When you pictured your dream wedding, you probably didn’t imagine stressful evenings in front of spreadsheets worrying about where the cash for your wedding flowers will magically appear from. Planning a wedding can be fabulous but it can also be incredibly stressful. Between the big spends like venue, food and dress and little unexpected costs like gifts, lingerie and alterations, what is meant to be one of the best days of your life can leave you having sleepless nights. But you’re not alone – according to a new survey from Bank of Ireland and weddingsonline, couples are spending on average €1,433 more than they had budgeted with 55% prepared to ask the bank for a loan to cover mounting wedding costs.
The Bank of Ireland survey which was run in February 2015 was based on 1,441 weddingsonline brides and grooms. If you’re curious about the average wedding spend and how other brides and grooms are paying for their Big Day, read on…
- The average estimated total budget for a wedding is €17,885 with 17% of couples willing to spend over €25,000
- However, couples predict that they will actually spend a total of €19,318 on their wedding with 23% estimating that they’ll end up forking out over €25,000 on their celebrations
- Couples expect to spend on average €1,433 more than they had budgeted
- How will couples pay for the wedding? 78% of all couples surveyed will pay for the Big Day themselves, 21% will share the costs with their parents and just 1% will have their parents foot the bill
- 70% of those surveyed would take out a loan to cover the cost of their wedding with couples prepared to borrow an average of €6,221 to help them tackle their wedding costs
- 28% were willing to borrow between €5,000 and €10,000 to help them pay for their wedding and 12% would borrow anywhere between €10,000 and €15,000
- 55% would ask the bank for a loan to cover wedding expenses, 30% would approach the credit union and 11% would look to family members to borrow funds
For more information on a Bank of Ireland wedding loan, click here.
