Sales of engagement rings are at their highest in the lead up to the festive season, jewellers say, while a third of those who responded to a recent survey, by stag and hen do planners Chilli Sauce, picked Christmas Eve as the best day of the year to propose.
But if you are one of those with a new shiny ring on your finger, what are your chances of having a 2015 wedding that you can afford?
Can you afford to get married?
The typical spend on a UK wedding, according to the UK Alliance of Wedding Planners, is £21,000. But, of course, the “best day of your life” can be had for far, far less.
Work out a budget, and be prepared to compromise and negotiate to stick to it. Many a marriage has fallen apart over the debt from a spend that rocketed out of control.
If you don’t have enough money to afford even the most modest wedding – which can still be expensive – you might need to borrow. If so, look at the cheapest way and at how long you are going to need to pay it back.
If you qualify for a 0% interest credit card, for example, can you afford to repay the amount before the no-interest period runs out? There are other advantages to using a credit card (see panel) as it may give you extra protection if things go wrong.
When you’re trying to calculate costs, don’t forget to factor in the “wedding premium” – the extra you will be charged just for mentioning the word “wedding”. Consumer group Which? found last year that photographers, DJs and venues will add hundreds of pounds to their fee over an equivalent event on the same day.
Can you even get a venue?
“If you are getting married next year and want one of the more popular venues, and want it for a Saturday in July, you are unlikely to get it,” says Sandy Moretta, a wedding planner with the UK Alliance of Wedding Planners.
We put this to the test by speaking to a number of places that have won “best venue” in the preliminary rounds of the 2015 Wedding Industry Awards.
The Tythe Barn in Oxfordshire, for example, has two Saturdays left in the spring/summer, one in May and one in September. “People are now booking for 2016, or are starting to look at Thursdays rather than weekends,” says a spokeswoman. “You need to be booking a good year in advance.”
Grays Court in the centre of York, another regional winner, said it is fully booked every weekend between May and September 2015 and has already started taking bookings for as far ahead as summer 2017.
You have no chance of getting married on a UK beach next year. Beach Weddings Bournemouth, which claims to provide the only way to get married on the beach in England and Wales, has no weekend availability next year and only a few summer weekends for 2016.
For more modest venues, you might be luckier. A spokesperson for the three-star Belmont Hotel in Leicester, for example, which gets glowing reviews on tripadvisor.co.uk, told us it has lots of availability over the summer.
You also have every chance of securing a venue for “out of season” dates such as in February (not Valentine’s Day) and November – and the price will be considerably lower.
If you’re not fussy about where you marry, but want to do it in the next few months, check availability at weddingvenues.com. Many venues give discounts for late bookings.
If you are particularly keen on one place and flexible on dates, go on the waiting list – you are likely to get a discount if there is a cancellation. “This year I have had two couples who have had to cancel because they split up,” says Moretta. “People also cancel for other reasons such as if the bride falls pregnant.”
Even if you do find a venue, the battle is not over. You need to find a registrar (or in the case of a religious venue, the relevant religious person) who has availability on your chosen date and time. This can be a far from easy, especially if you do manage to get a weekend summer slot next year.
Hertfordshire County Council, for example, told us that while there are registrars available next year from the 80 its uses across the county, “most couples book a year to 18 months in advance”.
What can you expect to pay?
As a guide, in a Church of England church the fee will be £458 in 2015. This statutory fee includes the service (and the vicar), and publication and certificates of banns and marriage. If you are marrying in a church outside of your parish you need to add on a further £28 for publication of banns there. The fee does not include extras such as heating, the services of a verger, music (eg, organist, choir), bells and flowers.
For register office weddings, fees vary by local authority. By far the cheapest way is to use the council’s register office, where the fee is around £50 including the registrar.
The fee for a registrar to attend other approved venues varies between a typical £200 and £500. This does not include the cost of the room hire, which can add considerably more.
At Leicester’s Belmont Hotel, hiring the Rose Room, for example, which seats up to 110 guests, costs £450 on a Saturday, while The Tythe Barn in Oxfordshire is £5,200 on Saturdays in May to September next year, or £2,850 for Monday to Thursday winter weddings. Food and drink in both cases is extra and priced on a “bespoke” basis at the Tythe Barn, and at between £45 to £65 per person at the Belmont.
A number of hotel chains, including Holiday Inn and Old English Inns, do wedding packages for £999 all in.
How to keep costs down
Sometimes it’s the simplest things that can lead to the biggest savings. “Inviting fewer guests will probably lead to the biggest saving,” says Moretta. “But bear in mind that many venues have minimum numbers.”
One easy way to achieve this is to go for a weekday wedding. Not only will this be cheaper anyway for venue hire, but will also mean that fewer people can attend because of work and other commitments.
The time of day can also help save. “If you have an afternoon wedding you can feed people once rather than having to lay on a wedding breakfast and then a buffet,” says Moretta.
Just about everything else can be made or sourced second hand. Summer weddings lend themselves to this as you might be able to grow your own flowers, provide a picnic lunch, or hire a teepee or marquee rather than a hall.
However, winter weddings can also be cheap as candles and fairy lights can transform an evening reception and potentially hide a lack of expensive embellishments, says Moretta.
IF IT’S ‘FOR WORSE’
While a wedding might be the stuff of dreams, having to cancel it, or losing a venue or services because the supplier goes bust, is the stuff of nightmares. The best thing to do, initially, is to pay for anything pricey by credit card. This then gives you protection under the part of consumer law known as Section 75.
If you pay even partly for something costing between £100 and £30,000, the card company is jointly liable for the whole amount. This applies even if you only pay the deposit on the card. This gives valuable protection if the company or supplier goes bust, as you can claim directly from your card company.
A debit card will give similar protection under Chargeback. It is operated by Mastercard, Visa and Amex and is voluntary – unlike section 75 which is set in law – so you are not guaranteed a refund.
You might also want to consider wedding insurance. This can be invaluable if you have to cancel because, for example, someone key falls ill. But it is worth bearing in mind that most providers will not offer compensation if the bride or groom has a change of heart.
Consumer group Which? rates different wedding insurance policies at which.co.uk/money/insurance/guides/do-i-need-wedding-insurance/. Premiums for its cheapest recommended insurance products vary from £17 (covermywedding.co.uk) to £58 (John Lewis).
