How much did your wedding cost?
I’m currently planning my wedding and am blown away by the estimates I’ve received so far. How much did you spend on your wedding? How many guests did you have and was it open bar?
I appreciate it!
Trending Content
| +95 | Are you “less ambitious” for having long term goals outside of NYC | 24 | 15h | |
| +38 | Interviews Are So Fake | 25 | 11s | |
| +33 | 2024 UK Election - Tories finished? | 20 | 1d | |
| +29 | Being Christian in investment banking | 14 | 20h | |
| +26 | Is my boss gaslighting me? | 3 | 6d | |
| +25 | Non-Competes Banned | 17 | 10h | |
| +23 | Sabotaging Peers to Get Ahead? | 34 | 4d | |
| +22 | Ideas for things to do with a free semester before starting ft? | 9 | 1d | |
| How do I become Sigma | 13 | 3s | ||
| +18 | Moelis has the cutest Analysts? | 4 | 17h |
Career Resources
Mine was unusual in that my wife and her father had been saving for the wedding since she was a little girl.
I gave 100k towards it and if I had to guess I would bet they spent another 750k.
I never wanted to know the final number.
We did everything in Manhattan and had like 300 people at the wedding and 600 at the dinner reception.
Wtf how rich are you ?
how old were you when you got married? 35+ ? how old was your spouse
trying to gauge if you splashed 100k when you were 25 or when you were more established like 35
I was like 32ish and weddings are super important to my wife’s culture. Spent even more than the 100 cause I had to buy a decent engagement ring too. But she’s worth it and actually makes more than me so I was cool with dropping g all that.
Could you drop the venue here (or PM me if you want)? I'm so fascinated by the $850K price tag that I want to know where it was lol
I’m not going to say all the venues, because you could probably guess my wedding since there are so few venues that can hold that many people in Manhattan.
But all the top venue places charge around 350k just to reserve the space and then everything else is extra.
My favorite memory of the day was that we closed a street in the city while I had to ride a horse, felt very baller for 15 mins.
This is just a blatant lie- no one spends apx. a million on a wedding
Jealous much bro?
just Google weddings in nyc at places like the plaza or the mandarin or the New York public library.
actually dont, you’re never gonna have the chance to get married and it’ll probably depress you.
Never happened.
Just had ours and spent like $60k
How many people? Was it worth it?
Jesus christ these numbers wtf. Excuse my young analyst naivety but what's the point of grinding so hard to just blow so much of what you've earned on ONE day even if it is so important. Just another scam in the system reinforced as a norm smh.
A lot these numbers are batshit crazy. Sure, if you want to spend 500K on a wedding, you could but why would you want to unless you like super wealthy. You do not need to have a wedding in NYC. You can have a wedding at a location where vendors are not trying to gouge you and which is not burdensome for guests. I went to a wedding recently at a very nice location in New Jersey. I am sure the cost the wedding was not cheap but I am also sure the cost was not 500K
And the divorce rate LOL
t t r c y r c
My fiancé and I are going to elope. Even if some rich guy offered to pay for every single wedding expense, it would still be a pain in the ass and not worth it in the end to see the different venues, set up food, decorations, photographers, dress, etc.
My wife and I eloped and saved a ton of money. Definitely made buying a house easier.
My sister had her wedding a few years back, on a rural estate that is a restaurant and hotel. There was a river nearby.
About 45K in CHF (edit: this was excluding wedding dress 6K, shoes 1.7K, dress code wedding party 8K/groom 2K, private family dinners 2-3K, travel for wedding prep 1K, etc)
My gf and I are not married, but a rough estimate for a wedding was around 40K $US, excluding engagement ring, flight tickets, hotel reservations/rooms, etc. and without the honeymoon, of course.
Wdym by "dress code wedding party" ?
So, some brides want their own wedding party (normally their own family and friends) to wear a certain color, design scheme, or similar. These are parents, brothers, an important uncle, etc. These are normally special items that have to be ordered or are even bespoke. And a bride can expect the men in her own family to buy a new suit or morning dress for her wedding. It is the least she can expect.
Then, part of the extended wedding party are also the maid of honor and bridesmaids. Normally the bride gets their dresses as well.
All of this was roughly 8K for my sister.
Groomsmen are normally paid for by the groom, not bride (ie suit, services, rental cars, etc whatever is required). These are his best friends or college mates/frat brothers, etc
A wedding party is the group of people who are very close to the couple, they have functions/roles before/during/after the wedding, potentially even for the duration of the marriage. They may have religious functions attached to them, or at least a very relevant personal connection. The wedding party is also the one that gets photographed most often on the special day. So it is super relevant to get all of this in line with the bride's expectations. It is her day after all..
Here is a good source
https://www.brides.com/wedding-party-roles-4845435
Ya I’m not too excited about the dent my future wedding is going to make, though thankfully it’s 2-3 years away so can save a bit more. Most likely will have about 75ish people in total.
Want to have it near the coast, grew up in SoCal and was thinking Santa Barbara. Looking to stay around $30k hopefully, haven’t gone into full planning mode yet.
My sister was married in Santa Barbara in the wine country (Solvang) the reception was at a vineyard and dinner was at a long table inside a cave. Was pretty cool.
Grew up in a fairly poor family so the idea of spending $50k+ on a wedding is just obscene to me. If my future wife is down (big if I know) I would much rather just register the marriage privately at the office and save the cash.
That was my plan as well, just go to the council and get it over with.
But 1) women are psychologically trained from kindergarten age to have a "big day" when they get married 2) it is a real reason to celebrate in a larger fashion (assuming this is only done once)
I thought I picked a (relatively) non-religious European girl who doesn't go to church for a reason. But even she wants a church wedding now.
IMO, big money on a big wedding is a waste.
My eyes almost popped out when my sister showed me her "wedding shoes" that were 1,799 $US. She is only going to wear them once in her entire life. What a joke.
is ur girl hot tho?
Definitely going to marry a woman who doesn’t want a big wedding. Will have a wedding party but just handle the ceremony at a courthouse
First guy broke this thread. Cause the USA has such difficult visitor visa rules these days none of my wife’s extended family could make it. So I am one of the few who was able to go to court house and do it low key. Still spent decent on a ring and in our culture even if save on wedding that money goes to your wife like a dowry.
Majority of my friends, lowest spent 40k and highest 220k.
For the young folk, life is expensive you grind so hard so hard so you have such options.
If like first dude, bride’s family is paying you basically got no say and its now just their event and you play along.
Got married in front of the beach at a 5 star resort in Costa Rica, roughly 45 ppl showed up. Including my stay in the nicest room in the resort and a rehearsal dinner the entire thing cost me like 20k (maybe 25 at most), my parents covered 7k of that. Honeymoon was basically paid for by people giving us money for the wedding. It was an outstanding experience.
If you’re open, would love to know the resort or ones similar to what you looked at. We both have small families so luckily this sounds a lot of more feasible
Are you missing a 0 in your numbers? That sounds like a ridiculously expensive wedding.
No, I'm not. Destination weddings are the way to go.
Did ours in Brooklyn, about 225 people, would estimate it was $100k all in easily, wife's family paid so I kept my mouth shut and didn't ask many questions.
Would you do it again if you had to pay?
Honestly, yes. It was a top 3 night in my life and everyone had such a great time. I wouldn't change anything about it.
I am 50/50 between doing something easy and stress free like a quick wedding at a nice Aman resort or a full blown one. The stress and work involved in planning a full blown event is not appealing at all to me. I don’t think my fiancé would like it if I had her do everything like I did our apartment either lol. Even with a wedding planner involved it seems like I can’t avoid participating
under $500
$85 marriage certificate
$200 dinner
$25-50 court costs
not saying a courthouse wedding will work for everybody, but it worked for me
How did your and her family take the courthouse setup?
it was our choice to make, not theirs. my wife's family is very opinionated and stubborn, but so is she. she never wanted a wedding, so the fact that they might have wished we had a traditional catholic wedding was never a consideration of hers. when I would ask her if it mattered what her family thought, she basically said "it's not their wedding, it's ours" or something to that effect.
on my side, I'm definitely the most strong willed in my family, so it was more of a "we're getting married, this is how it's happening, no need to send gifts just wanted you to know before we told our friends" and the only request was that I have my biological brother be my witness which I happily accepted.
to this day, I don't know if they care or not, it never comes up. but even if it did, I don't give a fuck, they still love her, they still love me, and I don't base my happiness in others' ideas about how we should conduct our marriage, or any other parts of my life for that matter
$2500 and during a major hurricane. I flew out friday afternoon and was back at work monday morning
$20k for a really nice wedding with 150 people. It really all depends what you want. If you want a fun time, you don’t need to blow $50k+ to have a great time.
That said, if you’re insecure and want to impress, then by all means.
Was this $20k for 150 people spent within the US? Which region?
Tri-state area.
Most people I know spent between 75-125k on their weddings which had 150-250 people (all domestic US weddings). 99% of the time, the wedding was financed by parents.
Wedding expenses are CRAZY, I remember asking for a wedding loan from Oxford Funding, and thanks god the rates were not that crazy.. it was nearly 50k, it was a small one with the closest member of our family. :)
One of the reasons for expensive wedding is that all products and services within the wedding industry are significantly more expensive than for regular occasions. This must be one of the industries with the highest margins.
A normal photographer will run you a few hundred, maybe a 1K-2K for regular pictures. I have seen wedding photographers advertise their services for 10K.
At 10k you might as well buy a professional camera yourself and have someone in the family take it.
Friday welcome event was about $100/person, Saturday reception was about $200/person, and this is for venue, food, and alcohol only (not including band, photographer, flowers, dress, rings, hair/makeup, shuttles). All-in cost was close to $500/person for everything all weekend, including tax/fees/gratuity.
I think these costs are pretty standard for the 150-200 guest count range unless you go super fancy or a low-budget/alternative wedding. We checked out a dozen venue options for both nights, ranging from rural barns to downtown lofts, and the pricing was pretty similar across the board... Weddings are very expensive.
We did get back a decent chunk of the cost in gifts though.
This reminds me I need to buy some shitty barn and turn it into a wedding venue....
Go oversea and rent an entire country
.
All in I believe a little over $40k - this is including rehearsal dinner, flowers, venue, food, dress, etc. This however does not include the honeymoon we spent about $30k on too. Paid for the majority of it ourselves.
$5K or so. Pretty small wedding. Still married over a decade later.
TL/DR: ~$90k outlay estimated net $40k after gifts and contribution.
Currently planning a wedding for summer of next year although most of the vendors are locked in now so have a pretty good idea of where costs will shake out. Based on 225 guests in coastal northeast, the wedding will cost ~$90k. I would say this is in-line to slightly below budget from some of my peers who have had weddings of similar size/scope. My fiancé and I are footing the bill on the front end but are expecting parents to kick in whatever they can after the wedding (maybe $15-20k total). Interesting approach, but without knowing what we are getting it is forcing us to stay on budget and not book additional/unnecessary add-ons (blow out the flower budget/cold seafood display/a cigar roller/whiskey tasting etc.) which I have grown to like. An additional perk is we did not have to answer to anyone (parents specifically) while booking venue/vendors and making the guest list. Everything is at our full control.
While the front end number of $90k is daunting to look at especially as someone from humble beginnings and am shocked at times, we conservatively estimate getting back $50k from gifts/parent contribution leaving us $40k out of pocket. Before we starting signing contracts, my budget (without fiancé's input....) was $75k. We have expanded a bit from there but are both in agreement that we are striking a happy medium of elegance while maintaining budget. Because we are footing a majority of the bill (vs. parents), I have approached the wedding as a reflection of ourselves. My fiancé and I have been in lockstep on every part of the planning process and have enjoyed doing it together**. Generally we are entertainers and enjoy hosting in our everyday life so want all of our guests to enjoy the night just as much as we will. Some of my favorite nights/memories have been at weddings and we are hoping to hear that feedback from our guests.
$40k net out of pocket is equivalent to an IB associate sign on bonus (I know I am not adjusting for taxes technicality police). In other words, I view it as a drop in the bucket long term. This wedding has * partially * broken my fixation with money/savings, and I am thankful for it. We do not spend with reckless abandon during everyday life or splurge on material goods often, but we fully enjoy life. If I am going out to dinner at a nice place, a bottle of wine that I want to drink is getting ordered irrespective of price. Fiancé crushed it at work last year, so encouraged her to splurge on a bag she has wanted before putting the rest of her bonus in the wedding fund. Sometimes this forum can get too caught up in saving every last dollar or a tendency to shy away from big expenses. If you have the means to do something, but are holding yourself back you're doing yourself a disservice in my opinion. Life is about striking balance.
For those lurking here that are trigger shy on a larger capital expense, doesn't have to be a wedding, pull the trigger. Who cares if in 5-10 years from now that item, dinner, or trip no longer has utility in your life. Alternatively, you might end up with an item or a story to last a lifetime.
**For those paying for your own wedding, be prepared to fight about flowers. It was our lone argument and the top argument amongst peers.
I disagree. The reason why I think some save everything we can is that the more we do that the sooner we can be free. Maybe you really enjoy your bank or it’s different being an associate but I find the work miserable and hate my waking existence. I push through because I know if I keep my head down and save for the next decade I may be able to never have to work again assuming the markets remain hot. Just my 2 cents though. If you like what you do, then you’re fine
I hear that and think it's a fair response. However, looking out to a "freedom" day 10 years out has too many variables for me. I never was one to look at this rat race and target "early" retirement by [35].
I was in your shoes a few years ago and it sucked - the analyst grind, always looking forward to what is coming next (ie. next pay bump, next bonus), and counting days down. Worst of all, the never ending mental masturbation of if I hit this bucket this year or if I live in Midtown East (yuck) instead of WV I can save $x more a month and MAYBE that's 1 year off my "sentence".
Believe me though, it gets easier. Things slow down. By things, I don't mean deal flow (although it might), I mean the ability to process quicker, become efficient at your job, and eventually leverage junior resources. It's counterintuitive. When it clicks and your day isn't overwhelming dominated by work tasks you're able to take a step back, look at the bigger picture, and enjoy life a little more.
I don't love what I do, and have an idea for an exit from the game in mind. We are deviating a bit from the topic, but I sympathize with analysts who have onboarded through Covid. It's been an absolute grind, but hang in there.
$5.2K for a 20 person oceanfront wedding in Southern California. $400 on the permit for the ceremony in a public oceanfront park + $3,800 for an oceanfront dinner at a restaurant + $1,000 for wedding coordinator and photographer. With gifts included, the net cost is somewhere around $4K. We then used points and miles for the honeymoon, so that part was free. Had it not been for the ability to do the wedding oceanfront, we probably would've opted for a courthouse wedding. Weddings are generally not worth the expense IMO.
25 years ago.
The Manor in NJ. High end (but not the top)
200 people, open bar plus all the other wedding stuff (dress, DJ, etc.), but no honeymoon
$40,000. Got $20k back.
My wife and I did a courthouse wedding and we could not be more pleased.
Public transit to courthouse: $5
Courthouse fees: $60
Celebratory dinner for 2: $500
Ability to tell anyone who mentions their own wedding plans that "we were happy just getting married at the courthouse because our wedding was about our love for each other and not about throwing a big party" or something similarly annoying: Priceless
I want to be you one day how can I find such a woman in today’s America? Imagine all the alternatives you could spend 40k+ on instead of one single day
My wife said basically the same thing to me about all the alternatives for the money. I consider myself a lucky man.
Get one while you’re a broke high school or college kid.
Yeah if you're Indian, good fucking luck. Minimum 100k will be spent for your wedding or else you'll face the full wrath of the in-laws
Is that the case for Indian weddings in the US as well? I know weddings in India are very expensive.
Just got married. I think total was close to $60K. 170 people. Without sounding too corny, it was the best night of my young life.
As another user mentioned, we are on the lower-end of how much weddings cost modern day. I ponied up big-time for a ring and in return, her parents threw down the checkbook on the wedding. All my family and friends had to do was show up.
I’m glad you had a good night. Sometimes people get stressed about all the details. Congrats.
Currently engaged and have a date for Q1 2022. We have booked everything and it is looking like total cost (including rehearsal dinner) will be around ~$40k. This is for ~195 people.
That’s not too bad. What area of the country?
Phoenix
catherine palace or bust
Married young - $25k, 300 people, remote 3rd world country (my wife's). I was an intern, she had a full time job, took us 6 months to save up for it. Pulled off a private religious ceremony, a garden wedding, and a reception with that budget. I spent 800 bucks on the engagement ring (again, I was an intern). We're still in love and couldn't be happier, and living a good life now that we're raking in dough
~$75K (her parents covered all of it), about 250 people invited with open bar at an awesome venue. I couldn't imagine paying for it myself, but thankfully I did not have to worry about it.
I think many of the people here marveling at the numbers people spend on a wedding forget that weddings are essentially giant networking events and the high priced ones are essentially mergers. It isn't uncommon, at least it didn't used to be, for a bank to spend a million or more celebrating the closure of a huge deal. When you get down to it, that is basically what a wedding is.
Is one of the businesses you run in the wedding industry?
No.
NJ/NY summer wedding on a Saturday
150 ppl
$200/person (175-205/person is range, $175 was a lower quality place. $195-200 is a decent #)
$3,000 venue fee ($2,000-3,500, I think to pay for the seats/ceremony cost of chairs and stuff)
Tax = 7%
Gratuity - 22% (22-24% range)—
here’s the kicker - varies - seen 22% most often
150 x $200
+$3,000
X (1.29) [1 + .22 + .07)
= wedding VENUE cost
Don’t forget the FIXED costs are wedding (DJ, flowers etc)
I made a MASTER wedding expenses and invite list spreadsheet years ago, and ppl rave about it who I send it to. So I’m referencing those numbers, although a couple years dated.
In the process of planning now, 90-100 people, mid tier city, plated dinner and beer/wine at the reception is looking like $35-40k (excluding engagement ring and honeymoon paid by us and rehearsal dinner paid by future in-laws). We're also providing childcare in another room on-site. Initially wanted to spend $25-30k with 50-75 people but family insists on inviting people we barely know and won't budge, super frustrating issue I didn't see coming.
I'm not spending more than $15-20k on mine all in even though I could spend serious amounts on it
I actually got married in April 2020. It was just immediate family and at a church with a $50 fee there, plus the other legal courtroom paperwork that was $150 if I remember correctly.
Pretty cool experience, this is going to sound ridiculous but I thought we were doing a run through before the ceremony started. But halfway through I realized it was the real deal and I got married within 15 minutes.
We felt like throwing a big party for family and close friends, there’s a venue operator called Wedgewood that has affordable prices (they’re in a few states, mine is in CA). We’re estimating 100ish people for just under $20k and that’s with open bar and premium liquor and their premium food. Pretty sweet deal.
In the process of planning, but high five figures.
Wedding Day, Venue, food and all staff (DJ, photos) ~$50k
Rehearsal dinner + other events and invitations ~$15k
Dress, wedding bands, tux and other physical things ~$10k
If you want to include engagement ring and honeymoon, then probably another ~$20-25k
Add like $20k to this number lol, was damn expensive.
Aut saepe itaque ullam aut autem. Aut mollitia voluptas asperiores quia odit accusamus doloremque odit. Inventore omnis et libero impedit sint quas repellendus. Nobis laboriosam eos aut totam. Voluptatum et minima qui et voluptatem.
Omnis dolorem placeat ea dolor porro consequuntur natus. Quam veritatis illum eum et qui.
Dicta vel aspernatur et molestiae repellat vero hic. Sit doloribus consequuntur fuga animi occaecati quasi.
Deleniti vero cum sunt odit distinctio consequatur. Doloribus sit alias ut adipisci. Dolorum hic repellendus quaerat est.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Aliquam nulla minima nemo praesentium incidunt. Tempore reiciendis deleniti praesentium quia. Quisquam quo culpa autem veniam repudiandae. Enim quis vitae quia et voluptatem molestiae nemo. Adipisci qui autem et distinctio eos aut error.
Qui autem quia quia et qui impedit quia. Id ut possimus vitae officia nesciunt. Fugit est ex cum officia.
Molestiae quas maiores similique occaecati et a. Magni repellat ea molestiae nam architecto. Earum id necessitatibus ut quaerat est. Delectus velit et soluta qui rerum.
Voluptatibus voluptatem pariatur soluta. Consequatur voluptatem voluptatum minus quia provident praesentium consequatur. Soluta nihil neque nihil qui. Ad aut eum quibusdam voluptas. Animi blanditiis eos natus est enim sequi similique. Dolore amet molestiae repudiandae dolorem beatae.
Repellat sit perferendis impedit est id at. Dolorem saepe aut earum voluptatem aperiam ullam sit dolorum. Optio delectus repellat ducimus aspernatur molestiae nulla. Quae consequatur nesciunt cum dicta sed adipisci voluptatem libero. Magnam ratione facere optio natus aut.
Ipsum dolores expedita nemo aut voluptatem exercitationem et. Dolor dolor ea nihil et cum quia non. Dolorum occaecati sint et quae. Corrupti est aut veritatis. Et explicabo fugit delectus quasi blanditiis commodi.
Ut hic ipsum sunt aliquam. Asperiores doloremque nobis omnis fugit cupiditate. Quis autem dolorem autem cumque incidunt voluptatem. Expedita praesentium qui nemo dolore. Beatae consequatur natus molestiae a in.
Perferendis et dignissimos esse voluptas. Enim sit culpa et praesentium qui vel. Et molestiae omnis ut ut illum voluptatem. Aut ipsam non blanditiis suscipit nam eius explicabo nesciunt. Quo sit dolores quibusdam dolores atque nisi. Aliquid error dolores alias nostrum sapiente nulla quas. Id ea inventore commodi alias.
Voluptatum praesentium consectetur harum consequatur temporibus. Dolorem odit odit nam est. Non quis libero molestiae aspernatur quis autem velit. Quod reprehenderit sit quae eaque.
Consequatur expedita quia hic et tenetur quo. Voluptas rerum maiores atque consequatur commodi porro pariatur sed. Repudiandae placeat illum ducimus suscipit in et atque. Earum delectus cumque est fuga.
Architecto ad blanditiis nulla omnis. Qui debitis ut quod quia distinctio delectus placeat. Consectetur ratione rerum expedita.
Necessitatibus qui molestias error cumque dolores et blanditiis. Cumque maiores saepe aliquam maiores cumque omnis rerum. Repudiandae aut amet accusamus voluptatem pariatur quo recusandae. Sit totam vero quidem. Et numquam consequatur placeat placeat hic voluptates. Explicabo modi ea voluptatem.