Here are 12 ways to save money on your wedding

It may be one of the best days of your life, but it’s also likely to be the most expensive.

The average cost of a wedding was almost £21,000 last year — or £26,000 if the cost of rings and honeymoon are included. If you are getting married in London you can expect to spend £15,000 more, according to figures from Bridebook, which surveyed 6,000 couples.

If you’ve got a wedding budget to stick to, consider these tips to keep your costs down.

Wedding planners are adamant these simply get left on the tables or thrown away. Extras such as flip flops and blankets for sitting outside are also unlikely to be used. Michelle Jacobs, a planner who specialises in luxury weddings, said the most popular favours are typically ones that involve alcohol or those with a personal touch.

“The most appreciated favour I’ve seen over the years was a marble coaster engraved with the name of each of the 200 guests. They had been made by the bride’s father, who was a stonemason. These were a practical gift that also had a very personal connection to their hosts,” Jacobs said.

Don’t bother with a cake

Planners say some couples are ditching the traditional cutting of the cake and will simply end the wedding breakfast after the last speech and move on to the first dance.

“Wedding cakes, especially multi-tiered ones from professional bakers, can cost more than £1,600 depending on the expertise of the baker. Skipping the cake altogether has become a popular trend that seems to be here to stay,” said Mrinalini Raman, a wedding planner from knotsandnuptials.co.uk.

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Ask for cash gifts

It’s becoming increasingly common for couples to ask for cash contributions towards their honeymoon, rather than a physical gift.

Cash gifts can easily add up to thousands of pounds. A third of people said they would give £100 to someone they are very close to, about £50 for close friends and £25 for acquaintances, according to a poll of 2,000 people by the wedding directory For Better For Worse.

“Modern weddings have evolved, and many couples already have household items typically given as gifts. Asking for cash can be more practical as it allows couples to use the funds for things they genuinely need or value, such as their honeymoon or a home down payment,” Raman said.

Should you ask for contributions to food and drink?

While asking for cash as a gift is considered acceptable, the consensus is that it’s not OK to ask guests to contribute to the cost of their food. Nevertheless, the rising cost of living has made it more common.

“I’m amazed at some of the things couples will ask of their guests. General wedding etiquette is that you don’t invite guests to your wedding and then charge them for their meal. But I have heard of couples wanting to charge guests who were no-shows,” said Jennifer Shoubridge, a wedding photographer.

Wedding planners suggest cutting down your guest list, opting for a cheaper venue or having a more informal buffet to keep food costs down rather than asking guests to contribute.

Get married midweek

The biggest cost of your wedding is likely to be the venue, especially if food and drinks are included in the price. The average wedding venue costs £9,877 including catering, according to Bridebook — almost half the average spend.

You can reduce the cost by choosing to get married on a day other than Saturday, which is the most popular day. The typical cost of a Tuesday wedding is £16,273 — about 22 per cent below the average. Last year for the first time more than half of weddings took place on a day that wasn’t a Saturday, so you wouldn’t be alone in choosing a midweek date.

About 18 per cent of weddings took place on a Friday last year and 8 per cent on a Sunday. Tuesday was the least popular day with 4 per cent, although the proportion of Tuesday weddings has doubled since 2019.

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Consider a church wedding

Last year 15 per cent of ceremonies were held at places of worship, down from 30 per cent in 2018 according to Bridebook. But getting married in a church is likely to be considerably cheaper than another venue, especially if you hold the reception or after-party in the church hall.

The Church of England charges a maximum legal fee of £675 for marriages, and £567 if you marry in your own parish. Roman Catholic churches do not charge but accept donations. Charges for mosques, synagogues and temples vary by venue.

Get a second-hand dress

The cost of a new wedding dress often comes in at £1,000 or more, especially if alterations are needed — it’s a hefty amount to pay for a dress you’ll probably wear only once.

There are many ways to buy a second-hand wedding dress to save money and cut down on waste. Many high street stores stock wedding ranges, or you could look on eBay, Vinted, DePop or Facebook Marketplace, or in charity shops. You can also find shoes and other accessories for a discount.

Do your own flowers

Wedding flowers can include bouquets or buttonholes for the bridal party, as well as decorations for the venue and table centrepieces. Hiring a professional florist may cost about £1,200 for a small or medium-sized wedding, but as much as £4,000 for a more elaborate do, according to the wedding website Hitched. Doing your own flower arrangements can cut the cost to about £300.

Michaela Bosquet Lambert, a dating coach, spent £250 on flowers and foliage when she got married in 2019. She ordered white roses from an online nursery; they arrived four days before the ceremony and were kept fresh in buckets before being made into bouquets and displays.

She put a message in a local Facebook group asking if anyone was cutting their eucalyptus tree, and got plenty free. “I taught myself to make centrepieces and garlands for displays. I was up at 6am to make my bouquet but it was worth it,” she said.

If you are going to get your flowers from a florist, pick ones that are in season because Brexit has made transport costs more expensive, said Beckie Melvin, a wedding planner from Emerald Orchid Weddings. “Your florist can advise on that but roses are good all year round. Don’t choose peonies outside May and June.”

Trim the guest list

If you are looking to save money, you may have to be brutal about who makes the cut. The average couple spent £5,732 on catering and had 89 reception guests, meaning an average catering spend of about £64 a head. However, the cost of food and drink can easily reach £80 a head or more, so trimming the guest list or inviting some people only to the evening could save you a lot. Choosing a venue with in-house catering saved couples about £1,200 on average last year.

Don’t ask for freebies — but do ask for extras

Rebecca Brennan-Brown, a wedding planner, said asking for freebies is generally considered a big no-no and is often offensive. Some social media influencers have been widely criticised for asking for a free product or service in return for social media exposure.

“It can be beneficial for a company to get exposure, but it’s certainly not for everyone. I was once asked to work free of charge by a business influencer with more than a million followers. I said no because he never posted about his personal life, so was unlikely to post any photos from the wedding,” Brennan-Brown said.

You are more likely to have luck asking if any extras can be thrown in — such as a discount for guests staying overnight at the venue.

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Budget carefully for photography

Photography is an important part of your wedding but will be costly. Expect to pay about £1,500 for eight hours of coverage on the day followed by a digital set of prints afterwards.

Shoubridge said couples tempted to book a budget photographer should be cautious of low-priced offers of about £500. This tends to be the price bracket where photographers over-commit and underperform. “Couples will either be looking for a last-minute replacement or chasing for their photos. The price looks good but ends up costing more in the long run,” she said.

Get insurance

Wedding insurance can cover you if the venue goes bust before your big day or you’re let down by a supplier. However, you won’t get your money back if you change your mind about getting married or if your day is hampered by bad weather.

You can expect to pay less than £150 to insure a wedding costing £20,000, according to the comparison website Moneysupermarket. This may be worth it for peace of mind when you have thousands of pounds at stake.

Anabel Baldock, 25, is marrying her partner Ryan, 25, in October 2025. She said the main expense was the venue — a converted barn in the Essex countryside.

Baldock, a social media content creator from Southend who has an Instagram account called @annie_thefoodie, said they looked at two other venues that would have been a couple of thousand pounds cheaper, but decided the barn was worth the extra money.

The cost for the day is £12,000, which includes a three-course wedding breakfast for 60 people, prosecco on arrival and half a bottle of wine each at the meal. To save money, they have opted for a Friday wedding out of the peak summer season. The cost for the venue on a Saturday in August would have been £14,500.

“Everyone says weddings are expensive, but even so the cost is still a bit of a shock. There’s also all the other costs to consider too, such as the dress, the registrar, flowers and table decorations. We are paying for most of the wedding ourselves, although our family are giving a bit to help,” Baldock said.

Baldock has joined a couple of Facebook groups such as DIY Weddings and Brides on a Budget to get tips on where to save money. She likes the idea of making up her own bouquets and doing her own table decorations, and would like to spend less than £500 on a dress.

The couple are putting aside £400 a month for the wedding, as well as using existing savings. They have already bought their own flat so are fine with “splurging” on a memorable day.

“We’re happy to go all out for our special day, but we will try to save money where we can,” Baldock said.