The Ultimate Wedding Budget Guide

A bit like the venue, the bigger your guest list, the bigger the spend will be on catering.

Many venues come with in-house caterers, so it’s important to ask the price of this element when you’re choosing the venue.

Other venues, like dry-hire barn venues, will give you the freedom to choose your own caterers and then you can shop around for prices that match your expected spend. Catering is usually worked out on a per head basis, so keeping your guest list on the smaller side can save you a huge amount of money.

You can also scale back on catering costs by cutting out courses like dessert in favour of serving wedding cake. Or look at more budget-friendly – but just as delicious – catering options, like street food stalls, sharing platters, and buffets.

Budget Catering Options

If you’ve got less than £5,000 to spend on food and drink, but you still have a sizeable guest list there are plenty of ways you can still ensure your guests don’t go hungry and that the drinks are flowing.

Instead of a traditional three-course sit-down meal, consider options like a buffet, a BBQ, food stalls, hog roasts, or sharing platters, which cost a lot less due to the ease of serving and the fact that they are easy to make in large quantities.

Couples on a really small budget should consider afternoon teas, which can be a very budget-friendly option.

Catering Options For £5,000+

For £5,000 or more you have the flexibility to explore more traditional seated meals, having more courses, or getting creative with multiple food stalls.

This, of course, depends on the size of your guest list as you’ll find £5,000 doesn’t stretch very far when you’re trying to feed 250 people. Remember, if you’re having more guests coming in the evening you’ll need to feed them too (or you’ll find the dance floor empties very quickly!).

You also need to factor in the cost of alcohol and soft drinks if you want to provide these. On a mid-range budget, it can be a nice touch to pay for wine, beer, fizz, and soft drinks during the daytime and then have a paid bar in the evening.

Luxury Catering Options For £10,000+

The catering world is your oyster (and you can probably afford to serve oysters!) if you have over £10,000 allocated to your wedding catering.

Feeling generous?

Then your guests will be delighted if the drinks include a free bar all night, cocktail stations, craft ales, and fun touches like gin trucks or alcohol-tasting stations, which double up as entertainment.

When it comes to the food, think about the sort of vibe you want to create. If you’re hoping for a traditional and formal affair, stick to the classic sit-down meal. You can make it extra special though by adding some theatre-style cooking with chefs at live stations around the room.

As a couple, think about what your favourite foods are and have fun with them. Love pizzas? Why not have an outside pizza oven for guests who get peckish in the evening. More of a sweet tooth?

A doughnut wall looks and tastes amazing.

Wedding dresses and suits range massively in price and so the percentage of your budget you spend on outfits really depends on how important wearing a certain designer or style is to you.

If you look carefully you can find incredibly fashionable and beautifully-made dresses on the high street or opt for a second-hand designer dress or suit.

If your outfit is a really important and key aspect of your day then you can push the boat out with custom-made options, although be ready for a hefty price tag for these! For grooms, the cheapest option is to hire a suit for the occasion rather than buy one.

When it comes to outfits you also need to make a decision about what your plans are for bridesmaids’ and wedding ushers’ outfits. It’s a lovely touch to pay for the dresses and suit hire for your ushers (after all you asked them to be in your bridal party!) so if you can make sure to set some money aside for the outfits and any alternations that might be needed.

Wedding dresses for under £500:

If you’re hoping to spend hundreds rather than thousands on your dress then don’t despair, you can still take to the aisle in a stunning gown that is worthy of your big day. The high street has lots of brands that have dreamy dresses. Look at Whistles, ASOS, Monsoon, Phase Eight, French Connection, Ted Baker, and Needle & Thread. Some bridal boutiques have sample sales at the end of a season too and designer dresses that were once over a thousand often go for a lot less.

Wedding dresses for £500 – £2000:

On average, British brides spend around £1400 on their wedding dress, so be prepared when you go into a bridal boutique to see many prices around this figure. If you’ve got up to £2000 to spend on a wedding dress then you’ve got a lot of dresses to choose from! Many bridal boutiques stock dresses in this price category and you should keep a look out for brands and designers like Grace Loves Lace, Catherine Deane, Morilee, Maggie Sottero, Vera Wang White, Pronovias, and Charlie Brear.

Wedding dresses over £2000

If you’re putting over £2000 towards your dream dress you can look at high-end designer options like Philippa Lepley, Vera Wang, Temperley, Monique Lhuillier, Jenny Packham, Reem Acra, and Oscar de la Renta. You could make the experience even more personalised and special by going down the custom-made route and working with a dress designer to create something completely unique.

A stylish event calls for a stylish arrival, so don’t overlook how you’re going to get around on your big day.

There are lots of options to choose from depending on your personal likes and the style of your wedding, including horse and carriages, vintage cars, cool trucks, and Routemasters.

On average, couples tend to spend around £500 – £1000 on their transport depending on the distance and how many people they’re transporting of course.

DIY Wedding Transport

If you don’t have wiggle room in the budget for transport, but you still want to arrive in a memorable way, you’ll need to think outside the box. If you’re keen cyclists how about arriving on a tandem?

Come from a farming family? A tractor would be a fitting chariot for the day! Or if you know a friend or family member who has a sports car or vintage car, ask if they’d do you the honor of driving you to the ceremony (for free of course!).

Flowers are a key decor element at most weddings, and unless you really don’t like flowers (is that even possible?), it’s a lovely touch to have at least a few arrangements dotted around the venue, on the tables and as bouquets and buttonholes.

For some couples, flowers are extremely important, so if this is the case, you may want to dial up the percentage of your budget to 15 or 20% because beautifully arranged blooms don’t come cheap!

Wedding flowers for under £500

Working to a smaller budget, but still want fabulous flowers?

You’ll need to get your creative juices flowing and think about doing some of the arrangements yourself or asking a talented friend or family member to help you.

You can save thousands on flowers by sourcing them at flower markets a couple of days before (it’s usually an early start though!) and making loose natural arrangements for your tables yourself.

You could still ask a florist to make your bouquet and buttonholes however as these are more complicated and take more time and skill. You can get some incredibly natural-looking faux flowers these days too, which you could use alongside real blooms to make your decor look more floral.

Wedding flowers for £500 – £1500

If you’ve got a mid-range budget for flowers, you can afford all the traditional wedding flowers like bouquets, buttonholes, and table arrangements, but you still need to keep an eye on things like using seasonal blooms (much cheaper for the florist to source) and choosing a florist who is near your venue so you don’t end up paying for transport costs.

At this price range, you might still want to add some of your own flowers or floral decor to amplify the effect. Remember to get a few quotes as florist prices differ around the country and also depending on the florist’s level of expertise.

Wedding flowers over £1500

With over £1500 to spend on blooms, you can get creative with ideas like floral arches, larger statement urns or table runners for the ceremony table or top table.

Obviously, the more flowers you add, the more expensive it’ll get so be sure to discuss your maximum budget with each other before you get carried away in a sea of peonies, tulips, and lilies.

It might seem crazy for something made out of paper, but stationery can range hugely in price, so don’t just presume it’ll be cheap whatever the design.

In fact, stationery is quite an art and depending on your budget you can really go to town with cutting edge designs and amazing effects like laser cutting and fancy foils.

Stationery costs depend on the size of your guest list too of course. 30 invitations are naturally going to cost less than 100.

Free Wedding Stationery

Yes, believe it or not, your wedding stationery can actually cost you nothing, which is amazing if you’ve got a very small budget.

Obviously, you won’t be able to get physical invitations for free, but if you’re happy to send e-vites (digital invitations by email), then this is an area that you can make a real saving. Paperless Post is an excellent resource that allows you to customise templates for your wedding. This method is very eco-friendly too, if that’s something you’re focussing on at your big day.

Wedding Stationery For Under £200

There are plenty of ways to keep physical stationery costs down thanks to many high-quality online wedding stationery companies like Papier, Paperless Post, and Honeytree Stationery.

These companies have lots of lovely templates that you can personalise to fit your big day. To cut back on costs, don’t include things like inserts as that’ll keep the printing costs down too. With only £200 at your disposal, you might want to consider making your own stationery if you’re creative, as then you only need to pay for the materials and postage.

Wedding Stationery For Over £200

With more than £200 to spend you can afford to look at completely personalised options and different qualities of paper from leading stationers like Smythson, Quill London, Mount Street Printers and independent sellers on Etsy. Look into stylish options like letterpress invitations, foil stamping, embossing, and illustrated designs.

How much? For a cake?

Yes, the most extravagant and elegant wedding cakes can cost an eye-watering amount because of the man-hours, expertise and decor involved.

However, the cake doesn’t have to take a huge slice out of your budget. There are many different options to keep costs down, or if a confectionery centrepiece is your heart’s desire, by all means, put more than 1-2% of your budget towards a tasty tower.

Wedding Cakes Under £200

If you’ve got 100 guests to serve cake to it can be tricky to find something that looks good, tastes good and is good for your bank account all at the same time.

Fortunately, supermarkets like M&S and Waitrose do very chic cakes for a fraction of the price you’d pay a professional. Both these companies have cakes to serve 100 for £199.

You can take the costs down even further by “DIYing” your cake and simply buying individual tiers from supermarkets and then decorating them with flowers yourselves. Cheese towers instead of actual cakes are a much more budget-friendly option too, especially if you prefer savoury to sweet anyway.

Wedding Cakes Over £200

With £200 or more to spend on your cake you can speak to a cake maker and come up with a design personalised to your wedding and the big day – think special cake toppers, icing to match your colour scheme, an edible logo to match your stationery or a theme that you both adore.

We’ve seen everything from Harry Potter and Star Wars wedding cakes to a pile of edible suitcases and stack of the couple’s favourite books in cake form!