Cost of weddings - think of what else could be done with the money!

tara747

How do you feel about the cost of weddings and how can a really expensive weding be justified? I don't think I could ever justify spending ££££s on one day but I have heard friends say this and then - !!!!!!! - they change their minds when they get engaged. The lure of the big day is too much, I guess. I just imagine what all that money could buy. :rotfl:

How do you all feel about it?

TIA.

Kirri

I know someone who spent 30k which to me seems a total waste of money, especially when there are bills to pay (different if you are loaded and have the cash spare). For that amount I would rather both take a year off work and go travelling and spend some real time with each other enjoying life, maybe get a cheapie wedding in a registry office or abroad - I hate all the fuss and showy-ness of UK weddings, it becomes less about being married here and more about how it looks..

pretzelnut

to me the ''memories'' are more important.

I would rather spend say £k total on the entire wedding and spend £3k on a smashing honeymoon.

We have more time to spend with each other on honeymoon making those memories, a wedding day usual consists of the bride and grrom struggling to steal moments together due to photo's, guests, speeches etc etc.

Sure if i had the money i'd spent 1000's on a dress but there really is no point.

I wouldnt spend 1000's on a dress for an equally big event.

Amazing photo's dont pay the rent or electric bill.

Memories dont either but they help you through the hard times. And remind you why you married each other.

alenax

I'm willing to spend a certain amount of money on a wedding, mostly because every product/service with the word "wedding" or "bridal" attached to it automatically becomes more expensive, but I'm not going to do stupid things like hire diamonds. I still want to look nice and everything else to look nice too though, and for my family and friends to enjoy it so I'm willing to spend at least some money on it, a quickie wedding down the registry office and pub afterwards is out of the question personally.

pretzelnut

There are ways around the ''wedding'' cost increase though.

If you go to a cake shop and get a cake that doesnt scream wedding and dont have any names or dates etc put on it, tell them its for a birthday party and see the price drop.

We got my daughters christening cake for £75 but the exact same cake as a wedding cake was £250. There was no difference only that i personnaly mentioned wedding.

As we are getting married on a thursday we are avoiding a lot of the saturday wedding price hikes. I wasnt keen at 1st but seeing that everything is almost half as expensive i have been swayed.

joolesw1972

We're spending about £4,000 which by a lot of peoples standards is a budget wedding! I did struggle with it at first thinking OMG we could almost pay for my partners next car with that BUT - we wanted to share the day with our family and friends, we only plan to do this once, we have kept costs to a minimum, £600 of that is our rings, plus we are in the fortunate position of being left a bit of money by my lovely Nana.
To be honest I would struggle with the idea of spending more, thinking about what else we could do with that amount of money, but buy the same token I couldn't spend £20,000 on a car, which some people would, each to their own, if it's what the couple want.

mellymeep

Seeing as my new hobby is reading every wedding blog on the internet I’m really starting to wonder, are wedding’s just another way to show off how wealthy you are these days? The amount of money that must of been spent by some of these people is insane.. why does everything have to be so expensive? I’ve been looking through bridal dress websites and my jaw drops every time I see the price tags attached. I know it’s supposed to be the day where you look your most beautiful, but do I really have to pay over £1,000 to do so? And for a dress that I’m going to wear once only? It seems that the mere mention of the word wedding means that the value of the item or service must be bumped up 300%

I’ve been guilty of getting swept up in the glamour of it all, and for the past month I’ve had nothing going through my head except what font I’ll be using for the invitations, what colour scheme I want to use, table plans, guests lists, music plans, favours and decorations… its all very stressful. But I’ve just sat back and really thought about it now, and it’s all very silly. The day is supposed to symbolise me and my OH taking our vows to love and stay with each other for the rest of our lives, who really cares if my bridesmaids dresses match the theme of the day?

I would be happy just going away somewhere, just me and him eloping and doing it really cheap, but unfortunately I know that is quite a selfish idea as our families will want to share in our day as much as possible too. I want to keep things budget friendly, because I know my parents will be worrying about giving me the day of my dreams, and in their current financial situation they can’t afford to be flash with the cash, and the thing is, I really don’t want to be spending a ridiculous amount of money on a dress I’m going to wear once… it’s just not practical or sensible. When I read that people have been spending upwards of 10,000 quid on just one day my jaw drops... I've never been one to want to spend massive amounts of money on anything, and certainly not so much money it could go towards a house deposit!!

sarah_elton

It entirely depends on your personal circumstances; income, wealth, etc.

I can't imagine spending £30k; it's such a lot of money to me. But, we're spending about £11k and there's a lot of people to whom that's a ridiculous amount. On the other hand, people much wealthier than us probably spend well over £30k without a second thought.

Everyone's going to have a different amount that seems reasonable to them, depending on their financial circumstances and view of money.

I think the most important thing is simply doing it without running up debts you'll struggle to repay, or you'll end up resenting the day for months/years afterwards.

Lexxi

My OH can't work out how the average wedding costs between 16-18k. Church. Dress. Cake. That's all he kept saying, until I started adding, cars, hair, make up, rings, reception, services etc.
We'll spend nowhere near the average cost but only because we're not really the type of people that could spend a grand on a wedding cake!

buzby_boy

we are doing our wedding on under 2k because to us a marriage is what comes after so we would prefer all the money we could spend to go on buying our first house and having our lives together. We are having a small wedding with no top table, speeches, sit down meal instead we are having our friends together to celebrate our marriage

frannyann

Horses for courses really! I worked out our finances and worked out we both could save £200 each by cutting right back, this has given us a budget of £3750 and we are pretty much on target! (Luckily my dress budget is seperate or I'd be in big trouble)