With tonight the traditional St Valentine’s Day night for proposals, we reveal research showing that couples will spend an average of £15,000 from the engagement to the honeymoon.

One in five (21%) single Britons are set to be engaged this year and a staggering £12 billion will be spent tying the knot, new research from Alliance & Leicester Personal Loans reveals.

However, as one in five couples (20%) need to borrow money to pay for their big day, it is likely that many will pay over the odds for finance if they don’t shop around to look for the best deal, warns A&L.

One quarter (25%) of those borrowing money will take out a personal loan, with the vast majority (80%) looking to borrow from one of the ‘Big Four’ banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB or RBS NatWest), even though they could be paying far more interest than they need to.

For example, a loan of £7,500 with Barclays paying a typical rate of 14.9% APR will cost £2,993 in interest over a five year term, compared to just £1,154 with the same loan from Alliance & Leicester at 5.9% APR – a saving of over £1,800.

Ash Mukadam, Alliance & Leicester Personal Loans Manager explained: “Couples have a lot on their mind when they get married but, unfortunately for them, it seems that getting the best deal when they borrow is not one of them. Weddings need careful planning, by shopping around for the most competitive personal loan, like you would the wedding flowers or the caterers, huge savings can be made."

“Without looking around for a personal loan, couples may as well tear up £1,800 and use it as confetti. This could be the difference between a honeymoon in Blackpool or the Bahamas!”

Gone are the days when the bride’s family footed the bill. Seventy per cent of weddings are paid for by the couples themselves and with such a budget to fulfil, it is not surprising that one in five (20%) are borrowing money to help pay for the big day. Of those, over half (54%) rely on friends and family, 16% will use a store card and a quarter (25%) will use a personal loan.

It is no wonder that one in six (17%) couples hoping to marry are worried about entering married life in debt caused by borrowing to fund their big day. More than a third (38%) have, or will have to, cut back on some of their dream wedding plans due to money worries and 15% admit to arguing more about money.