Somewhere early in planning, most couples look up what a wedding costs. A number comes back. And for a moment the whole thing feels either out of reach or oddly like a target.
It is neither.
The short answer: the two biggest UK surveys put the average wedding at between £20,600 and £22,000. But a quarter of couples spend under £10,000 and a quarter spend over £26,000, so very few people are having the average wedding. The useful question is not what weddings cost. It is what matters enough to you to pay for.
What do the figures say?
Two surveys are quoted most often.
- Hitched asked 2,020 newlyweds about weddings in 2025. The average came out at £21,990.
- Bridebook’s 2026 report, from more than 7,000 couples, put it at £20,604.
Close enough to agree with each other. Both include everything from the venue to the rings, and both are averages across the whole of the UK.
Why is the average not much help?
Because it hides the spread.
In the Bridebook figures, 25% of couples spent under £10,000. Another 25% spent over £26,000. Hitched found that weddings with more than 100 guests averaged £35,591.
That is not one kind of wedding with small variations. It is several different kinds, added together and divided. A registry office and a long lunch for twenty. A marquee for a hundred and fifty. The average sits somewhere between them and describes neither.
So if your budget is £8,000, you are not having a cheap wedding. You are having one of the most common kinds there is.
Where does the money go?
Mostly, on people.
Hitched put the average spend per guest at £272, up from £261 the year before. Bridebook found couples invited 11% fewer guests to the reception than a year earlier, with the average wedding now at 80.
Read together, those say something quite gentle. Couples are inviting fewer people and looking after them better.
It also means your guest list is the single biggest decision in your budget. Ten fewer guests changes the sums more than almost any amount of shopping around.
Why do so many couples overspend?
Hitched found that 56% of couples went over their original budget. Only 32% stayed on it.
That is not carelessness. It is usually one of three things.
- The budget was set before anyone had seen a real price.
- The small things were never counted. Postage, alterations, the taxi home.
- Every decision got treated as important, so nothing could be cut.
The first one is the easiest to fix. Get real prices before you fix your number, not after.
How do you decide what is worth it?
Try this before you open a spreadsheet.
- Each pick your top two. The things you would be sad to scrimp on. Food, photographs, music, the dress, having everyone there. Do it separately, then compare.
- Each pick one thing you do not care about. Favours, a cake, cars, chair covers. You are allowed not to care.
- Spend properly on the first list. Spend little or nothing on the second. Be sensible about everything in between.
A wedding where the food was wonderful and there were no favours is not a budget wedding. It is a wedding that knew what it was for.
One photographer on The Lineup puts it more simply:
“My biggest value is simply be you, do what makes you happy.”
What do Dorset suppliers charge?
Real numbers help more than averages. These are starting prices shared by suppliers on The Lineup in October 2026.
- Wedding stationery from £2.50 an item
- Canapés from £16 per person
- Bridal hair from £190
- A wedding singer from £400
- A three-tier cake from £500
- A celebrant from £600
- Full-day photography from £1,995
Every one of them will vary with your numbers, your date and what you ask for. But it is a truer starting point than a national average.
What should you ask suppliers about price?
- What does your starting price cover, and what usually gets added?
- What do most couples like us end up spending with you?
- Where is there flexibility? Fewer hours, a weekday, a smaller package.
- When are payments due?
A good supplier will answer all four without flinching. If someone will not give you even a rough figure until you have had a long call, that tells you something about how the rest will go.
A calmer way to do the sums
We ask the suppliers at our Showcases to be open about what they charge, and the printed guide on the day includes starting prices where suppliers share them. So you can do some real arithmetic before you go home.
The next one is on Sunday 31 January 2027 at the RNLI College in Poole. See what is planned for the Poole Showcase, read what to ask suppliers at a wedding fair, or start with our free wedding planner when you are ready.
Figures: the Hitched National Wedding Survey, published January 2026 (2,020 newlyweds), and the Bridebook UK Wedding Report 2026 (7,000+ couples).