Help - Stressed about how much the wedding will cost!

Sounds high to me but it's probably not, We're paying about 3,500 (ceremony, wedding breakfast, evening buffet, arrival & toast drinks as well as 14 bottles of wine) we have 80 for the day and 140 in the evening. Think it all depends on the kind of venue your having, we're having the whole shindig in a hotel but I did a lot of shopping around. In the end we were lucky as it was perfect location and reasonably priced. On top I have spend I would say i've spent 2,000 on dress, music, suits etc and that's the lot! Hayley

As Haylee said, I think it depends where you are getting married as costs vary greatly. Ours is about 5K for the venue including ceremony food, drinks etc. All in all about 8K for everything.

You need to decide how much you can spend and create a spread sheet or list of how much realistically you can spend on each thing. You can make a fantastic wedding at a fraction of the cost if you shop around, it doesn't have to be expensive, only as expensive as you make it. Although you will find that by adding the word 'Wedding' onto anything, it bumps up the price dramatically.

Happy planning!

Sounds reasonable for the numbers. It'll be the day guests that are the expensive bit.

We've got 55 for the wedding breakfast and 124 total for the evening, and all in we're looking at about £8,500 for the entire day.

Totally agree with Kate. i've done all my own wedding invitations also as well as buying everything for centre pieces and bits and bobs for the table, I was quoted £700 to decorate..no way! I've done it for £150!! So I'd do as much as you can yourself if your on a budget!

Hi,

Welcome!! I had to laugh as I got engaged last weekend and posted a very similar panicky message on the forum about 5 days ago!! I would just say BREATHE!! Make a list of all the things you HAVE to have then a list of what you would LIKE to have and see if you can cut unnecessary things. I too was amazingly surprised by how much everything costs!! It'll be fine!!!

Good luck!! I would say you've come to the right places and everyone has been so helpful and lovely!!

Hi ! ?

Before booking anything, do make sure you have the money there to pay for it !! Which means you and your partner sitting down and working out how much money you have access to now and how much you will realistically have available or be able to save between now and then. Are you paying for it yourselves? Venues/suppliers will often require the balances to be paid before or on the day. We got married in April and the venue/caterers were due to be paid 2 weeks beforehand, the DJ/disco balance was due on the night, etc. Often venues will require a non refundable deposit which can be a few hundred pound or a % of the expected total bill. Do go through your guest list and see if you can reduce numbers as that will save you a big amount, especially on the wedding breakfast. It might be worth having a little scout round on the internet for all the different areas you will want to be paying out for (ie, suit hire shops, dress shops, florists, car companies) to see if you can get a rough idea of what places are quoting for things. Do do your research as prices can vary a great deal.

This has been another worry of mine since me and my fiance got engaged! when we started looking at venues we were looking at about £6k for wedding ceremony and meal and evening buffet but by considering a weekday wedding we are finding alot of deals where everything in is around £3k so a massive saving!

That price seems reasonable for the numbers. If you don't think you can afford it then you'll have to look at adjusting numbers or finding a cheaper venue.

You need to figure out how much you can afford to spend and work accordingly - about half your budget will be going on your venue costs (hire, food, drinks etc).

Our venue is costing 11,250 but that is bcoz of what we fell in love with, great fosters in Surrey and that didnt come with alot either, but hey we have a budget but hopefully i will only get married once and i want it to be the best day of our lives to date.

but do do a list and you will find things that you didnt think you would need to budget for.

it all depends on the area and like people have said how much you have a budget for.

they say the average uk wedding atm is 24k!!!!!

I was a bridesmaid at a wedding at Great Fosters earlier this year. It is a really lovely venue and the staff there were great, the day ran without a hitch.

Have you looked around at several venues and compared costs or just fallen in love with one particular venue. If your venue costs 9k and you are worrying about paying for the other wedding costs then you either need to cut your guest list, choose another venue that comes in cheaper or cut right back everywhere else.

I think having a budget is a good starting point so may be a good idea to talk it through with OH and family if they are helping and go from there.

Agree 100%

Is it too much?

It depends - if you can afford it and you're willing to spend it then no!