Our 2017 wedding report: how much does a wedding cost in 2017?

We love keeping up to date with our brides and letting newly engaged couples know exactly what to expect with the latest wedding statistics. That's why we've put together a 2017 wedding report of 7,500 brides who got married last year, to give you the inside scoop on what to expect while wedding planning. How do your numbers stack up?

The ceremony

Civil ceremonies have stayed very popular with our brides, with 65% of ceremonies being conducted by a registrar, while church ceremonies follow with 35%. We're definitely seeing a huge rise in 'unusual' wedding ceremonies, which include humanist, spiritual and overseas wedding ceremonies - they're catching up to the more traditional religious ceremony, with 27.5% of the vote. 

Saturday still remains by far the most popular wedding day with brides, with Friday coming up in second place with 23% of the vote, but these days couples are saving money by marrying on a less 'desirable' day, such as a weekday or a Sunday. We predict that Thursdays will eventually become the new Friday - watch this space!

One big trend that we're seeing is that there's no longer a distinct 'wedding season'. Summer is, of course, still very popular, but these days more brides are opting for late summer dates, with 28.5% of weddings taking place in August and 23.1% in September. This is even spilling into Autumn, with a perhaps surprising 10.8% of brides choosing October for their wedding date. December was also another popular month from those responding, who felt that it was a romantic time of year for a winter wedding, and also worked well with annual leave and opened the door for long-haul honeymoon destinations. We think that the traditionally less popular months will continue to book up as brides look for cheaper and less competitive wedding dates. 

The guest list

Struggling to decide how many guests to invite to your wedding? In 2017, our brides invited on average 84 guests to the day, adding an extra 36 invitations for the evening for a total of 120 evening guests. 

The budget

The big one. Although the national average wedding spend is quoted as being around £27,000, we found that our budget-savvy brides spent a lot less than this, with an average spend of £16,500. 

Unsurprisingly, areas couples spend the most money on the venue, with an average cost of £4,450, and the honeymoon, which cost an average of £2,990. 

The fashion also racked up, with an impressive £2,000 average being spent on the bride's dress on average, while suit hire or purchase cost around £585 in total. This has risen since our last survey, which we're putting down to brides choosing more exclusive designers from boutiques offering high levels of customer care, and grooms opting for suits with unusual cuts, colours or linings.

Finally, extras included £960 spent on flowers and £245 spent on the wedding cake. 

According to money.co.uk, the average cost of a wedding in 2028 will increase to £29,838.73. 

Hopefully, this has given you some insight into the cost of weddings in 2017 - we can't wait to hear how our brides from 2018 and beyond get on! Sign up for our Wedding Planner here for a helpful step-by-step guide to planning, wedding budget tracker, guest list organisation and more.