THE COST OF LOVE HOW MUCH DO COUPLES SPEND ON WEDDINGS?
ALL couples want to have the perfect wedding day, but figures have revealed that where people get married in the UK can have a hefty financial impact on the big day - with regional differences of nearly £12,000.
Findings from Bridebook show that couples getting married in the East Midlands this year do so for the least amount of money, at £13,461 on average. In London, the figure climbs to £25,450 - almost twice as much as the East Midlands. The North West sees £17,001 on average splashed on weddings - the second highest regional spend in the UK. Meanwhile, an average £15,976 is spent by couples who get married in the East of England, followed by the £15,957 that’s spent in the South West. As well as couples in the East Midlands, those who get married in the West Midlands tend to have cheaper weddings - with £14,922 being spent on the big day.
Weddings in Scotland cost £13,683 on average, and those in the Wales spend just over £14,000 - at £14,152.
Neary 4,000 respondents took part in the research, which excludes the cost of honeymoons.
Over a fifth of weddings took place in the South East - 825 of those in the survey - despite only 785 of the couples actually living there.
This means that people from other regions are travelling to get married in the South East.
Couples also travel to the South West to get married. Some 15% of marriages took place there, despite only 12% of couples in the survey living in the region.
While 10% of the couples that got married lived in London - 393 in all - just 4% of them chose to get married there on their wedding day.
Figures also show what engaged couples spend the most on.
The biggest cost is the venue which sees around £5,819 spent on it. Wedding cakes cost £318 on average but wedding dresses cost over four times more than this, at £1,329. Transport accounts for £470 of wedding costs while £290 is spent on stationery. Flowers clock up a massive £777 - some £200 more than grooms’ outfits, which cost £577. And in case you’re wondering, parents of the bride still pay for more than one in five weddings or 23%.