What is the average amount one should spend on a beautiful wedding?

Thank you. I always like doing things myself so this sets my mind at ease a bit.

I think the average amount any person should spend on a wedding is what they can afford. The “wedding” is, afterall, the shortest part of marriage. I think the national average runs about $20,000…what a waste of money, espcially if you have to go into debt to pay for it.

I’m not in the same country as most of the people on here so I won’t give you a figure as it will most likely be wrong for the country you are in, but I think weddings are over rated. It’s the little things that really send people’s budgets out the window. Here are some money saving ideas, but still with a great wedding as the outcome:

• Rent as much as you can. You don’t need to buy things like cutlery and plates etc as you will most likely never use them all again unless you entertain lots of guests. It would be nice to keep the plate that the cake is on as a memory, but not all of the plates for guests. Rent vases, and table cloths, and floor mats (I knew a woman who paid $6000NZD for mats that I swear looked exactly like the ones already at the church….). Little things count. Like if you are really on a tight budget, the bride could go without arriving in a limo as people will remember her walking down the aisle more than they will remember her arriving. You could have the reception at your house or a friend’s house that has a roomy entertaining space instead of renting a hall or paying to take everyone somewhere fancy. If you have it at home you could make all of the food yourself which will cut back on lots of catering costs. Another idea that I have heard about is getting guests to pay for their own meal. Personally I think it’s a bit (insert word not allowed on fun advice here), but people that cannot afford to cater a large amount of people are really getting into it. I have been to two weddings where I had to pay for my own meal. Getting married in a public place like the beach or in a beautiful reserve would mean no cost of a hall or church, and would also mean less decorations needed all over the walls…. because there are no walls outside!! You don’t have to skimp and have a totally boring wedding, but if you incorporate one of these ideas (or other ideas) into your wedding you could save a lot of money that could be saved, used to pay off part of the mortgage, help pay for honeymoon etc. Congrats and I hope the day goes well :).

Without your specifications and preferences, I am afraid I would not be able to give you an exact figure or even an estimate because weddings typically depend on the size of your guest list, your location, where you want your reception to be, whether you want your wedding to be simple or grand, what type of food you want, etc. I can give you tips though on how to save on your wedding but still make it a beautiful event.

• Do as much as you can yourself—from creating your invitations to making your giveaways to decorating your reception area. You can ask the help of your family and friends with these tasks to make them much easier. Furthermore, if you have a mom or aunts that are excellent in cooking, you can save money on catering by asking them to cook or bake your cake. • Ask your friends to take a lot of photos of your wedding. I am not saying that you should replace the professional photographer, however, you can save a ton of money by supplementing him so that you wouldn’t need to pay your photographer his extended hours. For more info about how to do a beautiful wedding without blowing your budget read out: