How to save for a wedding

Wondering how to save for a wedding? First of all – congratulations! Your wedding day should be one of the happiest days of your life. And making all the arrangements can be a lot of fun (as well as a little stressful)!

The average cost of a wedding in the UK is now at around the £25,000 mark. So it’s no surprise that many couples find themselves under pressure to spend more than they can really afford. The million and one little touches you can find on Pinterest and wedding planning websites can really add up. And that’s after you’ve sorted the basic stuff like the venue, catering, suits and/or wedding dress.

We believe your wedding day should leave you with a lifetime of memories – not a lifetime of debt. So we’ve put together this handy guide on how to

• save for the wedding of your dreams
• avoid getting into problem debt
• and make your money go further.

Plan your wedding – and work out how much you’ll need to save

#1 Prioritise your wedding day wish list

What does your dream wedding look like? Have you always known where you want to get married, or which song you want for your first dance? What about the number of guests – is it important to you that all your friends and family are there? Focusing on which aspects of your wedding are the most important to you will help you save money.

Sites like Pinterest are great for finding inspiration and keeping track of your ideas. But try to stay focused on your own priorities. It’s all too easy to start believing it’s not a ‘real’ wedding without personalised wedding favours, quirky photo booth props and expensive presents for everyone involved in the big day.

The further you go down that route, the easier it is for your costs to get out of control. It’s also more likely that you’ll go a little crazy making sure everything is ready!

Sort your must-haves from your nice-to-haves, and get quotes for the non-negotiable stuff first. If your heart’s set on a pricey wedding dress, DJ, or vehicle, then you might want to narrow down your guestlist.

But if what matters to you is having all your friends and family there, you’ll want to budget more for venue and catering. That might mean finding ways to save money in other areas. For example, you might….

• choose a ‘pre-loved’ wedding dress
• hire rather than buy a suit
• or find a creative alternative to an expensive wedding cake.

List everything you want and how much it’s going to cost. There’s likely to be a lot you haven’t thought of. So do some research online, and/or get advice from a couple who’ve recently been through this themselves!

#2 Timing is everything

In general, the longer your engagement, the more choice you’ll have when it comes to booking everything you want. Plus you’ll have more time to plan and prepare, and – crucially – more time to save up (see ‘Start saving’, below). Think ahead and see whether you could set a date for a couple of years’ time.

Choosing the right date can help keep down the cost of the venue and other wedding services. You can save thousands by choosing a date during the less popular time of year, between about October and March. The weather might not be great, it’s true. But let’s face it – even in August, planning your wedding around a sunny day is a risky business in the UK!

Avoid bank holidays, Valentine’s Day and the Christmas period, when venues will be more in demand. And if you’re booking a destination wedding, consider the off-season.

The day of the week is also important. As you’d expect, Saturday is the most in-demand day, and therefore the most expensive. You can save a significant amount on your venue, photographer, florist and more by opting for Friday or Sunday instead.

If you’re having a small wedding or your guests are otherwise likely to be flexible, a weekday wedding will help you save even more. And if you’re not superstitious, you can often get lucky with discounts by getting married on Friday the 13th!

#3 Talk to friends and family members

Your families certainly aren’t obliged to help you pay for your big event, but they might want to give you either a gift or a loan towards the costs. Some couples find that their parents want to be more involved in planning their wedding if they’re contributing to the cost. Talk this through early on to avoid disagreements later!

If you and your partner have already set up home together, instead of traditional presents you might want to request cash wedding gifts, which could help you pay for the wedding or honeymoon. Don’t worry about offending your wedding guests – asking for cash as a wedding present is very commonplace these days, especially if you phrase the request sensitively in the invitation. Cash is also safer than gifts in the form of vouchers or wedding lists, which aren’t protected if the company goes bust.

Alternatively, if you have a friend or family member who could help add the perfect touch to your wedding, why not ask if they can help out in lieu of a wedding present? Having a friend on hand to DJ, bake a cake, chauffeur your wedding party in their classic car or host the wedding in their garden could make a huge difference to your budget. Just make sure they know they can say no – this is not the time to be a Bridezilla!

#4 Shop around and be prepared to haggle

There’s no point setting a budget until you know how much everything is likely to cost, so do your research first. And don’t settle for the first venue, cake or dress you see – you can make big savings by shopping around. Even if you have your heart set on a particular venue or service, having a number of quotes can help you negotiate a great deal.

Remember to consider the high street as well. Doing your research on wedding websites and other places online will help you get an idea of what’s out there and how much you should expect to pay, but you shouldn’t automatically assume that’s where you’ll find the best deal.

And you should try to negotiate! We’re often shy about haggling in this country, but you’d be surprised how effective it can be. If your contact at the venue or supplier says they don’t do discounts, ask if they will throw in a little extra for their asking price.

Be sure to get every quote in writing and get a deadline to accept it – you don’t want to base your budget on a quote from a venue and go back to them a month later to find out their price has doubled. (This is especially important if you’re following tip #9, ‘Don’t mention the W-word’!)

Start saving

#5 Work out how much you need to save for the wedding

Deciding on a spending limit means achieving a compromise between the total cost of your dream wedding; how much you can save each month; and how long you can save for.

Using the quotes you’ve had from vendors and the other research you’ve done, list the total potential cost of your wedding. This should include the essentials; the nice-to-have extras; everything – and we mean everything! Get right down into the smallest cost, like plasters and hair clips and pairs of tights.

The simplest way is to input everything into a spreadsheet – there are templates available on Google Sheets, and you can find mobile apps on iPhone and Android to help you with just about every aspect of wedding planning.

Experienced wedding planners recommend that whatever you think you’re going to spend, budget for at least 10% more!

Once you know what your spending limit is, then you can go through your list of ‘nice to have’ wedding extras and decide what to keep. A lot of these costs will be per guest, so it might help to envision a few different versions of your guest list to see how much difference that makes to your budget.

Your overall wedding budget should not be more than the amount you can reasonably save between now and the big day, plus any existing savings you have and any contributions you’re realistically expecting from family and friends.

It’s important to be realistic about how much you can actually save per month – consider giving it a trial month or two to find out if the amount you’ve set is achievable. If not, then you can either cut your guest list, strike some extras from your wedding plans, or consider putting the wedding back a bit so you’ll have more time to save up.

#6 If you borrow money, do it carefully

With some careful planning, it’s possible to fund a wedding without going into debt. But if you feel you have no option but to take out a loan or credit card, some ways of borrowing are better than others. You can reduce your risk of getting into problem debt by remembering the following:

• Never borrow more than you can afford to pay back within a year – use a loan calculator to see how much you can borrow
• Don’t borrow more than you need! If you decide you need to borrow £500, don’t upgrade your wedding plans just because the bank offers you £2,000.
• Look for low interest rates. If you’re already struggling with debt it might be that only high cost credit is available to you. If that’s the case, it’s a good idea to get help with your debts before thinking any more about the wedding. Take a look at our debt solutions for an idea of what’s available.
• If you can, pay off what you owe in full before it accrues interest. If that’s not possible, at least make more than the minimum repayment every month.

#7 Your payment method could save you from a wedding nightmare

Paying for wedding expenses a long time in advance has a downside that is rare, but disastrous when it happens. When a wedding venue or supplier goes bust, you can lose your deposit if it’s not protected.

Section 75 laws protect purchases of more than £100, and less than £30,000, made using a credit card. The card company will be jointly liable for the entire purchase. This protection will apply to your whole purchase even if you only put the deposit on the credit card, and the rest in cash or another way.

You’re not protected by Section 75 for a purchase that costs less than £100 altogether, but Chargeback can help if you pay with a debit card, charge card or certain credit cards.

If you are using a credit card for your spending, make sure it’s the right one. Using a cashback card will mean you earn a little something back every time you spend – this can soon add up.

Look for a credit card that charges 0% interest on purchases for a certain amount of time. That way you can spread the costs while you save up.

Don’t take out this kind of card unless you can afford to make timely repayments. 0% credit card offers expire, and then the APR reverts to a much higher rate – so be ready to pay the card off at this point. Cashback credit cards tend to charge a higher rate of interest from the start, so pay off the balance in full every month if you can.

Depending on how much you’re spending, it may also be a good idea to take out wedding insurance – you can find out more and compare quotes on moneysupermarket.com.

#8 Choose where to save your wedding funds

Once you’ve decided how much you’re going to save up, you need to decide where you’ll keep it.

Maybe you already have an online bank account that lets you set up a separate pot for the wedding.

Otherwise, it might be a good idea to use a comparison website to find out how to make your savings go further. Look for an account with a great perk, like a voucher, free cash or free insurance. But don’t forget your wedding savings will need to be easily accessible, to pay for wedding costs as they arise.

Review your savings account at least once a year to check you’re getting the best rate of interest. Many ISAs tempt you with a bonus for the first few months but then fall back to dismal rates.

Cut the cost of the little extras

#9 Don’t mention the W-word

When you’re getting quotes and making bookings, you might save money if you simply don’t say it’s for a wedding. Venues, DJs and other wedding suppliers often charge a significant mark-up when it comes to weddings. This is essentially because they know they can get away with it.

Obviously, the game is likely to be up on the day itself. But there is nothing stopping you from getting a quote for a ‘party’. Get your quotes in writing if you can. Then just ask the vendor to honour this once they know it’s for a wedding.

#10 Make the most of your ‘something old’ and ‘something borrowed’

Brides are traditionally supposed to wear ‘something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue’. And you can save a lot of money by making clever use of your ‘something old’ and ‘something borrowed’.

This could be something that was already in your family, like jewellery or even the dress. Are any of your friends or family getting married between now and your wedding? Ask if they’d be willing to save any leftover decorations, or other wedding paraphernalia. They may be happy to lend these to you or sell them at low cost.

 

You can avoid a lot of future stress if you save, instead of borrowing, to fund your wedding. But however you choose to pay for the big day, it’ll be much harder if you’re already in problem debt. Whatever your situation, there’s a debt solution out there to help you get started on this next chapter of your life. Take a look at our debt solutions to find out more.