Your parents don't need to take out a second mortgage to pay for your wedding. And if you're like many modern couples, you will be covering a huge chunk of the expense by yourselves. Do you know the best way to work it out? We suggest you sit down with a pen, pad and calculator to do the sums and figure out what you would really like but also what you can realistically both afford. Keep in mind that smaller intimate weddings are a lot more feasible than the huge extravagant wedding, that leave you in debt for years to come.

To help you out, we've decided to give you a short breakdown of the costs for everyone involved, according to the bride's vs groom's family. But keep your ear to the door: these "rules" are made to be broken based on decades of rebellious behaviour and also on what's best suited for each individual family.

The Ceremony will entail the bride and her family paying for the church section- organist and so on. The groom and his family will take on the responsibility of the marriage license and officiant's fees.

The perfect wedding dress, tux and attire can be a little tricky, the bride or the brides father will usually pay for the dress, veil and accessories but on occasion the groom has also been known to pay for this himself too. Unless of course, you can cover the costs of your brides and grooms party clothing as well as your own - wouldn't this be a dream!

In terms of the floral and decor requirements - this is always a large, costly element of any wedding. All the ceremony, reception, bouquets, flower girls and the bridesmaids corsages are paid for by the brides family. The grooms family will cover the bride's bouquet, boutonnieres as well as the mothers and grandmothers corsages. Let's not forget that the groom also traditionally pays for the all-important honeymoon too!

With the pre-wedding celebrations ranging from engagement parties to bridal showers and stag nights, these can be covered by either family or friends. The engagement party is hosted by the bride or groom's parents, but the rehearsal dinner is one hundred percent covered by the groom's family. The bride and groom's last nights of freedom are also traditionally planned by their nearest and dearest.

Happy planning!

When it comes down to the rings, the couple purchase each others rings but if you want to date the tradition back to archaic eras, the groom and his family would pay for both the engagement ring and wedding band. All things pretty - the wedding stationary for example- is paid for by the bride and her family. And last but certainly not least, the wedding transportation to and from the ceremony and reception is covered by the bride but only for the wedding party.