Wedding Forum - How much does it really cost....

So i have now after nearly a year set a date for a wedding YAH!.

i have been looking at a few places and really its quite bummed me out. Now i dont want to start any arguments but wanted to know how much weddings actually cost .. because i found the most AMAZING place to have a wedding reception and the food alone was a minimum charge of 5000 pounds! and this was for a barn venue so im just wondering is it me in the wrong for thinking 5000 pounds for food is way to much to charge or is this actually what i will need to save... i know its an individual thing but wanted an idea of what average people found when looking to hire places despite personal budgets

A for under 5000 B for 5000 to 10000 or C for over 10000

I would say weddings can cost as much or as little as you want them to be. I would suggest that you set your budget first based on how much you can actually afford then work to that. There is no guide amount for what people should spend on a wedding but I am a firm believer on spending what you can realistically afford as noone should start married life with a huge loan or credit card bill to pay off for the next 5 years, just for one day.

I have a large-ish budget but that is only because H2B and my families are contributing.

xxx

We started off WITHOUT a budget in mind.....it was going to cost whatever it cost....
Now before you start thinking I am bragging....no. we KNEW we wanted a small wedding of up to 30 people only. no cousins or distant relatives, not all of our friends.....just 1 couple each. and surprisingly we kept to it. In fact after we had written down all the people we had 26, then H2B cut a few more off and its now 19.

With 19, we are able to have our dream venue......
had we had more people we could not have done that.
So then we started talking about a budget, and H2B suggested to me that £5,000 should be put aside for it......

HOW MUCH??????? jog on matey!

I am such a bargain hunter, and I have made a lot of things.....and our wedding in total comes to
UNDER £3,000 for everything......my dress, the bridesmaids dresses....cake,flowers.....EVERYTHING......

So really before you start thinking budgets you need to know how many people you want to invite, then that will set the tone of the wedding....
you need to work out where you would like to hold it.......will the venue hold your number of guests and can you afford their menu?

most people work out there budget first TBH.....I just did it the other way round.

When we first started planning we decided the three main things to us were venue, rings and photographer so we pretty much set our budget around them to get what we wanted but it has gone from 5k to 9k.
We found a stunning venue that is also a barn :-) and decided that we had to have it so we did a few things to make sure it stayed within a reasonable budget! We went for an out of season date, we stuck to their min numbers, we cut out an evening buffet and are having bacon rolls and chip cones instead, we are having our cake as dessert and we are not providing any drinks other then hot chocolate while we have photos the rest is a cash bar only! All this got our dream venue down form 6.5k down to just 3k :-) and thats for 70 day with an extra 40 in the evening.
So my advice even if it seems out of reach comprimise and anything is possiable

we have 50 day guests and 80 evening guests and our food price is very similar to that.... I dont know if that helps as I dont know your numbers.

if its a popular place then it will be mainly room hire, when we first started we found a lovely venue which cost £4500 just for venue hire and exclusive use so that no one else can have the venue the same day. that wasn't including food, we have now got a venue including food and hire all for £1400 shop around and don't be afraid to haggle i think they charge way to much for venue hire in some places.

its depends on what you want hun my venue is costing me £10,000 alone and the church £500 and have not even looked at anything else i do think my wedding will cost poss about £15,000 if not more but were lucky and having help from family members , the most exspensive part is the venue really so like i said it is just what you want for your big day xxx

ours is looking at about 10G. and ive cut loads things live transport coz where getting married at the same place our reception is at, but we are staying the night before as well. xxx

Our budget for the venue including a five course meal for 31 adults and ten children, carvery buffet for 100, wine and toasts and welcome drinks, marquee and table cloths, chair covers and sashes and three hotel rooms for two nights comes to around £4,500 which we didnt think was too bad. I have been very lucky and got a bargain dress and my two bridesmaid dresses, my shoes and tiara as gifts from my friend who is a bridal shop owner. My other friend has her own cake shop so is making our cake. Then our photographer is £1000 and DJ £500. With favours, invites etc. we have a total of around £8000 which is a lot more than what we planned. We have been lucky enough to have put a decent amount away each month for 18 months to pay for it. Like the other ladies said its whatever cost you can comfortably afford which is the main thing. x

we are having 67 day guests and 172 for the night in a hotel in edinburgh. Out budget was £5000 we went slightly over, it is now £6000.

We have spent £3000, I really really have no idea how we have done our wedding for that, We havent cut back on anything! But did alot of shopping around x

I agree with everyone else it depends on what you want. I would have loved to have the big traditional wedding but it is just unrealistic on our budget and its very inportant to us that we dont have any wedding debts at the start of our married life, mainly because will be trying for a second child.

Our budget is £3500,
we are doing all the stationary ourselves, we have got a village hall for the reception, the catering company do very good packages, we are having canapes and champagne on arrival (buying champagne ourselves), bbq, dessert, buying our own wine for tables and toast, village hall has its own non profit bar reasonable prices and staff included in hall hire, evening we are having cheese and biscuits (diy). Everything else is just a case of searching for the lowest possible prices.

Fil2b paying for honeymoon

This actually suits us more than the big traditional wedding its less formal and its us all over, it will be a real family atmosphere......perfect.

As everyone has said it all depends on what you want.
Our budget is £15k and our venue for the whole day cost £1200 but the food and drink for 80 people come to about £8k. Our photographer cost £1700 and that was the only thing that I wanted to spend a lot of money on. We have three cars that cost £850 instead of £1100 because we are paying cash. The florist cost £600 and that includes 10 centre pieces that cost £350. My hairdresser for 6 people will cost £130 people and that includes my hair cut and dyed the week before the wedding.
I've got a magician which cost £495. We have got a harpist for 4 hours and that cost £420. My dad really wanted a chocolate fountain so we have got one for the evening so that cost £350 (I couldn't say no as they are paying for it and the chocolate rates amazing)
It's all the small things that can cost a lot. My friend is also making our cupcakes for us so that has kept one cost down.

Lol - our budget has grrown too. When I initially set it, it was based on my parents set contribution (same as they gave my sister for her wedding last year), then the budget for my sisters wedding. She got married in April on a Thursday so I knew out May Saturday wedding would be a bit more, plus we are having a Church and seperate reception venue so there will be a bigger cost as we need transport.

So using her costs of £14k (excluding honeymoon), I increaased the things I knew would be more and the budget was set. However, we liked more expensive things and the budget went up from that by another £4k, luckily his dad has now offered a very generous sum towards the wedding and H2B has also just turned down a very generous offer from his sister too. We are lucky to have family paying for a lot of the wedding so we don't need to spend so much, we wouldn't be able to have a wedding like we are if it wasn't for our parents.

You definitely need to decide how much you can afford first and whether you will get contributions from family, then decide how big you want your wedding to be and the type of ceremony and reception you want and can have within your budget. Have a look at some venue websites in the area you want to get married to get an idea for how much they cost.

xxx

The first thing we decided on is that we weren't going to spend 'stupid money' on things we didn't need - as tbh I was quite willing to elope, just the two of us at first lol. Hubby convinced me that as an only child and close to my family, it would be better to have a proper wedding with guests.

We eventually got married in Gretna with 17 guests, honeymooned in Malta (all inclusive) and then had our evening reception back home after the honeymoon. Altogether we spent just over £5000 and that included honeymoon and spending money.

We just cut out the things that weren't necessity such as favours, disco the night of the wedding (we had our reception then into the hotel bar for the night with our own CD's) and chair covers (the chairs were actually the same colour as our colour scheme anyway lol). Our 3 course wedding breakfast cost just under £25 per head and my dress was £500 which included all alterations. We hired husband's suit (tails) but bought suits for the best man, usher and my dad (as they were on special offer and they got to keep them as well). The bm dress was a Debenham's as opposed to a bridal shop.

For our evening reception we had a dj - and my mil and fil paid for the catering, as a wedding present. I'd definitely recommend looking and shopping around and if it's not necessity, don't include it (how many people actually go to weddings and remember if they sat on a chair with a cover after they have left?? lol).