'We looked at seven venues for the wedding reception - they were crazy money'

Would you swap church pews for getting married in a pub to save cash? That's the possibility after the government set out what it called the biggest shake-up to wedding laws in almost 200 years, under which couples in England and Wales will be able to marry at home, at a pub or on a cruise ship. It's one option Hannah Megson says she would consider after being shocked by quotes for wedding venues. Hannah was rightly overjoyed when she and sweetheart Dan got engaged. But after the joy came the start of planning for the big day and, as for many couples, the surprise at just how much the big day would cost. After beginning to research how much it was going to set them back, Hannah and Dan have decided to delay the wedding until 2028. “We knew it would be quite a bit but, even so, we had no idea,” admits National Trust worker Hannah, 28, from Northallerton, in North Yorkshire. “We looked at seven venues for the reception and they were crazy money. The most expensive was £15,000.” They have decided on a place but, despite opting for a mid-week date, it is still costing them £9,000 for the venue alone, which is big enough for the 100 guests they plan to invite. It is a similar story for Georgina Smith, who got engaged a year ago to fiancé Adam. Like Hannah, they too are planning to get married in 2028, and September to be exact. “We were never going to get married straight away because we simply couldn’t afford it.” says Georgina, 31, a hospital appointment co-ordinator from Worcester. “If we can’t do 2028, it will be 2029, pending life decisions.” Those decisions include whether to save up for a deposit for a home at the same time. The couple set themselves a maximum budget of £15,000 for the wedding, which Georgina says “is quite small in the grand scheme of things.” She added that quotes for the wedding venues, to accommodate around 30 guests, start at £7,000. Cost is shaping how would-be couples think about their wedding, so having alternative options for the venue could bring the bills down. Plus, it could bring an added boost to pubs, many of which face an avalanche of ongoing cost pressures. Spending data from Barclays suggests consumers are still willing to spend in pubs when there is a reason to go out. Takings at bars, pubs and clubs rose 7.4% year-on-year in July, the biggest jump since December 2023. The appeal of a pub wedding is also about more than the venue itself. A survey by Tesco Bank found one in three young adults said they would consider live music or a local band at their wedding, while three in 10 would consider locally produced food and drink, creating potential trade for local musicians, brewers, food producers and suppliers. Hannah says, had wedding laws been different, they would have loved to get married in a pub that she knows well, the Queens Head in Finghall. “Its a local pub that I used to work in,” she explains, adding that combining the wedding and reception could save on, for example, transport for guests.