How much is the average wedding in the UK?

Unsurprisingly with the cost-of-living crisis in full effect and prices rising across the board, weddings are much more expensive today than they were say 5 years ago. However, you shouldn’t let this get you down as you can certainly still have a beautiful wedding whether you’re on a tight budget or have a big savings pot dedicated to the day. In this article, we’ll be looking at the cost of an average wedding in the UK today and how you can make your budget work to create the perfect day for you and your fiancée.

Average wedding cost in the UK

Recent surveys conducted over the last year have shown that the average cost of a UK wedding sits roughly between £15,000 and £20,000, but all-in expenses can get closer to £30,000 if you consider the honeymoon, engagement ring, and hen/stag parties etc. However, an “average” wedding can be whatever you think it is, it’s a very subjective idea. Getting married could be as cheap as £50 if you go to a registry office or as expensive as tens of thousands if you want to go all-out with the priciest version of everything and the kind of event that you’d expect to see in a promotional brochure.

Wedding spending patterns

Polls and surveys from over the past few years have been a bit all over the place due to the coronavirus pandemic when couples weren’t spending as much because of restrictions. Heading into 2021 as restrictions were easing, couples began increasing their wedding spend and we saw spikes, but as we moved into 2022 and now 2023 it’s a very different picture.

The attitude towards wedding spending is certainly not the same as it was before the pandemic, with many couples looking to reduce the cost as much as possible. If take a look at research into this, the number of couples that plan to spend less than £10,000 has increased. Additionally, there was a big decrease in people looking to spend between £10,000 and £20,000. Let’s see a breakdown of this in figures:

• Less than £10,000- 28% in 2020 rising to 35% in 2022
• Between £10,000 and £20,000- dropped from 35% in 2020 to 28% in 2022
• 66% of couples used investment from family members or friends to pay for parts of the wedding
• Parents covered 61% of the entire wedding cost

Wedding spends breakdown

The data that has been gathered has also revealed couples’ top five spending priorities which are:

• Venue (an average of £7,600)
• Catering (an average of £4,680)
• Wedding dress (an average of £1,300)
• Photographer (an average of £1,200)
• Groom’s attire (an average of £500)

You should keep in mind that the average figures that have been pulled together from recent research is just that, an average. You can have a beautiful wedding that is perfect for you as a couple no matter how large or small your budget is. If you feel that you want to save costs, think about the parts of the wedding that are most important to you and see if you can save money in other areas to make it more comfortable for your finances.

Do trends and traditions still have a place in modern weddings?

The priorities of couples have changed significantly with both the safety and overall experience of guests being a high-ranking factor for 81% of couple since the pandemic. This means the important spending factors of the past don’t necessarily hold the same value to people now after possibly experiencing shifts in what they think matters since the outbreak of the coronavirus.

However, the survey has brought to light some interesting statistics around certain wedding traditions and the types of trends couple feel is important. From this we can see there is a balancing act between holding onto what has been done in past weddings and new ideas that are finding their place in the modern weddings today.

For example, there were high percentages of couples (80%+) that still made having a first dance, cutting the cake, and one of them changing their surname key parts of their wedding, which shows that there are some traditions that do still have a place in the event.

Equally though we can see that one in ten couples opted to not serve any alcohol at their wedding and 22% utilised environmentally friendly and sustainable components in their day, demonstrating a more modern approach with new ways to celebrate a marriage.

Summary

One way you can reduce spending on your wedding is by choosing high-quality and beautiful yet affordable bridesmaid dresses from Maids to Measure. We pride ourselves on providing stunning gowns for our clients that can nicely fit within a budget but also achieve the perfect look they want to create for their bridesmaids on the wedding day. Explore our wide range of bridesmaid dresses UK online today and tick one important feature off your wedding plan.