The Wedding Shop, the UK’s largest independent gift list service, are pleased to announce their new partnership with leading luxury gift and designer homeware store, Amara.
With the 2018 wedding season upon us, new research from American Express reveals that approximately a third (32%) of Brits will attend at least one wedding this year, spending an average of £303 on each event. These costs can soon stack up, and with UK adults planning to attend on average three weddings in 2018, this could result in a national wedding guest bill of £15 billion, In fact, the total cost of being a guest this season (£909) will amount to more than the average amount a couple spends on their wedding rings (£809).
There has been a dramatic shift in terms of wedding traditions and trends in recent years. In fact, 55% fewer couples have had church weddings in the last five years than 40+ years ago, according to new research from jewellery insurance provider Protect Your Bubble.
The research also revealed a sharp decline in the number of couples expecting the brides’ parents to cough up for the cost of the wedding and those choosing to live separately until their wedding day, which were down 68% and 78% respectively over the same period.
However, some traditions that had previously waned in popularity in recent decades appear to be making a comeback.
Many couples opt for a cheap wedding abroad, especially as the average UK wedding is now said to cost over £25,000 while the average cost of a wedding abroad is more like £7,000. There are more than financial costs to take into account, as more of us become more eco-conscious, many couples also tot up the carbon cost of their weddings. The average wedding costs between 14-62 tonnes of carbon (the average carbon footprint of one person for one year is 14 tonnes).
Flights add the biggest chunk to the carbon cost so think about the location of your wedding if you want to keep your carbon footprint down. Count on Me, a Dorset-based organisation committed to cutting carbon, has worked out the carbon footprint of different wedding destinations: