Couples in love have continued tying the knot during the recession, but they're spending a lot less money doing it. The average cost of a wedding in the US was $30,000 in 2007, an approximation that has since been reduced by nearly 30 percent. According to statistics from The Wedding Report, the average cost for a wedding in 2008 was $21,814 and that price tag was already slashed to $19,219 in the first quarter of 2009.
The figure represents a national average, and like anything else cost will vary depending on geography — the higher your cost of living, the more you'll probably pay for the big day. Beautiful weddings can be done on a small budget, but it's a good idea to understand the average cost of things in your area so you can plan accordingly and have an idea of the difference between deal and a premium quote. Curious what couples are shelling out in your city? To find out, read more.
Enter your zip code in the space below to find out a range for what couples are spending on their weddings (you'll be taken to the Cost of a Wedding website). San Francisco couples are spending between $33,963 and $56,604; what's the range where you live?
Donna Karan
I spent $8000 on our wedding in 2006, I could have done it for less but splurged on things like photography and flowers.
1We had a beautiful wedding with a 125 guests for less than $12,000...and that was with a CRAZY expensive photographer! I cannot imagine spending 20K or more! That's a down payment on a house, not an appropriate amount of money to spend on a wedding.
2wow... couples spend in between 28k and 48k for weddings in my area... i am planning mine for less than 20k... neener neener, san jose brides!
blue and dana... where in the heck do ya'll live? that is CHEAP!
3wow! 44k-60k
i think we spent 10k (12 years ago). i thought that was nuts, but hubby
and my mom insisted.
4I never understand how weddings cost so much money.
5In my zip code (Arlington, VA) it's between $38,246 and $63,744. Eek!
In my parents' zip code, a small town in Ohio where my sister is getting married in September, it's between $15,299 and $25,498.
What a difference!
6Although, I will say, the size of the wedding obviously has a huge bearing on the cost. It's great that you threw your wedding for less than $12,000, Dana, but, to me, 125 guests is a small wedding. My sister is inviting about 500 and expecting about 400.
7I can't imagine spending those amounts on a wedding. It's a down payment on a house! Of course, I've watched some 'Say Yes To The Dress' on TLC and the DRESS cost $30,000. Holy cow.
8Oh, wow! In the city when I live, they're between $13-22k . . . I live near Virginia Beach, though, and I think we get a lot of elopements. Where I'm actually having it, it's more like $23-38k. I think my cost's around $13k now . . . it's been creeping up, slowly, but I'm hoping it doesn't get much higher!
9wmoonw: I'm in Norfolk, so I got about the same range as you. That sounds about right for this area, considering the average income and all. I was living up in NoVA, near lilkimbo, so I did that zip too, and the ones for the other areas that I lived in the past few years. Thats a cool little calculator.
10The place where we got married was avg $30,903 - $51,505 according to the calculator. We did it for $15k in 2007. It was my perfect wedding, and I'm so proud we paid for it ourselves - a great start to making good financial decisions.
11$19,888 to $33,147 in NYC
12we're aiming for $10k next year (the average where i live is between $19,888 and $33,147). i think we can do it.
13Goodness. We had a small wedding by most people's standards, I suppose - 150 guests - but we barely spent $7,000. That's paying for bridesmaid's dresses, my dress, a full buffet, DJ, everything. It would have been cheaper than that, too, if my mother wouldn't have insisted on renting a tent no matter what the weather was supposed to be like - I just wanted to risk it (The weather was gorgeous and we didn't need it at all)! lol. Actually, it could have only cost us $50 - we wanted to go to to courthouse and then just do a honeymoon!
14Where I got married it said between $12,698 and $21,163. I had about 150 people and we spent less than $4,500. And I did the "big church wedding"!
15We spent maybe $2000 on ours last year
16The average wedding in Austin is 30,000- I am only spending 3,000 and its already so gorgeous!
17Interesting... in my area it's just a little less than the San Francisco area.
18On average, couples that live in Quincy, MA 02169 spend between $20,653 and $34,422 for their wedding. This does not include cost for a honeymoon or engagement ring.
I will never ever spend that kind of money on a day, yes it's THE day but so what?! Everyone says things just add up and add up but being super good at crunching numbers this will never ever be me. I want it simple, on my boyfriend's parents beach-overall simple.
19I can't imagine having 500 people at my wedding. I don't think I even know that many. I don't even have that many friends on facebook!
20It says about $15,000 - $25,000 in my zip code. But I'm sure we spent well under $500 for ours. We only bought rings, the license, champagne, and dinner for five.
21Good luck trying to spend much under the average cost for your area. We got married in the Catskills of NY and we spent about 40K. We wanted to spend less, but when you only have a few options and you are set on a location... it's quite difficult. Oh, and we did an entire weekend wedding (SO WORTH IT) so that jacked up the cost.
22I actually think the average costs that are returned from the calculator are a little low. I live in Washington, DC and to book ANY decent hotel in the city for a reception you have to commit to a 18-20k food/beverage minimum no matter if you're inviting 50 or 350 guests. (Yes, the hotels all have the same minimums so that they're not pitting one hotel against another.) So unless you want to get married in someone's backyard or have your wedding on, say, a Thursday night, be prepared to pay at least 25-30k when all is said and done.
23there are a lot of options that lie between someone's backyard and a hotel, i think; you've just got to think creatively and be really good at research. granted, i don't live in DC, but i've found a lot of neat spaces in nyc that won't bring us anywhere near $25-30k.
24The idea that some people pay so much for their wedding and then start off their marriage in major debt is weird to me. Especially cosidering the #1 thing people fight about in marriages is money.
25I just got married March 14, and we spent around $5,000, but we got the reception site free. Lucky us!
26Wow, I cannot even imagine spending $30,000 on a wedding. We had a gorgeous wedding in 2005 for around $5000 and we had 120 guests. We did a lot of things ourselves and we cut down on the big money-sucking things...no open bar at the reception, simple flowers that we used at both the ceremony and reception, we had the cake done by a family friend who gave us a discount (he owns a bakery), and we got a good deal on the reception site. I don't get people who spend tens of thousands of dollars on a stupid DAY and then end up having to pay that debt back for the rest of their married lives. Seems depressing to me.
27Our wedding will be in DC on a Saturday evening & I'm not spending $25-30K!!! I'm hoping it will be in $10-15K range. It won't be traditional at all--no formal ceremony, just some vows at the reception. I hate hotel receptions--they're so dark and depressing. The location will be somewhere unique with a vegetarian caterer--no overpriced hotel catering. I'll pick up a few flowers from a street vendor to put in some vases for centerpieces, but no other flowers are needed; no tacky DJ (just an ipod); we'll take metro to the reception. I looked at a budget calculator on the knot.com and cut over half the standard costs. I would skip the photographer too, but not sure if my family would let me get away with that. The only thing I won't cut costs on is alcohol! Of course, this is all more than my dream wedding, which is running down to the courthouse, but my future MIL would hate me if I did that and she is a very scary woman.
28We'll be spending in the 25K range next year, because we're having open bar and a 4 course seated meal. In my estimation, if you're spending 10K or less for more than 100 guests then you're probably cheaping out on food or alcohol - personally, it makes me mad when I travel for a wedding and the "buffet" is just appetizer type stuff, and then you're starving later.
29i'm having a destination wedding and it's actually less expensive than having a wedding here in NYC - so i've managed to cut a few costs that way. after watching all those wedding shows on TV you'd think that you have to pay a lot for a great wedding but that's not the case. under $20k is really doable and still have a fantastic day!
30I don't care much for 'traditional weddings' personally. I don't care what's the done thing. It just seems like a load of hassle and stress, what with so many people at the wedding greet, so many things to prepare and organize. Is the day about you and your husband or about them? Ours was a very small wedding, there were 13 people altogether and that was including the priest. We had a superb gourmet meal with our family and my closest friends. So relaxing!
31I think it's pretty easy to reach these rates. I am doing a wedding in Florida for $10K-$12K for around 150 people. This includes a church ceremony and restaurant sit-down dinner (that was the same price as catering elsewhere). Things can quickly add up and we are cutting at every corner we can think of (making a lot of things ourselves, etc).
32Forgot to mention that the average cost for our area was listed as $18K-$30K. Makes me feel a little better! Also, calculated out, my wedding will end up being around $65-80 per person.
33I don't think that I could ever justify spending that much money on one day of my life. I honestly think that when I get married, I'll just do it on city hall and go on a really nice honeymoon after. I would think that the extra debt at the beginning of a marriage would put a lot of unneeded strain on it. That money could go towards a downpayment on a house!
34Some people can spend the money without going into debt and/or taking money out of savings. My sister is able to spend a nice chunk on her wedding just by cutting back on some other things she used to do, such as buying a ton of clothes, eating out a lot, etc. The added bonus is that, since she's bringing lunch into work and trying not to spend as much money on extra things, she's been able to eat healthier and work out more. Additionally, she decided just to live with my parents a little longer than she had planned, so she's saved a ton on rent. To me, there is a huge difference between spending a lot when you can actually afford it and spending a lot when you have to go into debt to do so.
35Also, her fiancee already owns his home, almost free and clear, so (soon) they won't have the burden of a mortgage payment. His car is paid off, as well, and she owes about $2,000 on hers.
36The range from where i live is 16K to 26K. I spent over 20K 10 years ago. The numbers are slightly off though because my church was one town over and the reception was two towns over. They reception site was in an upscale location and in between the beach and the intracoastal. We did make a lot of cuts in order to get it at that price.
37I think it's ridiculous to spend that kind of money on a wedding, that would make a nice down payment on a house. Besides most people could careless about going to most weddings their invited to, I say keep it small, family members and a few friends that really want to be there,you can save by doing a lot of it yourself.
38I got to be honest - I live in NYC and my upcoming wedding for 150 people will cost about 50k. I used to think that spending that much money was ridiculous too but my fiance and I decided to go with reasonable choices that made us and our guests happiest. We've still negotiated absolutely everything down in price and are printing the invites ourselves, etc. so I don't quite believe that my neighborhood's high average is under 40k. Having a traditional wedding with a professional photographer and open bar in NYC on a Saturday is gonna cost a pretty penny no matter what.
39Am in a wedding where the cost is $100,000 and growing. Guest list: 250, sit-down dinner, but REALLY??? This of course does not includes the two $5,000 engagement parties or other events preceding The Big Day. YAY!
40wooo my area (MA) is between 55-93,000. That's a lot of dough and calls for a ton of sacrificing.
41We spent roughly $6000 before the honeymoon and our wedding turned out great. The biggest splurge was the invitations,food and flowers and even then we got them for a good price.
42Got married weekend before last and spent about $180,000 for the welcome event, bridesmaids luncheon, ceremony, reception, and brunch. I'm anonymous here because I know there will be backlash... but big weddings are more common than you would think. It's a once in a lifetime event, and there is still more than enough money to start our lives comfortably and out of debt. We are very fortunate.
43I have done a fair amount of weddings in southern california....and bills 250k+ are not rare (of course MY wedding will be a bit more cost-effective!)
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