3. How to Set Your Wedding Budget

Setting a realistic wedding budget is the most important thing you have to do to start planning off on the right foot, but weddings are EXPENSIVE! Here’s some data to give you a good idea: 

• The average wedding cost in the US:  $33,000. And inflation has totally impacted that - the average cost rose 14% from 2023 to 2024. FORBES: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/personal-loans/average-cost-of-a-wedding/#:~:text=The%20average%20cost%20of%20a%20wedding%20is%20%2433%2C000%20in%202024,wedding%20feature%20is%20the%20venue.
• The average cost per wedding guest is ~$300. This average is based off the TOTAL cost of the wedding, not an average catering/food and beverage cost per head. https://pros.weddingpro.com/report/the-knot-real-weddings-vendor-report/#:~:text=50%25%20of%20couples%20surveyed%20said,wedding%20and%20the%20value%20of

5 Steps to set a realistic wedding budget:

STEP #1: Figure out how much you have to spend:

• How much do you personally want/can you contribute? 
• Have the conversation with your parents: How much are they willing/able to contribute if any? If your parents have NO idea where to start, send them some updated numbers from trusted sources like Zola: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/personal-loans/average-cost-of-a-wedding/#:~:text=The%20average%20cost%20of%20a%20wedding%20is%20%2433%2C000%20in%202024,wedding%20feature%20is%20the%20venue. 
• Add those figures up, and that’s your Overall Wedding Budget. 

STEP #2: Use your Overall Wedding Budget to figure up how many people you can host at the wedding: aka: how many people you can feed.

• Work backwards from your overall budget to figure out how many people you can feed using the info below:
  • Catering is ~20-30% of your overall budget
  • Average catering cost per guest = $85 per person https://www.theknot.com/content/average-cost-wedding-catering
  • Average TOTAL cost per guest = $300 per person 
• Example:
  • Overall Wedding Budget = $50,000
  • Estimated Catering Cost = 30% of $50,000 = $15,000
  • Number of Wedding Attendees =  Estimated Catering Cost / Average catering cost per guest | $15,000/$85 = 176. 
  • Now cross check with the TOTAL cost per guest figure:
  • Overall Wedding Budget/ Average Total Cost per guest | $50,000/$300 = 167 
  • Conclusion: You can host and feed ~167 to 176 guests at your wedding. 

STEP #3: Estimate your Venue Cost: 

1. Your venue will be around 30-40% of your overall budget: https://www.theknot.com/content/wedding-budget-ways-to-save-money
2. Example: 40% of $50,000 overall budget = $20,000

STEP #4: Estimate Remaining Vendor Costs based on percentage of your Overall Wedding Budget. Use these percentages found at https://www.theknot.com/content/wedding-budget-ways-to-save-money