How much does a wedding cost in the UK?
Around £20,000 for eighty guests, but the average doesn’t tell you much. What matters is knowing which levers move the bill, and which ones nobody will notice.
· 6 min read
~£20,000
Key figurefor about eighty guests, with catering and drinks making up almost half.
You’ll hear £12,000, £20,000 or £35,000 depending on the source. None of those figures is wrong; they simply answer different questions. The same wedding, with the same suppliers, costs nearly a third more on a Saturday in June in London than on a Friday in March elsewhere in the country.
Rather than an average, think in two parts: what depends on the number of guests, and what doesn’t. It’s the distinction most couples discover too late.
What depends on the number of guests
Catering, drinks, some of the décor and the stationery. That’s half the budget, and it’s the only place where a decision made in January changes everything.
Allow between £50 and £130 per guest depending on the level of service. Ten more people isn’t ten per cent more budget: it’s roughly £750 for a classic wedding. A whole extra table is close to £1,000.
What doesn’t depend on the number of guests
The venue, the photographer, the outfits, the band or DJ, the rings, hair and make-up. Whether there are sixty of you or a hundred and forty, those lines barely move. That’s why a small wedding isn’t proportionally cheaper: the fixed costs are shared among fewer people.
- Venue hire: £1,700 to £6,700, often for a whole weekend
- Photo and video: £1,100 to £3,600, the only thing you’ll still have in ten years
- Outfits: £950 to £4,300, alterations included
- Music: £550 to £2,100 depending on DJ or band
The three levers that really work
The first lever is the date. A Friday or a Sunday out of season brings the whole thing down by 10 to 25%, suppliers included. It’s the only lever that moves every line at once.
The second is the guest list. Work on it before anything else, because it drives half the budget. A simple rule: if you haven’t spoken to someone in two years, they won’t be offended not to be invited.
The third is corkage. Some venues let you bring your own wine for a fee per bottle. Over a hundred and twenty guests, the difference runs into thousands of pounds. Ask at the first meeting; it’s rarely in the brochure.
What doesn’t work
Cutting back on the photographer, the sound system or the number of waiting staff. Those are the three savings everyone sees on the day, and the only ones your guests will talk about.