Two Ways To Make Your Big Day Special

It may not be a particularly romantic thing to say, but the reality is that getting married isn’t cheap. According to the industry website hitched, the average cost of tying the knot in the UK last year was £20,700, up 12.5% from the average spend in 2022 of £18,400 and representing an increase of almost 20% on the 2021 figure of £17,300.

You’re hopefully only ever having one wedding, so of course you want the perfect day. But, clearly, you need a budget and the discipline to not exceed it.

How to save money on your wedding

There are a number of things you can do to save money on your big day without cutting corners or feeling like you are scrimping on the joy of the occasion.

You can chose vintage rather than new rings and dresses, hire suits rather than buying them, and look into how you can be as savvy as possible as you save for the event, for example by earning maximum interest on your savings.

Given that the wedding venue often dents the budget more than anything else, it’s worth seeing how you can cut costs here. Pick unpopular days like a midweek date or even a Friday 13th if you’re not superstitious, or marry in midwinter and you could slash your bill by up to 50%, according to money expert Martin Lewis. Equally, you can often secure discounts on photographers, florists and other suppliers by marrying on an unconventional date. Sure, some guests may not be able to get time off work on, say, a Thursday, but tying the knot then may mean you can afford the wedding venue of your dreams.

According to Lewis, you should never borrow more for a wedding than you can afford to pay back within a year.

It’s also worth asking around to see what friends have paid for various elements of their celebrations, to ensure you’re not overpaying for anything. Haggle if you can – many wedding suppliers are more flexible and open to negotiation than you may have imagined.

Finally, if any of your friends have relevant talents, from cake-baking to floristry, dressmaking or photography, DJ-ing or hairdressing, rope them in.

Two cunning ways to save on your big day while making it special

Here are a couple of ideas you may not have thought about.

Smelling scent-sational on the day

For the groom and his party, or the bride and hers, you no doubt supposed you’d pay a bit of attention to personal grooming on the morning of the big day – but have you given any thought to a wedding-day fragrance? That may seem like an odd question, but a scent brings back memories in a way no other sense can. And it’s something that you will always associate with the day of the wedding, so it lends the occasion its own signature fragrance – and if, say, all the ushers, best man and groom wear the same scent, it enhances the team feeling. (The same goes, of course, for the bride and her retinue.)

With the best dupe aftershaves and perfumes, you’ll save money by purchasing a fragrance you love that smells the same as one from a top designer – at a fraction of the original price. That’s because duplicate perfume and aftershave manufacturers don’t invest in TV advertising, marketing and celebrity endorsement in the same way leading brands do.

So give it some serious thought – you may be surprised at how it enhances the sense of occasion on this most special of days.

Integrate wedding photo QR codes

As mentioned, if you have a skilled friend who can take photos, that could save you money to allocate elsewhere in your budget. Equally, you may decide to opt for a mid-range, perfectly competent and professional photographer, rather than a super-expensive one.

On top of that, consider having a wedding photo QR code. This is a cost-effective way of ensuring the photos your guests take immediately become part of a communal gallery. What’s more, it’s all very simple, secure and is an ingenious way of gathering more memories from your celebration.

Every guest becomes a photographer, with images uploaded in real time. And you’ll get to see a range of shots you may not otherwise have captured, including some informal, intimate ones to sit alongside the official, more formal wedding portraits. You won’t be able to watch all your guests enjoying themselves all day, but this way they can show you, and each other, how much fun they had.