If you had one who paid for your wedding ?

My parents paid for everything initially. My dress was made by a local dressmaker. The bridesmaid, the groom’s sister, made her own dress and her small cousin’s. We had caterers in the church hall and none of the frills that today’s brides want. My sister had got married the previous year, so when my husband’s parents offered my parents a financial contribution, Dad told them what my sister’s wedding had cost and they paid the difference. They had a larger family plus my husband and I had more friends. I have no idea what it all cost but peanuts compared to many of today’s lavish occasions.
When my daughter got married, I paid one third, her Dad paid one third ( we were divorced by then) and the couple paid one third, but the groom’s Dad put money behind the bar.

I watched yet another ‘Royal’ programme the other night, but it was about the Middletons.

It showed the wedding, and said the dress cost £250,000 and it was paid for by the bride’s family.

No mention made of other wedding costs.

My own wedding, 1972, had about 40 guests, my widowed mum paid for the reception, a buffet, about £40 I think. I have the receipt somewhere.

My bridesmaid made her own and my dress.

The taxi was a blue Cortina.

A very small wedding at our local registrar office and a buffet for at our local pub. The buffet was cheap as the proprietor had never catered for a wedding before so we were an "experiment ". I paid for my cut price wedding dress and my mothers outfit and my bouquet. My cake was instead of a wedding present from my godfather.No bridesmaids as my best friend was heavily pregnant. Dad and my father in law paid half each for the food and Dad paid for the wedding car. Still married 52 years later.

I married in 1968. I only wanted a small wedding - 20 guests, no photographer apart from family. My parents paid for it. I bought the dress I intended to be my wedding dress but my mother so objected to it, there was a bit of a stand-off, because I refused to buy a second dress, but my godmother said that she would pay for it and I bought a dress for a fiver in a boutique in Reigate.

Parents paid for my first wedding in 1969 although I bought my own dress - a very trendy little thing from Kings Road Chelsea!
Fast forward to 2023, second marriage paid for by ourselves.

1981 Registry Office.. 12 people including us. DH wore suit he’d been best man in several times. I bought a dress and jacket. Lovely lunch at a wine bar, we paid for it but FIL paid for drinks. Friend did photos .

I gave my mother part of my wages as soon as I started working . Mum put it all in a savings account , she made sure I had a savings account
We had 100 guests at the wedding at 12shillings and 6pence a head , both savings accounts paid for the reception , we made the bridesmaids dresses between us and I made my wedding dress from a pattern in Woman’s Own magazine ,
We made a 3 tier wedding cake and a baker iced it for us

Groom paid for the honeymoon!

Ours was a really low-cost wedding at the local registry office in 1980 only 5 months after we met with just 21 attendees including us. We paid for the licence, banns and registry office costs, my dress was £25 in the C&A sale which my mum and dad paid for along with the little Juliet cap and veil. We had a "reception" after the mid-day wedding at my mum and dad's and we all chipped in making sandwiches, sausage rolls etc. beforehand. Sis-in-Law made the cake.

We did have a party a few weeks later to which all the extended family and friends were invited, mum and dad covered the cost of that from £1000 budget and gave us the change for a new fridge-freezer!

Petra that sounds more like it.

My Mam and Dad

Tuliptree

Newatthis

I think that if C & W's wedding cost a total of £500,000.00, then, considering the number of guests and other costs, then the taxpayer must have paid the rest. I expect the dress alson cost more than that.

My thoughts exactly

Wikipedia state that the wedding cost £23 million.

My parents paid for mine in 1972, but my Grandma bought my dress.
We paid for DD1’s first wedding, but she and the new SinL paid for her second, although we paid bits of the drinks bill.
DD2 had quite an expensive wedding, which we were happy to pay for, but SinL’s parents insisted on paying half, including the honeymoon to Malta and they also provided a second cake and a saxophonist to play softly before and after the ceremony.

1976 and the other heatwave! We got engaged on 1 May and married on 29 May. We were leaving for 2 years in the Seychelles in mid June. So things had to be arranged pdq. Mum made the cake and had it professionally iced. She and her friends prepared a buffet wedding breakfast.
This was held in my parent's garden - the last big event there as they moved to a bungalow not long after. I paid for my dress and half the cost of the engagement ring - OH paid the other half and for the wedding ring. We drove ourselves to the Registry Office in Henley. We were 'living in sin' in Streatley by the river. OH's parents and sister stayed with my parents. Our honeymoon was at London Zoo watching the polar bears melt. The next few weeks were spent packing and saying goodbye to friends and relatives.

When my sister married a few years later she had the full works with church, reception, bridesmaids etc. I think she and her groom paid for most of it.

Newatthis

I think that if C & W's wedding cost a total of £500,000.00, then, considering the number of guests and other costs, then the taxpayer must have paid the rest. I expect the dress alson cost more than that.

My thoughts exactly

I married in 1969 and my widowed mother paid for everything, made and iced the cake and made dresses for me and my one bridesmaid.
The drawback was that my mother did everything as she wanted it done so I couldn’t invite a friend with small children and the reception was full of old relatives I’d never met.

My Dad said he had £1000 for my wedding. We could have whatever was left after paying for everything. The reception, cars, photographers, flowers, invitations, dresses and evening reception for those not at the meal came to £700. He gave me the change.

We paid for all of it bar the cake which my mum paid for,my hubby to be paid for my wedding dress ,we had a buffet meal .
We honeymoon ed in a cottage someone lent us for free .

My husband and I paid for most of our own wedding as we married in middle age.
However one of my oldest , dearest friends catered all the food as her wedding present to me.
My younger sister married at a "traditional " age and when she was still living in the same city as our parents. My father paid for that.

I hired a brand new wedding dress and bought shoes, headdress, flowers etc myself.

My Mum made our wedding cake but paid to get it professionally iced.

My Dad paid for a wedding car and the reception in a community centre. My cousin was a chef so he did all the food which was excellent and Dad paid.

We could not afford a honeymoon but went back to our rented cottage.

My husband’s parents were very well off but as tight as could be and didn’t offer to pay anything towards the wedding at all.

My mum and dad paid for most of it.
Not honeymoon.

It helped that a relative was the manager of the hotel where the reception was.
Plus we had various people that could help out with this and that.

I ended up having a "designer" dress.
As in it was designed for me.
But again I was fortunate as I was her first customer[so we both took risks].
I had looked at lots of dresses[I am not usually a fussy type of person]. Had found a dress I liked the top of, and a dress I liked the bottom of. So the new dressmaker made one with that in mind.
I loved it.
And she didnt charge any more than an average bridal gown would have cost.

My parents paid for everything.

We paid for the honeymoon.

That was in 1968.

My parents paid for the day reception and my DH parents paid for the evening buffet reception, it was all held in the same place and we had 50 guests in the day with a few more in the evening. I think I paid for my dress and I offered to pay for the 2 x bridesmaids dresses but they said they would pay for themselves as if they were guests they would have to buy and outfit. Our wedding anniversary today 48 years.

Why would the taxpayer have to pay? I'm sure Crown estates could cover it.

I think that if C & W's wedding cost a total of £500,000.00, then, considering the number of guests and other costs, then the taxpayer must have paid the rest. I expect the dress alson cost more than that.

married in 1968, my parents paid for the wedding reception
hubby and I paid for everything else, my wages at that time were about £8 or £9 a week