Thought the North East was affordable to wed? This research says otherwise

Being in the North East should mean getting married is more affordable than down South, right? Think again – the latest research from www.bark.com – Europe’s leading local services marketplace – has revealed it's actually pricier than you might think.

Wales commands the lowest average total spend in the UK at just over £11,926 and surprisingly East Midlands has been revealed as the costliest, at £22,180. 

As for the North East? We're actually more expensive than both the South East and South West of the UK, coming in at £17,010!

Europe's leading online local services marketplace analysed data from 16 sectors across the wedding industry to reveal which regions in the UK are the cheapest and most expensive to get married in. Bark.com has been collecting and analysing its internal data over the past year to determine how much money is spent on wedding sectors such as wedding planning, venues and flowers, on average across the UK's regions.

Regions in order of cheapest to most expensive, along with the average total price are:

1. Wales - £11,926
2. East of England - £12,625
3. Yorkshire and Humber - £13,651
4. Northern Ireland - £13,772
5. South East - £13,821
6. North West - £13,957
7. Scotland - £15,522
8. South West - £16,600
9. North East - £17,010
10. London - £17,480
11. West Midlands - £18,866
12. East Midlands - £22,180

Couples can see the average price of each sector in their region on the Bark.com website here: www.bark.com/blog/where-to-say-i-do-in-the-uk-wales-is-the-cheapest-area-to-get-married-in-the-uk/

Sectors analysed in the research include wedding hair stylists, wedding planners, ceremony and reception venues, catering, flowers, DJs, wedding cakes, makeup, videography, photography, car hire, entertainment, music, musicians, photobooths, stationery and decorations.

The Bark.com data and final averages do not include costs for clothing, jewellery and officiants.

Results found that the highest supplier cost of a wedding in the UK is the catering, which costs on average £6,567, followed by venue at £1,950 and music bands at £1,000. The cheapest service is hairstyling, which only costs £160 on average.

Bark.com co-founder, Kai Feller, said, “It's no secret that weddings can cost a lot of money, so with all the data available from our site, we wanted to help engaged couples by breaking down the average cost of weddings based on their location.

“It's fascinating to see that weddings in Wales are over £10,000 cheaper than those in the East Midlands! However, these prices are the averages, so naturally there will be cheaper options for the more expensive regions. We hope our findings will help advise those who have been deliberating on where to have their wedding.”

OK, so we might not be the cheapest, but we definitely do weddings the best…

Image courtesy of http://kimberleywaterson.com