When you first get engaged, you're in a whirl of excitement, but as you enter the wedding planning stage you need to face the unwelcome truth that unless you're really clever about it, your big day is going to cost you very dear.

The average cost of a wedding has ballooned to £20,000 - but you can have a great wedding on a much smaller budget.

Here are some tips for planning your big day and getting a better deal on food and drink, wedding dresses, flowers and entertainment.

Love is still lingering in the air... apparently. As the red roses start to wilt there is still a small corner of the country where everything is still rose-scented and heart-shaped, because the National Wedding Show hits the stands at London's Olympia this weekend. If that's a bit late notice, you could pop a date in the diary for the Birmingham show on 5-7 March.

But if you're considering ting the knot, you're going to need to brace yourself financially, because the average wedding now costs an astonishing £20,000.

So how does it break down?

If you're hoping that your beloved might get down on their knees and propose any time soon, you could well be disappointed.

The number of people getting married has fallen to the lowest level since records began in 1862. Just 232,990 couples wed in 2008, down 1% on the year before, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

But is this such a bad thing?

Is marriage a hugely expensive waste of money, or the basis of a rock solid financial future?

If Katie Price's life was a soap opera, she would have people turning off in droves claiming that the whole thing was just too ludicrous to believe. What next, a Las Vegas wedding?

Well, actually, yes...

Yesterday Katie provided a new twist to the story when she married Alex Reid in Las Vegas. The couple pitched up in Vegas, bought some rings and then went to a hotel chapel for a quickie ceremony.

Sounds like they really thought that one through.

Here's hoping they plan a nice quiet few months out of the spotlight, so that we can properly enjoy their honeymoon period.

But while we wait for the next development - alien abduction? Long-lost brothers and sisters? Peter Andre wandering out of the shower and realising the whole thing has been a dream? It's worth sparing a thought for their choice of wedding.

Any couple with marriage on their minds has a brief 'Vegas Conversation'. Should you chuck in all the pointless planning and organisations and make a dash for Sin City to tie the knot?

But while it may seem like the easy answer, it may be more expensive than you think.

A recent survey has found that divorcing couples are together for an average of 11 years before they split. Not only does this put the notion of a seven-year itch to rest, it has got sociologists talking.

Should people assume that marriage is a temporary phenomenon and plan accordingly? It's a terribly unromantic notion and the last thing a bride wants to think about as she's planning her big day.

Far be it from me to dampen the spirit of newly-weds, but there are certain financial precautions couples should take.

I'm sick of hearing about all these eBay bargain weddings. The bride swans around in her 99p dress, with her 99p bridesmaids, and while we try so hard to be pleased for her, we can't help but think of the vast amount we've been forced to fork out for our own wedding.

So here's an eBay wedding story that's actually useful, we've tracked down items live online right now, so you can be that 99p bride.

'Brits on the piss' have always been a bit of a sobering sight. There's nothing that makes you wish fervently you could speak another language and blend in with the crowd than bumping into a hoard of drunken stags and hens staggering down a street on holiday.

But a move by Spanish authorities could mean it's safe to go out on the street in Barcelona again.

I was at the wedding reception of two friends at the weekend, and soon realised I was an alien at my table, being the only one not engaged or married, and listened on as all talk turned to weddings, and inevitably to how much these things cost.

The National Wedding Show took place this weekend, where brides-to-be and their probably slightly less eager grooms, trawled the stands advertising endless ways to part with their cash for the big day, with everything from organising stag and hen nights; car hire, venue and photography, to invitations, table decorations and hair and make-up.

So are wedding fairs a good way to find bargains, or a money-draining day out that couples should avoid?

Now this is a genius idea if ever I heard one. You've got yourself four girlfriends. You want to get hitched, but reckon it'll cost you a fair old whack to marry them all? Then just marry all four women at once! Hurrah! They won't mind, will they? After all you're just being frugal and looking after their needs - weddings are an expensive business.

Now all you have to do is get all four of your women to agree to it. So maybe take some tips from South African businessman Milton Mbele who did just that.

Marc and Sylvia Day spent £1,450 on a video and photos of their wedding. That's a fair old chunk of cash. For that you would expect something pretty special.

What they actually got was a video where the videographer could be heard swearing as he dropped the camera in the middle of the ceremony. Plus they got shots of the wedding couple with no head (not the one on the right, that's an unlucky amateur shot), the backs of guests dancing, over-exposed bridesmaids (in more ways than one) and a hugely disappointing day. You could actually see Sylvia seething on the wedding video.

So what can you do if this happens to you?