REVEALED: Which countries spend the most on weddings?

Find out which countries have the largest wedding budgets and what they spend the most on

A new study by online savings solution Raisin UK has shown how much people are spending on their weddings across the world. Looking at the most used online search terms, the study has also uncovered what is considered most important when it comes to weddings in various countries. 

Biggest spenders

Among the top spenders were Japan, Norway and Germany, who all spend an average of £6,659.81 on their top three wedding priorities.

While 'wedding dress' was the most searched term in Japan and Norway, 'honeymoon' was the top priority in Germany. 

Smallest spenders

The three countries which spend the least on weddings were named as Cape Verde, Montenegro and Madagascar and interestingly, their priorities are very different to the top spending countries.

Madagascar averaged £850.11, spent on the 'groom's suit', 'wedding invites' and 'wedding cake', while for Cape Verde, 'wedding rings', 'wedding invites' and 'wedding vows' totalled an average of £1,344.04. 

UK vs USA

The UK spends an average of £4,262.95 on its top three wedding priorities, and the USA displays similar values when deciding which aspects of a wedding take presedence.

'Wedding dress' tops the list with 368,000 UK-based searches in the last 12 months, while 'bridesmaid dresses' garnered 135,000 searches. Similarly, 'wedding dress' attracted almost 1,000,000 searches in the USA, again followed by 'bridesmaid dresses', which was searched 246,000 times in the last year. 

For both the UK and USA, 'wedding rings' is the third most searched wedding term, with 110,000 searches in the UK and 45,000 searches in the USA. In the UK, the average wedding ring costs £2,712, however, a recent survey discovered that 35% of people believe that spending the traditional amount of three month’s wages on a ring is too much. 

Cultural traditions

The study also shed light on the significance of cultural traditions. The importance of the wedding ring in Greece, which was the second most searched for wedding term in the country, can be linked to the fact that the happy couple will only ever buy one ring. The one ring is used from engagement to marriage, with the ring moved from the right hand to the left when the marriage is announced. 

The vital importance of the dress in eastern countries such as India and Korea was also highlighted, with the red Lehenga in India and Hanbok in Korea acting as cultural symbols. This contrasts with the traditional white dress of western culture, which represents prosperity and fertility. 

Finally, the term 'wedding cake' attracted 14,800 searches in France, an apt find given the country's reputation for food and the last Queen of France before the revolution, Marie Antoinette's well-known phrase: "Let them eat cake".