New Statistics on Wedding Costs

The wedding industry is now a $50 billion industry according to a new study published by Forbes Magazine. The average wedding in the U.S. today costs over $23,000 and includes an average of168
guests, 100 of whom actually give wedding gifts that average $85 each. But the costs of attending a wedding are not limited to the gift—amazingly the typical guest spends on average $500 to attend
the event when new attire, travel, gas, parking and hairstyling are factored in. In the Bay Area, we have been told by wedding professionals that the average wedding costs $30, 000- $50, 000 and we all know many couples who have spent over $100, 000 on their wedding!

Wedding couples report that almost half of them spent more on
their weddings than they had intended, often relying on credit
cards to make up the difference. In terms of wedding gifts, cash
is the most preferred gift while bric-a-brac the least preferred.
If all the wedding costs are added up and invested at a 10%
annual return rate, it would cover the costs of a private college
tuition for an infant born on the wedding day.

Forbes reported that Liza Minnelli’s fourth wedding cost $7000
for each day that the marriage lasted. The wedding of Catherine
Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas cost between $1.5 and $2 million
dollars but was offset by the sale of exclusive photos to a
British magazine for $1.6 million and a $24,000 settlement again
another British magazine for publishing unauthorized photos. With
all that dough on the table, you may wonder if a pre-nuptial
agreement was part of the deal? You bet. With Hollywood marriages
breaking up faster than you can say “Brad and Jen”, pre-nups are
almost as common as marriage vows. In Zeta-Jones case, if the
marriage breaks up, she gets $2.8 million for each year that the
marriage lasts.

Source: Marriage Prep 101 Quarterly Newsletter