It’s a simple matter of supply and demand: If you get married during less popular times of year, reception sites (and other vendors) will tend to have cheaper rates. Find out what the “off” months are, below.
When is wedding season?
Wedding season—aka the most popular time of year to get married—varies slightly from year to year, but typically, late summer and early fall are the most popular times to get married. According to our 2017 Real Weddings Study, 78 percent of all weddings take place between May to October. To be specific, September (16 percent), June (15 percent) and October (14 percent) are the most popular months. For many couples, things like warm weather, an outdoor venue or fall foliage are important. But obviously, this is the busiest time of year for venues and vendors, so costs will likely be higher.
When is the off-season?
In most parts of the country, the deep winter months—January, February and March—are the least popular for weddings. In fact, only 5 percent of weddings take place during winter, according to our study.
Since there’s less demand, you’ll likely get quoted lower prices on your reception site, not to mention most of your other wedding services, like catering, photography and flowers (except around Valentine’s Day and Easter, of course, when roses and lilies are at a premium because they’re in high demand).
So if you want to save money—and don’t mind a chance of snow—try picking a winter wedding date. (We promise the photos will turn out gorgeous either way.)
