How Much Does a Wedding Cost in the US in 2026? What the Latest Studies Say

Two numbers circulate in 2026. The Knot’s 2026 Real Weddings Study, published in February and based on 10,474 couples married in 2025, puts the average wedding at $34,000. A 2026 report from Zola, cited by U.S. News, gives $36,000, the same as the year before. They come from different surveys of different couples, and they agree on the essential: on average, a US wedding with a little over a hundred guests costs $34,000 to $36,000.

An average is only useful once you know what pulls it up or down. The figures below come from The Knot’s press release on its 2026 study, from U.S. News coverage of the same data, and from AARP’s report on the previous year’s study.

The headline numbers

The Knot describes the figure as steady year over year, with spending per guest still well above pre-pandemic levels. Its survey also found that 85% of couples said the economy affected their planning, and that 77% of those who adjusted their budget ended up spending more. Three in four said the wedding was financially worth it.

What changed from 2024 to 2025

Not much at the top line. The Knot’s 2025 study, covering weddings held in 2024, found an average of $33,000 and $284 per guest, according to AARP’s report on it. A year later, the average is $34,000 and the cost per guest $292: an extra $8 for every person you invite, while the average guest count stayed at 117 and the number of vendors at 13. The Knot estimates that around 2 million US couples married in 2025.

Couples worked harder for the same budget: 37% contacted more vendors than they had planned, looking for options that fit. Two or three quotes per major vendor, before you sign anything, is the same habit on a smaller scale.

Why your number will differ: the city

The same wedding costs very different amounts depending on the city. U.S. News lists the ten most expensive US wedding cities in The Knot’s 2026 report:

A planner from Martha’s Vineyard quoted by U.S. News sums up the pattern: wedding prices follow real estate values and the cost of living. A venue in Manhattan pays Manhattan rent, and so do its staff.

Where the money goes

The Knot’s breakdown of a typical budget, as reported by U.S. News, shows how concentrated the spending is. Applied to the $34,000 average, the shares look like this:

The venue and the food together take more than half. That is why the guest count is the lever with the most effect: catering, drinks, rentals and stationery grow with every name on the list, while the photographer or the officiant cost about the same for 60 guests as for 160. Our wedding guest list guide helps you decide who is on it before you price anything.

Planners quoted by U.S. News give the same picture from the other side. One, in Pennsylvania, tells couples to set aside 48 to 54 percent of the whole budget for the venue, food and drink, and to plan everything else once that is covered. Another warns that a tented wedding is usually more expensive than it looks: restrooms, extra catering fees and transportation, which a hotel or club often includes, become separate bills.

Small items multiply the same way. U.S. News gives the example of $15 favors: charming on one table, $1,800 for 120 guests.

The Knot reports engagement rings as a separate finding: its study found that 61% of engagement rings now have a lab-grown center stone, with an average spend of $4,600 for an average of 1.9 carats.

From an average to your own budget

1. Start from the guest countMultiply your number of guests by a per-guest figure for your area; The Knot’s $292 national average gives a first order of magnitude.
2. Price the three biggest linesAsk for real quotes from two or three venues and caterers, and one or two photographers. Those three lines are close to two thirds of the total.
3. Add a marginA Beverly Hills planner quoted by U.S. News tells couples to expect to spend 10 to 15 percent more than their budget.
4. Agree who pays whatParents covered about half of the cost for couples married in 2024, according to The Knot’s 2025 study reported by AARP. Have that conversation before the first deposit.

Once you have real quotes, look through budget wedding ideas for savings that guests don’t notice. If you are comparing with a wedding in Britain, the UK cost breakdown uses the same logic with British prices.

A rough scale by guest count

Multiplying The Knot’s national average of $292 per guest by your headcount gives a first, crude scale. It assumes an average wedding in an average market, so treat it as a sanity check for your own quotes, not as a price.

The scale bends at both ends. A small wedding still pays for a whole photographer and a whole venue, so its cost per guest rises; a large one spreads those fixed costs over more people. In New York City or Chicago, double-check every line against local quotes.

Three habits that keep the total in check

• Open one bank account for the wedding, in both your names, and ask everyone who contributes to pay into it: a Pennsylvania planner quoted by U.S. News recommends it to keep the money in one place.
• Rent what you will only use once. The same planner points out that arches, chuppahs and most décor can be rented, so you don’t buy them, or store them afterwards.
• Send digital invitations instead of printed ones: a Beverly Hills planner quoted by U.S. News says the switch can save many hundreds of dollars.

If parents are contributing, AARP adds a warning from a Fidelity financial planner: parents shouldn’t dip into their retirement savings to pay for a child’s wedding.

What the averages leave out

• Gratuities, when your contracts don’t include them.
• The marriage license and certified copies of the certificate, at your county’s rates.
• Travel and lodging if you marry away from home, and the honeymoon.
• What your guests spend to attend, which no survey adds to your bill but which shapes who can come.

Use the averages to check that your plan is in a plausible range. If your quotes for 117 guests in Houston add up to $60,000, ask each vendor what drives the price; if they come to $20,000, check what is missing from the list.