Brides And Grooms Split Wedding Costs Evenly, Biggest Industry Survey Reveals
Is your wedding budget the stuff of nightmares? Surely we Brits can’t be the only people to chuck thousands upon thousands of pounds at one day, albeit one of the most important days in your life?
Certainly not says popular US laydeez’ bridal magazine, The Knot, which has published the results of its fourth Real Weddings Survey. This far-reaching poll is the bridal industry’s biggest annual survey and it quizzes over 21,000 brides from the US of A on just how much dosh they’re willing to part with for their wedding day.
Given the wretched state of the global economy, it’s no great surprise that the bride’s parents were tapped for almost half of the overall wedding budget. Typically, 46% of the budget was donated by her folks, a 4.5% increase on 2008.
Interestingly, the bride and groom split an additional 40% of the budget, a trend that’s reflected here across the pond. Whilst it’s undeniably bad news for your bank balance, the fact that most couples are now equal partners in the wedding budget means that the groom gets more say in the planning process, so if you want that grand stag weekend or some amazing wedding suits, now’s the time to stamp your foot.
So, what were the biggest wedding expenses for our American chums? Predictably, the bulk of the average wedding budget was earmarked for:
- the reception venue ($12,838, or £8,296 in proper money),
- followed by the engagement ring, with an average outlay of $5,847 (£3,778) on those all-important sparklers.
Don’t be too quick to dismiss those Yanks as reckless spenders, though. Admittedly, their average wedding budget for 2009 was a heart-stopping $28,385 (£18,636), but the average British wedding costs £15,261, which is hardly slumming it. One thing’s for sure, getting hitched sure ain’t cheap.
Are you and the Mrs splitting the costs 50-50 or is her Dad coughing up? Is your budget spiralling out of control? Do you want more input or do you let her choose everything for an easy life? Let us know on the forum. We might even be able to help with the costs – we can certainly help you get the champagne for your big day.
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Good article. When I got married, parents paid 50% of costs but we had to pay the rest, which we split between us…and are still paying for -(
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