The cost of marriage!

sophscottx

My partner recently proposed and we are starting to think about when and where we would like to get married!

We've recently just bought a house so we don't want to spend a great deal on a wedding.

Most of my family haven't done the wedding thing before and I'm only 21 so most of my friends aren't married either!! So I'm just looking for a bit of advise at what people spend on weddings? And any tips for a cheap but nice wedding!

Obviously I know this can be as much and as little as you want but realistically i'm just trying to find some figures to focus on.

We don't want a big wedding, small wedding with a few guests and a little bit of a bigger party!

Any advise or anything would be really appreciated .

gonzo127

was over ten years ago but i had a small wedding (30 ish people) local venue (was actually a B&B but had a license to hold weddings) anyways for the wedding, meal and reception, dress/es and suits and everything else cost us about £3500, so maybe £5k these days

saying that i believe the average cost is closer to £15k last i read something about it

Grumpelstiltskin

There's Marriage board here.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=142

Loads of suggestions on there/

gabriel1980

My partner and I are getting married soon, local hotel, no night guests, just 30 through the whole day. We have fixed a budget of £4000

sophscottx

I was thinking registry office, not sure how much it costs but I thought that'd be miles cheaper than a venue!Love the idea of a picnic!

ps, didn't know there was a wedding board, sorry about that!

clairesilverspar

We've gone for a budget of about £2.5k, but my family is putting towards the food and my dress, so it should be more like £3k. We could have easily pulled this off at less, but I wanted better quality food and not to have to do everything ourselves.
This is at a local historical building. We're getting married at 4pm, skipping the wedding breakfast and going straight to the buffet. It's exactly what we wanted - a celebration without too much faff and over expense.
We're in the North West by the way. Remember that if you're close to the capital, or in a more expensive area, the prices will be higher.


It can be whatever you want it to be. Maybe have a chat with your partner and discuss what kind of thing you want and then set a budget. Look at what you can afford, are happy to spend, and maybe have a bit of research about how much things cost. If on a tight budget, don't get carried away with what the wedding magazines/websites say you need.

clairesilverspar

My local registry office charges £35 each for giving notice then £50 on the day for the ceremony itself. They can fit 25 people in the ceremony room with the couple and two witnesses. Prices vary depending on the individual office. Mine is really drab and ugly, but the one down the road is gorgeous. You can get married at any registry office in the country I think, but you have to give notice where you live.
Remember that the legal ceremony in the registry office is fairly short and cannot include anything religious in any way (music, poems etc cannot refer to religion etc).
This is fine if this is what you want, but just be aware.

lippy1923

Not sure if this helps, but I got married last year and this was the breakdown of costs. 50 day guests and 80 evening total.


Venue/ Food/ Drink/ DJ£5,800.00
Registrar£482.00
Notice of Marriage£70.00
Insurance£30.00
Brides Dress£1,150.00
Dress Alterations£215.00
Brides Shoes£68.00
Brides Tiara£65.00
Brides Garter£6.99
Bridesmaids Dresses£268.42
Grooms Suit/ waistcoat/ tie£150.00
Grooms shoes£55.00
Best Men Waistcoats (Men paid as gift to us)£0.00
Best Men Suits/ ties (Men paid as gift to us)£0.00
Pageboy Outfit£24.00
Pageboy Shoes£15.00
Photographer£700.00
Photobooth£529.00
Flowers/ Centerpieces/ Buttonholes£415.00
Entertainment£129.00
Cake (family made)£0.00
Rings£1,850.00
Decorations£500.00
Chair Sash£18.00
Chair Covers£80.00
Invitations (created own wedding website) £0.00
Hair/Makeup Artist£430.00
Post Box/£15.00
Confetti,£15.00
kids activity pack, pencils£6.00
Glow Sticks/ Chalk Board, Chalk£12.00
Sweet Table bits£28.00
Sweets£75.00
Guest table advice cards£7.75

maman

I just had to comment on the title to your thread. It's not marriage that costs it's how much you want to spend on on the wedding.

sophscottx wrote: »

I was thinking registry office, not sure how much it costs but I thought that'd be miles cheaper than a venue!Love the idea of a picnic!

ps, didn't know there was a wedding board, sorry about that!

Pleased that you're not one of these that want to go on a mad spending spree. The things about venues is that you can often get an all inclusive package so that (other than clothes and maybe providing your own cake) you won't need to budget for anything else.


Do you have people who can help you out? for example with catering? Hiring a hall or having a reception at home can be a cheaper option for food except then you need to think about a bar. If you're on licensed premises you can get away with providing a toast and little else then people buy their own drinks.


The very cheapest way is probably to do what we did. We went to a registry office with just our two witnesses and then went for a meal afterwards. We wore smart clothes but not wedding outfits as such. It was a long time ago now but I think the witnesses (BIL and SIL) might even have paid for the meal!:rotfl:

suki1964

My wedding, 13 years ago, came in less the £1k

That was for 20 guests at the registrars office and another 20 or so rocked up to 🎉

My dress, shoes etc was 200

Hubby just needed a new tie

Flowers, all silk from eBay

Invites, decorations etc eBay

Cake wedding pressie

Cars our own

Food Waitrose and marks

Drink, we only offered wine and beer, bought on special offers in the 3 months leading up

Venue, our garden Borrowed tables and chairs from everyone we knew

Fantastic day. Celebrated with just good friends and neighbours, people who meant a lot to us, not relations we didn't see or know

Gloomendoom

clairesilverspar wrote: »

You can get married at any registry office in the country I think, but you have to give notice where you live.

Not if you get married in a registry office in Scotland. You just need to give the registrar notice of your marriage.