Wedding or house? Help!!

We bought a house first but personally, that was really important for us because when we go on to have children, we would struggle even more to buy a house. We were only aged 21 when we bought our house but tbh wouldn't change a thing even though money is alot tighter, like you said...its an investment and I just feel more stable. Some people prefer to have the big wedding first then buy later, priorities are different for everyone. How would you feel about delaying wedding to buy a house? Are you happy with a 'budget style' wedding? We will be getting married just over 2 years after buying our house and although it will be tight money wise and will be a 'budget style', I am marrying the man of my dreams.

Hope you make the decision that's right for you

Hello! I am in a very similar situation to you! But ultimately it is up to you and you know what is best!

All of our savings are going towards a house (we are currently looking now) and my parents have contributed towards the wedding, paying the venue, dresses and tog. So we are just being very careful with what we spend and not spending beyond on means (we both refuse to put anything onto credit cards). I will be making all the stationary and decorations and I will be getting flowers from supermarkets and the cake is being made by my aunt. I still have a year to go so will be spreading the costs over a year. When were you planning on getting married?

You could look at doing a 'last minute' wedding. Lots of venues do reduced costs for 2/3 months away? I know you say you can't cut the guests but could you do a very intimate ceremony and then have a big party with all your guests?

Hope it all works for the best.

House.

A wedding is just one day. You could have a £500 wedding, and still be married.

Exactly this.

A house is a lifelong investment that you should go for while you have the inheritance money. Otherwise I would feel like we could be stuck renting forever and that is not a situation that I would be comfortable with.

We decided to buy a house after H proposed, then once everything was sorted we started re-saving up for the wedding. We managed to save for it in 18 months and had exactly the day we wanted without any debts and with a secure foothold on the property ladder.

House of course is the sensible choice, bt a choice which is ultimately yours.

If you get on the housing ladder and then want/can afford a £6000 wedding then this is eminently doable, though you will need to choose a different type of wedding to the one where the venue costs £6000 to start off with. Whereabouts in Bucks are you? Are you planning a church wedding then a local reception or a registry office then reception or an all in one venue? Perhaps we can find you some alternative venues!

House all the way.

As it's been said above - the wedding is just one day and you could have a small ceremony at a very good price. Personally I feel a lot of money is wasted on weddings and I would rather put it towards a house (which is a lifetime investment)

I'm not clear about whether you're buying your first house (i.e. your home) or buying a second house as an investment? If it's the first option and you're looking to buy your first home, then I'd go for that, If you already have a house and it's a business opportunity, for me I'd go for the wedding!

Cupcakebex may not be any use to you whatsoever but mercure parkside in Milton Keynes would probably be in your budget. We are having 80 adults and 20 kids plus an extra 30 evening guests and we got quoted around 7k but that included drinks packages and evening food - as you have less guests and depending on what time of year you get married it could even be less

I agree with much of the above - house all the way.

I sympathise with your dilemma though, as my OH and I are in a fairly similar situation. We are in the process of saving for a deposit, and when we got engaged we discussed whether to hold off on a wedding for the saving. However, we have decided to have a fairly cost effective wedding, which we are fortunate my parents have offered to contribute towards, and continue to save for the house throughout the wedding planning process. Yes, this means we haven't been able to have exactly everything our hearts have desired, but this way we can continue to build towards our future.

Also, have you considered looking for an alternative venue, such as a pub, village hall or rugby club? A surprising number are really well geared up for weddings, and are often far cheaper than more 'conventional' venues.

Go with the house.

Realistically, you only need to pay the registrars fee for the ceremony to get married, so anything on top of that is a bonus! You just need to decide whether to do the wedding in the short term on a budget or wait several years to save enough for the works. The thing with waiting several years to save up more is that anything can happen (financial problems, having babies, general property & car issues that can crop up costing money, etc). Finding good offers at venues will help, as well as looking at venues you'd never have thought about! Consider shopping for things in the sales, online, doing a lot of the leg work yourself. Can you ask for favours from family & friends as in services such as photo's, cake, makeup/hair/nails, flowers. We had a friend of a friend do us our flowers at cost price. My mum does cakes so made our cake. Used a mobile lady for nails/hair/makeup at a reduced rate (her daughter & my daughter went to school together).

Work out what the definite charges are for the church or civil ceremony, then work out where you want to spend your money. If you have a definite max budget, know what the ceremony costs are, then you can look about to try & get an idea of whether you can get what you want for your money. Your venue & catering costs will be the biggest cost, then it's deciding on how important the other things are and how much you're willing to pay for it!