When it comes to picking up the tab for the wedding, it looks like the father of the bride is off the hook, judging by a recent study by Beaverbrooks.
The age-old practice is falling by the wayside with 81% of weddings now being paid for by a collaboration of family members. The study revealed only 18% of bride’s parents now take care of the entire tab for the big day with 42% of couples paying for it themselves. More than half of the 2,000 married females polled said they never expected their father to foot the whole bill, and felt it was a dated tradition.
And despite the bride’s family traditionally paying for the event, the report revealed that these days, the groom’s parents are also keen to chip in for the big day. Other wedding purchases that were bought by family members included wedding rings, bridal jewellery and luxury watches. But in some cases, grandparents are also chipping into pay for the nuptials. In fact, £1,390 of the typical wedding fund is contributed by grandparents of the bride and groom.
Anna Blackburn, a spokeswoman for Beaverbrooks said, “Weddings can be expensive and it’s fairly common for family members of both the bride and groom to contribute. The days of the father of the bride paying for everything are becoming increasingly uncommon, not only because it is a huge financial burden for him, but also the grooms’ parents want to play a part too – which is understandable.”
Despite donations from others, more than one in ten bride and grooms still didn’t have enough money to pay for everything they wanted. A quarter of those said their parents didn’t give them enough and 30% said other things cropped up which meant they had to spend money elsewhere! Even though it’s now commonplace to split the cost of the modern wedding, 14% of brides still managed to fall out with their parents over wedding costs. And one in ten couples said there was awkwardness and tension over the finances of their big day. Other arguments arose when one set of parents contributed a great deal more cash than the other.
A third of brides said they expected more money to be given to them, but in contrast 29% said they felt overwhelmed by the huge sum their parents were offering to pay towards their nuptials and felt they couldn’t accept it. A quarter of the women surveyed said rather than paying towards their big, white wedding, her parents wanted to pay towards something else. And of the quarter – 37% said they would be happier stumping up a deposit to a property and a third would rather pay for the honeymoon.
“Wedding rings are a big part of the special day and need to be chosen with care, as both brides and grooms will be wearing them for the rest of their lives,” adds Anna. “We are on hand to help perspective brides and grooms choose their wedding bands and can advise on what sizes, styles and metal suit each individual.”
The poll found a plain gold band is still the most popular choice for brides, whereas Beaverbrooks have found an increasing trend towards white gold and platinum diamond set wedding rings, and fortunately 73% of women said they love their wedding ring as much now as they did when they first got it.
For more information about Beaverbrooks wedding rings, visit www.beaverbrooks.co.uk. And here are the common mistakes to AVOID when choosing your wedding rings – you’ve been warned!
