Most to-be-weds walk into the wedding planning process pretty much—for lack of a better word—clueless. And that’s not to say it’s a bad thing—if you haven’t been married before (or, ahem, work for a wedding publication like The Knot), how in the world are you supposed to know how much cash you should reasonably shell out to vendors? And while you might have a budget in mind, it can be difficult to know how to allocate that budget responsibly. (Or keep a straight face when you find out how much that dream venue is actually going to cost you.)
That’s why our 2017 Real Weddings Study can be such a helpful resource—it illuminates how much real people spent on their wedding vendors to figure out how much you should expect to spend on yours.
Below, find out what the average couple really spent on their wedding vendors last year (and hopefully this can help you keep it together in your next vendor meeting).
- Ceremony venue: $2,311
- Ceremony musicians: $761
- Ceremony officiant: $284
- Photographer: $2,630
- Videographer: $1,912
- Florist: $2,379
- Wedding coordinator/event planner: $1,988
- Reception venue: $15,163
- Catering: $6,528
- Reception bar/liquor: $2,365
- Reception band: $4,019
- DJ: $1,231
- Wedding day transportation: $830
- Cake baker: $540
- Hairstylist: $119
- Makeup artist: $102
