Helping your customers to meet the spiralling costs of getting married

Last year, the average cost of a wedding in the UK was £17,300, which is 90% more expensive than the cost of a wedding in 2020, according to the website hitched.co.uk. Of course, the scale of many weddings in 2020 was reduced given the pandemic, but it’s still a significant annual increase.

The research found that couples who married in 2021 paid £7,600 to hire a wedding venue, representing a 40% increase 2019, and making it the largest average single expense in getting married.

Catering is also a significant cost, with the research finding that in 2021, couples spent an average of £65 per head on catering for an average of 72 guests – a total spend of £4,680. This is set against a backdrop of spiralling inflation, with the cost of food, energy and fuel all increasing at pace this year.

So, when it comes to meeting the costs of a wedding, what are the options? Whether your customers are paying for their own big day, or funding the wedding of close relatives, a second charge mortgage could prove a suitable solution for raising the required funds.

Second charge mortgages are probably most commonly known for financing home improvement or debt consolidation, but the funds for a second charge mortgage could also be used for other items of large expenditure, like a wedding, and maybe even a honeymoon.

There are many advantages to this approach. Releasing equity with a second charge mortgage is fast, flexible and – unlike a remortgage - it means homeowners can keep their current mortgage in place. This is particularly attractive if they are in the middle of a fixed term deal with early repayment charges, or if they are lucky enough to have a very low rate for the lifetime of their mortgage.

It’s always worth discussing life plans with your customers to identify ways you may be able to help them achieve their goals, and if one of those goals includes paying for a wedding, a second charge mortgage might be the right choice.