One in three wedding guests decline invitations due to soaring costs

By KRISTINA WEMYSS, GENERAL NEWS REPORTER Published: 17:32, 29 June 2026 | Updated: 17:32, 29 June 2026 One in three wedding guests are declining invitations amid soaring costs - including almost half of Gen Z. Britons are finding that love is - in fact - not priceless, with gifts, hotel bookings, hen dos, and new frocks all stacking up. Some 31 per cent have declined an invitation due to financial reasons, according to the poll, and that figure jumps to 48 per cent for Gen Z and 43 per cent for millennials. It comes at the beginning of peak wedding season, with August the most popular time to tie the knot. The cost of attending a single wedding is around £316 per person, guests said, and more than one in eight burnt through £500 at the last wedding they attended. Almost one in five of those polled expect to go to several this year. Among Gen Z, 15 per cent were due to attend three weddings, which could cost around £1,000. To afford this, 16 per cent of guests have cut back on luxuries, 14 per cent have slashed everyday spending, and 11 per cent have stopped buying new clothes altogether. While 14 per cent of the 2,000 guests surveyed said they felt relieved after declining an invitation, 8 per cent reported feeling guilty and 5 per cent experienced fear of missing out. The cost of attending a single wedding is around £316 per person, guests said, and more than one in eight burnt through £500 at the last wedding they attended A further 15 per cent said they had been tempted to decline but attended regardless and absorbed the cost. Destination weddings - popularised by celebrities such as Dua Lipa and Callum Turner, in Sicily, and Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, in Venice - are also piling on the pressure. Even in the UK, the average couple forks out more than £20,000 to get married. Duncan Fortune, head of commercial at Tesco Bank, which conducted the research, said weddings remained ‘joyous and memorable occasions’ but that they can leave a ‘dent in your wallet’. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.