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Weddings: Splash the cash or save the pennies?

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He's popped the question, you've got the rock and wedding planning is in full swing. Will you splash the cash to say 'I do' in a grand and lavish affair or save your pennies and go for something more low-key? Woman debates the issue. . .

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Louise Rouvray (left) and Kirsty Bosley (right) debate wedding budgets. Should you spend big or spend small?

Louise Rouvray is going all out and wants a big bash...

You get one day (well, widows and remarriages aside), to bring the fairytale to life. I've got the Princess Diana ring, now I want the royal wedding.

Granted, not everyone can afford a big fancy do, but if you can, then why not? We've carefully budgeted our savings for the next year and, with a little help from the in-laws, can splash out on a huge, historic hall in the countryside with a Champagne reception on a (hopefully) balmy July evening.

[breakout title="Kirsty Bosley says 'no' to a budget-busting wedding" align="right"]

We're not cheap, my fiancé and me. We splash our cash on what we consider to be the important things in life. Like downloading hip-hop albums, ordering pizza to the extent that we're on first name terms with the delivery guy and getting tattoos. Oh, and the rent and the bills.

Silly, you might think, given we don't have a mortgage or any life savings. But it suits us fine – we like to fly along by the seat of our soon-to-be matrimonial pants.

The same goes for our forthcoming wedding. When Andrew proposed to me, I was over the moon. The 'stone' in my ring is blown glass, no mega-carat diamond or elegant emerald. It's exactly everything I could have wanted – beautiful, unusual and very me. Not cheap, but not some stupid proportion of my fella's wages.

When we talk about the wedding, we both recoil a little when it comes to the inevitable cost. We counted up all of the people we would like to be there, cut down that number by 10 and eliminate extra names like a cold-hearted pair of Simon Cowell's.

Down to 60, it still sounded like a lot of mouths to feed. "Shall we see if we can get a discount if we buy 40 pizzas?" I asked Andrew when we looked at catering options. Who doesn't like pizza? He agreed, though we both feel that a finger buffet, including cheese and pineapple sticks wedged into a foil-covered melon so it looks like a hedgehog, would also be a viable option.

We don't want to spend hundreds upon hundreds of hard-earned pounds on outfits we'll only ever wear once. We want to set ourselves up for a wonderful new married life, not start it on the back foot, paying off debts.

Instead, the only thing we're truly happy splashing out on is a really fun DJ and space for a disco. What matters is us being together, promising to love and cherish each other forever in front of our most precious friends and family. And then having a right good, old-fashioned knees-up.

If I'd won £33 million on the lottery, things wouldn't be so different. Even if I had unlimited cash, I still couldn't justify spending it on one day. Perhaps it'll be one of the most wonderful days of my life, every day of my life with Andy is a blast.

But for me, what will make it a perfect day is all of the things that money can't buy. And a cheese and pineapple hedgehog.[/breakout]

My soon-to-be sensible father-in-law describes it as 'dead money', and while I see his point – everything from the DJ to the photographer is over-priced simply because it is a wedding, not a birthday or other occasion – I think the opposite. Then again, a soft side surfaced when he did offer to help us out – my other half is an only child, his parents have been together 37 years and I think they look forward to celebrating our union with a little opulence and not just a signing at a register office followed by a budget bash at the local Holiday Inn.

Not to sound like a spoilt, pampered prima donna. If you want an affordable, simple affair then that's your choice. But it's not what we're after. Perhaps it's stemmed from growing up in a rough part of London, in a single-parent family with barely enough money to pay the bills each month that my dream for a lavish do grew. I went to school wearing my sister's hand-me-downs and running around in no-brand trainers with my council-block friends at the weekends. So I will feel no guilt in enjoying every extravagance that comes my way – I'm not entitled to grandeur, but I've worked hard to get here and saved well. We've got our mortgage, we won't be getting out any bank loans or starving to pay for our wedding. We're spending within our means.

This is our big day, we only intend to do it once and want to make it memorable. That doesn't mean having 200 guests and a big fat gypsy wedding dress, but it does mean church bells, a Rolls Royce rolling me to the big stately home and a three-tier cake with cascading edible flowers in a room with all the fancy trimmings.

Traditional, classy and lots of lace – a wedding fit for a princess. And while I can't wait to pick our chair swags, pew arrangements and floral centrepieces, all that really matters is that my Prince Charming is waiting at the end of the aisle.

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