Love or luxury: European wedding trends

Couples are spending less on weddings, and much less on luxury weddings. Lover or luxury? Love is all that matters. That's the results of an ING Pan-European study of more than 12,000 consumers who had married or entered into a civil partnership in the past five years.

The study found that 60% of respondents would rather spend money on a house than a luxury wedding or partnership celebration. The view was strongest in Spain (70%), Italy (68%), and the United Kingdom (67%).

Wedding trends showed that the costs ranged from EUR 5,000 (11%) to EUR 50,000 with family weddings averaging EUR 900. Almost half (49%) of respondents who married or had a civil partnership in the past five years said they got into debt to pay for their big day. The trend was true for people in 12 of the 13 countries surveyed. The only exception was Poland. The reasons are not quite clear, and thought to be temporary, as most were under 25 years of age with lower incomes.

To pay for the wedding, 45% of couples saved specifically for the occasion, 16% said their families paid for it, 15% borrowed money from a financial institution, and 9% borrowed money from their family. Females were more likely to have money gifted to them for the wedding, and males were more likely to borrow the money for the wedding.

Two-thirds of couples (66%) were satisfied with how much they spent, and 33% said they would have liked more money to spend on their wedding or civil partnership. However, there was a difference in countries, with only 7% of couples in the Netherlands saying they would have liked more money to 60% in Turkey.

Most couples (52%) said that family and friends had too much influence on the cost of they celebrations. This view varied between countries, with low percentages in the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria to high percentages in Spain, Italy, and Turkey.

For those attending weddings, 62% of people across Europe who were surveyed said that it costs too much to go to weddings.

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