How much would you spend/did you spend on your wedding?

Popppy_2

Both OH and I agree that for us a wedding is all about an awesome party, no church wedding due to beliefs, and we are quite laid back people who don't want a big fuss! And whilst of course we intend everyone to have a great and memorable time, we're not about to bankrupt ourselves in the process.

Some of our friends are very into showing off quite how much they can spend, whereas we get our kicks from seeing how much we can save! Been to several weddings this year in the £20/25k+ bracket - wheras we are planning on capping it at £5k!

Will do most things ourselves, venue will be at my parents farm, I'm pretty handy and crafty regarding invites/decorations/flowers etc, I'm also an eBay addict and have bought a lovely dress for £15 (RRP 600, the style I wanted will just make some alterations myself to make it what I have in my head!) and have a few extra ideas that will make our wedding a bit special and different, for the right reasons though!

LIke i say some of our friends and family quite like to flash the cash. I asked for a very simple small engagement ring, a big £££ rock would just not fit in my lifestyle (work on farm) ,I have a much simpler one that I am proud to wear every day and don't have heart failure about scratching/breaking, much rather this than something which is too expensive and impractical to wear!

laurabllue

Lots of people are lucky to be able to call on favours from friends and family for cake, invites, flowers, grounds, marquees etc. We don't really have that and I don't have a creative bone in my body to make stationery or table decorations so a lot of things are having to be paid for rather than made or gifted!

Our budget is currenty around £20k, not including my dress (which went over the budget I set in my head!) or shoes and our honeymoon. It's probably more than we wanted to spend, but my dad is giving us a significant contribution. He's pretty traditional in that respect and although we weren't expecting it, he wanted to give it to us and isn't stretching himself to do so (e.g taking out a loan/putting it on a credit card). We still haven't finalised quite a few things so the final number is likely to fluctuate and there have been some bits (save the dates) that were just paid for out of our personal accounts so haven't really been factored into the final cost.

turbokez

My function band played a wedding at the weekend, and must have spent a fortune - marquee, several hundred guests, fantastic food, free bar etc etc.

BUT I think they got good VFM - there were no mountains of food and drink at the end of the night, the wedding was at the family house, and when I spoke to the father of the bride it was clear he had got value for his money (in fact he may have been the reason there was no alcohol left!). They had some nice touches too - an ice cream van and even free sweeties for the kids, but I heard (as the staff tend to discuss this sort of thing) that alot of it was obtained at "mates rates" and trade prices.

And of course they hired a great value wedding band

My point is that if you enjoy the day and feel you got value for your money (and of course if you can afford it), it makes no difference whether your budget is £1000 or £50000.

Also, an expensive wedding may seem wasteful to you, but think of the benefit to the businesses that are supported by this enormous industry.

daisiegg

laurabllue wrote: »

Lots of people are lucky to be able to call on favours from friends and family for cake, invites, flowers, grounds, marquees etc. We don't really have that and I don't have a creative bone in my body to make stationery or table decorations so a lot of things are having to be paid for rather than made or gifted!

Our budget is currenty around £20k, not including my dress (which went over the budget I set in my head!) or shoes and our honeymoon. It's probably more than we wanted to spend, but my dad is giving us a significant contribution. He's pretty traditional in that respect and although we weren't expecting it, he wanted to give it to us and isn't stretching himself to do so (e.g taking out a loan/putting it on a credit card). We still haven't finalised quite a few things so the final number is likely to fluctuate and there have been some bits (save the dates) that were just paid for out of our personal accounts so haven't really been factored into the final cost.

Are you sure you're not actually just me?! I know we are venue buddies but apparently we're everything else buddies too! :rotfl:

We're exactly the same with no one to call in favours from...except that my mum is making our invitations (eek) but that's literally the only thing we can save money on in that way...

skateykatey

As above; I don't know anyone that I could call in favours from. I know lots of people but none that have the specific skills required. As I'm just as hopeless, we're just paying whatever things cost.

We're also slightly unusual (esp on MSE) in that we don't have a budget as such. If we want something we just get it if the price isn't too ridiculous.

If I was to start adding up the total cost I think I would have a heart attack!

We're no loaded by any stretch of the imagination but I'm not going to begrudge myself something that means a lot to the both of us for the sake of a couple of hundred quid. I'm only planning on doing this the once so want it to be awesome.

For example; we could have booked a DJ but I've been to too many weddings where the disco just hasn't got going and, on the night, I don't want to be monitoring the situation. So...we booked a band that cost a bit extra but...we've picked all the songs and have heard them play and knew that they really know how to get the crowd going;live music always sounds so much better imo.

But...my invitations were free courtesy of Vistaprint and my dress was 40 from an ebay wedding shop closing down sale; my veil was a tenner from a vintage fair. So, I can save money (sometimes!)

laurabllue

Haha Daisy I thought the same when I read through the thread-even the comment about putting off a new kitchen till after the wedding, we're doing the same!

It's feeling more real now-meeting a florist this week. I can't wait to get down that aisle!

SoonToBeMrsM

We are thinking of ~£7000 not including honeymoon for ours. I was originally thinking £3000-£4000 but to have everything that is important to us, it racks up! I was so shocked when I added everything up!

However we are going all out on our honeymoon (budgeted about £4000) to go on our ultimate dream wedding in Hawaii. We want a great wedding day but I'd rather save on that in order to have money for the honeymoon!

We have had no financial help from anyone yet, and no one has offered (not that we are expecting anything) so it is going to have a huge impact on our bank accounts come 2014! I do have some arty friends who will hopefully help with some of the DIY aspects though!

gcurtin

well at the moment we are going to spend about 12k on the wedding.. again lots of family so bulk of that is on the actual reception which is about 5k, 1.5k for the music.. the honeymoon is a different matter though! Kind of feel like its our one chance to have a truly amazing experience so thinking of the maldives.. that is coming in around 8k though!! mental! might be worth it though

jtr2803

gcurtin wrote: »

well at the moment we are going to spend about 12k on the wedding.. again lots of family so bulk of that is on the actual reception which is about 5k, 1.5k for the music.. the honeymoon is a different matter though! Kind of feel like its our one chance to have a truly amazing experience so thinking of the maldives.. that is coming in around 8k though!! mental! might be worth it though

The Maldives is always worth it but make sure you do your research! Don't walk into a high street travel agent and take any notice of their 'recommendations', generally the resorts they push you towards are the ones that they have the most rooms to sell on....

Do your own research, work out what your priorities are and see which resorts fit into those criteria. The Trip Advisor forums are very useful, I'm normally in there posting away :rotfl:

trudiuk

Our original budget was £5k, but then i fell in love with a dress twice my budget, haggled and got the fittings for free (its an old sample that needs some repairs but i absoultely LOVE it!) and then OH set his heart on a venue - haggled and hopefully we have it for 2012 prices in october next year. Just waiting to see is family can alter a holiday that has been booked for the same time.

Our new budget is now £7.5k and hopefully that will be it (excluding honeymoon as OH's parents are paying as our wedding present)