This Is How Much a Wedding Costs?!
data courtesy of knot.com
Don’t let these numbers scare you — they represent an average! The knot.com surveyed over 27,000 couples who got married in 2019 to uncover the average wedding cost in America. Now more than ever, couples are bucking tradition to personalize their nuptials with thoughtful details — changing what weddings look like (and how much they cost). Based on respondents’ answers, they were able to determine the new national average cost of a wedding: $33,900 (that’s including the cost of the engagement ring, but excluding honeymoon expenses).
Before you start hyperventilating, keep in mind that the average wedding cost is just that: an average dollar amount, which has been calculated by combining the total cost of tens of thousands of weddings, then dividing that sum by the number of couples surveyed.
Keep in mind too: these couples come from all over the U.S. and have entirely different wedding budgets, locations, head counts and styles. What they end up spending naturally varies — a lot. Throwing a wedding in a densely populated, expensive destination (a big city like New York or Chicago, for example) costs more than it does in a smaller or less populated location (such as Idaho, West Virginia or Wyoming).
So, what’s all that money going toward? Couples are investing in hyper-personalized events infused with meaningful details, like their go-to movies or their favorite date-night food. Our respondents are also tapping a professional to help them pull it all off, as our study shows that nearly a third of couples hired some form of a wedding planner (whether it be a day-of coordinator or a full-service planner). Today’s couples want their wedding to be a true expression of their unique love story and for guests to leave saying, “That was so them.”
The average couple hosts 131 guests, and seventy-two percent of those surveyed said their top priority was ensuring their guests were taken care of and had a good time. Besides the expected food, drink and music, nearly half of all couples hire or provide above-and-beyond guest entertainment. We’re talking photo booths, cigar-rolling stations and craft margarita bars, to name a few.
Of course, how much wedding pros charge varies — a lot. It’s always best to research wedding vendors in your area and ask them about their specific rates (and what those rates include). Here are just a few of the average numbers for the larger and most common expenses:
