Save £1,700 on wedding loans

As the wedding season swings into action, financial firms are offering tips on how to save on wedding expenses.

And two high-profile weddings have caught the eyes of the banks Barclays and Alliance & Leicester.

On Friday Coronation Street's Ken Barlow and Deidre Rachid, and Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, are set to tie the knot.

Ken and Charles last walked down the aisle in 1981, and Alliance & Leicester has pointed out that since then the cost of the average wedding has risen 760 per cent.

And Barclays warns that this year the cost of the average wedding could rise to £16,200.

"With the cost of marriages rising by around eight per cent every year, couples shouldn't get carried away and splash out on a Royal wedding if they have a Coronation Street budget," said Mike Rogers, managing director of UK retail banking at Barclays.

Alliance & Leicester adds that the increasing cost of the big day means one in five couples now need to borrow to pay for the celebrations.

And the vast majority of these couples are going to one of the Big Four high street banks for their borrowing needs - and potentially paying through the nose.

Alliance & Leicester points out couples can save more than £1,700 on interest payments by taking out a market-leading loan, rather than opting for one from a major bank.

Ash Mukadam, Alliance & Leicester personal loans manager, noted: "Whether it is due to lack of time or the assumption that the Big Four high street banks give the best value, the Ken's and Deirdre's of this world could be losing out by over £1,700 by not shopping around for a good value personal loan.

"By heading straight for their high street bank couples could be wasting £1,700 - which they might as well cut up and use as confetti."