THE AVERAGE WEDDING COSTS WHAT?
If you're the father of the bride, you might want to look for a second job. The average cost of a wedding is $28,427 — and that's if you're lucky. Oh, and that doesn't even count the honeymoon. It could be worse: Thirteen percent of brides spend more than $40,000 on their wedding, while 23 percent said money was no object and didn't even have a budget. That's the word from a survey by TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com of more than 17,500 U.S. brides who were married in 2012. Facts about the average costs of weddings:
- Most expensive wedding location: New York City at $76,678
- Least expensive wedding location: Alaska at $15,504
- Wedding/Event Planner: $2,379
- Ceremony site: $1,711
- Reception venue: $12,905
- Reception band: $3,084
- Reception DJ: $988
- Photographer: $2,379
- Videographer: $1,619
- Wedding gown: $1,211
- Florist/decor: $1,997
- Invitations: $453
- Wedding cake: $560
- Ceremony musicians: $554
- Catering cost per guest: $63
- Wedding day transportation: $708
- Favors: $289
- Rehearsal dinner: $1,135
- Engagement ring: $5,431
Other facts to know and tell:
- Average number of guests: 139
- Average amount spent per guest: $204
- Destination weddings: 24 percent
- Age of the bride: 29
- Age of the groom: 31
- Number of bridesmaids and groomsmen: 4 to 5
- Average length of the engagement: 14 months
- Most popular engagement month: December (16 percent)
- Most popular wedding month: June (17 percent)
- Most popular wedding colors: blue (33 percent); purple (26 percent); green (23 percent); metallics (23 percent)
Hawaii has the oldest brides (33 years), compared with Utah, which has the youngest brides (24 years), on average. Middle Atlantic brides have the longest engagements (15.8 months), while brides in East South Central have the shortest (11.9 months), on average. On average, Utah brides have the largest number of wedding guests (209), and Nevada brides have the smallest number of wedding guests (64). Wyoming has the most casual weddings (39 percent), while Chicago, Illinois has the most formal (black-tie) weddings (44 percent).
