If you’re getting married in the commonwealth of Virginia, chances are you’ve thought about having your wedding in South western Virginia region of the state, in the areas of Roanoke and the Roanoke Valley, Southside and the new River Valley.

Well, there has been an increase in couples driving a bit further to have their wedding in this region of the state and today on the blog we’re going to dive into why there has been an increase.

Roughly 54,000 couples get married each year in the state, the majority being in the NOVA or Northern Virginia region.

You can Stretch Your Dollar Further

Perhaps one of the best reasons couples are choosing SWVA over Charlottesville, Richmond, and NOVA is cost. In fact, according to The Wedding Report from 2019’s data, it’s cheaper to get married in our part of the state by as much as 23%!

When you’re talking an average wedding of $34,000, thats $11,200 that you could save or use to further better the wedding with?

Think about it like this, moving your wedding from Charlottesville to Roanoke can save you roughly $7,500.

From Arlington or NOVA thats a saving of $11,200 having the same wedding in SWVA.

Dollar for dollar, SWVA beats all the other markets when it comes to weddings, but the question is why?

Lower Cost of Living

It boils down to a better cost of living in the region, things just cost less and of course, that translates into wedding vendors.

Take neighboring Charlottesville, according to Best Places, there is a 24% difference in the cost of living between the two places, yet, it’s a 120-mile difference.

A salary of $50,000 in Roanoke, Virginia should increase to $68,177 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

That same $50,000 in Roanoke is roughly $110,264 in Arlington, VA, now that’s incredible!

This is where couples from other parts of the state will many times look to vendors such as Carole and myself to book and it’s also why we tend to be more affordable than others too, we simply live in a more affordable part of the commonwealth.

More Affordable Vendors

One of the major reasons that couples tend to choose vendors in the SWVA market is that the lower costs simply mean it’s more affordable for couples getting married.

Even with a travel fee, it’s usually cheaper to hire in the region and have them come to you.

Since the cost of living is lower, thus are wedding vendors and in turn, it saves you more money. It’s also one of the reasons that couple’s look to the region tend to book vendors inside the region for their wedding more so than other parts of the state.

Lower Taxes in SWVA

If you live in Virginia, then you know that the tax rate can vary from region to region. For example in NOVA, taxes are 7%. Well, because SWVA has a lower cost of living, just 5.3%.

While that doesn’t sound like much, think of it this way.

That national average, $34,000, at 5.3% that’s $1,802. The same wedding in NOVA with 7% is $2,380. While it’s not a huge difference, it is a savings and some couples take that into consideration when having a wedding.

Takeaway

With more and more couples facing larger and larger wedding bills, we’ve seen an increase in couples flocking to SWVA for their wedding day, if you can save thousands by traveling 100-200 miles to have it or if you can book your vendors in regions like the Roanoke Valley to come to places like NOVA or Richmond, then it simply makes sense.

We actually found a great resource for some of the best regions in the United States that don’t cost a lot and in return, they should have fairly lower costs when it comes to having your wedding. It’s worth checking out.

While it’s not for everyone, it is for those looking to make a smart move to saving some money in the process, and in the last 5-6 years, we’ve seen a shift of more couples flocking to the region.