So the royal wedding has finally taken place, and many congratulations to the happy couple, but thank heaven for that. For the past few months the main topic of conversation in the news has been the royal nuptials. Every minute aspect of the wedding has been examined, analysed and commented on by members of the press.
The BBC are the main culprits. I love the BBC, but recently you could not turn on the telly or go onto the website without being bombarded with people commenting on the hairstyle the bride will have, the shoes she’ll wear, where the honeymoon will be, what the groom will wear or where the hen and stag dos will be. Who will the guests be? Should they have a plus one rule?
I do not understand this. They are getting married in Westminster Abbey. I don’t know how many of you have seen it but it’s bloody huge. You don’t have to worry about seating, you idiots. When you’re getting married in a small church that can only hold 100 people, then you can worry about this plus one rule.
As you may have guessed, I am not too fussed with the royal wedding. It does not affect me in the slightest. I will be out in the sunshine celebrating my sister’s birthday and not thinking about the fact that the Royal family has wasted thousands of pounds on an event that will last one day. This is my issue with weddings: the waste of money.
In November last year I got engaged. Something strange happens when you become engaged as a student; you find out that at least one person in your friendship group is also engaged. I found three people in my circle of acquaintances who were engaged and, of course, that leads to the moaning about how much the day will cost us. As all of you will know, we have very little money. Thanks to our student loans we will be in thousands of pounds worth of debt and now we need to find the money to pay for a wedding.
According to You and Your Wedding magazine, the average wedding now costs around £20,000. That is pretty much all my debt over three years added together. What I want to know is this: why spend all that money on one day? The wedding day is one day in our lives and, while the memories of that day are important, it does not warrant £20,000. As a graduating student intending to work for the Church of England I will not be able to afford that. Even the budget my fiancé and I have set of £6,000 is a bit steep.
I know there are women who think that the cost doesn’t matter, the day is far too important for that, but the wedding day is about the lifetime that you will spend with the person you have decided to marry. There is no price for that. A wedding is not about having the most expensive dress or shoes. It’s not about showing off to your friends or about how much money you spend. It is about you and your partner standing at the front of your friends and family and saying: “I have found the person I know will keep me happy for the rest of my life.”
That is what I intend to do on my wedding day, no matter how much money I spend on it. So Kate and William, keep your fancy expensive fairytale wedding, just remember that the vows you say to each other are priceless because they cost you nothing.
