Pinch a fistful of salt – they’ve updated the ‘average wedding budget’ stats again. What to ignore and why.

Published by Claire Gould on February 2, 2026

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, instead of announcing a big ‘average’ wedding spend, the companies behind the research told us the lowest and highest amounts couples had spent on weddings in the previous year. No pressure, no ulterior motives – and I think it would be genuinely interesting! Since day one of English Wedding, I’ve been super sceptical of average wedding budget figures. It’s not just the impact they can have on couples, or the pressure to spend what’s perceived as a ‘normal’ amount on a celebration which should be deeply personal, not rooted in consumerism. My marketing degree covered market research in such depth that I can spot flawed statistics a mile away. And average wedding budgets make me nervous as hell. Here’s why.

Your wedding is your own, so everything is optional

The shift in how we plan our weddings around personality and individualism is real. Couples who cling onto this as a basis for everything they bring to their wedding day will win.

You can be married on top of a mountain. You can be married in a centuries-old Scottish castle. You can be married in a hotel up the road, and you can be married in your folks’ back garden. All of these are wonderful wedding choices, and none need to conform to an average wedding budget.

Make your own choices. Decide what’s important to you as a couple: it could be photography, or food and music. It could be an epic party, or a quiet afternoon celebration before you put the kids to bed.

Spend what you can afford – budget to spend 20% less than your max (because it’s so easy to go over).

There’s no average wedding

In the 90s, perhaps weddings were a bit more samey: this was before we’d embraced barn venues, celebrants or outdoor weddings in the UK. Hotels were really popular venues, and big old country houses had a stable share of the wedding market.

Venue packages made it easy with in house catering as standard, chair covers and table linens provided, styling pretty much only happened on wedding table tops and was simple because no one had invented the “tablescape”. (I bloody love a gorgeous tablescape!)

It was much easier to plan an ‘average’ wedding back in the day.

But now? We’re past the era of styled unique and unforgettable weddings. Far beyond unique, weddings are now personal and full of character. Everything from the time of day to the focus on ceremonies and unconventional decor means there’s really no average wedding any more: weddings have too much personality to ever be called average.

Average budgets aren’t there to help you

Why do big wedding marketing machines publish “average wedding budgets”? To help couples? Or to make headlines? After 20 years in the UK wedding industry, I know the answer.

These are national headline-grabbing statistics. They’re numbers a lot of people find shocking – it’s easy to look at it as spending thousands “just for one day”. That misses the point of what a wedding signifies to couples and families.

Nonetheless, average wedding budgets are there to get noticed. Their primary goal is not to help couples.

My personal take is that an average budget figure helps no one. They can be worrying, they can pile pressure on, they can prompt awkward discussions with families on who’s paying for a wedding and how much it will be.

In the end, the cost of your wedding is no one’s business but your own.

The market research is always basic

The latest “average cost of a wedding” press release to land in my inbox was on behalf of mega-directory Hitched. Their statistics came from a survey of 2k people they reached via email, community and Hitched social channels.

It’s only the average that people who use Hitched pay for their weddings. It’s not truly representative of the UK population. I doubt it includes an accurate proportion of Indian or Jewish weddings. It certainly won’t include many alternative weddings. Why? Because couples planning these types of weddings use different online resources: Smashing the Glass, Rock n Roll Bride, and Asiana Wedding Directory are less mainstream and cater better for all of these couples.

If you use the average cost of a wedding figures quoted by Hitched, just be aware they’ve only asked their own website users. 

Comparison is the thief of joy… and an average is something that compares everyone.

Plan and style your wedding for the two of you.

You don’t need to know “average wedding costs” – only what you can reasonably afford and want to spend on your wedding.

Never let anyone on the internet judge you for spending a lot, a little, or bang on the ‘average’ for your wedding day.

Don’t be pushed to spend more, or less, because of things you see online.

Knowing what other couples are spending is unhelpful – because this day should be about the two of you and the people you need around you to celebrate your commitment.

Your wedding is your day, and it can be literally anything.

Data source: Mischief PR for Hitched, part of The Knot Worldwide Inc.