Average Wedding Cost By State
Location plays a huge role in pricing, so its no surprise that the average cost varies by state. It also varies by city weddings in urban settings are generally more expensive than those in the suburbs or rural areas.
This graphic from Value Penguin shows the average cost by state. These costs are based on the average wedding size in 2020, which Value Penguin found to be 66. This number also decreased due to COVID-19. The average cost per guest, then, is around $300.
Overtime Costs For All Venues
Lets be honest, most receptions run into overtime as the guests, and bridal party, are so having so much fun that no one wants to leave. Most hotels charge you by the hour so overtime charges will occur. Also, cleanup crews and garbage removal, which may be included in your contract, book their services for the same day so if your reception goes past midnight, you will once again be faced with additional charges.
We dont want to deter you from having your dream wedding. Quite the contrary, we want you to have the wedding you always imagined, whether its a chateau in France, a beach in Hawaii, Marthas Vineyard or a simple yet elegant wedding in your local park, or even your own backyard. The purpose of this article is to simply warn you of additional or hidden wedding venue costs so you wont be caught off guard as you are planning your special day. Do your research beforehand and always have a Plan B. Factor in unexpected costs and issues that always seem to arise last minute. Have extra money set aside for unforeseen expenses and your wedding will be everything you dreamed ofand more!
Couples Are Spending The Most On Venue And Food
After figuring out how much a wedding costs near you, you can start to divide up your budget to reflect the different vendors youll need to hire. Turns out that youll likely spend the most on your venue and catering. On average , couples spend $10,500 on renting a venue, and $70 per person on catering. This really explains why the mantra the more guests you invite, the more money youll spend is so true. A wedding of 50 guests can expect to pay about $3,500 on catering, while a wedding with 300 guests may pay over $20,000 on food alone!
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Cost For Feeding Guests
Here’s the breakdown on what we spent for the wedding reception appetizers and meal:
- A pig for smoking: $150
- Four 2 lb. sirloin steaks for grilling: $50
- A turkey for smoking: $20
- Chips, salsas, dips: $20
- Ingredients for buffalo chicken salad: $15
- Ingredients for homemade baked beans: $10
- Ingredients for broccoli salad: $10
- Cut fruit and vegetables: $10
- Fifty rolls, pre-ordered and picked up that day: $40
- Sauces and condiments: $15
- Other: $40
We fed thirty people, but could have easily handled fifty. At a total of $385, it cost us about $12 per head.
Want to have your backyard wedding catered? You can spend anywhere from $30 to $200 or more for catering. Look around, and don’t forget to get references.
How Much Does The Average Wedding Cost Across The Us
Where you live can have a major impact on how much you spend to say “I do” to your beloved.
In fact, weddings cost a whopping $33,700 more in New Jersey — where couples have the honor of hosting the nation’s most expensive weddings at an average price of $53,400 — than in Utah, the cheapest place in the U.S. to get married .
The extra $33,700 that Garden State residents spend would be enough to cover the full cost of an average wedding in 36 states!
Surprisingly, though, there are just three states in the country where the average cost of a wedding comes in at under $20,000 — Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming.
The table below shows the average price throughout the country:
| State | Average wedding cost in 2019 |
|---|---|
| Alabama | |
| $19,800 |
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What Does The Bride Pay For
Traditionally, the bride and her family are responsible for paying for all wedding planning expenses, the brides attire, all floral arrangements, transportation on the wedding day, photo and video fees, travel and lodgings for the officiant if he comes from out of town, lodging for the bridesmaids (if you have offered
Don’t Forget Decorations Flowers And Table Settings
- Flower seeds, soil, pots: $20
- Crepe streamers at the dollar store: $4
- Battery-powered lanterns: $8
- Vases, ribbon, glass gems: $15
- Tulle for draping: $50
- Large and small melamine plates: $70
- Candles and ribbons: $20
- Napkins and other disposables: $15
- Balloons: $6
- Bridal bouquet and 3 boutonnieres: $145
- Other Purchased flowers: $30
- Miscellaneous: $30
Our total for all of these items came to $463. We did a lot of dollar-store shopping, and had many items on hand. If you want to hire a decorator, expect to pay $1,000 to $5,000 or more.
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Save Your Honeymoon For Later
As we all know, vacations are expensive, and spending can easily get out of hand when on your honeymoon. Now, were not saying you should skip the post-wedding holiday 78% of couples surveyed in Canada and abroad had honeymoons but you may want to postpone yours for a while, especially if you want to do something pricey, like yachting in the Maldives or staying in a private villa in Bora Bora. To celebrate, think about doing a minimoon or a staycation and save the main event for later.
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How Much Do Wedding Flowers Cost
Jen K.
Every bride expects to have flowers at her wedding, and the final cost will depend on how many she wants and whether or not they are grown in abundance and in season. At the least, flowers will make up the bridal and bridesmaids bouquets, and your budget will dictate the rest. Budget 8%10% of your total wedding expenses for flowers.
Average Cost Of A Wedding Photographer Or Wedding Videographer
More than 90% of couples hired a photographer in 2019, according to The Knot. This didn’t come cheap at an average price of $2,400.
However, as this data from Wedding Forward shows, the cost depends on the skill level of the person taking the pictures. Here’s what you can expect to spend if you hire photographers with varying levels of experience:
- Student: $500 to $1,500
- Professional: $2,500 to $10,000
- Grandmaster: $6,000 and up
For couples who want to capture their magical moments on video, rather than just on film, the average videographer comes at a price of $1,799 according to Wedding Wire.
However, most couples spend anywhere from $1,000 to $2,500 with the cost determined in large part by the amount of time your videographer spends at your event as well as the level of editing requested.
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Ask For Wedding Help Instead Of Wedding Gifts
Talk to some of the friends and family youre inviting to the wedding and ask them if they would be willing to provide help at the wedding in lieu of a gift. This is particularly true if you have someone on the guest list with a particular talent.
Guests for your wedding might be able to help with photography, provide emcee services, tend the bar at the reception, or perform any of the other endless tasks that a wedding entails. While some guests may prefer not to do this, others will relish the chance.
Many of the roles at our own wedding were provided by family and friends. From our perspective, we felt that everything would be much more meaningful if people we loved were actually involved with the ceremony in some way, and many of them jumped at the chance. Some of them provided supplies as their wedding gift, while others provided discounts.
Getting even a little help can easily shave 5% off of the total cost of the wedding.
Strategy: Ask family and friends for assistance at the ceremony in lieu of giftsSavings: $1,400
With all that money youve saved on your big day, turn to your next big step in life: Buy the home youll love as much as each other. Compare mortgages below.
Check Your Mortgage Rates
Easy To Understand And Control Your Costs:
The pie-chart estimation makes it very easy for you to see the major costs and work your way around to dial them down.
Each wedding foresees some miscellaneous expenses which sometimes are not mentioned anywhere. Please keep aside 4.5% of your total wedding budget for these miscellaneous expenses. We hope this Indian wedding cost calculator will lessen your burden and make the wedding planning a breeze!
Do tell us about your experience of the WeddingWire Budget tool in the comments below.
Kriti Gulati
Mom to a hyper toddler, I love everything about weddings. The only glitch – I dislike running around… my toddler at a wedding, in a saree! An experienced writer and editor, I live for proper grammar.
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Average Wedding Costs By Type Of Wedding
Where you live isn’t the only factor that affects how much you’re likely to spend when you celebrate the start of your life with your beloved. The type of wedding also makes a difference:
- Destination weddings average $32,000, while hometown weddings average $27,000.
- First marriages weddings average $30,000, while second weddings average $14,000.
- Millennials typically spend $30,000, while members of Gen Xers spend $20,000.
Hometown weddings come at a lower average cost than destination weddings for obvious reasons — it’s cheaper to stay local than to incur the costs of travel.
However, some of the extra wedding costs of a destination ceremony may be offset by a lower price tag for the honeymoon, assuming the couple celebrates in the location where the wedding was held.
It’s surprising, though, that millennials — who have faced unprecedented financial struggles — tend to spend more on their nuptials than their older counterparts. This discrepancy could be explained by the fact that social media has played an increasingly important role in driving the price of weddings up. More than half of all couples set up their own wedding hashtag in 2019.
Sexual orientation made almost no difference at all in average wedding costs. Opposite-sex couples spent an average of $28,000 while same-sex couples spent just $500 more.
Real Elopement Vs Wedding Costs: The Break Down
In the table below, we did a break down of whats included in the total cost of wedding vs the total cost of an elopement. Please note that in these examples, its an average cost with numbers learned from The Knot and other wedding planning websites. The exact total cost of your wedding or elopement depends on your current location vs the location youre going to as well as guest size and exact pricing from vendors
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Average Cost Of A Wedding: By State And Feature
The average cost of a wedding in 2020 was $20,300, a $4,400 per-wedding decrease from the year before. Many factors combine to determine the cost of a wedding, including the size and location of the venue, the number of guests, the food and entertainment not to mention additional costs that are up to the wedding party’s preferences.
Below, ValuePenguin lists the average cost of a wedding by state and metro, along with per-guest costs. Depending on location, the cost of a typical wedding varies by $18,063. Researchers also broke down the most and least expensive features that are commonly included in the overall cost of a wedding.
Couples Pay For Roughly Half Of The Wedding Themselves
One of the most important parts of planning your wedding budget is figuring out whos paying. These days, couples are sharing the costs with their parents. The 2019 Newlywed Report found that couples paid for 47 percent of their wedding, while their parents footed 52 percent of the bill. Nearly 60 percent of parents agree to pay for certain items , while about one-third write a check for the couple to spend at their discretion. When it comes to wedding planning, money equals control. So if your parents are contributing to your big day, talk to them about how much they want to be involved in the decision-making.
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Category : Up To 80 Lakh
This high-end budget wedding should not let you worry too much about costs. But even in this budget, venue and catering together take a huge chunk of your budget.
Tip: Including international cuisines in the menu can shoot up the costs. On an average, an Indian meal plate costs around 800 per person. But with international cuisines, the plate cost can go up to 1500 per person.
Increase in the wedding budget also means a simultaneous increase in jewellery expenditure . Whatever budget you choose, jewellery is one department that will see an exponential rise.
Tip: We suggest you buy jewellery around Dhanteras or Akshay Tritiya festivals so that you end up saving some money. A lot of jewellers offer discounts and promotions during these festivals.
Tip: Try bargaining or opting for packages when you are planning for your honeymoon. This will help you save up so that you can use the balance to shop your heart out!
Use A Dummy Wedding Cake
Wedding cakes are expensive, you guys! Save money by decorating a dummy wedding cake. A pastry chefor someone you know who has icing skills worthy of a spot on a reality TV baking competitioncan decorate a stack of Styrofoam just as elaborately as a real wedding cake. Serve guests slices from a sheet cake you bought at the grocery store. Theyll never know the difference!
If youre set on the cake cutting tradition, just have a smaller cake made for you and your new spouse. You could even use it as the dummy cakes topper so it looks like the real deal!
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