How hard can it be to organise a wedding? After all, it's just a big party, a really big party. Ok, maybe one of the biggest magnitude you'll ever organise, but hey, help is always here, as long as you ask for it, right? Ideas on how to best spend money can be plenty, but what exactly do you want and need and can comfortably afford are all matters to be taken into account when deciding which of those precious bridal ideas to embrace and which to bin.

Struggling with a realistic budget and the question of how to manage expenses are all in the wedding basket with goodies with all of them holding the potential for an extra sip of stress, and that, for one of the most heart-touching and rite-of-passage events in your entire life.

The average cost of a UK wedding, according to Brides magazine, is somewhere about £24 000. You might think that's a pretty wee sum, but we all know how quickly the cost of organising a wedding can creep up by the hundreds. Moreover, what things cost in your area or in the area where you are getting hitched is quite a big factor playing into the total amount to draw from your bank account, or your daddy's bank account.

One of the first things to do before you map out your budget is to talk with your parents about how involved they want to be in the wedding in terms of costs - some are willing and able to pay for the entire wedding, others offer to pay for the honeymoon or the venue hire etc.