EXCLUSIVE Rise of the WEDNESDAY wedding! Weekday nuptials double in popularity as cash-strapped couples avoid tying the knot on a Saturday
Traditional Saturday weddings are slowly dying, as cash-strapped couples instead choose to tie the knot during the week to save thousands.
Two-thirds (66 per cent) of all marriages took place on Saturdays in 1999.
Yet this has since plunged to just 43.6 per cent in 2022, official figures show.
By comparison, the proportion of weddings which happen on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays has doubled over the timespan, MailOnline can today reveal.
Luxury venues typically ramp up their prices for couples wanting their big day to fall on a Saturday.
For instance, tying the knot at Hedsor House in Buckinghamshire would cost you at least £19,950 plus VAT from Monday to Wednesday in the low season.
An identical package on a Saturday – a 'simple and elegant' ceremony for 70 guests, 13 bedrooms for overnight accommodation and a three-course menu with booze, a three-tier cake and evening food – would set you back £27,500 plus VAT.
Some savvy couples have been using the cash saved to fund fancy honeymoons to exotic locations, according to experts.
Saturday weddings are extremely popular due to the unique benefit of having more guests able to attend during the day.
There is also typically no need for them to cut celebrations short so they can make work the next day – meaning the reception can continue late into the night.
Sundays are surprisingly unpopular, as although most people have the day off, they will usually have to be up early on the Monday morning.
Weddings nowadays, on average, cost around £20,000, according to Bridebook – a free planning app.
Hannah Rose, who has worked in the wedding planning industry for 15 years, thinks the changing consumer behaviour is down to couples becoming 'cheapskates'.
She told MailOnline: 'Midweek weddings are a budget thing. They are really trying to cut costs.'
But Ms Rose, who runs her own wedding planning business, said the savings tend to come from a cheaper venue.
She said: 'A lot of venues do deals during the week, because the space is there.
'The space is the space. If they've got the space available, they might as well get a price for it, but everything else is going to cost you the same.
'So if you're hiring a photographer or a planner or a cake, that's all going to be the same price because for a supplier, regardless whether you're doing the wedding on a Saturday or a Wednesday, it's the same amount of time.
'I think the only thing really, that you tend to find is definitely across the board cheaper during the week is your venue. You're more likely to get a deal during the week.'
Research from Bridebook, which claims to help plan 70 per cent of UK weddings, shows that couples on average can expect to save from £6,000 to £2,000 for a midweek wedding.
The ONS has suggested due more people having second and third marriages these days, they often have them midweek as these tend to be more low-key.
While the change in day may save the bride and groom thousands of pounds, it can be a headache for family and friends who would likely need to take annual leave to attend.
But although this can be negative, it is also another way that couples save money as the guest list shortens.
Instead of having to manually chop guests, which may include family members for those in a big family, Ms Rose says a midweek wedding will cut itself.
She said: 'Having a weekday wedding means people are at work, so if they're not that close to you they're probably not going to want to use their holidays to take the time off work. So that can help your guest list.
'One of the biggest things people say to me is, "how can I make my wedding cheaper?" And I say "have less people".'
As well as cutting costs, it can also make your wedding more intimate as only those closest to you might make the effort, giving a cozier setting.
But a midweek wedding might also have drawbacks, as the looming workday might cause a chunk of your guests to leave early and cause the dance floor to look empty.
Ms Rose said: 'The only thing you do find with a midweek wedding is, it does really dip off, and you just end up with like a handful of guests at the end of the night.
'If people have got to go to work the next day. They're not staying and partying all night long.'
Ms Rose also said a lot of those looking for midweek weddings were doing so because they wanted to get married in the same year, and getting a Saturday in the summer is difficult as couples often plan the big day years in advance.
She explained the wedding industry is now 'very, very different' than it was in 1999 due to social media 'completely changing' things.
'Gone are the days where you just get your dress and go to the church with a photographer, there's so many different things to consider now', she said.
But although some couples are looking to cut costs, others are leaning in the other direction and expanding their wedding to cover the entire weekend and even bank holidays.
If guests have travelled to a location for the wedding, some hosts are hosting events all weekend, such as a round of golf or a brunch the morning after the ceremony.
For couples on a shoestring budget, the Church of England charges a legal fee of just £675 for a church wedding anywhere across the country.
However, for those wanting to spend big, the sky is the limit, with some celebrity weddings over the years pushing the bounds of extravagance.
Back in 2006, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were wed in an extraordinarily lavish ceremony that cost a reported £1.5million ($2million).
At the time, the ceremony – which took place in an Italian castle and featured a performance by legendary tenor Andrea Bocelli – was one of the priciest in history.
Fast forward to 2014, and Kim Kardashian and Kanye West also wed in a historical Italian venue and were serenaded by the aforementioned Bocelli. Their price tag? £2.1million ($2.8million).
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
10 hours ago
- The Sun
Jobs tax has done serious damage – Rachel Reeves MUST reverse some of it in today's Spending Review
Taking the rise THE verdict is in on the Jobs Tax — and it's not good news. In the first set of figures since the £25billion National Insurance whammy on employers kicked in, unemployment now stands at 4.6 per cent. 1 Estimates for last month show 109,000 workers wiped from company pay-rolls — the biggest monthly drop since Covid. Vacancies are also at their lowest since the pandemic. The ONS bleakly warns: 'Some firms may be holding back from recruiting new workers or replacing people when they move on.' Reality has now bitten, making Sir Keir Starmer 's claims of having fixed the economy look distinctly shaky. The NI tax rise was always going to be a massive brake on the economy. If you make it more expensive for employers to employ people they will have to stop doing it. Today's Spending Review is a chance for the Chancellor to reverse some of the damage. By unveiling some measures proving growth really is her number one priority. China crisis WHY are ministers being so complacent about the obvious threats posed by China's planned super embassy? Spooks and MPs are worried about a nest of hostile spies being built in London — close to three major data centres linked by cables carrying highly sensitive financial information. The US also has grave doubts about the wisdom of handing Beijing such a golden chance to cause havoc in a close ally's capital. Its chief concern is the Chinese getting hold of secret shared information. Given that China already runs secret police stations targeting dissidents in Britain, such fears are justified. Could the reason for ministers being so relaxed is that it's already a done deal in return for the paltry £600million trade agreement signed in January? If so, is that really worth such an enormous risk to national security? Zero faith TAXED to the hilt, worried about losing their jobs and struggling to pay soaring bills, it's no wonder that so many skint Brits are fed up with Net Zero. Forty per cent now feel actively worse off as a result of the dash to 2050, while just a fifth believe it has led to positive change. Politicians must understand the current harsh economic reality for so many hard-working families.
Telegraph
10 hours ago
- Telegraph
Revealed: The spiralling cost of housing foreigners
Foreign-born heads of households in London cost Britain around £3.6 billion a year in discounted rent, Telegraph analysis suggests. Nearly half of all social housing in the capital, 48 per cent, is occupied by foreign-born heads of household, data from the 2021 census shows. This is well over the national average of 19 per cent. These households benefit from cheap rents which, when compared to private rent in London, average out at a discount of around £11,600 per year per household. Responding to the figures, Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: 'This research shows how the huge costs of mass, low-skilled migration are often hidden from the public. When you lift up the bonnet, it's clear that the level and composition of immigration have been hugely economically harmful for decades'. The figures also show some 35 per cent of working age foreign-born heads of households in London's social housing are either unemployed or economically inactive, despite living in one of the UK's most prosperous regions. The most recent ONS figures show that output per hour worked in the capital is approximately 26 per cent higher than the UK average. The figures cast further doubt on the UK's migration policies. Last year, the Office for Budget Responsibility found that low-paid migrant workers were costing taxpayers more than £150,000 each by the time they hit state pension age The proportion of social housing allocated to foreign-born lead residents varies drastically across the capital. A majority of social housing is occupied by a foreign-born lead tenant in 14 of the city's 32 boroughs, with only 10 areas in the capital falling below the level of 40 per cent. Over 60 per cent of social housing in Brent and Westminster is allocated to foreign-born lead residents but this drops to 16 per cent in Havering. To come to the figure of £3.6 billion, The Telegraph matched rents for London's 'general needs' social housing stock across local authority and private registered providers with median private sector rents for properties with equivalent numbers of bedrooms. This suggested that socially rented properties were approximately £11,992 cheaper per year in 2021. Adjusted for estimated service charges, the net discount works out at £11,610. Added up across the city across the whole of the population, this suggests a total subsidy of approximately £7.7 billion. If households headed by foreign-born residents take up a proportional share of this sum, it would amount to roughly £3.6 billion per year in total discounts. Separate data from the English Housing Survey suggests that there is significant variation between ethnic groups with regards to social housing use. Roughly 48 per cent of Black Caribbean households, 40 per cent of Black African households, and 40 per cent of Bangladeshi households in England live in social housing, compared with 16 per cent of White British households, and 5 per cent of Chinese and Indian households.
Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Summer rate cut bets take toll on pound after unemployment soars 4.6% in wake of Labour's NI hike
The pound fell alongside UK borrowing costs yesterday as a rise in unemployment and slowdown in wage growth added to the likelihood of a summer interest rate cut. Official figures showed joblessness climbed to 4.6 per cent in the three months to April – the highest level since July 2021. And more recent data from HM Revenue and Customs suggested the jobs market worsened last month, with payroll numbers shrinking by 109,000. That was the biggest fall since comparable records began in 2014, excluding the pandemic, and much worse than expected by economists. The pound fell by a cent against the dollar to less than $1.35, before clawing back some of the losses. It also dipped close to €1.18 against the euro, its lowest level in a month. Government-borrowing costs fell, with yields on ten-year UK bonds dipping to 4.53 per cent, the lowest since early May. The jobs slump was blamed on Chancellor Rachel Reeves's decision to raise employer National Insurance Contributions, a policy that is widely regarded as a tax on jobs. More than a quarter of a million jobs have been lost since her tax-raising Budget in October, which also sharply increased the minimum wage. Yesterday's figures showed annual pay growth in the three months to April fell to 5.2 per cent, a bigger drop than expected by economists and down from 5.6 per cent the month before. Job vacancies fell by 63,000 to 736,000 – below pre-pandemic levels, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Liz McKeown, ONS director of economic statistics, said: 'There continues to be weakening in the labour market, with the number of people on payroll falling notably. 'Feedback from our vacancies survey suggests some firms may be holding back from recruiting workers or replacing people when they move on.' The grim figures will add to pressure on the Bank of England to cut rates this summer. A cut at the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee meeting next week would come as a shock. But traders now see a two in three chance of a quarter-point reduction in August. Bets that there will be a further cut by the end of the year also increased following yesterday's figures. Any signs of further jobs weakness could add to rate cut expectations, according to Nick Andrews, senior FX strategist at HSBC. If that happens, the pound 'will likely struggle' versus both the dollar and the euro, he added.
