Getting spliced should be one of the happiest days of your life and, in the UK at least, it’s also likely to be one of the most expensive, with the price of venues, decorations, catering and cars – not to mention the dress – soon totting up.
According to research by wedding planning website Hitched, the average cost of getting married in 2026 on home soil is now an eye-watering £21,990.
Prices in the UK have changed dramatically over the last five years, soaring from £17,300 in 2021 to £23,250 in 2024, which experts at Hitched put down to the cost of living crisis.
Could a much cheaper – and almost certainly sunnier – wedding be just a short flight away?
Last month, former EastEnders star Melissa Suffield jetted off to Vegas to tie the knot with her partner Robert Brendan at the iconic Little White Wedding Chapel, with just their son River in attendance.
And walking down the aisle in Sin City is definitely cheaper, a Vegas elopement costs 88 per cent less than a typical UK wedding, with prices from around £2,700 for a ceremony package, according to The Wedding Travel Company.
A Mediterranean wedding also comes in at far less than the average price back home – with one UK bride and groom telling the Daily Mail how getting hitched under the sun was a no-brainer for them when it came to saving money on their big day.
In May last year, Janine Johnson, 39, from Telford, married husband Mark on the tiny Greek island of Kastri, off the southern coast of Kos in the Dodecanese, for much less than what they might’ve paid in the UK.
Going to the (Greek) chapel! Janine Johnson, 39, and her husband Mark, from Telford, paid £3,929 for their destination wedding on the island of Kos last year
Janine and Mark managed to avoid the sky-high prices in the UK, with the average wedding here currently costing around £21,990
‘It was just beautiful,’ Janine says. Under a bright blue sky and with the ocean glistening in the background, they enjoyed an unforgettable ceremony with around 30 guests watching on from dainty chairs in front of a pretty white-washed church building.
The price? £3,929, or with their 10-day holiday for their family of four accounted for, £6,229 – still a relative bargain compared to getting married at home.
Janine says she used a local wedding planner who lives on the island, and said organising, even from afar, was ‘the most easy process’ with plans carved out via email.
She explains: ‘I think we assume that getting married abroad is going to be so expensive but for us it was the best thing we did because we incorporated the family honeymoon with the wedding. It was an absolute steal.’
The couple even flew out a nanny from their children’s nursery and their friend who is a wedding photographer, @iam.ivanaking, which helped to keep the costs down and make things run smoother on their big day.
Their wedding planner organised everything from transport to the restaurant to translating the marriage certificates to English.
‘It was incredible, it was the best day of my life and you get good weather – that’s the main thing,’ says Janine, who works in business support for an accounting firm.
Even her wedding dress was a bargain – costing just £100 from Vinted – which, after a quick trip to the drycleaners, ‘was like new’.
Food and drink for all of their guests came to €1,300 (£1,127) and the DJ was €400 (£346). The ceremony itself, including hiring the church was €2,000 (£1,734).
Janine used a local wedding planner to organise everything for the couple and their 30 guests and found the process ‘easy’
The happy couple paid just €1,300 (£1,127) for food and drink and the DJ was €400 (£346)
As for whether Janine would consider spending the UK average on her big day, it was a firm ‘no’.
‘Marriage for me is all about celebrating your love… but when I can spend £10,000 on a conservatory or something for the kids, I just think that sort of money is crazy money,’ she says.
‘It’s lovely if you can do it, don’t get me wrong, I think some people have some fantastic weddings, but for me, it just felt extortionate.’
There were some downsides to Janine’s budget celebration however – neither her parents nor her husband’s attended.
‘But then we had a ceremony here afterwards, not officially, but a celebrant here,’ she explains.
The couple decided that they were okay with people not being able to attend and ‘as long as we were there – and the children, we were happy’.
Despite the travelling, they had a ‘really good turnout’ of guests, with people staying for several days, ‘for a few hundred pounds’. Some even made a week-long holiday out of the trip, spending around £600 to £700.
‘I was conscious when looking at the wedding that it was going to be affordable for people because I do think that it can be extortionate,’ Janine says, adding that she thinks the option they went for meant they didn’t feel they were asking too much of guests.
Josh Isles, travel expert at The Wedding Travel Company, told the Daily Mail that destination weddings on a budget are ‘often a smarter financial choice’ and are increasingly being used to avoid the rising prices for nuptials in the UK.
Looking back on their wedding, Janine describes it as the ‘best day of my life’ – and says she managed to achieve that for a snip of the price she might have paid back in the UK
An aerial view of the chapel the couple chose to get married in, on the tiny Greek island of Kastri in Kos
He says ‘Low cost destination weddings abroad are increasingly becoming a genuine solution for couples struggling with rising wedding prices.
‘With the average UK wedding now exceeding £21,000, we’re seeing more couples realise they can have a full wedding and honeymoon abroad for under £10,000 by rethinking the traditional format.’
For couples looking to cut down on costs, ‘reducing guest numbers and choosing destinations where venues offer all-inclusive packages,’ is the best option.
He recommends places like Greece, Cyprus and Italy because of how ‘couples can often secure a venue, catering and local planning support for a fraction of what they would pay in the UK’.
‘Italy in particular remains one of the most popular choices thanks to its scenery, accessibility and range of venue options,’ Josh adds.
He shares his top tips for a 2026 destination wedding, and recommends avoiding peak season like July or August, and instead ‘book in the shoulder seasons April or October’.
Las Vegas is another spot Josh advises looking into for a ‘bargain’, saying: ‘With ceremony packages and travel starting from £2,700 and a legal process that is famously easy, it makes it one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to get married abroad in a truly unique setting.’
