Unless you have access to a large number of funds, chances are that you will have to financially plan your wedding carefully. Whether you, your parents or a combination of you and your parents are paying for your wedding, there will probably be a financial limit on what each of you can afford. An obvious danger with planning anything on the scale of a traditional wedding is that you can very easily over spend your limits, especially if you commit yourselves to expenses on a one-by-one basis without keeping an eye on the overall cost.

With the average cost of a traditional wedding in the UK being around £11,000, overrunning by just 15 per cent out will mean having to find another £1,650. If your parents are paying for, or at least contributing towards, your wedding, it is important that you don't end up having to go back asking for more money and thereby putting them under un-necessary financial pressure. If you are paying for your wedding, it may mean starting married life already with an unplanned debt.

By preparing a budget, that is, a list of intended expenditure for individual items, you will be in a much better position to control and monitor your costs. Most couples change their mind many times over exactly what they want and how much they are willing to allow for any given item. By recording any changes on the budget, you will always be aware of the impact on the total cost and thereby giving you the opportunity to adjust your expenditure levels in conjunction.

Unfortunately, dealing with the financial aspects of getting married can be the cause of much tension between those involved in organising your wedding. However, by carefully monitoring and controlling your expenditure with use of a budget, you can go a long way to reducing the stress that you will undoubtedly experience during your wedding planning.

It will be helpful at this stage to get a feel for the average cost of a wedding. However, estimates vary greatly since there are so many options to choose from. Furthermore, for each item there is a tremendous range of prices depending on your tastes and priorities etc. For example, your wedding dress; You could buy a good quality second hand dress for only £100 or less or buy a top designer dress for £4,000 or more!

The number of guests you have and how well you want to cater for them will also have a large impact on your budget. For example, if you had 100 guests and wanted to have a traditional full wedding breakfast, the cost per head could be £50. This would give a total of £5,000. A less lavish buffet may only cost £15 per head, bringing the total down to £1,500. On top of this there are drinks to consider and the reception party. Do you want to have free drinks or have your guests pay for their own? The difference between the two could be as much as £1,500.

From our experience and research, we have listed below the costs of what we would call an 'average wedding'' (excluding engagements costs). But remember, your wedding can cost a great deal more or a great deal less depending on your budget, priorities and whether you use professionals or get family and friends to help you. In fact, our average costs take into account products and services that are sometimes provided free or at low cost by family and friends. For example, your wedding cake may be made by a relative and given as a present. Therefore, the cost to you will be nothing. However, if you use a professional cake maker, the cake may cost around £300. The average of these two examples is £150, which is the cost of neither. This is the problem with averages involving your wedding.