Have you been wondering what it will cost you to tie the knot?

Well, as it turns out, it all depends. According to The Wedding Report, an industry trend analysis company, the average 2008 wedding cost $21,810, including the honeymoon. In 2009, the cost dropped to $19,580, as brides sought to conserve their savings in the uncertain economy. However, the 2010 Real Weddings Study found couples spent an average of $26,984 last year, not including the honeymoon.

On the face of it, that suggests that couples jumped their wedding spending at least 50% between 2009 and 2010! That’s just not likely. It’s more likely that the 2010 Real Weddings Study targeted a more select, and probably more upscale audience. Their survey was limited to member/readers of The Knot magazine and website services who, it appears, have more to spend than does the average couple.

By contrast, The Wedding Report conducts a more diverse, scientific study, sampling a broad cross-section of couples chosen at random to assure that no particular group is over-represented.

For all that, the 2010 Real Weddings Study was able to show some relative differences in the cost of getting married in different parts of the country. It turns out it is most costly to say “I do” in Manhattan. The average 2010 Manhattan wedding, excluding the honeymoon, cost $70,730 – more than 2½ times the average! On the other end, the average Utah wedding cost just $13,214, about half the national average.

Here are the top 20 most expensive wedding areas, according to the 2010 Real Weddings Study:

NYC (Manhattan): $70,730 NY (Long Island, Hudson Valley and NYC Outer Boroughs): $51,811, $45,695, $44,718 Northern/Central NJ and Southern NJ: $49,347, $36,694 Rhode Island: $41,169 Philadelphia, PA: $36,294 Santa Barbara/Ventura, CA, and Los Angeles, CA: $36,233, $33,745 Boston, MA: $35,458 Chicago, IL: $35,389 Connecticut: $35,197 Southern Florida (Miami, Fort Lauderdale and surrounding areas): $33,810 Washington, DC, Northern Virginia and Suburban Maryland: $33,727 Orange County/Inland Empire, CA, and San Diego, CA: $31,954, $30,687 San Francisco Bay Area, CA, and California/Nevada (Sacramento, Tahoe and Reno): $31,173, $26,567 Baltimore, MD: $30,073 Houston, TX: $29,129 Pittsburgh, PA: $28,408 Dallas, TX: $27,823 Vermont: $27,333 Hawaii: $26,722 Austin/San Antonio, TX: $26,329

Even if you are not going to spend at the level of members of The Knot, you will probably find that the rankings are approximately correct: it will always cost more to get married in Manhattan than in San Antonio, Miami is still going to come in around the mid-point, and it will cost more to get married in Connecticut and Massachusetts than in Vermont.

If you’re looking for some ideas on ways to conserve money without sacrificing the quality of your wedding, see my post, You Can Spend Wisely and Still Have a Perfect Wedding.

Did you know that more couples opted for a destination wedding last year than any previous year? In fact, since 2008, destination weddings have increased 20%. Now, 25% of all couples are planning a destination wedding.

If that’s you, you might also be interested to know that couples are increasingly choosing to have their weddings out-of-doors. The number of traditional church weddings declined 10% between 2009 and 2010, and the number of ceremonies held outside increased the same amount, 10%. Now, almost half (43%) of all weddings are held outside. (Data source: The Knot 2010 Survey)

Do you love outdoor activities? Are you thinking about a destination wedding? If so, Vermont should be on your short list. Not only are we a 4-season destination for hiking, biking, skiing, painting and taking photographs, bird watching, canoeing and boating, leaf peeping, camping, antiquing, and idling at quiet country resorts, but we have plenty of beautiful outdoor wedding locations, and many cute bed and breakfasts, historic inns and charming motels to inspire warm memories for you and your guests. And we are affordable.

Intrigued? You can begin exploring Vermont as a wedding location here, where I have gathered resources to help you with your destination wedding planning. Also, look at regional Vermont Chambers of Commerce websites, where you will find more information about local venues and wedding service providers. I am a member of the Okemo Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce.

If you have attended an outdoor or a destination wedding, what were your experiences?

Here’s a Related Article on destination weddings you might enjoy:

• Destination Weddings Big Question: WHERE? (shawnhc.wordpress.com)

To pull off the perfect wedding, you want to know how much you will have to spend, and where you can save dollars without sacrificing either quality or style. To make those judgments, you will need some benchmarks so you can answer questions like, how much is too much for a wedding planner? And, what is a reasonable amount for transportation?

If you know the price of an average wedding and what portion of that budget typically goes to each component, you have the perspective that will help you evaluate where the bloated expenses are hiding in your wedding plans, and where you are ahead of the cost curve.

And if you are on a budget (and who isn’t), knowing the benchmarks can help you determine where you can cut expenses and where you’ll just have to suck it up and pay the fare. So let’s get some benchmarks.

According to The Wedding Report, an industry trend analysis company, in 2009 the average wedding cost $19,580. That’s a bit less than the 2008 average of $21,810, and nearly a third lower than the all-time-high average of $28,730 set in 2007. Clearly, given our bad current economy and facing an uncertain financial future, today’s brides are being more thoughtful about how they create the perfect start to their married life.

In 2009, the most expensive element of a wedding was the reception. “Venue and Catering” consumed fully 37% of the wedding budget. “Jewelry” took second place, at 12%, followed closely by the “Honeymoon,” which made up 11% of the total wedding cost.

Other costs, as a percent of the total, included: “Video and Photography,” 7%; “Attire and Accessories,” 6%; “Flowers and Decorations,” also at 6%; “Entertainment,” 5%; and the “Planner/Consultant” at 3%. Four items tied for 2% of the budget: “Invitations,” “Transportation,” “Gifts and Favors,” and “Beauty and Spa Services.”

“Wedding Officiant” came in last, taking up just 1% of the total wedding budget.

If you have been adding up the percentages, you know we’ve only accounted for 96% of the budget. The remainder is made up of all those other little extra expenses that are too small and numerous to itemize, but together will cost as much as you’ll spend on your Wedding Consultant and Officiant combined.

Regardless of your budget, in today’s economy it pays to be wise. But you don’t want to sacrifice your big day, either. All you need to accomplish your goal is a little bit of highly-valuable information. One good source is bridal expert Sharon Naylor, who has written 30 books on wedding planning. Her recent book, “How to Have a Fabulous Wedding for $10,000 or Less,” is filled with lots of good, contemporary advice based on current research.

Sharon says it’s all about effective planning, careful budgeting and strategic negotiation. Yes – you can negotiate with service providers! And when you consider that the average 2009 wedding cost just shy of $20,000, reading up on cost-saving techniques so you can negotiate from strength may be one of the most valuable planning steps you can take.

	Here is Sharon’s book.
	If $20,000 is too high a budget for you, Jan Wilson has a book designed to help you have a great wedding for $5,000.
	And Kathleen Kennedy offers advice for brides seeking to put together a priceless wedding for under $5,000.

I have developed a worksheet based on the percentages listed in this article. You can plug in your total budget amount at the top, and work through the worksheet to determine your estimated budget for each line item. Then, if you have to overspend in one area, you can juggle numbers in other areas to make your wedding fit your budget. Combine that with the advice offered in the three planning books listed above, and you can conquer your wedding budget without sacrificing quality. To access the worksheet, click here: Your Wedding Planning Sheet.

I am always pleased when I can do things both well and economically. And the way I see it, if you can save money on your wedding without sacrificing quality, you can start your marriage with a bigger emergency fund. In today’s uncertain times, that’s a very nice reward for pulling off the perfect, thoughful wedding!

 Related Article: Did you know that Google has put together a group of tools that will help you organize your wedding? And you can host it on the Cloud where all of your participants can access it from their computers; plus, if you do an update or change, each of them will get an email advising them to go see what’s new! Learn more: 

• Google will Help you Simplify Wedding Planning (espreson.com)