Guide
How much does a UK wedding cost?
The typical UK wedding comes to around £20,000, or roughly £275 a guest outside London and higher in the capital, based on industry surveys for 2026. But the average matters far less than your own cost per guest, because nearly every cost scales with the number of people.
Cost per guest is the real number
Divide your budget by your guest count and you get the figure that tells you the most. Venue hire, catering, drinks, favours, stationery, even the size of the cake: almost everything moves with the headcount. So if a £20,000 budget is spread across 80 guests, that's £250 a head; across 120 guests it's £167 a head, and the day will feel very different. Comparing your per-guest figure to the typical UK spend is the quickest reality-check there is.
Where the money goes
As a rule of thumb, venue and catering take about half the budget. The rest is shared across the things people remember: photography and video, attire and beauty, flowers and décor, entertainment, rings, transport, stationery and the cake. It's worth setting aside a contingency too, because small overruns add up across that many suppliers.
The guest list is the biggest lever
If your budget feels tight, the single most powerful change is usually the guest list. Because venue and catering are roughly per-person, trimming or adding guests moves the total more than almost any other decision. Cutting a daytime guest list and inviting more people to the evening is a common way to bring the number down without losing the celebration.
The hidden costs to reckon with
Many quotes show a headline price that isn't the final figure. Watch for:
- Service charge: often 10% to 15%, added to catering and bar.
- VAT: some venue, catering and marquee quotes are shown before 20% VAT, which is a large sum on a big line.
- Gratuities: tips for suppliers on the day.
- Extras: corkage, overtime, supplier travel and parking.
Reading the small print on every quote, and checking whether a price is "plus VAT", keeps your headline budget honest.
The averages here are a general guide, not a target. Your wedding can sit happily either side of them. Always get your own quotes before you budget or commit to a supplier.
Build your own budget
Our free wedding budget calculator works out your cost per guest against the typical UK figure, reckons the hidden costs, and checks it against what you can save. Private to your device.