Can you afford married life?

The average wedding costs £19,595, but you should never miss a repayment to afford it

It's easy to assume that love and marriage will go together - and that owning a home and having children will follow automatically. But at a time when UK personal debt stands at a record £1.58bn, years of scrimping and saving could stand between you and your plans.

The following statements will help you to see whether you can afford to get married. Read each one and then see how realistic you are.

I'm thinking of setting a budget and getting on top of how much I owe, how much I need to save and how much I spend.

You should start budgeting now. To get a picture of what you owe, check your credit report - your personal financial history detailing your loans, mortgages, credit cards and repayment record.

Lenders look at this when they decide whether to offer you credit. If your report shows that you have multiple loans or credit cards, they may be reluctant to lend you any more or charge higher interest rates.

If you already have a joint account with your partner, youÂ’ll find him or her listed as one of your financial associates. You won't see any further details, but lenders will follow through and check that there are no potential problems there either.

The easy way to see your credit report is to visit the Money Credit Report Centre.

A degree is an investment in my future - I'll be able to pay back my student and graduate loans easily with the higher salary I earn.

The average student debt is £12,000, according to the Government's Student Loans Company, forcing many graduates to live with their parents in order to make repayments. Even so, the Observer newspaper recently suggested that you could be 40 before you clear your student spending.

And bankruptcy isn't an answer, although 4,000 students have taken this way out.

A personal insolvency stays on your credit report for six years and can make it difficult to borrow, so your expensive education could cost you the chance of buying a family home.

It's okay to skip paying a few bills in order to pay for my wedding - lenders will understand.

Even though the average marriage costs £19,595, according to a recent study by Brewin Dolphin Securities, you should try to never miss a repayment.

It will be logged on your credit report and could harm your financial future, because lenders could think that you are not trustworthy.

ItÂ’s better to save for special occasions and keep your financial options open.

Getting a mortgage should be easy, even if I already owe quite a lot on loans and credit cards.

The average house in the UK costs almost £190,000, according to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which means that first-time buyers need to find around 4.2 times their household income.

If you canÂ’t rely on rich parents, you should start saving immediately - and do what you can to clean up your credit report.

For instance, you could consolidate your debts into a single, cheaper loan, or pay off some of your credit cards, starting with the ones charging the highest interest.

You don't need to save before having children - they're free!

Parents typically spend £165,668 raising a child from birth to the age of 21, says the annual Cost of a Child survey from the Liverpool Victoria.

Perhaps it's no surprise that the average age for a British woman to have her first child is now 29, while fathers are over 30 - it takes that long to save up!

And finally

If you'd like to see whether lenders will think you can afford to get married, you can order your National Credit Score from CreditExpert.

When you apply for any kind of loan, lenders calculate a credit score based on information in your application form and your credit report. Generally, the higher your score, the easier you'll find it to get loans, cards and a mortgage.

The National Credit Score uses only the information held by Experian, the UK's largest credit reference agency, so it won't be identical. But it will give you an indication of your financial prospects in your new, married life.