How to afford a wedding?

We worked out how much we could afford to save up to 3 months before our chosen wedding date, our family has chipped in a bit and we will be topping up with a loan xx

I wouldn't suggest a loan, starting married life in debt is not ideal. If you are struggling financially then you really need to work out how much you can realistically save and for how long to have what you want. Research items and come up with a realistic budget and cut back on things you don't need like cars, favours, decor etc. You need to be happy with what you are planning and if it is more then maybe push your date out to allow time to save more. We scaled back massively and are having a much smaller guest list and more intimate reception as when we looked at it we couldn't justify spending 30k for a day and on people attending that we just are not that close to. You do what you want to do, is not about the show, but celebrating your love for each other with your closest friends and family

As the old saying goes, cut your coat according to your cloth! I.e. budget for the wedding you can afford. The only fixed costs are those you need to pay out for the legal marriage to take place (e.g. registrar/officiant fees). Everything else is optional.

If you want 300 people in a posh wedding venue, you are going to have to save up for a lot longer than if you want 30 people for a bring & share meal in your local village hall.

Don't borrow for it though - you really don't want to saddle yourselves with a debt for one day.

There are loads of ways to cut the budget too - this website has loads of good ideas, or you can ask on here for suggestions. Loads of 'must have' wedding items aren't necessary at all (e.g. favours, wedding signs, menu cards) and it's also possible to do a lot of things way more cheaply than the 'standard'. We planned a wedding for 30 people (including our honeymoon) for under £3,000.

We are also getting married in 2023 and trying to keep the costs down. I would suggest trying to work out how much money you have left each month after bills and a little spare for emergencies/essentials/wanting to do anything. Then working out how much by your date you are likely to save. Bear in mind companies will want deposits etc.
You can do a wedding cheaply, if you went to a registery office then a village hall or pub or something you might be able to keep the cost down. So it depends what you want. I wouldnt suggest getting a loan as i imagine that would be quite stressful paying it off etc.

We picked out a venue we love, and made up an estimate/budget for everything else. We then checked how much we would be able to save per month, once we figured that out we then set the wedding date for a couple months after we will have saved the whole sum. We thought we would get help from family but we didn't count on it, so the extra we have received has helped us out as we have gone over budget 😂

I am getting married in 2023 too and myself and my other half are starting pretty much from scratch with no savings.


Fortunately, our families have been very kind and have offered to help us but obviously this is a very personal thing as not everyone is able to do that.
We are also going to put some money away every month into our savings to pay for things along the way but, let’s face it, that isn’t always easy. We have found that some deposits, for example, our photographer, are a reasonable sum of money at once and quite early on in the planning stages. For this reason we are also planning to take out a loan. It seems this is against popular opinion but I know quite a lot of people who had either a wedding loan or credit card and if it allows you to have the wedding you want (without being ridiculous) and pay things off in a more timely manner I don’t personally see a problem with it.
Of course, this is just my opinion and we are all different so I hope you find a way that suits you both best.
Hope this has been of some help! Xx

We’re getting married in July 2023. We’ve had our house refurbished this year so started in a place of no savings too!

I worked out how much we could save up till about March 2023, taken off a third of it to add to a different savings account (rainy day money) and then what’s left is our budget. I wouldn’t impose on my family for assistance, if you’re lucky enough that they can or they volunteer financial assistance then great, but this wedding is a luxury for us, and we don’t wish to impose on others for it.
We also won’t be taking out a loan but then we don’t want a wedding beyond our financial means. This will mean cutting back on certain things and the guest list, but if we weren’t happy with the outcome we’d push the wedding out. I’m lucky as I get decent annual bonuses in January, so that’ll be our venue deposit and some of the final payments too.