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If you had one who paid for your wedding ?

(103 Posts)
Floradora9 Wed 12-Aug-26 15:14:53

I am reading a book about the Royal family and was amazed to read that the Middletons insisted that they paid half of Catherine and William's wedding to the sum of £250,000.
We got married in 1965 I was an only child of a widowed mother who had her own career and she paid for every last thing apart from my dress . I paid for it myself and it cost £26 .
We had 100 guests to a sit down meal and I had two bridesmaids and she paid all their expenses too .
My mum was more than glad to foot the bills but looking back it was a lot . I turned 21 two months before the wedding and she said I would get nothing for thaat which was fair.

Grammaretto Thu 13-Aug-26 19:49:07

We were married in 1969. We were very young and my widowed mum made the decisions. She said we could only invite 30 people each and it was really hard to whittle it down.
Various aunties and family friends meant my own friends were restricted to coming on their own unless married!
We had our reception in a lovely neighbour's house which was bigger than ours.
I made sandwiches and DMiL made the cake. DFiL provided champagne and at least one of DH aunts and uncles weren't invited and were insulted for years to come.

Our own DS paid for their own weddings which sounded extortionate by my standards.

We helped with the cost of DD's wedding by paying for the "wedding breakfast" but her in-laws contributed too. I have no idea of the cost but hiring a castle, a ceilidh band, supper etc must have been expensive.

It was certainly lovely and DD did her own flowers, wore a second hand dress and enjoyed all the planning.

Greyduster Thu 13-Aug-26 19:09:21

Our wedding was fairly hastily arranged as DH - a soldier, we both were - was given a posting and we wanted to get married before he left. We paid for the wedding ourselves - a small number of family guests at Marylebone registry office and DH’s best friend and his wife gave us a buffet wedding breakfast and a cake at their house as their wedding present. As walking down an aisle in a long dress would have been anathema for me, and family members were coming from Wales and Yorkshire, it seemed sensible to have the wedding on neutral ground! We had our wedding night in a nice hotel, and then, six weeks later, he was off to Brunei and I wasn’t to see him again for another year. Apart from the fact that I had a new name, I didn’t feel married at all. When I eventually flew out to join him on his next posting, we had a lot of making up for lost time to do!

Retired65 Thu 13-Aug-26 19:00:28

My mum paid for the cars and gave me same amount of money that she gave my sister in 1972, I got married in 1988. She somehow worked out the value of the amount she gave me sister to the value of it in 1988. There was no evening do. My in-laws bought the wine but I had to pay corkage on it. Everything else I paid for including my wedding dress and the bridesmaid dress.

TanaMa Thu 13-Aug-26 18:45:11

My wedding dress was made for me by the Ladies' Dress shop where I did some modelling. I made my 6 Bridesmaid dresses and Pageboy's suit. I paid for my flowers. Parents paid for hotel reception and helped with the honeymoon expenses. As we missed a large part if the wedding reception, leaving to get our flight, my parents held a homecoming party for our return.

Tuliptree Thu 13-Aug-26 18:38:46

MartavTaurus

^good.....but reading these makes me realise just how privileged people are.^
That's true, but why would people realise that at the time? It's how it is.

I think it depends on your social awareness. It’s easier though for the better off not to be aware of their privilege - but clearly not true across the board.

Kfimbs Thu 13-Aug-26 18:34:41

1986. Held in my parents’ garden in a marquee they paid for, plus reception and cake. They paid for the wedding flowers too and my in-laws for the alcohol at the wedding. I made my dress and my bridesmaid made hers. I bought her shoes and mine. DH paid for the honeymoon and we both paid for the evening reception. My parents lived opposite the church so no car required to get there or back to the reception. My inlaws made a significant contribution to the purchase of the house we still live in when we bought it 7 years after the wedding.

MartavTaurus Thu 13-Aug-26 18:29:50

good.....but reading these makes me realise just how privileged people are.
That's true, but why would people realise that at the time? It's how it is.

Knittypamela Thu 13-Aug-26 18:25:21

Dad paid for the reception. Sister in law paid for the cake. I think the groom paid for cars and suit hire. I paid for flowers. My cousin made the bridesmaids dresses.

WhiteSwan63 Thu 13-Aug-26 17:55:59

When my DH and I were married we wanted to pay for the wedding ourselves. At the reception my dad said please let me pay for this reception at least so we let him write us a check for about 200 pounds and that was it. It was a very cheap wedding.

4allweknow Thu 13-Aug-26 17:50:40

1966 Dad (or parents) paid for it all. Had my dress, bridesmaids and two flower girls dresses made too. 100 at wedding, reception, dinner but there was no dancing etc organised. Near Christmas and hotel had a festive event planned but our guests were invited to join in after the meal..We paid for honeymoon and the
gifts for the bridal part.

cookiemonster66 Thu 13-Aug-26 17:11:35

ME - personally - both times! paid for everything!

Floradora9 Thu 13-Aug-26 16:44:18

I found this onlin
www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Did+Catherine+Middleton%27s+parents+contribulte+to+her+wedding+to+prince+William+%3F&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

stewaris Thu 13-Aug-26 16:41:53

Should have said they weren't expected to pay and my parents didn't want any help. This was 1976.

stewaris Thu 13-Aug-26 16:40:32

My parents paid for the reception, taxi's etc. OH and I paid for the rest. I was the eldest of four and we weren't a rich family. OH's family were richer than we were but didn't contribute at all.

Frenchgalinspain Thu 13-Aug-26 16:32:00

We were married by The Justice of the Peace 32 years ago in The Madrid Capital.

Our honeymoon was spent in Japan which was what we had both desired verses a catered Wedding and a dress that I would wear once.

We are still together and have married twin daughters and four grandchildren ( 2 boys & 2 gals ).

TwiceAsNice Thu 13-Aug-26 16:12:12

Married in 1972 with 70 guests. Parents paid for it all except my dress and bridesmaids dresses which I paid for. Fiancée paid for the rings and honeymoon ( 5 days in Tunisia for £37 each . )

My dad had a lot of brothers and sisters so I only had a few friends . I was only 19, what a mistake that turned out to be!

jocork Thu 13-Aug-26 16:07:53

My mum was a widow and she gave me £2000 to spend as I wished. We had 100 guests for a 3 course reception meal and paid for everything except the wine and champagne which my FiL paid for. I made my own dress so the cost was less than the cheapest one I could have bought. The reception was at the restaurant near Burford which is now run as a pub by Jeremy Clarkson. When my DS got married I gave him the same amount, much of their wedding being paid for by my DiL's family. If my DD gets married I may struggle to do the same for her unless I've managed to downsize by then.

WelshPoppy Thu 13-Aug-26 16:06:36

Hubby and I did.

DeeAitch56 Thu 13-Aug-26 16:05:01

Wedding paid for by my.husband and I,
Only 11 guests, buffet paid for by in-laws
Honeymoon = 1 night in a local hotel paid for by friends

CoolMaximus Thu 13-Aug-26 15:45:28

When my DD got married they organised it all themselves, and we contributed £10000. I think the whole thing cost about £20000. We gave a similar amount of money to DS1 and DDIL but the big wedding they planned didn’t happen because of covid. They ended up just having 15 of us at a registry office. It was a lovely day made all the more memorable because of the circumstances and they used the money we gave them for a house deposit - much more sensible. I know that DDIL sometimes bemoans not having had a big party and she never got to wear the dress she had made.

Juneandarchie1 Thu 13-Aug-26 15:42:46

1976, church wedding. mum & dad paid for the reception. I paid for everything else. Didn’t have a night time party as we couldn’t afford it, we’d just bought our first house.

CoolMaximus Thu 13-Aug-26 15:38:10

My parents, who were not very well off, paid for my first wedding. The guests were mostly friends of my parents and parents in law. The marriage only lasted 2 years and my mother seemed more upset about the fact that they’d “wasted all that money on the wedding” than the fact my husband had left me. My DH and I paid for our wedding and invited our own friends. The caterer was a friend and did the catering for free as a wedding present with food we bought.

Missiseff Thu 13-Aug-26 14:50:52

My first one in 1982, my parents paid. Me & my DH paid for our 2nd. Mum told me they weren't paying as they'd already paid for one. We didn't expect them to at all, but it would've been nice if they'd offered to pay for my flowers or something grin

Lemonred Thu 13-Aug-26 14:33:57

We married in 1975, my parents paid. It was supposed to be split with his parents (they discussed it before). But they never paid their half. Fortunately my Mother had prepared for that eventuality, and wore a smug ‘I told you so’ face for a long time. 😁 She was rarely wrong about anything, a real good judge of people.

JenniRen Thu 13-Aug-26 14:31:39

"and the brides parents to invite the guests."

Oh yes!
The invitation was very formal and printed by a local stationer.
RSVP