Weddings have become very expensive grand affairs over the years. Many brides go above and beyond to ensure that their weddings become unforgettable and elaborate, often at a very high cost. Is a big expensive wedding necessary?  What has made weddings so expensive? Do you need to worry about not having the big sums for your big day? This series discusses big weddings and whether it is important at all to have one.

Growing up I always dreamt about a big wedding. I dreamt about having a fairy tale big wedding that everyone was going to talk about for months. There was going to be numerous flowers, amazing décor, excess food and drinks, an after party and several dress changes. My wedding day was going to be awesome and unforgettable, after all, it’s just one day, and I can only have one wedding day.

I almost got married a few years ago, but I didn’t feel ready, and the thought of leaving my parents’ house to basically manage my own  home and have children who depended on me was scary. Looking back now, I realise I was still so immature in many ways, and I could have been an unintentionally problematic wife. Yes, I could have made it work, but I feel deep down that I made the right decision in not rushing into marriage then simply because many of my peers had started leaving the marriage market.

I’ve had the opportunity to attend several weddings, and the more I attended the more changes I made to my own future wedding plans. In the beginning, I was adding more items to my own list in order to make it meet the current “standards”. Then I started noticing some things and listening to former brides. Quite an alarming number of brides regretted spending so much on their weddings after the fact. A friend told me how much she regretted not purchasing a vehicle with the money she used to organise her wedding dinner. She was advising me for my own wedding.

So I thought about it, then compared all the weddings I had been to. Something else struck me. For some of those weddings, the bride and groom themselves didn’t spend much on the lavishness themselves. They had family and friends chipping in to give them their big day.

There’s nothing wrong with pulling all the stops when it comes to your wedding- if you can comfortably afford it. Every couple has a different budget based on their income and whether or not they are getting substantial help from friends and family.

So do you really need a big wedding for your day to be memorable? How do you budget properly for your wedding?