Floating down the aisle towards the man I’m about to marry, I turn and smile. I see women in formal florals, men sporting tuxedos.

But one accessory unites them – a coloured band on their wrist.

White for the guests who’ve paid £42 to be there, and gold for the VIPs who’ve splashed out £745!

Of course, every bride believes that their wedding is unique. But how many can say they’ve charged their guests to see them say ‘I do’?

I know how outrageous that sounds. The very idea of asking your loved ones to whip out their credit card for a ‘ticket’ to your wedding seems tone deaf at best and greedy at worst.

When my maid of honour first found out, she was furious, thinking it was a shameless money grab. My mother-in-law only told us at the wedding itself what she really thought. But for my husband Steve and I, it was the perfect decision. After all, the average UK wedding costs an eye-watering £20,822 – and that’s before rings or the honeymoon. But we jetted off to our honeymoon in Hawaii knowing we had zero debts to grapple with. Ticket sales had raised £37,550, which covered the entire cost of the wedding.

I met Steve in 2020, when I was 29 and Steve was 32, and liked this funny, charming father of three immediately. We had so much in common, both online marketing entrepreneurs, and previously married.

As the years passed, we talked about marriage. Both of our previous weddings had been huge traditional affairs with hundreds of guests, and they’d been paid for with loans, savings and our parents’ contributions.

‘If we ever get married, we should turn it into an event,’ Steve joked one day, knowing what a big affair it would inevitably turn out to be. ‘We could sell tickets!’ How we laughed.

Then, on New Year’s Day 2025, Steve popped the question. I was ecstatic. We didn’t have a particular vision or budget for our big day, just that it would be a fabulous party with the people we loved.

But we soon realised how dear weddings had become. One venue charged £485 just to cut the cake! Then I remembered that chat about charging guests. ‘Would we be crazy to actually do this?’. Steve smiled and said: ‘Why not? After all, we both host events for work all the time. If anyone could do it, it’s us.’ For two months we kept the plan to ourselves.

One moment we were adamant it was a terrible idea. On the other hand, we could create an incredible event that gave guests value for money.

Then the subject came up with a colleague. ‘In Asian culture it’s really not strange for wedding guests to pay,’ she said. ‘They don’t buy tickets, but everyone gives a big enough cash gift to cover costs.’

That was the final push we needed and in March we decided to go for it. I created a website explaining what we were doing and detailed the two ticket options.

The first ‘No toaster needed’ ticket was £42 and would get you access to the ceremony and party at the lovely rural venue we’d picked.

We chose that figure as it was similar to what you might pay for a meal out, and we’d told everyone not to buy us a gift.

The second option, ‘Vows and VIP’, was £745 per couple for three days of wedding events.

That included a relationship retreat with expert speakers, authors and therapists, the rehearsal dinner, and a ‘biohacking brunch’ (a meal designed to optimise physical and mental performance) the day after the wedding with ‘brain-optimisation stations’ and a drum circle. Plus they’d get priority seating.

There were a few lines we drew; for example, our 40 closest relatives and friends wouldn’t pay.

Before the site went live, we didn’t ask for people’s opinions. And we didn’t discover what our parents thought until the ‘parents’ panel’ at the relationship retreat, where guests could ask them questions.

Steve’s mum admitted it had seemed weird at first and my mum said: ‘Marley’s always done things a different way!’

But as the ticket sales climbed over 200 it was clear how popular the idea was. We don’t think anyone chose not to come due to the price, and if they did, they never told us!

Costs, including £17,000 on food, £2,600 for photography and £1,500 for videography were all covered by ticket sales.

It was the most incredible day. Even my initially sceptical maid of honour loved it. In fact, we’d clearly inspired everyone to dig deep; we also did a fundraiser on the day that made £100,000 for the charity Village Impact.

I want couples planning their wedding to have the confidence to do something different, even if it ruffles feathers.

Steve and I started married life debt-free and knowing our loved ones had a great time. Forget a toaster – that’s the best wedding gift you can have.