WHAT DO WEDDINGS REALLY COST …
AND HOW CAN YOU AVOID THE ALL TOO COMMON STICKER SHOCK?
The cost of planning a wedding is higher than ever before! The Knot, one of the most trusted research bodies in the wedding industry, surveyed close to 16,000 American couples and found that the average cost of a wedding in 2015 was an all-time high of $32,641. (Say what???)
More worrying to me, is that 45% of couples exceeded their ideal budget. Does this mean that couples have unrealistic expectations of how far their dollar will go or are the wedding vendors using sneaky tactics to get you to spend more?
Well, to be honest, both statements have some truth to them.
Now, before you pass out, let me explain that the average cost is somewhat dependent upon the part of the world you get married in. For example, the cheapest place couples tied the knot was in Utah with an average wedding cost of $15,000 and the most expensive was not surprisingly in Manhattan with an average wedding cost of $82,299.
How do you even begin to budget for your own wedding?
Well, given that the number of guests fell from 149 in 2009 to 139 last year – the average cost per guest has actually risen over time. Let’s do a bit of simple math. If we divide the average cost of a wedding ($32,641) by the average number of guests (139), the average cost per guest is just under $235. This includes all of your expenses from wedding dresses and attire to ceremony and reception costs.
Simply put, if you are planning on inviting 100 guests to a wedding in a somewhat populated part of the world you can assume a wedding budget of $23,500 based on the Knot’s research.
So how can you stretch your wedding budget to get more of what you want on your wedding day for less?
Tomorrow I’m going to touch on some tips and strategies that will help you stretch your budget without sacrificing style.
More tomorrow,
~ Lori x