|
Every year, I keep an eye out for The Knot’s Real Weddings Study. It’s the biggest survey I’m aware of in my industry, which is sad to say since it’s also backed by one of the biggest players in my industry. Still, I’ll take what I can get. I use to write very long, very sassy blog posts about the findings (2020, 2021, 2022). This year, I thought it would be more useful to pull out a few key facts instead: You can read The Knot’s take on their study here with the specific cost of a U.S. wedding broken out here. Notably, the latter link includes the average cost per state as well as the average cost for a list of major U.S. cities.
One of the most useful pieces of information I saw was cost per guest. That was $284 in 2024, which tracks. The number I most often give people is $100 per head for food so that extra $184 would be everything else a client provides (e.g. drinks, rentals, favors, a venue, etc.).
“Couples spent an average of six hours a week reviewing, organizing, and finalizing details.” That’s in-line with the one other study I’ve found on hours per week, and a reminder that planning a wedding is a part-time job.
The average guest count between Gen Z (131) and Millennials (113) tracks with my theory that since Covid, people want to party.
Lastly, I’d like to quickly acknowledge how hilarious the phrase “old money aesthetic” is. It’s right up there with “micro-opulence.”
|
