I am engaged and about to start planning my wedding so I was wondering about how much the "average" person spending on a wedding?

Moderators Note: Moved from the Dogs forum to the Weddings forum

My best friend just got married last June to the tune of $5,000. Another friend is planning to spend $50,000.

So the real question is: how much do you want to spend, and what do you want at your wedding?

Heck, I only spent $800 on my second marriage and it was one of the best weddings I have ever attended.

My first marriage was to the tune of $10,000... it wasn't nearly as fun.

I would guess you could do a wedding for about $10 per person in a small town in rural America, and would probably have to spend upwards of $80 per person in a major city in a downtown location- quoting an average is pretty meaningless because there are too many variables like where you live, how many people you invite, what type of venu you want, how formal you want your reception and so on.

How many people do you want to invite, and what type of wedding do you have in mind? What is your budget, and what geographic area do you live in? KNowing these things could help a lot.

I do about one to two weddings a week, most of the couples I deal with spend less than 2000 on the entire wedding, many spend less than 500 dollars. It is still as special and still as married as the few 30,000 dollar weddings I do.

Dontknow and Chuck-are your numbers including renting the chapel/location, paying an officiant, catering the reception, renting the reception location, beer/wine or full bar and bartender, dress, tux, flowers, music, invitations, cake, etc?

I know some (heck, all of them aside from the officiant) of those things are optional, but if you're saying couples are spending less than 2000 or even 500/$10-$80 a person, I might need to ask for more details someday. Whenever I plan my wedding, it would be awesome to spend less than 2000.

My friend whose wedding was $5000 had a super simple wedding: $40 dress, no flowers, cupcakes instead of a cake, no DJ, my band played for free, neighborhood swimming pool for a reception, kegs of beer instead of a bartender, and subs for food. Less than 100 guests.

My mom and dad went to the courthouse. That was much less than $500 :)

Depending on where you go to church, often small neighbor churches charge almost nothing to use their church, I know many of the small baptist and methodist churches if you are a member charge you nothing.

Many locations like larger hotels have banquet rooms that are free if you have a certain number of out of town quests arriving.

Summer or spring weddings are great at various outdoor locations. Near lakes, parks, even city or banquet halls.
Also country clubs often have great rate for those using the outside covered patio area.

Next of course your home or a home of a family member work great on smaller weddings 50 or so people

Next guess what making a fancy cake is easy, I have made three myself, you get a kit to decorate, a tier set ( they sell them at walmart) and so on.

And yes, there are many up and coming musicans that will play either for free or at most 100 dollars or less.

I had a very simple (second) wedding. Justice of the Peace in a park. Rented a log cabin in the woods by a stream for $75. Had a pig roast catered. Luckily the cabin was by some ball fields.

The wedding was just family and VERY close friends (only about 15). The reception was much larger and included about 400.

It was in June, so when our invites to the reception came out we included the fact that there were ball fields and a playground for the kids, and told everyone that dress was casual according to the weather. Only my husband and I were formally dressed until the reception was half over.

People went swimming in the stream, people played softball and volleyball.

We decorated the cabin with help from the local greenhouse. We had pansies on the tables that people could take home with them if they wished.

Funny thing, it's still talked about to this day. I think we are going to have our 20th anniversary at the same place with the same people.

So Ashton, first congratulations. What I hope you are taking from the responses is that the "average" wouldn't help you. There is a very wide range of how much a wedding costs. There are a large number of factors that go into it from the area to the type of wedding to the number of guests etc. You can spend as little as a $10 per person for a simple wedding in your back yard, to a couple of hundred per person for a big wedding in a catered hall.

My suggestion is to set yourself a budget. How much can you afford (or your parents). Then search around for a hall or whatever that fits your budget.

Everyone, Thank you for the tips. I will keep them in mind down the road! I also hope that those details will help out Ashton as she plans her wedding. :)

I would start by making a list of what you want. There are great wedding planner books out there, they really help.

Like everyone else has said, it depends on where you live, and what you want.

I didn't read through this entire site, but this link might help.

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CFIQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.the-wedding-planner.com%2F&rct=j&q=Wedding%20planner%20&ei=7r6lTYv4AuHs0gGE3vHxCA&usg=AFQjCNFXIo3TT1y0eoxTM1c55PvNaTlHSQ&cad=rja

Congrats, and remember, the wedding isn't as important as the marriage. :)
There are many ways to cut costs. Buy a dress when the boutique is having a sample sale. That can save you up to 50%, even more, on your wedding dress. Ask the bridesmaids to pay for their own dresses. Do a buffet. Get married at the court house.

You and your fiancé have to sit down and figure out what your budget is, how much you're willing to spend. The important thing to remember is that this is only one day. Yes, it's an important day, but it's only one day, and spending a lot of money on that one day isn't always feasible. You can have a great wedding without breaking the bank, you just have to plan. :)

In my area it's between $29,000 and $35,000. I know - my stepson just got married.

Mine was about 6000$ 40 people. I used my brothers home and yard. Had an Awesome caterer that served Filet and chicken, Bartender,photograhers,Minister,Flowers . Rented a tent and tables and chairs and all linens and serveware. I tried to use local vendors to get the lowest price.

You can have a very elegant wedding at a low price if you want. Figure out how much you want to spend and then work out the details from there. I preferred a smaller group with better food/flowers/photographer. To more people less elegance.