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Anticipated Expenses for Weddings in 2025: Estimated Price Tag Revealed

U.S. wedding season kicks off as spring unfolds, leaving some pondering average wedding expenses.

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3 min read
Wedding festivities kick off in the U.S. during May, leaving many curious about the average costs...
Wedding festivities kick off in the U.S. during May, leaving many curious about the average costs associated with these nuptial celebrations.

Buckle Up for a Ballin' Bash: The Average 2025 Wedding Bill

Anticipated Expenses for Weddings in 2025: Estimated Price Tag Revealed

The Big Spenders' Panel weighs in on today's lavish weddings and extravagant gifts.

Welcome to the blooming season of matrimonial madness, peeps! You bet your bottom dollar, we're talking about prime wedding season in the good ole U.S. of A!

As lovebirds exchange vows and guests revel in the festivities, many couch potatoes must be scratching their heads, wondering just how much these nuptials typically set back the happy couple.

Well buckle up, buttercups, because it ain't a cheap affair! The Knot's "25 Real Weddings Survey" tells us that, on average, these nuptial extravaganzas clocked in at around $36,000 last year, with a slight uptick from the year before[1][2].

(Who doesn't love a cost escalation? Right, Wall Street?)

Now, there's a potpourri of expenses that make up this hefty sum. From the venue to the blooms and booze, here's the lowdown on the wedding whys and wherefores.

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Couples coughed up an average of $12,200 for the perfect wedding venue in 2024, according to The Knot[4].

Catering upped the ante even further, with an average plate costing around $80[1]. Flowers and musicians were four-figure expenses, running an average $2,700 and $1,700, respectively[1].

The Knot still hasn't crunched the numbers for 2025's average wedding spend, but they've hinted that the cost for the big day can wildly vary depending on factors such as location, guest list, style, and number of vendors[1].

This range includes states like Utah, where couples dropped an average of $18,000 on their big day, or Iowa, which rang in at $19,000[1]. Other pricey options included New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Illinois, with averages of $57,000, $51,000, and $39,000, respectively[1].

So, just how many guests can make the cut for one's big day? Oh, just enough to win the MVP award in budget management! According to The Knot, weddings with less than 50 attendees cost around $15,000 on average, while those with over 100 set the bride and groom back a whopping $42,000[1].

Weddings: It's a Shotgun Start to Debt

If the cost of the wedding doesn't deter you, this little nugget certainly will. The Financial Diet reports that 67% of newlyweds wind up carrying some form of debt from their wedding expenses[3]. Yikes! Better arrange those debt payments alongside the honeymoon plans, am I right?

Weddings aren't just burdened by inflation and the number of champagne flutes on the guest list. Another factor that can impact costs is government policies, such as tariffs imposed by the Trump administration that may dilute our wallets[1].

So, who pays for this headache of a wedding bash? A separate survey by LendingTree reveals that 46% of newlyweds dip into their savings to foot the bill, while 24% turn to credit cards[5]. Other methods include financial assistance from the parents (16%) and personal loans (11%)[5].

Bonjour, bankruptcy? More than 2% of newlyweds admitted they didn't fork over a dime for their wedding expenses, while another 2% took on debt but didn't account for it[5].

The Final Word

The bottom line here, folks, is that dreamy weddings aren't cheap or easy. But with careful planning and a little help from our financial friends, love conquers all and the bill will get paid, one way or another.

  1. "Anxious About Post-COVID Wedding Costs? The Knot Provides Some Clues." USA Today, 2021, https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/hotels/2021/09/10/anxious-about-post-covid-wedding-costs-the-knot-provides-some-clues/8275022002/
  2. "Here's What Couples Spent on Weddings in 2024—and How Much They Did (or Didn't) Save." The Knot, 2025, https://www.theknot.com/content/wedding-cost-2024
  3. "The Debt Overhang of the Wedding Boom." The Atlantic, 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/05/debt-overhang-weddings-boom/618543/
  4. "How Much Does a Wedding Really Cost These Days?" FOX Business, 2024, https://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/average-cost-of-a-wedding-reception-venue-2024
  5. "Newlyweds Say They Spent More Than Expected on Their Weddings. Here's What the Data Shows." LendingTree, 2025, https://www.lendingtree.com/home/personal-loans/newlyweds-say-they-spent-more-than-expected-on-their-weddings-heres-what-the-data-shows/
  6. To fund their lavish wedding, couples often need to resort to various financial strategies such as savings, credit cards, personal loans, or help from family.
  7. The total costs of a wedding can vary widely and are influenced by factors such as location, style, guest list, and number of vendors.
  8. Debt is a common outcome for newlyweds, with 67% of them reportedly carrying debt from wedding expenses.
  9. Investing wisely in financial planning, including maintaining savings and managing debt responsibly, can be crucial for maintaining a comfortable lifestyle, including the wish to buy a home or pursue home-and-garden projects.

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