The unusual ways these couples managed to fund their wedding

The average cost of saying ‘I do’ has now spiralled to £25,000. As a result couples around the world are increasingly turning to creative ways to come up with their wedding cash.

Here are some of the best:

Making a business out of your wedding

When 33-year-old Kristy Oates started creating props to give her 2014 to husband Brendon a vintage feel, she knew that she’d hit upon an ingenious money making idea.
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And as the couple started married life, Kristy turned her sideline into a fully fledged business. Now The Collection Vintage Props – which hires out lawn games, vintage photo booth and even crockery to other couples –  is helping the couple pay themselves back.
“Brendon was getting annoyed that I was buying so much stuff for the wedding. But I kept saying I would hire it out afterwards so I had to stick to my word!” Kristy says.
“I’m a graphic designer so I just set up the website, did a couple of ads and it’s spread via word of mouth.”

Crowdfunding for cashAlthough this method of raising wedding cash is also likely to raise eyebrows, some couples have ploughed on undeterred.weddinggofundme

This includes Tracy Rudzinski, who married her husband Steve in Pittsburgh in November last year.

“A lot of our married friends suggested that we elope, or just do a courthouse wedding, saying that if they could do it all over again they wouldn’t have spent all that money,”she explained.

But the bride-to-be had a different vision for her special day. And that dream was a Disney-themed costume wedding.

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Turning to popular crowdfunding site gofundme, Tracy and her fiancé raised around $1,400 of their $5,000 goal.

“I have to say I was surprised, I thought more people would be shocked at the nerve of us to ask for money,” Tracy says. “But really, the only people who tried to keep insisting we needed a registry were my grandparents, because that was unheard of in their day.”

Make it a sellout

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After their big day newly-weds Jenn Stott, 26, and her husband Matt, 30, decided to sell their wedding wares in order to balance the books. The couple paid £1,496 for Jenn’s dress, shoes and veil and a china teacup set and jam jar vases for decorations. After the wedding they put the items on eBay and regained £1,029, bringing the actual cost of the items down to just £440. They even made a £14 profit by selling Jenn’s Vivienne Westwood Melissa shoes that she bought for £70 for £84!

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Explaining how they made a success of their venture the couple said:

“It is quite easy to sell your wedding as long as you are able to give up the sentimental value.

“We were trying to be as logical as possible and I knew I would never wear my dress again. We paid for the wedding on our own so we were savvy with everything we bought and used websites like TopCashback in the run-up, which are great for saving money on everyday items. This meant we could put more money towards the wedding. When selling the items I also added tips on what people could do with them. This also helped them sell. We also made sure we took wonderful photos for both our own memories and inspiration for the people who bought the items.”

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