Average Wedding Cost - $28,400??? SAY WHAT????

That is normal for my area, even more than that. Different areas have different prices.

Not entirely. It really depends on your location and what you want in your wedding.

Sadly, that is pretty average for my area.

It depends on where you are in the country....here in southern lower Michigan...that is very high. Around $6,000 to $10,000 is much closer to a normal range in my area. But I am guessing if you are in New York or LA it would be closer to the other.

Some weddings are much more than that, some are less. It depends on SO MANY FACTORS that I don't even really think there is a way to call something average or not. But the venue/catering costs, DJ, and photographer costs from that list are definitely in line with the quotes I've gotten for my area.

I guess I just don't comprehend why someone would want to spend so much on one day. That's 1/4 of the total cost of my house. I would have had to start saving when I was a toddler to come up with that kind of money, and I would be way too embarrassed to ask my parents for that chunk of change.

Everyone financial situations are different - host what you can afford and makes you happy, that's all that really matters.

Keep in mind that just like cost of living varies greatly throughout the world, so do services/goods. It can vary greatly. For my first wedding, I spent about $25K....this one will be closer to $12K; and even more beautiful. :-)

The fact that you said that's 1/4 the cost of a house made me chuckle inside (or cry). If I could buy a house for 100K here, I'd probably have about 3 rentals right now. It all depends on where you live. 30k is probably fairly average here in the city, maybe even a little low depending on how many guests you have. If I wanted to save a lot more, It'd be a 2-3 hour drive to a farm or community center in a more remote area.

Ya it really depends on your area and the size of your wedding, its not unrealistic though!

An average is just that, an average, and not necessarily an indicator of what most people spend. You'll have some people who spend that, but you'll also have a lot of people who spend much less and a lot of people who spend much more. The cost of a wedding also greatly varies by location.

Going off the break down, on some of the items they are right in the ballpark of what we spent. Other items we spent more one. Other items we spent less on.

I don't think anyone should compare what they spent on their wedding with anyone else. There are so many factors involved and so much comes down to simply the priorities of the couple.

As long as someone is not going into debt for a wedding, I have no judgement no matter how much they spend.

Melissa - it really does depend on where you live.

Our wedding will come in right around that "average" amount. However, it is only 1/18 of the cost of our house.

Stuff is expensive in some parts of the country. Generally speaking, these parts also tend to have better opportunities for income.

CRAZY. Ours is ending up around $13. Our budget started at 10, but little things kept adding up. (FH INSISTED on open bar)

SXC, i know what you mean about the cost of a house. Ever since buying our house (and before), I have been obsessed with HGTV. I see all these house buying shows and the people in less expensive areas buying houses for a fraction of what ours cost and it just makes me sad lol

It simply boils down to the cost of living in certain areas, and I realize that if we lived in those areas, we wouldn't make as much money either, but man it would be so nice to be able to buy a house for 100k lol

This is true for my wedding. We have spent about $30k already, and this does not include the honeymoon. Things add up quickly and my venue is almost 70% of the budget

I definately dont think there is a good way of calculating an average. A dress alone could cost anywhere from 10 to 10000+. Price ranges vary so much for everything wedding related! Plus not everyone would hire a ceremony musician, a dj and a band. Plus 15000 for ceremony space and reception space!? Noooo thank you. I do like this break down though! It makes me feel like a financial genius because apearently I Have found some of the best deals ever!!!

The strange part is I just added up all the costs you listed and that ended up being 38k for a 100 person wedding.

That's so much money!!!!

Although I can easily see this happening, after looking at prices, the wedding industry is crazy expensive!

SXC - if I remember correctly, you are from Seattle as well? True on the house prices ...

LOL - Jessica d - that was my first thought too....

Where I live in FL - my brand new 3 bed 2 bath house was right around 110,000. With the market the way it is now though it's only valued at 79,000.

My salary isn't huge, but it's comparable to my bills, etc.

I'm thrifty by nature, so I shopped around a lot before I sealed the deal on anything. I also have a DJ and a photographer for friends, so I got amazing discounts there.

My venue allows us to provide our own alcohol, so my total open bar cost is right at about $1000.00 with two hired bartenders.

I know it all boils down to where you live - but I guess that number was just shocking to me.....

For budget brides, the average is closer to $10k, from what I've seen on WW. Frankly, most people I know can't afford a $28K wedding. I think the CNN average also factors in extravagant $50-$100k weddings, pulling the average higher.