Your wedding is the most special day of your life, but it can also be the most expensive – and costs are rising. In fact, a survey from wedding insurance specialist WeddingPlan has found that the average cost of a wedding in the UK has risen by nearly 15% in the last six years, and now stands at a whopping £24,000.
Salary sacrifice
This average cost has not only risen from the £21,000 figure of 2010, but it isn’t far below the average UK salary of £27,600, easily making it one of the biggest outlays of a person’s life.
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Considering how much time people spend planning the big day and how much of a celebration people are hoping for, it’s no wonder the cost quickly ramps up. The survey found that 47% of couples spend an average of one to two years planning their wedding, with 94% conducting online research to give them a helping hand. And, given that 44% want a full-on celebration complete with daytime and evening festivities, it’s easy to see how prices can escalate.
It’s even easier when you consider how many people the happy couple will need to feed and entertain – couples typically invite between 50 and 100 guests, with food and drink taking up 27% of the budget. However, it’s the cost of the venue itself that can eat up the largest part of the budget – an average of 63% – while the honeymoon accounts for 6% overall.
Protect your investment
There’s also been a clear shift in tradition, with the age-old custom of the bride’s family paying for the wedding thought to be out of date. This means that the happy couple themselves will typically have to stump up the cash – with a suitable savings accountbeing vital – but given the cost involved, doesn’t it make sense to protect your investment?
Insurance is an essential component for many other parts of life, and it’s also growing in popularity for weddings, with 88% of survey respondents saying that they considered insurance to be an important part of their wedding. And with good reason – it’s always wise to be prepared, particularly with such huge amounts of money at stake, and with so many aspects of the day out of your control, it makes senses to have everything covered.
Of course, it’s never nice to think of anything ruining your big day, but what if the venue had to cancel, the band was a no-show or extreme weather flooded the church? These things may be disastrous, but with the right kind of insurance, at least you wouldn’t be out of pocket. Be on the lookout for a suitable policy and have peace of mind that your day will run as smoothly as possible.
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