It’s no secret that weddings are expensive and, despite the determination to stick to a predetermined budget, it’s easy to overspend on your big day. Even with all the budget-busting tips in the world at your disposal, there are unexpected costs that sneak up on you and leave you with less money than you thought. Not to worry; forewarned is forearmed. Here are a few expenses that people tend to overlook in the early planning stages. Hopefully knowing these will prevent some of the worst unexpected costs.
Registration
It costs money to get married, and not just because of the wedding expenses. According to the UK government website, you must give at least 28 full days’ notice at your local register office, and include details of where you intend to get married or form a civil partnership. You each need to pay a £35 fee when you attend the register office to give notice. You also have to pay £46 to register a UK marriage or civil partnership if you have the ceremony at a register office, but may be more at other venues, so be sure to ask the registrar or religious minister for details. The marriage or civil partnership certificate costs £4 on the day of the event or £10 after. Make sure you factor all these costs into your budget, and find out if your choice of venue will incur any extra costs.
Insurance
Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, especially at a wedding. You can prepare for little things like vows getting forgotten, or rings getting left behind in hotel rooms, but you can’t prepare for cancellations. With the average cost of weddings exceeding £24,000, you and your partner stand to lose a lot of money if things don’t go according to plan. Your wedding is the best day of your life, so you don’t want to spend the weeks leading up to it stressing out. Give yourself peace of mind by taking out wedding insurance. Specialist sites such as Wedinsure wedding insurance offer several levels of cover for issues such as cancellations, supplier failure, and rearrangement. For the low price of £20 you could get £2,500 to cover these big worries. Cover for bigger weddings can cost up to £195, but the amount of protection for your wedding also increases. So many people take out loans for weddings, so it’s worth considering some extra protection.
Unexpected guests
Believe it or not, you can end up with more guests than you expected at your wedding. A guest who RSVP’d “no” will turn up anyway, a clueless friend will show up with an uninvited plus one, or your cousin will bring her kids even though your invitation said no kids were invited. The last thing you want is to cause a scene or burn bridges by kicking people out. Instead, talk to the caterers about setting aside a few extra plates and place settings just in case. If no unexpected guests show up, then someone can have seconds!
I hope these three ideas have given you some food for thought, and can plan your big day accordingly. Let me know if you think of any other hidden expenses by leaving me a comment below 🙂
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