There’s no doubt a lot of couples got engaged yesterday on Valentine’s Day, and they better start putting their money away immediately because if they want a full-blown wedding it’s going to cost them. The Knot’s annual Real Wedding Study surveyed close to 14,000 couples who got hitched in 2018 to uncover the truth about the big day, and it seems the average wedding cost is pretty ridiculous.
Couples in 2018 spent an average of $33,391, and that doesn’t include the honeymoon. Of course there are plenty of people who spend way more than that, with the average cost of a high spender wedding $104,109. These days the average wedding has about 136 guests, with the couple spending about $15,439 on the venue, about $70 per person for catering, and $2,564 for drinks.
Not surprisingly, New York (Manhattan specifically), will set you back the most to tie the knot, $96,910, while Long Island (also in New York), is thesecond-most expensive at $66,409. The least expensive place to wed? Idaho, at just $16,366.
Other wedding statistics include:
- Average Spent on a Wedding Dress: $1,631
- Average Marrying Age: Bride 29.1; Groom, 30.5
- Most Popular Month to Get Engaged: December (16%)
- Average Length of Engagement: 13.6 months
- Most Popular Month to Get Married: September (18%)
- Most Popular Wedding Colors: Ivory/Champagne (33%), Dark Blue & Burgundy/Wine (tie at 29%), Gold (27%) and Light Pink (23%)
- Percentage of Destinations Weddings: 23%
As for who’s paying for all this, 91% of couples say they contributed to their wedding budget, with 9% of them paying for the wedding entirely on their own. As for that budget, 80% of couples say they had one, while 45% admit they went over it.
To check out the full breakdown,click here.
Source:BizJournals
Image Courtesy of Getty Images.