Wedding fever – how to keep a lid on costs

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tie the knot on Saturday 19th May. While their wedding is estimated to be costing the happy couple an eye-watering £32 million (most of which is going on security), the average wedding is said to cost around £25,000. While some parents still contribute, it’s more common that the bride and groom pay for a proportion too.

So how can you keep costs down? And what’s the best way to fund a wedding? Here are five top tips:

Set a budget before setting a date

Work out what you can afford and find out how much other family members might be able to contribute. Once you’ve given yourself a concrete number it’ll be much easier to stick to it. That said almost 40% go over budget.

Choose the date wisely

The location is easily the biggest cost of a wedding so start by cutting costs here and discount a Saturday wedding. You’ll instantly slash the bill. Summer weddings are much more expensive too. So choose a month when it’s cheaper and save some cash. Guests will be happy to attend a wedding out of season rather than have their whole summer booked up.

 Go digital with invitations

Sending out wedding invitations will cost hundreds — and don’t forget postage. So send out e-invites which are far cheaper or even free depending on what you choose. For information about the day you can create your own wedding website. You can applaud your choice for being environmentally-friendly too.

Buy champagne at Christmas

The sales around Christmas are the perfect time to bag a bargain on bubbly, wines and beers. Track prices on mysupermarket.co.uk and pounce when the price is right. After the meal, keep the bill under control by paying for beer, wine and soft drinks, but not spirits.

 Go easy on flowers

Instead of using flowers for table centrepieces design something that you can put together yourself such as tall candles on elegant candlesticks you can keep after, or hire for a small cost. The wedding venue might even offer such items to rent.

Use wedding cake as a dessert

Cut the cost of catering by dropping the dessert course offered and using the wedding cake instead. And you don’t have to spend hundreds of pounds to get a decent wedding cake. You can buy traditional three-tier versions from upmarket supermarkets. A Waitrose iced three-tier cake that serves up to 95 guests costs £179 – that’s £1.80 a slice.

Wedding dress – no need to break the bank

You do not need to pay over the odds for a stunning dress. Website sellmyweddingdress offers once-worn or even never-worn bridal gowns from designers including Vera Wang, Claire Pettibone and Pronovias at a fraction of the price in a store. You might also try your luck in Oxfam, where more than 90% of the bridal dresses are new, often originating from catwalk shows and wedding retailers. They can start at as little as £40.

Some high street brands, such as Monsoon and Topshop and Whistles sell stylish bridal designs that won’t break the bank.

Even better – sell it on once you’re done…

How to fund it

By all means raid your savings to pay for some of the wedding. But don’t leave yourself with nothing in the bank. The ever-important rainy-day account must remain topped up. It might be possible to pay for certain things on a credit card such as the caterer, florist, champagne and wine, and maybe even the venue.

Avoid racking up interest charges and spread the cost using a ‘purchase credit card’, which offers an interest-free period for spending. For example, if you borrowed £3,000 on such a credit card and paid back £100 every month, you would finish paying off the amount borrowed interest-free one month before the longest ever introductory purchase card period of 31 months finished.

It’s crucial you make sure you are able to repay the full amount before any interest-free period offer is up. After this, the rate reverts to around 18.9%.

If you need to borrow a larger sum, the good news is that borrowing is extremely cheap at the moment. The cheapest personal loan charges around 2.8% for £10,000 and over. Borrowing £10,000 would cost £289.76 per month for five years, with the total amount repaid at £10,431.36.

Photo by Jeremy Wong Weddings on Unsplash

Article is accurate at date of writing.