Ultimate Guide: How much do weddings really cost?
Ah, the biggest question when it comes to weddings that most couples will face, how much are you going to spend on the whole ordeal?
As a wedding vendor, we see this question pop up multiple times a day on social media.
Just this afternoon I ran across the age old question (see image above) and gave my advice. Well, so did 50 other people and they gave a HUGE range of answers, none of which hit the bulls-eye.
Today, we’ll tackle the answer, show you where you should really look and help set the record straight.
How much do weddings cost in 2020?
According to various websites, the number can vary but here are a few that we can start with.
$33,900 the Knot
$24,732 Value Penguin
$44,000 Brides.com
$24,675 The Wedding Report
$30,000 WeddingWire
That s a fairly large spread of numbers, but who is correct?
Cost of Real Weddings
Well, the answer is all of them, sort of.
See, there is no right or wrong way to have a wedding and that’s the problem, what you and your soon-to-be spouse may do will be different than what your friends do or the couple down the road from you will do.
Pricing is going to be determined by a huge number of factors, where you live, the cost of living will effect costs, time of year, what services you will have (like a live band vs. a DJ for example) and the experience vendors bring with them to the table.
If you take Value Penguin’s website for example, they do a much better job at the numbers by breaking them down by each state.
|
State |
Per Guest | Wedding Ccost |
|---|---|---|
|
Alabama |
$127 | $17,216 |
| Alaska | $252 | $34,298 |
| Arizona | $159 | $21,605 |
| Arkansas | $128 | $17,433 |
| California | $231 | $31,437 |
| Colorado | $203 | $27,646 |
| Connecticut | $263 | $35,702 |
| Delaware | $206 | $28,067 |
| DC | $265 | $36,082 |
| Florida | $154 | $20,933 |
| Georgia | $159 | $21,666 |
| Hawaii | $278 | $37,827 |
| Idaho | $147 | $19,925 |
| Illinois | $191 | $25,918 |
| Indiana | $154 | $21,004 |
| Iowa | $172 | $23,426 |
| Kansas | $165 | $22,407 |
| Kentucky | $129 | $17,607 |
| Louisiana | $145 | $19,681 |
| Maine | $193 | $26,211 |
| Maryland | $248 | $33,755 |
| Massachusetts | $264 | $35,966 |
| Michigan | $154 | $20,942 |
| Minnesota | $201 | $27,332 |
| Mississippi | $201 | $27,332 |
| Missouri | $147 | $20,058 |
| Montana | $152 | $20,706 |
| Nebraska | $173 | $23,488 |
| Nevada | $161 | $21,879 |
| New Hampshire | $247 | $33,612 |
| New Jersey | $272 | $36,943 |
| New Mexico | $136 | $18,470 |
| New York | $252 | $34,315 |
| North Carolina | $150 | $20,416 |
| North Dakota | $197 | $26,774 |
| Ohio | $158 | $21,478 |
| Oklahoma | $155 | $21,032 |
| Oregon | $155 | $21,032 |
| Pennsylvania | $212 | $28,827 |
| Rhode Island | $227 | $30,861 |
| South Carolina | $147 | $20,047 |
| South Dakota | $168 | $22,896 |
| Tennessee | $135 | $18,346 |
| Texas | $180 | $24,520 |
| Utah | $199 | $27,095 |
| Vermont | $222 | $30,257 |
| Virginia | $215 | $29,196 |
| Washington | $217 | $29,511 |
| West Virginia | $134 | $18,228 |
| Wisconsin | $174 | $23,680 |
| Wyoming | $191 | $26,017 |
What you’ll notice is that the numbers go up and down depending on where you live. Furthermore, where you live in those states can be very different.
The Overall National Average Cost For a Typical Wedding in 2020 is closer to $25,512.
For example, where my wife Carole and I live, Roanoke, Virginia market, it’s much cheaper to have the wedding here than it is 200 some odd miles up the road in Washington, DC.
Just a few hours drive can save you up to 25% on your wedding day, thats a HUGE hint at booking vendors and something to think about if you lie in a more expensive region.
Besides regions, there are other factors that you need to take into consideration when it comes to wedding prices, your own economic status, but more on that in a bit.
What are the wedding cost breakdowns for each category?
Again, thats going to be a wide spectrum of prices.
But, we can give you some insights and starting points.
So, the most common thing that couples believe is that the wedding venue will be the most expensive and they’re close, it’s actually your guests.
The cost of feeding guests at happy-hour, a dinner service, alcohol and cake combined will typically outweigh the cost of the venue. I say typically, because their are always acceptations to the rule.
Going back to theKnot for a moment, they have the following breakdown on what you should be spending:
Percentage Costs for Wedding
50% Venue, Catering and Rental Costs
This is fairly true, when you combine the venue and catering/booze.
We have these at 54% (39% for catering/booze/cake and 15% for your venue)
12% for Wedding Photography and Video
We have our recommendation at 12% which is right in line with the average couple’s spend
9% for the dress, tux rental, hair and makeup
Ours in alignment with the Knots value
7% for a DJ
We have ours listed at 6%, but 6-8% should bc a great number for a middle of the road pro
3% for a wedding planner
We list the planner at 4% although this is for the day-of planning. If you’re doing full service, plan on 8-9%
2% for the officiant
We list at just under 2%, similar to the Knots data
How can we get our wedding budget costs if their are so many different choices?
Great question!
The answer lies within your own finances, vision of the wedding day and what you can afford.
The truth is that most couples don’t have tens of thousands of dollars just laying around for a wedding day, most are not going to get a loan and go into debt, so they have a couple of options.
Pay as they go with monthly payments or a second job to save up
Live off one paycheck, use the other to finance the wedding (this has become more commonplace in the last 15 years)
Get a loan (we don’t recommend but if you do go this route, try Propser.com)
Ask family to help
Scale the wedding to what is reasonable to the couple’s finances
What you and your soon-to-be need to do is have a true heart to heart about how much to spend.
It may be $1,000, it could be $200,000.
We’ve covered them all in our 20+ years as wedding professionals, and I can tell you one thing they all have in common.
It’s not about the money you spend, it’s about the celebration of the day that counts.
Once you have a well rounded number, you’ll need to break that whole number down into categories. Some companies give you the information, others like ours provide you an app like the one below.
Simply input how much you plan to spend overall and our wedding budget tool will help provide a good starting point to how much you should be spending in each category for the wedding day.
You can use this tool as a good starting point. As you start to venture out to wedding venues and secure a location as well as a date, you may find that your number may be too low, or it could be just right.
If for example you’re region has an average wedding venue cost of $5,000 but you only have $3,000 budgeted, you need to consider a couple of things.
Rethink your overall budget and adjust it to meet the local regional costs
Seek an alterative location for your wedding thats more within your price range
What NOT to do When Figuring out How Much Weddings Cost?
Easy answer, don’t ask people online what they paid for their wedding.
If you do, you’ll get an entire spectrum of answers and that will come from all walks of life.
The truth is that all people make different incomes, have different living expenses and what seems to be affordable to them, may or may not be affordable to you.
While you’ll find some people gasp at a $30,000 wedding, others will think it’s a drop in the bucket by comparison.
One of the things that you’ll find within the wedding industry is that we have four classifications that vendors tend to focus on. Those include the budget couples, mid-range, high-end and luxury couples.
Wedding Vendor Types by Classification
Most are going to fall into the first couple of categories and the higher you go in price, the less people you will find.
I’ll tell you a little unknown secret about the wedding industry at least in the photo/video portion of it.
If you’re having a $5,000 wedding, chances are you’re not going to have a $5,000 wedding photographer at the wedding. The same applies if you’re having a $140,000 wedding, you’re not going to hire a $600 photog.
Our industry is tailored to all types of lifestyles’, and that included price ranges too. Chances are you’re going to find someone within the range (or close to it) that can help you.
I will tell you however, the more a wedding vendor typically costs, the better they are at their job and in turn, the better wedding experience you’re going to have with them.
With our business, we have an average price point of about $2,500 for wedding photography and video combined. Now thats not a bad range when you consider the value that you’d be receiving, but based on the percentages from earlier, Carole and I tend to focus on couples that have weddings within the $25,000-$30,000 range.
That’s fairly middle of the road.
Sure, we have couples that spend more and we have some that spend less overall, but my point is this.
Based on the vendors pricing and the approximate range that you should be spending, you can get a pretty good idea of where they fall into the classification spectrum and if they would be a good fit for you to investigate further.
What to Takeaway from this Article?
We want you to understand that when it comes to weddings, specifically prices, it’s going to vary from couple to couple. While websites give a range from the mid-twenties to the mid-forties as the national average, it’s truly going to depend on a lot of factors that you and your soon-to-be determine.
Just because another couple spent a set amount of money for their wedding doesn’t mean it’s the standard and you should follow. Sure, it’s a great idea to get price ranges of what people spend and to use online budget tools to get started, just be smart about your decisions and don’t walk into the honeymoon with thousands of debt.
