Nothing quite screams romance like loo roll and bin bags, according to Tesco anyway.
The supermarket has launched a wedding gift registry featuring slightly more everyday items.
Forget about Le Creuset Pots or fine china – the £63 Tesco Really Useful Stuff bundle includes five packs of luxury toilet paper, two tubes of toothpaste, refuse sacks, kitchen towel, antibacterial hand wash and shower products.
Practical? Yes. Depressing? Also, yes – or maybe just a sign of the times.
Even Tesco admits ‘it might not immediately seem the most romantic option’, but the supermarket insists it’s what modern couples want.
Launched in collaboration with wedding registry Prezola, Tesco said its six bespoke wedding bundles address the ‘real needs of modern couples across the UK’, who are navigating their first year of marriage.
The range also includes a £39 I Love Brew gift containing six months’ worth of tea and biscuits and a Dine-In Dates package costing £72 and consisting of Tesco Finest ready meals and wines.
It follows a survey commissioned by the supermarket that found 88% of newlyweds or engaged couples agreed that the need for practical gifts was greater than it used to be, with 48% of those blaming rising living costs.
Some 40% of engaged or recently married couples wanted fine china and only 10% wanted crockery or towels, while 18% would choose to have their weekly shop taken care of for a year.
Would you like to receive the Tesco wedding items?
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Yes! At least they’re useful
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Absolutely not – what’s a wedding with Le Creuset?
The supermarket found 63% of couples felt the financial implications of their wedding day caused them stress, with it taking an average of a year to pay off.
Of those who felt stressed about the cost of their wedding day, 82% said they would prefer to use wedding gifts to help recoup costs after the day, while 93% said having a stockpile of everyday essential products would help them reduce monthly outgoings.
My perfect wedding cost just £5,000
Catherine Ramm, 52, owner of Dorset Dried Flowers from Corfe Castle, Dorset, got married in 2023. She and her partner ended up spending just over £5,000 on a large wedding with 120 day guests and 300 evening guests.
As Catherine’s a florist, she was able to do the bouquets and decor herself, while her now-husband is a farmer, meaning they saved on venue costs by holding their ceremony and reception on his land.
The pair’s friends and family also donated services or helped out with mate’s rates on everything from photography to toilets.
‘We had no budget in mind when we started planning,’ Catherine told Metro. ‘It just sort of evolved, and we had so many people wanting to be involved it was amazing.’ She’s over the moon with how it all turned out, adding: ‘People are still talking about it. We had an amazing time and I don’t think we could have made it any better even if we had thrown more money at it.’
Although Catherine didn’t specifically plan to spend so little on her big day, she does have some advice for others who want to keep costs down.
‘Look at where you aren’t prepared to compromise and where you are,’ she says. ‘There are places you can cut the corners and places you can’t.’
See full details of her big day here.
A Tesco spokeswoman said: ‘Our research has shown that it is the little things that matter most to couples, whether it is hearing about your partner’s day over a cuppa and a biscuit, sharing the chores or making time for a dine-in date night.
‘While toilet roll and teabags might not immediately seem like the most romantic option, it’s clear from our research that these are the products that could help to get married life off to a brilliant start.’
You might want to splash out a bit more on the newlyweds, however, as the average wedding now costs £23,250 – almost £6,000 more than in 2021.
Statistics by Bridebook found that a quarter of couples will spend less than £10,000 on their special day, while 10% have a budget of £5,000 or under.
Meanwhile, 10% of ‘nearlyweds’ will fork out over £38,000 for their wedding in 2025. So, depending on their budget, they’ll probably want a bit more than bin bags.
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