If you ask any person what they would consider to be the most significant and indeed most special time in a couple’s relationship, you can bet that 9 times out of 10 the most common answer would be marriage.

For women in particular, a wedding day is something that is planned in meticulous detail over the course of many years. However, as you would probably expect, any event that is planned in great detail, over a long period of time is unlikely to be cheap.

According to recent studies, weddings are one of the biggest causes of long term debt amongst couples. The average cost associated to planning and orchestrating the big day is around £10,000 forcing many couples to seek financial assistance in order to pay for their wedding day. Reportedly, over 60% of couples choose loans, credit cards and even overdraft facilities to fund the event.

Worryingly, over 1/3 of couples are continuing to repay debts associated to their wedding 6 years into marriage, with a further 1/3 clearing debts 2 years later. Weddings are obviously expensive occasions and few couples are prepared settle for second best.

Problems tend to arise for couples when seeking other forms of credit such as a mortgage. The findings show that additional credit commitments stemming their big day restricts the scale of mortgage options available to them (due to affordability), thus forcing compromise with regards to their chosen home.

Research suggests that weddings are becoming more lavish with each new generation, and some analysts predict that the costs associated to matrimony will have rose by around 10% by the year 2011.