How Much Does it Really Cost to Attend a Wedding?*

Don’t you just love when you can get everything you need outfit wise for an occassion from one shop? Especially an online shop that so regularly has great discounts such as 20% off and great sales. Yep, you must have guessed i’m talking about ASOS. When I needed something for a special occassion this summer I head straight there to put together an outfit that wouldn’t break the bank. With the help of a great sale that seemed to last all summer, I actually felt good for once when I was going out.

Dark Floral Hair Garland* RRP £12
Mini Moon Necklace* RRP £6
Crepe Crop Skater Dress in Strawberry* now £19
prom dress* RRP £45
All from ASOSHow great does this outfit look? I wore it to a wedding reception a while back. Yes another summer attending weddings as a guest but no closer than having one of my own. This is my least favourite topic of conversation at a wedding, and it ALWAYS comes up. As I edge closer to 30 (in just over 6 months time i’ll be 28) people get more and more interested in my business when it comes to relationships and marriage. Yes, I’m still a single mother. No, I’m not seeing anyone. Yes, I would like more children. Yes, I would like to get married. No, I don’t want set up with anyone. I sit there stirring my gin and tonic, staring off in the distance reeling off the same standard answers. And yes, sometimes I come home and cry/scream into a pillow, but having read some recent research carried out by Experian about how many couples argue about attending weddings of OTHER PEOPLE, I feel a little bit better about only having myself to worry about.

Did you know that almost a quarter of Britons have argued with their partner about the cost of attending other peoples weddings? I know in the past I have, so much so that while I was pregnant my ex guilted me into missing my cousin’s wedding due to the fact we needed the money for the baby. This is double the amount of single people who have missed friends & families nuptials due to cost. I can definitely see that being a thing, one of the main reasons I didn’t go to my cousin’s wedding was the cost in traveling home. Imagine that, on top of the gift, kitting out a family in wedding appropriate attire. Sometimes you need to pay for a hotel if the wedding isn’t near where you live, lets not forget very few weddings these days offer a free bar.. What’s worse is more than one in ten couples have estimated a spend over £800 each on attending weddings! I guess that also makes me feel a little bit better about only having myself (or occassionally) LM to fund. It’s been suggested that couples sit down at the start of wedding season and work out just how much they can afford to spend on seeing friends and family tie the knot. Lets face it, someone else’s wedding is never worth getting into debt over, no matter how much you want to attend.

And it’s not just the wedding. These days you can expect to be invited to a weekend long hen (or stag if you’re a male) party, often abroad. You don’t have to travel huge distances though. For example hen parties in Carrick on Shannon, over in Ireland, are extremely popular and offer something for every taste. Remember, though, not only will you need to budget for accommodation and flights but you’ll also need to have spending money to treat the bride-to-be to the weekend of her life.

Have you ever considered how much it costs you to attend someone else’s wedding?