In the age of Instagram and celebrity weddings the pressure to have a show-stopping big day is higher than ever. The average spend on a wedding in the UK is an eyewatering £18,000-£32,000, which is really high when you consider that the average wage is only £29,000 per year.
If a huge wedding is your dream, then by all means save up and splurge on your special day. However, we want to prove to you that a £1000 wedding can be just as meaningful and beautiful as a luxury one!
If you want to have a beautiful wedding on a budget, here are our suggestions for making a £1000 wedding work for you.
What Are the Minimum Costs of a Wedding?
For those on a shoestring budget, the bare minimum cost of getting married in the UK is around £120. This covers the costs of a registry office ceremony, marriage licence, and the £35 per person cost for the notice of marriage.
If your heart is set on a religious ceremony then you may find your costs will go up. For example, a Church of England ceremony costs around £413, while an Islamic ceremony can cost between £300-£500 depending on the venue. A Roman Catholic ceremony is free aside from expected donations to the church which are required of the marrying couple. This can differ from church to church, so you may need to ask your priest what will be expected from you.
If you wish to get married at a wedding venue of your choice, then the costs associated would be the price of the venue plus registrar fees. During busy periods a registrar can costs upwards of £400, so this may not be the most budget friendly option.
Dresses and Suits
Many engaged couples are shocked to find out the costs associated with traditional wedding outfits. Dresses can range to six figures from some designers, and even bridal samples can set you back thousands of pounds. This is even before costly alterations and accessories! There is less pressure to overspend of wedding suits, yet the costs even to hire these can run to the triple figures.
So what is the solution when you are planning a £1000 wedding? For dresses there are plenty of fantastic lower budget options. A great place to start the hunt is the Oxfam online store. They have a stunning selection of wedding gowns and suits at really reasonable prices. Not only is this a great low-cost option, but it is great for the planet too, and it gives you a chance to give back.
If you aren’t fussed about wearing a specifically “bridal” gown, then you may wish to consider scouring the high street for a party dress. There are no rules for your wedding day, you should wear what you love and feel like a million dollars in.
If you want to keep costs even lower, then rental sites like Hurr are amazing for finding stunning pieces at rental costs as low as £15. You could rent your dress, shoes and even a party dress for your evening celebration all for under £100!
For sentimental brides you could even consider wearing a borrowed dress. This could count as your “something borrowed”, and will feel extra special if it belongs to a loved one.
Men’s suits are commonly hired for weddings, but the cost for this can be surprisingly high. If you are set on matching suits, then Burton offers the groom’s suit free with the hire of 5 or more groomsmen’s suits. If budget is really tight and your groomsmen are happy to pay for their own, then this is a great way to get your wedding outfit sorted for free!
The Venue
The key to making a £1000 wedding work is to keep guest numbers low. A guest list of around 40 people is optimal to ensure that you can have a good number of friends and family in attendance without breaking the bank!
If you would like to book a venue then you will find that weekdays and Sundays are much more budget friendly than peak times. However, you can also look into places like village halls as hire costs can range from £45-£500 depending on your area and what’s included. For smaller weddings you could even try pub function rooms, as these are often free to hire.
Another fantastic budget friendly option is to host your wedding at home or in a friend or family member’s garden. It’s all about getting creative with what you have access to, and then making it work around that.
Entertainment
With the right guest list, your wedding shouldn’t need too many bells and whistles for your guests to enjoy themselves. A simple Spotify playlist can serve as your DJ, and will mean you can hear all of your favourite tunes all night. You can even create a public playlist for your guests to add to so that everyone gets a say on the music for the night.
If you are lucky enough to have talented friends then why not ask a few of them to perform, if your venue can accommodate. This could be a fantastic wedding gift from your friends and would add a really personal touch to your reception.
For a garden wedding you could set up lawn games like croquet and boules, with sets available for less than £10 each. Entertainment doesn’t have to be fussy, in fact the less pressure to concentrate on jazzy entertainment will mean your guests have more time to mingle with you and each other.
Food and Drink
Food and drink can make up a huge portion of the overall wedding budget, so keeping it low-cost will usually require some help from friends and family.
The simplest way to ensure that you have enough food for everyone is to ask everyone, or every family group to bring a dish or two of food to share. This can create a really special buffet, and people are usually more than happy to pitch in. A great way to manage this is to select a few dishes and staples that you want to make yourself, and then create a wish list of food items for guests to tick off ahead of time. This will ensure that you have a good variety of things to eat.
As for cake, with a small number of guests making your own is really cost effective. You can either opt to bake a few sponges, stack them together and create a classic wedding cake or naked cake; or you can buy a selection of your favourite baked good such as doughnuts and cupcakes from the supermarket and stack them up together. Either of these options are sure to please the crowd, and will save you around £600 on a professional cake.
Alcohol is a little trickier to do on a budget but not impossible! For your £1000 wedding you can probably get away with a healthy budget of £250 for booze, which would cover around 50 bottles of Aldi wine, or 30 crates of beer. If alcohol isn’t an important factor for you, you can always make your wedding BYOB or choose a licensed venue where guests can purchase their own drinks.
Décor
Traditional wedding décor like flowers can be really pricey, and while it is lovely there are more budget friendly options that will make your wedding look and feel just as special.
A great way to cut costs is to make your own bouquets and floral arrangements from supermarket or dried flowers. If you are marrying in spring then bunches of fresh daffodils are around £1 per bunch, while for other seasons dried lavender sprigs are around £1.18 per bunch. Some couples even choose to grow their own bouquet at home from seeds, although you do need to have a green thumb for this!
For items such as glassware, plates, and vases for flowers then the charity shop is your best friend. You can achieve a really gorgeous, eclectic look for your wedding by sourcing pretty vintage crockery and glassware at a fraction of the cost of hire. Pair this with vintage tablecloths and candles and your wedding will look perfectly boho.
If you have a good amount of time before your big day then you could consider sewing your own bunting. Bunting is a really simple sewing project; you can sit down and easily knock out a triangle a day during your engagement without feeling overworked. This is an amazing way to use up scrap fabric and old clothes, and you can keep it forever for every birthday party and Jubilee celebration to come!
Extras!
It is only once you start planning a wedding that you come to realise how many little parts make up the whole. The sky is the limit for what people can add to weddings nowadays, from photobooths to magicians to live owl ring bearers, so it’s no wonder the cost of weddings is on the rise.
A fantastic way to save money on your wedding is to use email invitations. Not only is this a brilliant free option, but it is better for the planet and really convenient for guests. It is so much easier to just search in your inbox for all the wedding info than having to keep a fancy piece of paper on the fridge for a year!
Next up is photography. While wedding photographers are amazing, hard working, and extremely valuable, they do cost a pretty penny. If you are set on a £1000 wedding then it is best to get creative with making the memories. Make sure your guests are encouraged to take lots of photos, and establish a wedding hashtag so you can find all of the images easily online. If your budget allows, why not provide some disposable cameras on each table so you can have some more tangible memories of the night too.
Finally, a brilliant money saving hack is to request monetary gifts from your guests. This way you can pay for a honeymoon, or put the gifts towards something you really need. Most couples nowadays live together before they are married so the chances are that you do not need a salad spinner, toaster or towel set as a wedding gift. Asking for monetary gifts also takes pressure off guests to choose something and means people are able to give what they can.
