h2b is a stay at home dad, so feel that I have achieved something.... possibly why I am so excited at seeing all the little bits and pieces coming together.

We've been quite savvy, have got an amazing package, which has saved us a fortune, and being a bit of an online shopoholic have started getting bits and pieces for the table decorations and invitations. Am going to handmake them ?

Shop around, don't be afraid to quibble and ask for discount.... if you don't ask, you don't get, besides, when people realise you are shopping for a wedding the price goes up by 50%

A large amount of my budget will go on food and drink as this is an important part of my day, I want to serve good wine as I know myself and my family would rather pay more for good wine than buy cheap wine that doesnt taste good, to me this is a waste of money! I still enjoy looking for a bargain but then I also know if I see something I want I can have this. I would never think because I have spent more money on my wedding than someone else that mine is automatically better, everyone will think their own wedding is the best no matter the budget. I hope to only do this once and so want to have everything I want.

Well, this topic was always going to give rise to differences in opinion, as with most budget related questions. It is interesting to see the differences in budgets from everyone.

I agree that a more expensive wedding doesn't automatically guarantee a 'better' wedding (I don't think anyone has implied this) - you only have to watch Four Weddings etc... to see that. I don't judge anyone for spending what they want to on their day. It is afterall, their choice. I do however wonder why people take out vast loans to pay for their day (or their parents - I have a friend whose parents paid for the whole thing with a loan, but it was the mother going overboard on the plans rather than the bride).

Our budget at the moment is around £11k/£12k (hopefully!) without the honeymoon. My parents are paying for the reception as they are in a position to do so financially. We are very greatful for this as we are still paying for large student loans and bought our first home 2 years ago. I don't think we would change a great deal of things about our day if we had more money to spend, but I'm sure we could easily increase our budget on some aspects of the day! Until I started to properly plan, I didn't realise how easily costs do rack up - easy done!

Absolutely!

The hardest bit we had was deciding who to invite and not to invite to the wedding breakfast rather than just the evening reception - at about £50 a head we simply can't invite everyone on top of providing everyone else for them to share our day. If all our guests were invited to the wedding breakfast that would have increased our budget by about £5,000 which we simply don't have.

We had no choice but to get a loan (or wait another 5 years before getting married) but we carefully worked out what we could and couldn't do, and so far everything seems to be working to plan.

I didnt realise this was going to cause such a big response!

I only ask because I was watching a re-run of four weddings the other day and one woman spent £40k on her wedding and another spent, like £8k or something. And neither was better than the other.

Wedding costs can really rack up and as soon as you mention the W word i'm pretty sure a 150% mark up is put on things! Plus things like cars, clothes, number of people in the Bridal party - it all means costs add up.

Our budget as I mentioned is just over £10k - but would be more if we included the honeymoon, had a sit down meal etc. We have been offered help by family members, but no-one is paying for it except us...Obv if my dad had the money he would pay for it which would be brilliant.

Everyones different and a wedding is SUCH a personal thing, no-one has the right to tell you if its wrong or right or indeed how much it should cost!

As long as you're happy, thats all that matters! x

Please STOP advertising unless you are registered as a supplier and if you are then please make sure you have your logo underneath your name to show you are a "Listed Supplier".

Nat

OMG why do people spend so much on their wedding.....upwards of 10K?! the most important part of a wedding day is marrying the person you love. it could take place in a muddy field full of cows for all i care.

Our wedding, the entire day is £700...... so why the need for the big flash show off day when what it boils down to is marrying the person you love....not spending the next 7 years paying for one day.

As far as this thread would suggest, no one here is spending the next 7 years paying off their wedding! The same could apply to why do some people spend some much money on a house. People have different priorities and different bank balances. I think it's as simple as that.

Miss.understood - I think you are misunderstanding(ha) why people are spending so much. Yes it all does boil down to marrying the man you love but so what if people want to spend lots on it? If they have the money then I say carry on. Our budget is a modest £7k of which my Gran (love her) has put £1000 towards, my PIL are putting £2K to and my Mum and Dad are buying my dress and the kids stuff.

If I had tens of thousands of quid I could think of nothing more fun to spend it on! I'd go mad - free bar, amazing favours, live band, fireworks, hotel rooms paid for everyone, amazing wedding car, 6 tier cake. It'd be fab!

Why is it that people who say they are happy with a smaller budget feel that they have to comment on and criticise those that have a larger budget? It's interesting that people who have a bigger budget don't feel the need to do the same back...

i agree........as long as i was driven there in a lovely car, the field had a marquee over it with a bar in the corner-oh and wellies under my dress! ?

As I understand it, legally, you can't use a field of cows anyway to get married as it has to be in a licensed venue (which also must be permanent so a tent in the grounds of a licensed venue doesn't count).

If you choose a registry office with just a few guests, no wedding breakfast and a small reception then yes, I can see why £700 is doable for you.

We're getting married in a hotel. The registrar fees alone are nearly £500 (including the three sets of payments for paperwork, in each of our districts and the district of the hotel). Evening buffet at £11.50 per head, wedding breakfast (barbecue) at £33.50 a head, plus drinks (although we're using a non alcoholic package to keep costs down), photographer (currently £550), flowers, dresses etc it all adds up.

Being in the same venue all day we're saving on costs of wedding transport; also by not inviting all our evening guests to the wedding breakfast saves money - but I do agree it's more important about the people, rather than the event.

We've got a 5 year loan, so we had all the money up front to pay for everything now, and 1 year will be paid off by the time we get married anyway.

Bet your wedding was bloody gorgeous Trickers. As I bet everyone's will be, whatever you spend on it.

For me what I want is the very very very very very bestest most fantasticist amazingist (err made some words up there) day we can possibly have. Within the realms of our budget. Nowt wrong with that at all.

Ah, don't take it personally, Trickers. People are entitled to their opinion. It's your money so spend it how you like.

I've seen some weddings on a tight budget look incredible but then I've seen some that look cheap and tacky. Similarly, I've been to some with substantial budgets that have been amazing and others that are 'cheap' (despite not actually being so), tacky and like a corporate event. That's based on my taste of weddings though, others may have loved the ones I didn't rate.

As I said earlier, I think spending more money gives you more choice but it means that, potentially, there are more opportunities to make your wedding look cheap. The irony!

I just think too much attention is spent on how does a centre piece look, or that crystal is out of place etc etc. its one day out of an entire life. yeah ok, so it's a 'special' day.... and yes, people have different budgets etc, however I just don't see the need to spend so much on one day. All this money goes on one day, and then maybe a few weeks after that event you'll see something on tv asking for money to help sick kids etc and then it's a case of, well i would if i could but i blew x amount of thousands on myself.

I also believe that if people want to get married, it's crazy for family and friends to say here, heres xK towards the day.

I just find personally that spending such a lavish amount of money on a wedding is crazy when theres so many more worthwhile causes that all this money could help....but instead, go spend it on yourself.

Now, i also understand that the people on here will slate me for my views, but to be honest....i couldn't care. free country n all. I just personally feel strongly that people lose sight of whats important...an prefer to flaunt their money.

(for the record, before anyone decides to point the finger at my financial situation...i would like to point out that i could comfortably afford to flaunt a 16k wedding to my fiance plus the honeymoon.....but really there just isn't any need)

Perhaps not in this thread, and maybe a lot of you don't notice it, but I have certainly seen a lot of posts where people have bragged about how much money they've spent on certain items of their day - like the "must have" designer shoes of £500 or more, as if spending a large amount of money on something is something to be proud of.

Why are there so many "flash" threads? People want to show off. It's not predominantly to share ideas with other posters really, is it?

Bottom line is this. Bride. Groom. Registrar. Two witnesses. Culminating in a piece of paper. Nothing else really matters.

hear hear!

the pp said-its one day.....but one pretty darn special day imo and if i want to celebrate it and spend loads doing so-so what??? if i had the funds to double the budget i still could find lots to get..and not feel guilty or extravagant

its nothing to do with showing off its about having YOUR day how YOU want

Nope. I'm not judging people who chose to spend whatever on their wedding, i'm simply pointing out that people are losing sight of whats important. that there are much more worthwhile causes that could use that money better.

Miss.understood you are coming across as a right pompous arse.

You have know idea how the rest of us spend our money. For all you know I work as a volunteer in my spare time. That is neither here nor there with regards to what I spend on my wedding day.

I do hope you contribute a substantial amount of your income to charitable concerns?