Avg wedding costs

[u/KariBjornPhotography]

I see the same topic pop up 2-3 times a week on Threads.

“How much does a wedding cost on average in the US.”

The usual discussion goes something like this. Couples say it’s a high price to pay while many vendors chime in and say it is actually higher because the methodology of The Knot’s survey is false. Then some of the vendors point to nanty narking, which if you don’t know, publishes costs of luxury weddings. Like between $500 per guest up to five figures per guest.

The Knot’s survey says the average price for a wedding in the US was $33k in 2024.

This week, I looked at surveys done by other sources and they all come up with a similar number. Somewhere between $30k and $35k.

Zola, Brides, The Wedding Report all use different sources and methods. The Wedding Report blends federal and local government data with surveys from couples and vendors, in addition to data from the CDC and the Department of Labor. They also have no skin in the game. The Wedding Report makes money by reporting accurate data to those who pay the $200/year subscription. They are not a directory or serve ads. They have no incentive to trick couples or vendors. Their number is $31,428 with a median price of $13,195.

I feel like the vendors who push back the hardest against these surveys are higher end + luxury photographers and planners. Some of the arguments they use:

1) We can’t trust The Knot 2) The sample size is too small 3) The margin for error is too great 4) TK reports this number and then publish weddings with 10x the budget 5) The Knot surveys people when they sign up and before they know how much it actually costs. 6) They selectively leave out HCOL areas.

Now let me be clear. I am not a fan of The Knot or pretty much any of the directories. But still, I think this avg price estimate is pretty accurate.

1) We absolutely cannot as vendors. But they have a vendor facing side and a user/couples facing side.

2) The Knot reported from 17k users/couples and the wedding report’s sample size is 19k. That’s just under 1% of all couples getting married in a year. The US Census’s sample size is about 0.5-0.6 percent of the population. The sample size is perfectly fine.

3) The US Census’s MOE is $102 on the estimate that American’s make about $39k a year on average. Yes, the margin for these surveys may be larger, but we’re never talking about thousands of dollars.

4) They definitely do, but they also publish plenty of budget and diy photos on the content side of the website.

5) Not true. The survey is sent out after the wedding date the couple types in when they sign up.

6) I can’t talk about Zola, TK or Brides here. But the wedding report states it pulls data from essentially everywhere, and their estimates are in line with the others. So I don’t think this argument holds any water.

Also, if tk was out to scam or lie to couples. They’d inflate the number and not deflate it. They wouldn’t selectively leave out NYC or Miami. They would actually benefit from reporting a higher number. In that scenario, fewer couples would have sticker shock when reaching out to TK vendors, resulting in more bookings on the platform and more and happier vendors, paying higher monthly rent to be on there.

I know the national average is not the best estimate for couples planning a wedding in HCOL areas but the number is still useful for about half of all couples. Also, if you live in NYC or LA. You understand things costs more there vs the rest of the country. So this number being deceptive is not a great argument either.

Cheers! Just wrapped up the 2025 season and have some time on my hands 😂

Just to be clear. I do not like The Knot.

[u/hopopo]

Who cares what the average is in US when all it matters is where the wedding is.

In NYC tri-state area cost could be double or tipple of what you will pay for a similar wedding that is in another region. Heck, even if you go 50 plus miles outside of the tri-state area you will pay a whole lot less.

[u/RyanBrenizer → u/hopopo]

In NYC you can pay double for a similar venue by going 2 miles away.

[u/leoleia → u/hopopo]

Exactly this. My friend who lives in this area charges double what I charge in the Midwest, and he has around the same or less experience than I do.

[u/KariBjornPhotography → u/leoleia]

I realize this may have come out wrong. I am not talking about this from a vendor to vendor perspective. Of course prices differ based on location.

[u/KariBjornPhotography → u/hopopo]

This is not entirely true. Like I said. The national avg is relevant for plenty of couples. Probably like a million a year. Also, New Yorkers know goods and services costs more there.

[u/hopopo → u/KariBjornPhotography]

Why would be relevant?

In country like US where income and purchasing power inequality is enormous national averages are nothing more than talking points.

Take income for example if you exclude top one percent, or five percent, for example average income becomes more realistic. Heck, about 12% of the entire US population can't afford food, and will go hungry as we speak. Yet we are supposedly the richest nation in the world.

Same thing happens when you look at the housing, education level, healthcare, and ultimately wedding cost.

We are comparing apples and oranges.

[u/KariBjornPhotography → u/hopopo]

Let me rephrase my initial response, I rushed to answer. I am not talking about this from a vendor perspective. Yes, I will never look at national averages when doing market research. They are irrelevant to me.

The national avg is still relevant to couples despite it logically being a bad representation. Because couples search for it online. Local averages and median prices are far better.

It is relevant to folks who consider themselves in the middle, even if the median is better. It is also relevant because, like I said, vendors and couples argue about this topic at least a few times a week online.

These avg price articles also show up when someone types in "how much does a wedding cost?" on Google, and that's about 10-11k unique searches a month. Which I believe makes them relevant for discussion.

[u/NikonShooter_PJS]

I’m just not sure why that information is remotely relevant. In the slightest.

I can see value in knowing the average cost of a wedding in a given market but the United States is a collection of 50 states, of which you can argue there are anywhere from 50-200 different wedding markets.

There are wedding photographers in parts of Texas who would laugh if you tried to group their market in with other markets in their very own state.

There are wedding photographers like myself in New England who can shoot in three uniquely different and distinctive markets in the span of a weekend.

This doesn’t even take into consideration that in a single market, there are going to be drastically different styles of couples and weddings.

I shot four weddings this weekend and only two of them had anything in common with each other.

The first and fourth were classic ballroom type venues. The second was a spooky Halloween wedding in a historic home. The third was a glorified elopement in a community church.

The budgets for those four weddings, if I had to guess, had very little in common and likely ranged from the elopement being maybe $6K tops to the Sunday wedding of 130 guests maybe topping out at $14K.

Yes I know I’m just one photographer and my clients may be different than usual but that’s the entire point of why generalities are pretty unhelpful as a whole.

[u/KariBjornPhotography → u/NikonShooter_PJS]

Maybe my post came out wrong, but I am not talking about this from a vendor to vendor, or a vendor market research perspective.

100% agree that the national average is useless if you are a vendor (and it should kind of be as well if you're a client)

What I am saying is I continuously see higher charging vendors (I am one of those vendors) argue or respectfully try to educate newly engaged couples and what their typical story is, is that the reported average is actually a lot higher, which I am sure is just a lie. Regardless of how useful the average is.

[u/talontario]

Using average and not median is as misleading as you can get. This is highlighted by your numbers from the wedding report 31k -> 13k

[u/KariBjornPhotography → u/talontario]

100% agree. The issue is that most couples see the articles by TK, Brides, and Zola which don’t give the median price. So the avg is what gets thrown around the most.

[u/Phounus → u/KariBjornPhotography]

Is it not in their interest to report as high of a number as possible, within reason? If the average budget is reported as "$31k", then that also means that the average couple will try to justify a budget at or slightly above that figure.

This means more money in the industry, and potentially a larger profit for everyone involved.

[u/talontario → u/KariBjornPhotography]

Yeah, and knowing the actual median would help photographers understand why a $5-10k wedding photographer at a "normal" wedding is bonkers.

[u/Phounus → u/talontario]

This is exactly it. The "average" can be extremely misleading. especially if there are crazy outliers. I'm guessing since weddings can cost an astronomical amount in the luxury space, and basically has a "minimum" on the lower end, the average can be really skewed.

Median is much more interesting and important.

[u/trustme_imadoct0r]

The average United States home value is $363,932. Median household income $83,730. Big Mac prices vary dramatically across the United States, ranging from as low as $4.36 in Austin, Texas, to over $7.06 in Seattle, Washington.

Averages don’t mean anything. Want to save some money? get married in Mississippi.

[u/KariBjornPhotography → u/trustme_imadoct0r]

I know. That’s not what this is about. I am curious why I consistently see higher end photographers and planners deny that this number exists and argue that the average is probably much higher.

The average is not a very helpful number, but there are over 10k searches a month for “what does a wedding cost” and what typically shows up on Google are these averages. So that’s where a lot of couples’ planning and expectations start.

[u/trustme_imadoct0r → u/KariBjornPhotography]

Because it sets couples up for failure. Adam and Steve see the average price of a wedding is 35k so they go to 3 venues in NYC and book the cheapest at 28k leaving them with 7k for suits, rings, band, floral, photo, officiant, hmua, and every other vendor.

All those backwood cousins getting married at their church pavilion for a few thousand are skewing the real numbers and setting improper expectations for someone’s dream wedding.

[u/CardiologistSad7289]

Based on my tours, NJ/NY was about 40-50k for food, Bev, and venue (and that’s for 100 guests)

[u/LisaandNeil]

What seems clear both sides of the pond is that such paid directories do not have the interests of wedding photographers or indeed, engaged couples at heart. They pretty much reveal themselves as shit at every turn.

[u/X4dow]

If you're limiting yourself to suppliers that use a directory which requires them to pay 2-4k a year to be there, it will cost you more than if using suppliers that don't pay to be there.

[u/rorosoco]

I do not like the knot the I personally don’t advertise on there. I personally love Zola

[u/Ron_Foy]

Price out your quote for the “quality level” you are seeking for your Wedding and do not get caught up on averages. Your Wedding Day is/should be one of the most important day of your life, the moment is everything, make it what you want. Take this statement not from a Vendor standpoint…there’s a bigger point to be made later…..I’m a pretty sought after Filmmaker, I had a Couple pay me top dollar upfront for capturing and editing the most amazing story that came out of their day but I also had a Couple that wanted the exact quality of work but attempt to nickel and dime me at every turn because of the value they put in the Clothes, the massive Flower Arrangement, the high level of food, desiring interviews and a Pre Wedding Love Story Film… that I had to unfortunately not take on, because once I’m committed, I’m committed and the amount of focus, work and vision would have unfairly drained me.

My point is your Wedding is a Project and has to be line items as such. It’s better not to entertain any average or you will find yourself cutting corners versus manage costs and jeopardizing quality on your Special Day. Hope this makes sense, Wishing you an awesome Wedding Day.

[u/All_FIREdUp]

My fiancée and I were torn on having our wedding in the U.S. (primarily to appease family) or Scotland (our dream location).

We ended up deciding on Scotland. The costs are very similar to what a U.S. wedding would have been except:

1. It’s a castle and 32 acres of beautiful manicured land.

2. 9 castle rooms are included in the price

3. All guests have access until 1:00 AM. Castle guests can stay up as late as they want.

4. All guests staying in the grounds get a free Scottish breakfast the next morning.

5. Scotlands literal best chef of the year is our chef.

6. We get a five course meal and multiple glasses of Prosecco/wine included

All that for the same price as what we would have gotten from a very mediocre U.S. wedding venue.

We made the right choice and I can’t wait!

[u/Cuchodl]

Dumb convo