THEY say you can’t put a price on love.
But your wedding? That’s a whole other matter.
And it can sometimes be far more expensive than some couples can afford, leaving them to sacrifice their vision to suit a smaller budget.
The average wedding in the UK now costs an eye-watering £20,775. This cost skyrockets to £25,952 if you include the wedding rings and honeymoon.
As a professional wedding planner, Bronagh Genovesi, knows all too well the expenses involved.
The brains behind @weddingswithB, Bronagh shares her top tips, hacks and savvy savings with her 14,000 followers.
From wedding traditions to checklists, her account covers all bases for brides-to-be.
When it was her turn to say “I do,” the wedding pro and her fiancé, both avid travellers, decided to get married in a beach club setting in Ibiza.
Not wanting to feel like organising her big day was ‘work’, Bronagh hired a wedding planner to take care of the food choices, decor and choice of music for the celebration.
But when she saw the quote on the flowers she realised she would have to sacrifice her original plans for fresh buds – and her alternative ended up saving her a fortune.
“I had an expensive taste that did not match our budget,” said Bronagh. “Until I came across Temu.”
She added: “Controversial in the bridal world, but I did actually use artificial flowers for my entire wedding.
“It was extortionate to have flowers in Ibiza especially for the style I wanted. So I was like I’m just gonna order them on Temu and bring them across.
“They were stunning. I also used them for the bouquets as well.
“The quality is so, so good like people do not believe me. And I just put water in the vases so that they look like they were real.
“They looked so expensive but really did not cost it at all. They were so bougie you would not believe they’re from Temu.”
Bronagh’s flowers cost her just £1.38 each and fitted easily in her suitcase.
She loved the flowers so much that she went on to order the majority of her wedding decorations from Temu.
“From vases and napkins to easels and audio guestbooks – 90% of my wedding decor was from Temu”, she gushed.
Bronagh spent around £700 for her wedding décor – about the price of the latest iPhone16. That’s less than the initial quotation for flowers alone.
And when her friends and family realised that Bronagh got her decorations from Temu, they were impressed at how high-end everything looked.
Thanks to the bargain platform, she was able to throw her dream Ibiza wedding for a fraction of the price.
You can find more details about Bronagh’s wedding planner services at findsforher.com
Wedding planning tips
For couples in the planning stages of their big day and not sure where to start, Bronagh shares five handy tips:
- Simplify invitations and save the dates: There are many digital invitation companies with gorgeous designs that are far cheaper than sending out physical invitations – lots of them are free!
- Design your wedding signs: It’s cheaper to design your wedding signage than to get someone else to do it for you. There are so many easy-to-use designs and templates that you can use and print yourself either at home or by a professional printing company.
- Repurpose ceremony decor: Reuse floral arrangements and decor from the ceremony space in your reception area.
- Don’t stress the guest list: Start by writing a list of must-have people (your non-negotiables). If your wedding meal costs £130 a head, normally, would you be happy to spend that much on that person?
- Make it personal, fun and unique to you. If you don’t like a certain tradition – ice cream truck rather than a wedding cake, no bridesmaids, sitting with your friends at your wedding breakfast – then do it. A wedding should always reflect you as a couple. It should be what you love with who you love. It’s your day.