As the credit crunch rolls on and shows no sign of abating, Britons are cutting corners with their personal finances.

Heading away on a spontaneous weekend to a cultural European capital or a putting a new pair of designer shoes onto the plastic on a whim are little more than distant memories, replaced by such measures of frugality as camping at home and scouring the supermarket shelves for the best multi-buy offers.

While many households are only too happy to save a few pennies here and there, with many even willing to forego a significant change of lifestyle in order to stay in the black, it seems unlikely that many people will be happy to make the ultimate sacrifice and cut back on the cost of their wedding day.

Recent research from IMG Direct found that the average UK couple now spends £18,500 on their dream day in comparison to £4,300 just 20 years ago, equivalent to a rise more than five times faster than the rate of inflation. The number of couples taking out wedding insurance has also increased in recent years.

Given this rise and how the media constantly churn out images of the perfect matrimonial ceremony, with both women and men seeing things such as string quartets and sun-soaked country home parties as essential rather than merely luxury add-ons to the ceremony itself, it is hard to imagine many couples choosing to make major cutbacks, regardless of how bad experts warn the current economic downturn will get.

Sadly, this reluctance to get married on the cheap means that thousands of happy couples are putting their plans on hold, or even cancelling them as they refuse to budge from the wedding of their dreams.

Just last month a report published by Civitas revealed that 30 per cent of cohabiting couples had not married due to the cost of going through with it.

Clearly, therefore, unromantic though it may well be, there is a lot to be said for being frugal when it comes to tying the knot.

And according to Colette Harris, the editor of You and Your Wedding, there are dozens of little steps couples and their families can take to ensure that the bill doesn't spiral out of control.

"Everything from sending an email invitation instead of getting them printed, to having a wedding later in the afternoon and having one evening buffet for all of your guests," she said.

"Instead of having a wedding in the morning, then a wedding breakfast and then an evening buffet for a load of other people as well, a brilliant way of saving money is having one lot of guests, having your wedding late and having an evening do for everybody."

Significantly, couples can save anything up to 40 per cent on suppliers and venues simply by opting for a mid-week wedding rather than a weekend event.

It may well be a sad truth to face up to, but times are tough for most people and look like getting worse before they get any better.

Only by saying 'I do' to a pound-stretching wedding can couples ensure that they come away from their big day and honeymoon with nothing but happy memories rather than crippling debts.