Your wedding is one of the happiest days of your life. In addition, weddings in Malta are a major social event, traditionally paid for by the bride’s father. Whoever is paying for the wedding, make sure that you spend on your wedding what you truly can afford.


Have a discussion with your partner, and your family if they are supporting you, about how both of you will fund your wedding. Work out together how much you want to spend on the wedding as a whole and on each individual item. In planning your wedding, take into account estimated monetary gifts that you may receive. Do not be shy in requesting your guests for monetary gifts.
You should try to avoid spending more on your wedding then you can afford – and in doing so placing yourself in a position where you are still in debt, paying off your wedding bills two or three years later. If you place yourself in such a position you may find the first years of your marriage to be somewhat stressful, particularly if you planned to raise a family.
It is important to decide what kind of wedding you want. Weddings in Malta tend to be large with parents influencing the guest list. In addition, money is splashed on the best of things – whether it is the venue, the cars, the catering, the wedding dress, etc.

The cost of your wedding depends on the following:
- Number of guests you invite.
- Wedding venue.
- Wedding invitations.
- Wedding souvenirs
- Church fees ( if married in church)
- Bridal dress, hair and makeup.
- Bridesmaids dress, hair and makeup.
- Catering.
- Wedding cake.
- Music during the celebration and at the wedding party.
- Video and photography.
- Flowers and decor.
- Cars.
- Give away presents.
- Going away dress.
- Wedding planner, if any.

Prioritise those aspects of your wedding that are most important to you. Use your budget to juggle your priorities. Once you decide your budget on the basis of your planned wedding – stick to both the budget and the wedding. As you shop around you are likely to come across cars, dresses, going away gifts, etc. that are more beautiful than those within your budget – and they are likely to be, as they will cost more. You may be tempted to spend a little more on this and a little more on that – and you may find when you put all the bills together that you spent far more than you can afford.
Shop around before making any decision to buy. Do not be embarrassed or shy to haggle a best price for you.
The following are tips which you may wish to consider when planning your wedding:
- Months before the wedding you should start putting money aside.
- Hold the wedding off season – you may get better prices.
- If you can avoid try not to pay for your wedding on credit – interest can add hundreds to your bill.
- Try to negotiate to spread payment over a number of months – this way ensuring that you spread the outlay over a period of time and thus giving you a breathing space.
- Limit the number of bride girls – this will reduce your expenses with regard to their dress, make-up, hair styling, etc.
- Be bold: instead of hiring an expensive cameraman give out a number of disposable photo machines to some of your close friends and ask them to take pictures for you – it will be less expensive and photos will capture the ‘true’ wedding moments.
- Do not spent monetary gifts which you included in reaching on your budget estimate for your wedding on other things.
- Be innovative: make your own wedding invitations and going-away gifts.