Every bride wants their big day to be special, but that's no reason to break the bank paying for it.
A wedding lasts a few hours, but marriages last for years - and worrying about debt isn't the best way to start married life. It can cause stress, lead to arguments and force you to delay important plans, like buying a house or starting a family.
Yet recent research* from debt management provider debtadvisorycentre.co.uk indicates that around 5 million people got into debt to pay for their wedding.
 What we found…
At Debt Advisory Centre, we know that people end up with debt problems for all kinds of reasons. But one-off events like weddings can have a much bigger impact on your finances than you might expect. That's why we've written this article - to share what other brides (and grooms) have to say about borrowing to fund their special day.
We found that:
- 17% of the married couples we asked had borrowed to pay for their wedding
- 34% of those people were still repaying that money
- 46% of them wished they hadn't borrowed so much - or at all.
How can brides avoid those problems?
The simplest answer is: don't borrow. But that's not always the case. Sometimes, there's nothing wrong with a bit of credit, as long as you're confident you can repay it without pushing your finances too far.
In other words, if you're thinking of borrowing, you'll need to calculate how much you can realistically afford to borrow. To do that, you'll have to figure out how much you'll be able to put towards your wedding debt each month.
- Don't forget to take your existing commitments into account, including the monthly cost of repaying any debts you already have.
- And don't forget your finances aren't set in stone. They're almost certain to change if you're planning some big change, like buying a house, moving in together or having a baby.
It all underlines the importance of budgeting. The better you understand your finances, the better you should be able to plan your borrowing, so you can clear your debt as fast as you can, without committing yourself to payments that put your finances under too much strain.
*Consumer Intelligence carried out online interviews with a nationally representative sample of 2,202 people between 31st July and 5th August 2013. Figures have been extrapolated to fit 2013 ONS population projections of 50,371,000 UK adults.