Jennifer Birtles
9th May 2025
Reading Time: 8 minutes
If you need to plan a budget wedding, you’re in the right place. As costs for suppliers and venues rise due to their increased trading costs, so do wedding budgets. According to Hitched, in 2024 the average wedding cost £23,250 (with one in ten couples spending over £40,000!). Compare this to the 2021 average of £17,300 and it’s easy to see how rising prices have affected how much a wedding costs in the UK.
The fact that people take out loans and other lines of credit just to pay for their dream wedding means many couples start off the rest of their lives together in debt. Instead of splurging tens of thousands on one big day, cutting back to a budget wedding and using the money saved to become more financially secure, could be a great way to begin married life together.
Budget, Budget, Budget!
We may talk about them a lot, but budgets are so useful and important in keeping on top of your finances – especially when it comes to weddings. Instead of planning your dream wedding and then trying to work out how you’re going to pay for it, ask yourself first what can you feasibly afford to spend on your wedding without getting into serious debt. And stick to it! The Hitched National Wedding Survey revealed that 60% of respondents had to extend their original budget, as they had underestimated and not researched enough.
It’s so easy to get swept up in wedding planning and be pushed to put down deposits on various things, but make sure you allow plenty of time to compare quotes first. This will help you create a realistic budget before you start spending anything. Make sure you have a conversation about areas you’re willing to compromise on, and non-negotiables, to save arguments down the line.
The easiest way to keep track of everything is inputting every spend, no matter how small, into a spreadsheet. Google Sheets is ideal as it’s all managed online and both you and your partner can edit it from any device – meaning you can keep it up-to-date when you’re out and about. Set up separate tabs for each of the major spends of the wedding – venue, catering, decoration, entertainment, and outfits. As you make purchases you’ll be able to instantly compare how much you’ve already spent to how much of your budget you have remaining, making it easy to monitor and make sure you don’t overspend.
Skip Expensive Hen and Stag Parties
Not only do hen and stag parties that involve weekends away or expensive activities cost you a lot, they can cost everyone else cash, too. Nobody appreciates being expected to drop a few hundred pounds going to a hen party only to spend the same amount again attending the same person’s wedding!
Go back to basics: enjoy a simple bar crawl in your local town, or be done with tradition and have a joint garden party at home. Take your hens out for an afternoon tea at the local hotel, or go paintballing together. Choose something that is affordable for EVERYONE, and don’t insist people attend, either. The fewer people who go to your hen and stag party, the less likely you are to rack up an unexpected bill!
Cut Down Your Guest List
Ultimately, something that will heavily determine how much you end up spending is the guest list. After all, when you’re paying for food, drink, and entertainment for each one of your guests it quickly adds up. Opt for a more intimate occasion with a guest list of 30 or less. You’ll be able to consider smaller (and cheaper) venues, like hiring a private room in a pub or restaurant, for example. As venues are a key cost in a wedding, if you can find a way to get a cheaper option you can save thousands.
Another option is to keep your guest list small for your wedding, but host a much larger celebration for your first anniversary. This gives you time to save separately and means you won’t have to worry about blowing a large chunk of your wedding budget on the reception.
If you’re feeling pressure to have a big wedding because of family and friend expectations, STOP. This is about celebrating your partnership, not what other people want. If you can’t get people to agree, you could always elope! Many couples now choose to have a private registry office wedding and announce their nuptials after the fact at a party (birthday, anniversary, house warming – whichever excuse can be found!) instead.
Postpone Your Honeymoon
In a similar line, delaying your honeymoon can help with your wedding costs. If, for example, you decide to go for your first anniversary instead, or even after 6 months, you’re giving yourself an extra time to plan and save for it instead of having to pay it all upfront. Travelling off-season will also help you save massively, read our article on how to grab yourself a holiday bargain here.
Postponing your honeymoon also gives people time to donate towards it as a wedding gift, too. Instead of having a gift registry (who needs another toaster?), you could ask for cash donations towards the honeymoon. You could even make your own ‘registry’ by listing activities you want to do on your honeymoon, like a city tour or going snorkelling, and how much they cost. People can then feel like they’re buying your memories as a newly married couple instead of throwing cash into the ether and not knowing what it’s spent on.
Opt for Creative Catering
For a budget wedding, avoid the traditional 3 course wedding breakfast followed by an evening buffet. Why not choose to get married later on in the day and then serve a large buffet for both the day and evening guests? This way you’ll only have to pay for one meal, and it’ll be much cheaper than a larger sit-down meal.
Consider other cheaper food options as well. Having an afternoon BBQ, creating fun picnic hampers for guests to share out, or hiring a food truck for the day are all fun ways to have delicious food on a budget.
Also, save on having to provide a dessert as well and serve up your wedding cake for dessert instead! You can also have ice cream carts and confectionary stands to allow people to choose their favourites. You can even hire a doughnut wall!
Shop for Pre-Loved and Second-Hand Items
You can find great bargains by shopping for pre-loved and second-hand items. Sites like StillWhite, Bridal Reloved, and Preloved, are three great places where you can find deals on wedding outfits and decorations. You’ll find things at a fraction of the price of what you would pay otherwise, and they’ve only been used once before! Plus, Oxfam even have their own online bridal shop now, which is packed with even more great deals.
High street and online stores also offer more affordable bridal and bridesmaid options. Monsoon, Joanna Hope, and Phase Eight are great places to start looking. Be wary of ordering very cheap custom-made dresses from overseas, however, as it can end up expensive with customs fees and you might not get the dress in the picture.
For men, buying a suit can be really expensive and depending on the style, is unlikely to be worn again or very often. If you’re looking to buy a wedding suit, instead it can be worth checking out high street stores like ASOS, Next, and Marks & Spencers, which offer their own cheaper wedding line alternatives.
Opt for Lab Diamond or Alternative Gem Rings
Lab grown diamond rings are 100% real diamonds, sharing the same chemical composition and optical properties as mined diamonds, making them a perfect ethical alternative for any newlywed couple! Oh and did we mention they are also budget friendly? Costing around 30% less than naturally mined diamonds.
You don’t have to have diamonds, either! Sapphires, rubies, and emeralds are all popular alternatives.
Don’t Insist on Matching Bridal Party Outfits
Nobody wants to be forced to wear a bridesmaid dress that’s unflattering. Ask your bridesmaids to buy their own dresses, and groomsmen their own suits, but give them the freedom to choose what they want. Or, you could ask that they keep within certain colour tones of your wedding theme – but if you do this, make sure your colours are neutral or something that means they can wear their outfit at other events after the wedding.
Make the Most of Supermarkets
Don’t forget about supermarkets when planning a budget wedding. Whether it’s for your wedding cake, or joining a loyalty scheme, they can be a great way to cut costs. Wedding cakes can cost an extortionate amount, but plenty of supermarkets now offer cheaper versions. Marks and Spencer is particularly known for its plain wedding cake options that you can stack and decorate yourself.
Plus, shopping with a loyalty card can earn you some great deals in the long-run. Tesco Clubcard has one of the best reward schemes where the value of your points triple in value when spent at one of their reward partners. Some of which include luxury jeweller Goldsmiths, various restaurants, and holiday and travel booking sites. So why not put that money towards a cheaper honeymoon?
If you know someone with a CostCo membership, ask if they’ll come with you on a self-catered trip. It’s easy to pick up cheap and delicious bulk catering items, from sandwich platters to a custom designed sheet cake that feeds 24 (with delicious white frosting) for under £20 a platter. It will add a little extra stress to your wedding as you’ll need to shop a day or two prior and have someone to help cater the food so you can focus on your day, but could save you hundreds of pounds.
Budget Your Booze
Alcohol is one of the most expensive parts of a wedding. We’re not saying you should have a dry wedding to save costs – but you can look at alternative options to reduce the bill. You might want to put a certain limit behind the bar, or arrange for a welcome drink, lunch wine, and speeches cocktail to be provided with everything else paid cash at the bar.
Some venues allow you to bring your own alcohol. There may be a ‘corkage’ charge so check what the fees are for that. You can also buy wine and champagne from wholesalers on a buy-or-return offer, meaning you can return any unused and undamaged bottles for a refund. Majestic Wines is popular and has an entire party service, with free glass hire, chiller hire, and sale or return on products.
Make sure that you offer plenty of non-alcoholic drinks, too. You might, for example, want to offer elderflower spritz or a mocktail for everyone’s welcome drink (which also ensures people aren’t too fuzzy before everything gets going, too!).
Get Rid of the Stationery
Not only is it pricey and not-so-great for the environment, but it’s also a completely unnecessary cost. Ditch Save the Date and RSVP cards and do it all online instead. Set up a free, simple website where guests can RSVP and you can email out details and any information about the wedding at no extra cost.
Skip the Summer Weekend
Summer Saturdays are the most sought after day to be married on and you’ll pay a premium to do so. Consider getting married Monday to Thursday when there’s much less demand and you’ll be able to negotiate a deal at a fraction of the cost.
Marrying completely off-season between October and March is ideal for a budget wedding. Plus, for the particularly savvy saver, why not get married at Christmas? Make the most of the already decorated venues and save yourself that extra expense!
Negotiate Hard
Booking off season also gives you a greater opportunity to negotiate. Businesses that need the trade may be willing to cut prices in order to secure a deal. If they’re not able to offer you a discount, see if they’d be willing to include any extras included instead. Maybe you could have a room upgrade? Or cut your corkage costs?
Have a Contingency Budget
There’s only so much you can do to prepare and realistically, extra costs are going to pop up when you least expect them. Set aside part of your budget for this to be prepared for the unexpected. Ideally, 5 – 10% of your budget saved as contingency cash will have you covered. Just remember to keep it separate from your main account so you don’t find yourself tempted to spend it!