What a UK wedding costs: the figures and why they differ

Ask what a wedding costs in the UK and you will get several different answers, all from respectable surveys. The figures are close enough to plan with, provided you know what each one measures.

The headline figures

• Bridebook puts the average UK wedding at £20,604 in its 2026 figures, excluding the honeymoon and engagement ring.
• Bridebook's UK Wedding Report 2025, from a survey of about 7,000 engaged and married couples, gave £20,822, almost unchanged on £20,775 the year before.
• Hitched's survey of over 3,000 couples who married in 2024 gave a higher average of £23,250.

Why the numbers disagree

Each survey asks different couples and counts different things. Whether the honeymoon, rings or outfits are included moves the total by thousands of pounds. An average is also pulled upward by a small number of very large weddings, so many couples spend less than the headline figure and London weddings often spend more.

Planning with an average

• Start from your guest count. Catering, venue size, stationery and production all scale with it.
• Separate fixed costs (venue hire, the registrar) from per-guest costs (food, drink, name cards).
• Hold back a contingency. Travel and delivery charges are easy to forget, especially for venues outside a supplier's home area.
• Ask every supplier for a written proposal or quote, so you compare like with like.

Where production fits

Lighting, sound, a dancefloor and effects are often what guests remember from the evening, and they are priced by package. As a reference point, our own production packages start at £600 for the Essential Experience and run to £2,000 for the Luxury Experience. A DJ package starts from £450 for six hours. Every enquiry gets a written proposal for the date and venue, so you know the full figure before you commit.