Results Of The National Wedding Survey 2019
This is an insight into weddings held in 2019, before the ‘pandemic’. A guide to costs, venues, and all things wedding day. Due to the severe lack of proper weddings in 2020, this is the most up-to-date information available. See how your plans compare to the averages of 2019.
The Average UK Wedding in 2019
So how much was an average wedding in 2019?. This changes from year to year and the 2019 cost was marginally lower than in 2018.
Almost half of the couples’ married in 2019 had some contribution towards their wedding costs from parents. Mostly their weddings were paid from savings with 20% using credit cards and 10% taking out a loan.
Top 5 Wedding Costs
How are couples spending their wedding budget? The order of priority generally stays the same from year to year. The venue was the single most costly part of a wedding. The honeymoon comes next.
Wedding Venue
The choice of wedding venue was responsible for the biggest spend in 2019. It was down by 3% on the previous year.
For the first time, in 2019, hotels dropped to 2nd place behind country houses and stately homes. The draw of having exclusive venue use combined with that extra special treatment proved to be very popular with couples.
The Honeymoon
Often combined with an annual holiday, the average cost in 2019 was just under £5000.
The most popular honeymoon destination in 2019 was The Maldives with 12% of couples choosing this small group of islands in the Indian Ocean. 75% of couples planned a honeymoon. Short breaks to Italy, Spain, and Greece were popular overseas locations. The South West of the UK and Scotland ranked high in UK honeymoons.
Wedding Food
From nibbles, the wedding breakfast, hog roast, ice cream, pizzas, and the buffet, a lot of food was consumed in 2019. Total average cost, £3750.
Engagement Rings
Total average cost £4000
Drinks
Celebratory drinks for the toast, wine for the dinner tables, soft drinks came in 4th on the list of expenses at a whopping £2500.
Engagement
68% of couples met in person despite the rising use of dating apps. At work or through your friends and family accounted for more than a third of meetings. At a pub or club and at university both came in more popular than Tinder, with only 8% of couples meeting there. 0% of our couples said they’d met on their commute.
Over 40% of couples got engaged on holiday, making it the most popular way by far. Valentine’s Day only accounts for 2% of engagements with Christmas, birthdays, and engagements being very popular.
Social media is a dynamic and important part of the modern-day. Almost 50% of couples announced their engagement within 24 hours and 10% within the first hour. 25% spent more on decor for better social media images and 42% shared their wedding journey online.
Average Ages
The average age of couples being married is creeping up. In 2019 the average bride was 32 and the groom was 34. This is up one year for each from 2018.
How Many Guests?
Recent years have seen larger daytime guest numbers. 2019 saw the average being 83. An additional 21 people were invited to join in with the evening celebrations.
Dress In Style
The wedding ceremony and the first look at the bride have a huge impact on the guests. Almost every bride went for a traditional wedding dress spending an average of £1350 for the perfect gown.
Grooms had a much smaller budget of £452 to buy their suit.
Break With Tradition
American traditions appear to be on the rise, while British ones are falling out of favour. The majority of couples no longer have page boys or flower girls, and very few bother to toss the garter and carry a silver sixpence. Big, multi-day hen and stag ‘events’ have taken their lead from US bachelor and bachelorette parties. in 2019, you happily spent £555 on the stag and £475 on the hen.
Bridesmaids and Groomsmen
The average number of Bridesmaids and Groomsmen continues to rise slowly. 20% of couples had more than 4 with the average being 3. The focus seems to be shifting towards having best friends as a big part of a wedding day to the exclusion of page boys and flower girls.
Who’s Name?
An increasing number of brides, 25%, keep their own names after marriage often adopting a double-barreled surname. It is still most popular for brides to adopt their partner’s surname, but there’s been a rise in keeping your own surname or hyphenating them both. 8% of you can’t bear to part with your maiden name.
Gifting
20% of couples had a gift list for guests to choose from. The most popular options though were asking for cash or honeymoon vouchers.
DJ
Wedding music is an essential part of any wedding day. The average fee in 2019 was just under £600
