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What weddings actually cost

What does the average wedding cost in 2026?

$32,500–$61,700
That is a lean and an elevated 120-guest wedding nationally. Standard service lands near $43,700, or $364 a guest — and the mean runs above the typical wedding, because a few very large budgets pull it up.
Figures as of August 2026

Every figure on this page is what a wedding does cost, not what yours should. That is a different question, and the hub answers it. Here you get the national number at every guest count, the same number priced in all fifty states, and — the part an average can never do for you — your own line-by-line variance against it.

Run your numbers free →See the numbers

Read this before you quote a figure

📉 The average is not the typical wedding

Almost every published “average wedding cost” is a mean, and wedding spend is a right-skewed distribution — a long thin tail of very expensive weddings and no matching tail below zero. A mean over that shape sits above the wedding in the middle, every time. Below is the demonstration, run on this model's own scenarios so you can check the arithmetic yourself.

Breakdown 01

Eleven weddings from this model, sorted by total 50 guests · Midwest · lean $20,675 75 guests · South · lean $24,525 50 guests · National · standard $30,750 100 guests · Midwest · standard $35,950 100 guests · National · standard $40,025 120 guests · South · standard $40,625 ← the middle one 120 guests · National · standard $43,725 150 guests · National · standard $49,300 200 guests · Northeast · standard $71,500 150 guests · West Coast · elevated $82,325 250 guests · Northeast · elevated $117,200 Mean $50,600 · Median $40,625 The mean is 25% higher, and eight of the eleven sit below it.

Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026

Mean vs medianRun this

Breakdown 02

The same eleven weddings, with the two priciest removed Weddings in the set 11 → 9 Mean $50,600 → $39,675 (−$10,925) Median $40,625 → $40,025 (−$600) Two weddings out of eleven moved the mean by nearly $11,000 and the middle wedding by $600. That is the whole problem with planning against a published average.

Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026

What two big weddings doRun this

Breakdown 03

The middle of the model: 120 guests · National · standard Venue & rentals $9,600 Catering & bar $11,950 Photography & video $3,900 Attire & alterations $2,900 Flowers & decor $3,075 Music & entertainment $2,375 Stationery & postage $1,675 Rings $1,800 Hair & beauty $900 Transport & parking $950 Favors & gifts $1,350 Contingency (8%) $3,250 Total $43,725 · $364 per guest $19,850 of that is fixed and does not move with the guest list.

Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026

The typical weddingRun this

See where you actually sit

The calculator below runs in benchmark mode: every row shows your figure beside the national average at your headcount. Change the guest count and both columns move, so the comparison stays honest instead of freezing against a number for a wedding twice your size.

Run your numbers →

The national number

🇺🇸 What a wedding costs at every guest count

There is no single national average, because the answer depends almost entirely on how many people you feed. Publishing one number hides that. Here is the whole curve at standard service — buffet or family style, open bar, eight hours of photography, a DJ — plus the three full breakdowns people ask for most.

Breakdown 04

National · standard service · by guest count 50 guests $30,750 $615 per guest 75 guests $35,375 $472 per guest 100 guests $40,025 $400 per guest 120 guests $43,725 $364 per guest 150 guests $49,300 $329 per guest 200 guests $58,600 $293 per guest 250 guests $67,875 $272 per guest The same $19,850 fixed block sits inside every row. That is why the per-guest figure falls as the total rises.

Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026

The curveRun this

Breakdown 05

125 guests · National · standard service Venue & rentals $9,825 Catering & bar $12,375 Photography & video $3,900 Attire & alterations $2,900 Flowers & decor $3,150 Music & entertainment $2,400 Stationery & postage $1,750 Rings $1,800 Hair & beauty $900 Transport & parking $950 Favors & gifts $1,400 Contingency (8%) $3,300 Total $44,650 · $357 per guest 125 guests is a common planning figure and sits close to the middle of this table. This is what it buys.

Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026

125 guestsRun this

Breakdown 06

150 guests · National · standard service Venue & rentals $10,950 Catering & bar $14,550 Photography & video $3,900 Attire & alterations $2,900 Flowers & decor $3,500 Music & entertainment $2,500 Stationery & postage $2,050 Rings $1,800 Hair & beauty $900 Transport & parking $1,000 Favors & gifts $1,600 Contingency (8%) $3,650 Total $49,300 · $329 per guest

Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026

150 guestsRun this

Breakdown 07

200 guests · National · standard service Venue & rentals $13,200 Catering & bar $18,900 Photography & video $3,900 Attire & alterations $2,900 Flowers & decor $4,200 Music & entertainment $2,700 Stationery & postage $2,650 Rings $1,800 Hair & beauty $900 Transport & parking $1,100 Favors & gifts $2,000 Contingency (8%) $4,350 Total $58,600 · $293 per guest

Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026

200 guestsRun this

Breakdown 08

120 guests · National · the same list served three ways Lean $32,500 $271 per guest Standard $43,725 $364 per guest Elevated $61,725 $514 per guest Lean is buffet, beer and wine, a venue that owns its chairs. Elevated is plated, premium bar, full florals, ten hours of coverage. The spread is $29,225 — larger than the gap between 50 and 200 guests.

Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026

Three service levelsRun this

Average wedding cost by state

🗺️ The same wedding, priced in all fifty states

Method, stated plainly because nobody else states theirs: this is the national 120-guest standard figure scaled by each state's all-items regional price parity, the index the Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes for exactly this purpose (2024 data, released 2026). It is a cost-of-living index rather than a wedding survey, so treat it as the floor of the geographic spread — venue and catering vary more than the consumer basket does, which is why the calculator's own regional multipliers run wider.

Breakdown 09

Above the national average · 120 guests · standard California $48,400 $403 per guest Hawaii $48,100 $401 per guest District of Columbia $48,100 $401 per guest New Jersey $47,600 $397 per guest New York $47,200 $393 per guest Washington $46,800 $390 per guest Massachusetts $46,200 $385 per guest Maryland $45,900 $383 per guest New Hampshire $45,500 $379 per guest Connecticut $45,300 $378 per guest Florida $45,200 $377 per guest Oregon $45,200 $377 per guest Colorado $45,100 $376 per guest Alaska $44,800 $373 per guest Rhode Island $44,700 $373 per guest Virginia $44,200 $368 per guest Arizona $44,000 $367 per guest

Source: Regional price parities, all items, by state and metro area (2024 data) — the basis for the by-state and by-metro tables — U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2024

Priciest statesRun this

Breakdown 10

Within a whisker of the national average · 120 guests · standard Nevada $43,700 $364 per guest Illinois $43,700 $364 per guest Delaware $43,600 $363 per guest Utah $43,200 $360 per guest Minnesota $43,100 $359 per guest Vermont $42,800 $357 per guest Pennsylvania $42,700 $356 per guest Texas $42,400 $353 per guest Maine $42,400 $353 per guest Georgia $42,100 $351 per guest Michigan $42,100 $351 per guest Eleven states sit within 4% of the national figure. If you are in one of them, the national number is your number.

Source: Regional price parities, all items, by state and metro area (2024 data) — the basis for the by-state and by-metro tables — U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2024

Middle of the tableRun this

Breakdown 11

Below the national average · 120 guests · standard Idaho $41,800 $348 per guest Montana $41,400 $345 per guest North Carolina $41,200 $343 per guest Wisconsin $41,100 $343 per guest South Carolina $41,000 $342 per guest Indiana $40,800 $340 per guest Ohio $40,600 $338 per guest Wyoming $40,500 $338 per guest New Mexico $40,300 $336 per guest Tennessee $40,200 $335 per guest Missouri $39,700 $331 per guest Kentucky $39,400 $328 per guest Nebraska $39,400 $328 per guest Kansas $39,400 $328 per guest West Virginia $39,100 $326 per guest North Dakota $38,900 $324 per guest Alabama $38,800 $323 per guest South Dakota $38,700 $323 per guest Louisiana $38,600 $322 per guest Oklahoma $38,400 $320 per guest Iowa $38,400 $320 per guest Mississippi $38,000 $317 per guest Arkansas $38,000 $317 per guest

Source: Regional price parities, all items, by state and metro area (2024 data) — the basis for the by-state and by-metro tables — U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2024

Least expensive statesRun this

Breakdown 12

Average wedding cost in California · 120 guests · standard Statewide $48,400 $403 per guest San Francisco–Oakland metro $50,600 $422 per guest Los Angeles metro $49,700 $414 per guest National $43,725 $364 per guest California's price parity is 110.7 against a national 100, and its big metros run higher still. Inland counties sit closer to national. Do not plan a Napa wedding off a statewide figure.

Source: Regional price parities, all items, by state and metro area (2024 data) — the basis for the by-state and by-metro tables — U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2024

CaliforniaRun this

Breakdown 13

Average wedding cost in New Jersey · 120 guests · standard Statewide $47,600 $397 per guest New York–Newark–Jersey City $49,200 $410 per guest National $43,725 $364 per guest Difference from national +$3,875 New Jersey's parity is 108.8, third behind California and Hawaii among the states. Most of the state sits inside the New York metro, so the higher of those two figures is the safer plan.

Source: Regional price parities, all items, by state and metro area (2024 data) — the basis for the by-state and by-metro tables — U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2024

New JerseyRun this

The part an AI answer cannot give you

🔍 Your budget against the average, line by line

A total tells you nothing about where you sit. Two couples can both be $11,000 off the average and be in completely different situations — one spread thinly across twelve lines, the other concentrated in one. These three run the comparison the way the calculator does: your number beside the national standard figure at your headcount, row by row.

Breakdown 14

120 guests · National · lean service you average Venue & rentals $7,200 $9,600 Catering & bar $8,600 $11,950 Photography & video $2,975 $3,900 Flowers & decor $2,200 $3,075 Everything else $9,125 $11,950 Contingency (8%) $2,400 $3,250 Total $32,500 $43,725 You are $11,225 under, and it is spread evenly — no single line is doing the work, which means no single line can be cut further.

Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026

Under the averageRun this

Breakdown 15

140 guests · Northeast · elevated service you average Venue & rentals $18,000 $10,500 Catering & bar $24,200 $13,675 Photography & video $6,575 $3,900 Flowers & decor $5,950 $3,350 Everything else $20,975 $12,475 Contingency (8%) $6,050 $3,525 Total $81,750 $47,425 You are $34,325 over. Catering alone accounts for $10,525 of it, which is where any real cut has to come from.

Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026

Over the averageRun this

Breakdown 16

150 guests · Midwest · lean service you average Venue & rentals $7,375 $10,950 Catering & bar $9,425 $14,550 Photography & video $2,675 $3,900 Flowers & decor $2,250 $3,500 Everything else $8,775 $12,750 Contingency (8%) $2,450 $3,650 Total $32,950 $49,300 A 150-guest wedding for less than the national 75-guest figure. Region and service level did that; the guest list did not.

Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026

Big list, small totalRun this

Start here

Which average are you actually after?

“Average wedding cost” is five different questions wearing one search box. The one you are asking decides which number on this page is yours — and, in two cases, which page is.

Why are you looking up the average?

You want a number to plan against, before you have any quotes

Do not start from the average. Start from your guest count and your region, then set the service level. The hub walks the allocation in five steps.

See the full breakdown →

You already know roughly how many people you are inviting

Read the curve, not the headline: $30,750 at 50 guests, $40,025 at 100, $49,300 at 150, $58,600 at 200 — all national, all standard service.

See the full breakdown →

You want to know whether your state is expensive

Take the national figure and scale it by your state's price parity. California is about 11% above national, Mississippi about 13% below. The full table is below.

You have a number from a vendor and want to know if it is high

Compare it line by line rather than in total. A $52,000 quote at 120 guests is 19% over the national average — but the whole overage might sit in one category.

Your families are contributing and want to know what is normal

The average total is the wrong unit for that conversation. Split it by category and by funder instead, then talk about lines rather than lump sums.

See the full breakdown →

What moves the average

Five inputs, in the order they matter

The national figure is a blend of everything below. Reading it without them is how a couple ends up planning a Midwest buffet against a Northeast plated dinner's price tag. Each lever is measured against the 120-guest national standard wedding at $43,725.

Venue and catering together are 49% of the national average.

Guest count — $30,750 at 50 → $58,600 at 200

The single largest term in any published average, and the one no headline figure tells you. Because $19,850 of the total is fixed at every count, the per-guest figure falls from $615 to $293 across that range even though the total nearly doubles.

Service level — −26% to +41%

Lean to elevated on the identical 120-person list is $32,500 to $61,725. Plated instead of buffet, premium bar instead of beer and wine, ten hours of coverage instead of six. Nothing else here comes close.

Which average you read — +25%

The mean of this model's own eleven-wedding set is $50,600 against a median of $40,625. Any figure quoted as an average without saying which one is quoted the higher way, and every incumbent quotes it unqualified.

State — −13% to +11%

Arkansas and Mississippi sit around $38,000; California around $48,400. That band is the BEA price parity applied straight through — the honest floor. Metro areas inside expensive states run above their own state's figure.

Saturday in peak season — +$1,000 to +$2,600 on the venue line

Venues price by date. May, June, September and October Saturdays carry the top rate on most published rate cards, and the average blends them with every Friday and Sunday in February. This is the one lever you can confirm exactly, in one email.

What the figure includes — Whole categories in or out

Some published averages fold in the engagement ring, the rehearsal dinner and the honeymoon; some include none of them. Each of those is a four-figure category on its own, so two honest averages can differ by more than the gap between the cheapest and most expensive states. This page prices the wedding itself: bands in, engagement ring, rehearsal dinner and honeymoon out.

Rules of thumb

Three things that hold whatever the average says

None of these is a law. All three are more useful than a national mean when you are staring at a blank spreadsheet.

Use the median-shaped number, not the mean

If you are picking one figure to plan against, pick the middle of the distribution rather than the average of it. On this model that is roughly $40,000–$44,000 at 100–120 guests nationally, against a mean nearer $50,000.

Anchor to your state, then to your service level

In that order. Region sets the price of everything you buy; service level sets how much of it you buy. Doing it the other way round bakes a stranger's venue market into your own plan.

Whatever the average is, hold 8% of your own number back

Service charges, sales tax, overtime and delivery fees land in the final six weeks and appear in almost no published average. On a $43,700 budget that is about $3,250 of room you have not allocated to anything.

Costly mistakes

How the average gets misread

Each of these produces a number that looks authoritative and is wrong by thousands by the time the invoices land.

Treating the mean as the typical wedding

Spend distributions with a long upper tail always put the mean above the middle. In this model's own set the mean is $50,600 and the median is $40,625 — a 25% gap created by two weddings out of eleven. Plan against the middle, and check which one any figure you read actually is.

Comparing two averages that measure different things

One study's average folds in the engagement ring, the rehearsal dinner and the honeymoon; another's includes none of them. That is three whole categories of definitional gap before a single vendor is booked. This page prices the wedding itself, including the bands and excluding the engagement ring, the rehearsal dinner and the honeymoon.

Reading a national average as a local price

The national figure is a blend of state price parities that run roughly 27% apart, from about $38,000 in Arkansas to about $48,400 in California at the same headcount. It is nobody's actual price. Scale it to your state first, then to your metro if you are in one.

Ignoring the guest count behind the headline

An average total is meaningless without the count it was measured at. $58,600 is expensive for 100 guests and cheap for 250. Always convert to per-guest before comparing — and remember per-guest falls as the list grows, because the fixed block spreads further.

Forgetting the service charge and the tax, then double-counting the tip

Most catering contracts add a service charge in the high teens to low twenties, and sales tax lands on top of the food and rental lines. On a $11,950 catering line that is roughly $3,400 more. The service charge is not a gratuity — if you have already set cash aside for tips, do not count it twice.

Pricing stationery per guest instead of per household

120 guests is about 65 mailing addresses, not 120. Every average that reports a per-guest paper figure has already made this mistake, and it roughly doubles the line — plus postage runs both ways once you count the reply cards.

Using the average as a target rather than a reference

Nothing about the mean makes it the right amount for you to spend. It is a description of what other people did, at their guest counts, in their states, with their families' contributions. What you should spend is a separate question, and the hub is where it gets answered.

Run the numbers

Your budget against the national average

Preset to 120 guests at the national standard figure. Change the headcount and the benchmark moves with you, so you are always comparing against a wedding your own size rather than against a headline. Everything runs right in your browser — no account, no saved budget, and your guest count and dollar figures never leave this page. We do record anonymous, coarse usage: a size range rather than your number, and which options you picked, so we know the tool is working.

Your wedding

Change anything — the allocation rebuilds as you go.

How many guests?65 mailing households at this count

guests

Where is the wedding?The 50-state blend.

How are you doing it?

Hold back a contingency8% of everything above, for the overages

Your estimate

$43,725all in

$38,500–$49,000 realistic range · $364 per guest

You$43,725

National, standard, 120 guests$43,725

Venue & rentals

Site fee plus tables, chairs, linen and the tent line if you need one.

$9,600

22%

Catering & bar

Buffet service with an open bar is the default; both are adjustable.

$11,950

27%

Photography & video

Eight hours of coverage. Guest count barely moves this line.

$3,900

Attire & alterations

Both outfits, alterations, shoes and accessories.

$2,900

Flowers & decor

Personal flowers are fixed; centrepieces scale with the table count.

$3,075

Music & entertainment

A DJ for the reception plus ceremony sound. A band roughly triples it.

$2,375

Stationery & postage

Priced per mailing household, not per guest — the mistake everyone makes.

$1,675

Rings

Wedding bands only. Engagement rings usually pre-date the budget.

$1,800

Hair & beauty

Trial plus day-of for the couple. Add per head if you cover the party.

$900

Transport & parking

Couple's car is fixed; a guest shuttle is where the per-head part comes in.

$950

Favors & gifts

Welcome bags, favors and gifts for the wedding party.

$1,350

Contingency

A percentage of everything above, held back for the overages.

$3,250

Cut the paper line — invite by text →

Modelled from public wage and price data, reviewed August 2026. Real quotes vary — use this to set the shape of the budget, then replace lines with real numbers as they come in.

Everything runs right in your browser — no account, no saved budget, and your guest count and dollar figures never leave this page. We do record anonymous, coarse usage: a size range rather than your number, and which options you picked, so we know the tool is working.

Where these numbers come from

Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026. Source
Regional price parities, the basis for the regional multipliers — U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2025. Source
Regional price parities, all items, by state and metro area (2024 data) — the basis for the by-state and by-metro tables — U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2024. Source
Caterer revenue (NAICS 722320), used to sanity-check per-plate spend — U.S. Census Bureau, Service Annual Survey, 2025. Source
Food away from home price index, used to age catering figures forward — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index, 2026. Source
Photographer wages and employment, used to bracket day-rate pricing — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Source
Musician and singer wages by metro area — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Source

Last updated 2026-08-10

Keep exploring

More on the wedding budget

How to budget for a weddingThe whole cluster in one place, start to finish→What a 100-person wedding costsThree service levels, side by side, at the same headcount→How much to tip wedding vendorsVendor by vendor, and the cash total to set aside→Who pays for the weddingThe traditional split, the modern one, and how to divide it→Wedding cost per guestWhat one more person actually adds to the bill→What a 200-person wedding costsWhich lines are fixed and which scale with the list→

Good to know

Average wedding cost questions

How much does the average wedding cost?

About $43,700 nationally for 120 guests at standard service — buffet or family-style dinner, an open bar, eight hours of photography and a DJ. That is $364 a guest. The same wedding is roughly $32,500 lean and $61,700 elevated, and the range across states runs from about $38,000 to about $48,400.

Is the average wedding cost the same as the typical wedding cost?

No, and the gap is large. Published averages are means, and wedding spend has a long tail of very expensive weddings pulling the mean upward with nothing below zero to balance it. In this model's own eleven-wedding set the mean is $50,600 and the median — the wedding in the middle — is $40,625. Plan against the middle.

What is the average wedding cost by state?

Scaled by the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parities, a 120-guest standard wedding runs about $48,400 in California, $47,600 in New Jersey, $47,200 in New York, $42,400 in Texas, $40,600 in Ohio and about $38,000 in Mississippi and Arkansas. The full table for all fifty states and DC is above.

Does the average wedding cost include the engagement ring or the honeymoon?

It depends entirely on who published it, which is why two honest averages can differ by thousands without either being wrong. The figures on this page cover the wedding itself, including the wedding bands, and exclude the engagement ring, the rehearsal dinner and the honeymoon. Always check the definition before comparing.

Is $20,000 enough for a wedding?

Yes, below about 60 guests in a lower-cost state. A 50-guest lean wedding in the Midwest comes to roughly $20,675 on this model. Above that headcount, $20,000 means cutting something structural — a restaurant reception rather than a venue and caterer, or a weekday, or no bar. The fixed block alone is about $14,900 at lean service.

How much is the average wedding per guest?

Around $364 a guest at 120 people nationally, but the figure is not a constant — it falls as the list grows. The same standard wedding is $615 a guest at 50 people and $293 at 200, because roughly $19,850 of the total is fixed whatever the headcount. Use per-guest to compare quotes, never to project a total.

Why is the average wedding cost so high?

Half of it is two lines. Venue and catering together are 49% of the national figure, and both are priced against your guest count and your date rather than against anything you can negotiate down individually. The other half is a long list of items in the $900–$3,900 range that each feel small and add up to about $22,000.

How current are these numbers?

The model was last reviewed in August 2026 and the by-state figures use the 2024 regional price parities the Bureau of Economic Analysis released in 2026. We re-run the whole cluster each January. We do not publish a year-over-year change figure, because we do not hold a proprietary wedding spend survey and will not restate someone else's as ours.

The average moves with your headcount. So does your headcount.

Every figure on this page is a function of how many people say yes, and that number is a guess until they reply. Text My Wedding sends the invitation, collects the addresses and the RSVPs, and chases the people who have not answered — so the number you are budgeting against is the real one.

At 120 guests you are mailing about 65 households, and the printed suite plus postage both ways is roughly $1,675 of the average budget. Sending the same three mailings by text — and collecting the replies — is $87, once, for up to 1,200 messages, which is three each to about 400 guests.

Wedding invitations by text · Collect RSVPs

Run your numbers free →See the app