How much does an average wedding cost?

Question

Me and my partner want to get married.

Looking for rough figures so we know how much to save.

Thanks

Answer 1

I had a really nice but simple wedding with reception (dinner, beer and wine, dj) for ninety people for about $10,000.
I have been to weddings that cost $5,000 and weddings that cost $500,000. To me, it's all about the feeling and atmosphere that is created at the wedding. Do what you are comfortable with doing, and have a great time!

Answer 2

There really is no average price.

As you have a nipper en-route I'm guessing that there's not going to be an unlimited budget but that you want something splendid never-the-less.

If memory serves a church wedding is about £300 for the church alone though so often a nice venue that offers a civil ceremony works out to be the cheaper option over all (especially if you're not particularly religious).

Dresses can be bought from smaller boutiques 'off the rack', often at massively discounted prices and these little shops will often recommend a dressmaker who will do any alterations at excellent prices. Alternatively you can find a dressmaker who will make your dress from scratch and save you hundreds of pounds-and it will be 100% made to measure.

Flowers are best organised from a local, trusted florist who can tell you what is in season, offer non traditional (but stunning) bouquets and decorations and hence save you £'s there too.

Smaller, newly licensed civil venues are often very keen to make a good impression (check with your local registrar for a list) and will usually give you the kind of personal service that bigger, more established ones tend not to offer until you're talking big money.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you can spend as much or as little as you want but you can definately have a very classy, well presented, fantastic wedding for around 50 guests (daytime) for under £5000 (and that's with top & tails, beautiful dress, photographer, four course sit down reception-basically the whole shabang).

Answer 3

There are a lot of good answers and suggestions already. Here's one more for the road.
Ask yourself what you think reasonable is for your tastes, lifestyle and budget. Then search out vendors or a wedding planner to make it happen. Just because the national averages are well into the thousands, and hundreds of thousands, with people second mortgaging their homes and all sorts of ridiculous stuff, doesn't mean that you have to.

If, however, a super extravagant, ultra sheek, impressive, fantasy wedding is your style, then live it up.

Just remember, no matter what you decide, or how much you spend, the person standing next to you is definitely the one you want by your side for the rest of your life. Also, more money spent does not equal how much you love them. It just means more money spent.

It would suck to be in debt and on the way to divorce. Do your research and don't be afraid to negotiate and shop your vendors.

Oh and weddings vary by location, time of day, and amount of guests. Shop by internet for some things if you can, once they reach your local vendor they become more expensive.

Answer 4

Here's a rough figure of my wedding plans:

Option 1:
Wear my mom's wedding dress, get married in a church with no rental fee (my grandfather is the preacher), and have a reception in a hall with no fee (family friend). Rough estimate...at most $1500.

Option 2:
Wear my mom's wedding dress, have to pay for a ceremony site and reception hall, have to pay for catering and alcohol at these places (which of course, charge an arm and a leg). Rough estimate...at least $9000. Food alone is $3000 of that.

So...depends what you wanna do. Personally, I'd rather spend less on the wedding and have a totally awesome honeymoon (and ahem, still keep my nest egg) rather than pour thousands of dollars into a single event of one day of my whole life.

I'd save at least $5000, but keep in mind, these figures change. If you are in Alabama, it's way cheaper than here in California. If you're in Redding, it's way cheaper than in Los Angeles. If you need hints on keeping the budget down, try to enlist the help of family and friends (not financially wise though!). If you have a sister who knows a hairdresser, why not hire her? If you have a cousin who loves photography, why not have him take your pictures?

Best of luck to you :)

Answer 5

Average weddings in the U.S. cost between $25,000 - $30,000. The answers you'll find of what people spent in this answers section are typically less than $10,000. It depends on how large your wedding is, what your tastes are, how creative and thrifty you are with the wedding planning. It's easy to spend money in excess when it comes to weddings. Do your research on vendors.

Typically certain seasons and days of the week are more expensive. The difference between a Thursday, Saturday or Sunday wedding can be in the thousands. The summer time is high season for weddings too.

Answer 6

Which part of the world are you in?

In the UK the average cost of a wedding has been estimated to be anything from £16000 ($32000) to £25000 ($50000).

In reality, it is easy to get carried away with spending money when you don't have to. The day is about the pair of you and you shouldn't need to show off to friends and family by spending loads of cash. Some of the nicest weddings I've been to recently were very simple, cheap affairs costing half the amounts above.

A couples of tips from our own experience - set a budget and don't go over it - don't be embarassed to rent, borrow or buy second-hand - don't worry about crap that people won't remember - focus on the important things (dress, food, cake and music).

Most of all - enjoy it !

Answer 7

Kaisha, I believe that the average cost today is approxiamtely 15 - 20 grand. My wife and I just married about 5 months ago and were able to do it on $5500 but we did a lot of the work etc ourselves in order to save some cash. It wasn't the first for either of us so we spent money were most important and didn't go overboard on many items. The meal was the most important and it was great. We downloaded our own music and had a friend's son act as DJ. Her son had a friend who graduated out a photography course and so we hired him for photos. We had a cash bar and this was a big savings also. Best of luck and good luck saving for this special expensive day also.

Answer 8

The costs will vary by location, but the average cost of a wedding in the U.S. is $28,800. The most expensive portion of a wedding is the reception, which on average costs over $14,000. You can use the following link to access a site that will give you numbers for your area, and also a breakdown of the expenses: http://www.costofwedding.com/

Answer 9

It all depends on what you want to do. If you want a traditional wedding with lot's of guests and a church, a reception hall and the likes, you're looking at the costs of renting the hall, the church, food, liquor, decorations which gets really pricey the fancier you go. A friend of mine and her partner got married last year for less than $3000.00. They had a private family only for exchange of vows, a friend did the photos, and they rented the hall with a potluck dinner for all their friends and extended family to enjoy. It was very different but fun.

Answer 10

I got married about a year and a half ago and the average wedding is actually around 15-20,000 because there are people that spend millions it raises the average. But logically speaking you can easly get away with 5-10,000 by cutting down on flowers and food served.