I don't think one can determine a reasonable wedding cost in terms of number of dollars, particularly not in ranges of $10Ks. There are so many factors: what is the couple's financial situation, how many people are coming, where do you live?

It's like saying, how much do you think is reasonable to spend for a family to have dinner: Well, where are they?, how many people?, and what can they afford? all come into acct.

It depends on how many people and how much you can afford. I would have put a little more into it if we could have afforded it, but we're both not too social so keeping it small was best. It's a celebration, I think going a little over the top is ok.

Thats like saying: what is reasonable price for an engagement ring? I think the 3 months salary works well as an engagement ring estimate. A similar estimation would work better when discussing the reasonability of wedding costs instead of a solid figure.

See Platinum Weddings and you'll know my answer!

Maybe it's just me, but I can't see dropping more than 10K on a single day in my life. No matter HOW fabulous it's supposed to be. I'm not a celebrity, I wouldn't intend to have a celebrity-esque wedding.

monday I'm with you.

Granted it's THE day but I'd rather use my money and or my 'rents towards a home that will be long lasting for us as a couple.

My wedding will be very simple, beach and such so I know I won't be spending $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ of money. Thank God...

To feed a lot of people you love is pricey. Plus, for some people (like me) I only plan on having one wedding and it's a huge celebration that I'm willing to splurge on. That said, we are trying to be frugal. So even being frugal (bought used dress from ebay, having friends/family as vendors) you end up spending much more than you thought.

In my area I would love to be able to spend between $10-$20,000 but its upwards of that around here!!

It's hard to say, I think it depends on your personal situation. For me, my budget was exactly on the mark for what I thought was reasonable, and I kept to that budget pretty well. But if I had more money available to me, I probably woud have a whole different view on what's reasonable.

I agree with those who've said better to save up the money for other things.. for me, it's my dream house + decorating. That said, I would still like to have a lovely wedding, but I tend to lean towards quaint/quirky (which is generally much less expensive than large/lavish) when I picture my ideal wedding.

I just think it's important to stay within a budget you can reasonably afford and realize you can make your own decisions by splurging or saving where you want. I hate when I hear of people blowing all their savings or going into insane debt for a wedding, but at the same time, if you can afford it...why not?

I just feel like if you have more than $50,000 to spend on a wedding, you should be donating more money to charity or, like, buying me a house.

I definitely have to say, my idea of what a "reasonable" budget was for a wedding changed a whole lot once I started actually planning mine. It has nothing to do with wanting it to be elaborate -- it more that venue, food, and drinks REALLY adds up. Even if you have >100 guests, use an iPod instead of a DJ, and an off-the-rack dress...the overall costs can be a huge surprise. I think the thing to remember is that some cases guests are paying to come to your wedding (travel and lodging if they're out-of-towners). So you want to make the event as fun and hassle-free for your guests as possible.

But absolutely, positively, a wedding is so NOT worth starting your married life in debt!

Oh my gosh! Me and my boyfriend are going CRAZY over how much our friends are spending in this category! Take it from someone who is going to attend a total of 12 weddings this year that 20,000 to 25,000 dollars is MORE than reasonable to put together a classy and non-over-the top wedding!

Personally I think it's over-board to buy into the cookie-cutter wedding. Make it your OWN!

I agree with aimeeb and jasmint - I would rather buy our family home and decorate it.

I said 40-50 but it really depends on what you have to work with. I think it's a very special day and if you're lucky enough to have that kind of budget, that's great. But I don't think anyone should go into serious debt for a wedding.

It's going to depend on my financial circumstance, I have no idea what I'll be making. I put reasonable as 5-10K but if I had enough money I wouldn't mind spending more than that because I love the idea of a destination wedding with all of my friends and family and/or a honeymoon that involves chartering a yacht with our best friends for the first leg of the trip and going somewhere amazing like Greece. (That's always been my dream vacation) I'm a social, party-girl what can I say! Besides, I think I could put a great low-budget wedding together, and realistically speaking my financial situation will probably force me to.

I said 10-20. I just assumed they're asing what I plan on spending. I'll have a smallish wedding, have santa maria style BBQ for dinner, a cake that tastes better than it looks, etc etc. I might splurge on a dress. we'll see when the time comes

whatever the couple can afford. if they make less than $100k a year and have nothing saved for their "big day" then they should have something modest. personally, i think spending over $25k on your wedding is just wasteful. (jmho)

Well, I got married 7 years ago and spent about 15k. and that was definitely budget everything. 150 people, nice but no "frills". So I think whatever you expect to spend, you should just double it.

My husband and I spent about $1500 for a wedding with 40 guests, and it was amazing. Everyone had a fancy dinner and dessert and an open bar, and we had some flowers and a wedding cake. That was really all I needed. I would never spend more than $5000...I have other things to worry about.

I think 1-5k is reasonable for me but if you have the money and it's important to you than spend as much as you want. I'm not even sure if our wedding cost 1k, we certainly didn't pay that amount but everyone together may have. My parents each chipped in some money.

I'd say $20-30,000 is a good enough amount! It just seems that even if you want to keep it 'simple', so many things are expensive these days, and everytime I've been in a wedding where the bride was going to 'keep it simple'..it kept getting more and more grandiose.

When one of my children was married 9 years ago, in a town where there is an Ivy League College (P), her total wedding cost from dress to limo to reception was $40,000.
My younger child will be married in a destination wedding next year, and I can't imagine the cost with the air fare, hotel, etc.!

I think between $10-$20,000 is more then reasonable!
You should be able to get EVERYTHING done with that price

Prices are also subject to region. If you go to www.costofwedding.com and type in your zipcode you will see the average for that area which is a much more accurate depiction. Being in the NYmetro area there is NO WAY to feed 150ish people for under $20K. Then if you want a dress, music, photographer, and other things (even the simplest packages) you can expect to tack on a minimum extra $10K. This is just where we choose to live, and luckily wages generally go along with these costs. I imagine weddings are also expensive in California and parts of Florida. Also, different regions have different standards. Some have only cocktails, some full cocktail hour plated dinner open bar. Too many factors to be able to answer this question. I would love to spend less than what I will be spending, but there is just no way. I have researched this at length.

I honestly wouldn't want to spend over 10K -- I'd rather save the money for the honeymoon or a down payment on the house! I'll probably elope, anyway.

i don't think the people who voted $5-$10K have any idea of how much things really cost...if you want something decent, in a major metropolitan area, you are MINIMALLY looking at $20K just for the reception alone!

I live in a metropolitian area, though it's not LA or New York. I understand that in some areas of the country, things are more expensive, but I'm speaking as a general rule. Why do you need a $3000+ dress? Crusing craigslist, there were gorgeous dresses I would wear being sold for 200-500 bucks! Just an example of ways not to be careless with your money. I understand that it's a very special day, but I think it's fairly obvious that a good portion of Americans are very careless with their money.

I definitely think it is based on your income and where you live. However, no matter how much you make, I do think that the weddings that cost $1 Million are extrememly wasteful. I mean- WHY?!

3 years ago our wedding cost about $23,000 - we could have spent less or more, but the biggest expense for us was the location, it was a place that I had actaully told my dad I was going to get married at when I was 5. Plus my husband and I had a lot of history there too.

I agree with GinaSnyder. It depends on what your goals and expectations are. I would rather get a house and have a great honeymoon over a grand wedding. It also depends on your financial situation. Weddings are big business, and sometimes I think what they 'say' is average cost is outrageous! Many times couples aren't getting any help from their families. You know? That effects the cost as well. (I can definately relate with that!)I think is best to be realistic.

It's such an industry! I've cut so many things in the budget and we're looking at 30K! Ugh! The sites that we like don't allow non-catered foods, family contributions or even costco are out of the question. Any advice? No favors at our wedding, cutting the flower budget, cutting the booze budget,...

And I hate Wedding Mags. All they do is tell you to spend more money! I have two that someone gave me and I'm not purchasing any!

Whatever you spend should be exactly what you can afford.

No going into debt for a wedding. EVER.

That being said, it costs more to get married in NYC than Athol Idaho.

I think more than 30K (maybe I picked that number because its the average) is a waste. There are people starving around the world. Make a donation to Heifer.org or something. Its kind of nauseating.

My wedding is not about a show. Its about my commitment to another human being. It might be 10K.

a wedding certainly shouldn't be more than a standard down payment on a house. but honestly, spending more than a normal family vacation is going overboard to me. you can guess my wedding will be simple and small.

not that it's reasonable - but clearly you all don't live in NYC - where weddings top $100K

I think it all depends on what you want and what you can afford. i do think there is a point where no matter how much you can afford it's just too much. I also think it's sad that people feel that they have to do more to impress others or to compete. Weddings are not a market they are supposed to be a celebration of love and a new beginning together. I just got married and we saved up for a year for our wedding. It was the most beautiful day and we didn't spend ourselves into oblivion. Everyone had a blast and it was totally our own.

ARE YOU SERIOUS! Sorry, I just reaslied you mean tens of thousands of US DOLLARS is averahe and reasonable! Good for you if you can afford it etc but the wedding is just the start of the marriage and I think that's where the money should go. If you want a cookie cutter wedding with all the cliche's I can see how you would spend that much but I really can't understand it. I'm well under budget for my 8K (Aust $'s) wedding including a Loooong honeymoon and I thought I was splurging. Can't wait to tell my husband what a frugal fiancee I am

I guess it depends on what you can afford and what you want for your day...every couple is in a different financial situation too.

I really have no idea how much mine cost all together, but it was definitely somewhere in the $20,000-$30,000 range. My parents paid for our wedding and they had the means to give us a really nice day. Everything is so expensive! I don't think a lot of people realize how much things cost until you're actually planning the wedding and seeing that EVERY little detail has a price. It's craziness! The photography costs were what really blew me away...well worth it, but I definitely wasn't expecting it.

bellaressa so true. I couldn't fathom spending that kind of money for one day. But then again I like simple things and I'm not a frills sort of girl.

I am *so* glad I'm not getting married these days. We had the ceremony in a nice venue--the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA--but had the reception at a mid-sized, established neighborhood restaurant closer to home. Guests had about a 30-minute drive between places, but I don't think that's too unreasonable.

We attended two "budget" weddings in May.

One was at a local facility similar to a VFW hall, owned by friends of the bride. It was a first wedding for both, who are in their 40s. Both the ceremony and reception were in the same location. There was a (very reasonable) cash bar during the reception and food was tasty and generous Mexican food catered and served out of the hall's kitchen serving window. My friend, the bride, is a physician's assistant in OB-GYN and the officiating clergy was a patient. There were two photographers, avid amateurs but not professional, both family friends (including my husband) and therefore services were free. DH is giving them one DVD of photos in RAW format, and two in JPG and TIFF, so they can print whatever they want. The DJ was a gift from another friend. IIRC her dress was around $200-$300. I think there were 60 - 75 attending, I'm sure their final cost was under $5,000, and the casualness made it all that much more fun. Everyone seemed to have a good time, even the bride's mother and stepmother (the divorce was decades ago) were dancing together. All in all, a textbook budget wedding with enough happy tears for everyone!

The other was a friend of my husband's. He was the designated photographer for them, too, and gifted them his services. It was at a ranch owned by the groom's family. It was a bit "country" but not quite a "redneck wedding" (as seen in frightening detail on CMT). There was a rifle range on the grounds, adjacent to where the reception was held! The ceremony was outdoors, and the reception was in an open but covered pavilion. Food was buffet-style barbecue with soft drinks and champagne for toasting. (Although, after the drive in--the last 20 miles were a two-lane mountain "highway" near Lake Elsinore, California, and the final 2.5 or 3 miles were twisting dirt roads, marked only by the signs the groom posted that morning--I could have used a good stiff drink!) I don't know prices, but it was certainly reasonable. And it was lovely and romantic, very individual, and the minister was a hoot.

Sorry to ramble on, just wanted to prove that you don't have to have a "platinum" wedding!