What Not To Say When…Discussing The Cost Of The Wedding
“Do you definitely need a big white dress? I think you look dead nice in that”
Most wedding expenses (flowers, cars, catering) can be economised on, particularly with the help of family and friends. One couple even organised their wedding almost entirely from Freecycle. But there’s no way any woman is going down the aisle in a pink velour tracksuit with ‘Juicy’ stamped on her arse.
“OK, let me have a look in my piggy bank…”
The average cost of a UK wedding is now more than £15,000. That’s a lot of 2p coins.
“Isn’t your dad meant to pay?”
And aren’t you meant to hand him over a herd of goats and a sack of grain? Aren’t you also supposed to have not slept with his daughter before the ceremony? Huh? Times have changed and while many parents will be happy to help you out, few will be able to cover the whole cost.
“It’s cool. I was thinking about remortgaging anyway”
Bad news: there’s been this thing called the credit crunch. As a result, a) your house value might have dropped, b) mortgage companies are being tighter than a duck’s arse about handing out cash, and c) pretty much everyone agrees that getting into expensive debt is bad news. Could you think about reducing the cost of the wedding instead? Or even postponing it and saving up?
“TEN GRAND? TEN GRAND? You’re SO HIGH MAINTENANCE. That’s IT, I’m NOT DOING IT”
The cost of a wedding can take your breath away, but the fact is that when venues, florists etc know they’re doing a wedding deal, their prices will be high. Yes, the car costs a few hundred quid, but your wife-to-be’s dress will get grubby on the bus. And if you try to bring your own wine, for example, you’ll usually pay corkage at the venue. Essentially what we’re saying is, if your fiancée is doing more of the organising, you might have to trust her on what it costs. One day, say in ten years when you’ve paid it all off, you’ll laugh about it.
“Whatever you think, darling. Here’s my card”
Most women would prefer you to take some interest and help them to decide what is and isn’t worth spending on. Even if you’re a gongazillionaire, there’s no point spending needlessly (in Staggered’s experience of rich people, they know this already and that is why they are rich. We have mostly put this one in to remind ourselves that being a right tight bastard is the way to amass wealth).
“That’s not bad! I’ve put more than that into fruit machines in the past year”
Unless the price quoted is 20p, this is worrying.
Brownie points
- Agree a budget with your bride-to-be and any other paying stakeholders in advance. This should avoid tensions and unrealistic expectations. A common way of doing this is by all paying for different elements of the wedding, which makes everyone feel involved – rather than just handing over a wad of cash.
- Do check out what savings there are to be had with useful websites such as Money Saving Expert and Freecycle.
- Subscribe to the Staggered newsletter as we feature discounts and freebies on a weekly basis which can all make the Big Day more affordable.
- If you don’t have a lump sum available, it’s a good idea to set up a savings account just for wedding expenses that you can pay into each month. That way, less goes on the plastic, and it’s easier to stick to your agreed budget.
Over to you – have you got any advice on how to make a wedding more affordable? What are you doing to cut costs? Or do you think that the wedding day is still the one day of your lives when money doesn’t matter? If so, can we come to your wedding?
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