Of course, when you get engaged, one of the first questions you’ll ask yourself is, how much does a wedding cost? While there is an answer to that (and we’ll get to it in a minute!), at Southern Weddings, we believe the better question is how much am I able (and do I want) to spend on my wedding? Or in other words, what is the budget for my wedding?
See more from this engagement session by Sweet Julep Photography on our Facebook page!
When it comes down to it, you CAN have a wedding on any budget. $50? Yep! $5,000? Yep! $500,000? Yep! However, you cannot have any wedding on any budget, meaning you can’t take every single idea you love and squeeze them all into any arbitrary number that suits your fancy. The better place to start is with the money you actually have to spend, and knowing a few averages and benchmarks might help you spend it more wisely.
Here is the industry breakdown of a wedding budget, according to The Knot:
Reception: 48%-50%
Ceremony: 2%-3%
Attire: 8%-10%
Flowers: 8%-10%
Entertainment or Music: 8%-10%
Photography and Videography: 10%-12%
Stationery: 2%-3%
Wedding Rings: 2%-3%
Parking/Transportation: 2%-3%
Gifts: 2%-3%
Miscellaneous: 8%
I shared the percentage breakdown for my wedding here, if you’d like a real life example! Snippet & Ink also shares several real couples’ budgets on her site.
Still wondering how much other folks spend on their weddings? According to a 2012 study of 17,500 couples, the average wedding budget in the United States was $28,427. Based on the interview we ask our couples, I would say about 50% of the weddings featured on Southern Weddings have budgets between $25,000-$50,000; 20% have budgets between $10,000-$25,000; and 10% have budgets of under $10,000, $50,000-$75,000, and over $75,000, respectively. This neat graph gives you a breakdown state-by-state for some of the biggest chunks of the wedding budget.
In the end, though it can be helpful to know percentages and averages, what really matters in spending your budget is what’s most important to you and your fiance. Brainstorm together, then spend the money to knock the things that matter most to you out of the park. We promise, you won’t miss the rest!
We’ll be sharing a quick and simple piece of wedding planning advice based on our most frequently asked questions once a week! Feel free to email us with your own question, or pick up a copy of the Southern Weddings Planner for all of our best resources in one place!
Like the graph shows, I think it’s important to remember that prices are drastically different from state to state, so what it costs be could a lot more or less than the national average. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that a (very nice) friend’s wedding in my area only cost $17-18k. I think it would have easily been a $25-30k wedding in a slightly more expensive area. Gives me hope for $10-12k budget!
I completely agree, Robin! Thankfully Southern brides don’t have to deal with quite as high prices as the average NYC bride :)
Thank you for those interesting numbers. Always interesting to see how other people use their wedding budget.
Interesting statistics!