So maybe you are newly engaged or you've been engaged, but haven't created your budget yet. Maybe you have created your budget and are realizing now that your estimated costs are not lining up with your actual cost? Let's take a minute and back up!
I ALWAYS recommend that my couples understand the cost of weddings prior to making their wedding budget! You may be thinking, well I only have XX amount to spend, so I know what my budget is, and I already know who I want to invite.... but, let me stop you right there! It is important to understand what the industry averages are BEFORE making your budget, so you don't run into any problems down the road with your budget.
The national average wedding cost in 2019 was $33,900. Now that is national, so what is your local average? Do you live in rural Oklahoma? Your cost will most likely be less compared to NYC for example! In Northern Virginia, our average is closer to $44,856 in 2019. So how do they get these numbers? It is the average cost including all major wedding vendors and about 150 people give or take. Now, I like to break it down a little further. I like to use the price per person method! So the average national wedding cost for 150 guests is approximately $226/pp. (Let me show you the math" $33,900 / 150 =$226)
So what does that tell me? Now I can say, well if it cost on average $226 per person, I can really only invite 100 people given what MY BUDGET is. See what I did there? You are not having to cut costs later down the road, if you understand the number upfront and how many people you can invite. We just save ourselves $11,300 by understanding, we can't invite 50 additional guests.
You owe it to yourself to understand the average costs and what goes into wedding planning to hopefully alleviate some of the budget stresses down the road! Feel free to comment below with questions or what shocked you the most price-wise on your pre-wedding planning research!