No couple wants to go into debt in the name of wedding budgets and start off the marriage in liabilities. For a perfectly budgeted wedding and honeymoon, carefully itemize each expense to make it a groan-free success. You will be paying out a lot and small items seem to add up and if you are not careful, you can easily go over the budget.

Who pays for what?

A wedding planner, Patricia, from Wedding Essentials says there are no hard and fast rules as to who pays for what. From her experience it’s the couple that pays for the wedding with the support of their family and friends. Traditionally, the African custom dictates that the groom and his family pay for most of the expenses. So in most cases, you’ll find that many times it’s the groom’s side who take care of the larger side of the cost and the smaller costs like the tents and flowers, the bride plays a dominant role because the theme is normally the bride’s. So together with the groom, they will have to put their money together and decide how much they are going to spend on the different things and to have a contingency. Sometimes depending on the financial status of the couple and their respective families, costs may be shared on any item related to the wedding. While some parents may offer a cash gift for the couple to choose how they want to spend it, offers of cash from uncles, aunties, and grandparents are common but not expected. In the western world and Asian communities, the bride pays for the whole wedding including dowry where applicable.

Gone are the days that couples had to rigidly follow traditional rules and customs. More and more couples are opting for the modern way of setting a wedding and many times, there really are no rules or division of duties. Both parties can agree to share the expenses of the wedding, or the bride and groom can decide to pay for it themselves. Rules are bending or being bent to accommodate the bride and groom’s wishes which are the most important in the end. Couples usually save up for their wedding if they decide to pay for it on their own. Sometimes if the expenses become a tad staggering for them, they may ask for help from close friends or relatives.

Who Pays for What?

Most of you (40%) are paying for your own wedding, of these 64% are using their own savings, while a small percentage (14%) is getting loans from the bank. 18% of you are asking friends to assist you, while 8% of you have your parents financing your wedding. In comparison, 99% of the Asian brides told us their family is paying for the wedding.

How much are People Spending on Weddings?

On average the African bride (51%) is spending Ksh500,000 to Ksh1.5 million, while 19% spend below Ksh500,000. 12% spend over Ksh1.5million. 5.3% are spending over Ksh2.5 million. On average the Asian bride is spending not less than Ksh5 million. The average guest list is not less than 3000, with most holding not less than three parties.

Her Hand in Marriage

99% of the grooms are still the ones popping the big question, of those 43% go down on one knee half the time over a romantic dinner.

Wedding Planning Stress

Surprise, coping with your mother in-law and dealing with both families is the least stressful thing about organizing your wedding. Issues with financial planning ranked first, followed by traditional ceremonies, guest list, and balancing your job with planning weddings, in that order.

The First Night

62 % of you told us that you plan to stay in a hotel for the first night while all of you plan to go for honeymoon. 51% of you will travel to a domestic destination, while 42% plan foreign travel. The rest of you are not sure.

Big Day Beauty

Most of you are planning to change your usual cosmetic brand with more emphasis being on lipstick, perfume and eye shadow. Advertising and magazine articles are still Influencing your choice of a cosmetic brand for your big day beauty