Spring wedding season is always a joyous time but, amid rising prices and a looming recession, is also an even more expensive one than usual.
While the cost of throwing a party for 100-plus guests has pushed many newlyweds to scale down or hold off on festivities altogether, even getting invited to a few weddings can take a toll on one's finances — according to a new report by financial services company Bankrate, the average U.S. wedding guest will spend $611 per event.
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The total number includes the gift, getting to the event and the accompanying clothing, hair and makeup services. As all this can add up, 36% of the 3,606 people surveyed plan to tone down how they spend to not go over budget. Another 21% say that they'll feel pressure to spend more than they would have liked to while 18% will use credit card debt to finance their attendance.
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"People talk a lot about how expensive it is to organize a wedding — and it is — but sometimes the cost of attending is understated," Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate, said in a statement. "It can really add up, especially if you're invited to multiple weddings in a given year."
As almost everyone has friends and family who get married, the rising cost applies to a very large number of people. 27% of Americans will attend or have already attended a wedding in 2023 while 38% of those specifically have money set aside for friends' weddings in their budget.
But how much one will spend this season also differs significantly based on generations. While baby boomers only expect to spend an average of $667 this wedding season, millennials and Generation Z expect to spend $1,191 and $1,211 — while they are not putting much more toward each individual wedding, younger people generally get much more frequent invites.
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Geographically, people who live in the South plan to spend an average of $569 per wedding while Midwesterners expect to spend $605. At $506, those who live on the West Coast expect to spend the least while people hailing from the Northwest plan to spend the most with $774 per wedding.
Having a higher income unsurprisingly bumps how much one plans to spend on a wedding but households earning below $50,000 still expect to spend $463 per festivity.
While it's hard to avoid spending more when inflation is raising the price of everything from travel to clothing, many people are caught off guard simply by not budgeting properly and then not wanting to either miss out or appear stingy later. Financial experts advise being strict about sticking to a budget but stretching it further through things like rented clothing and pooled gifts.
"A budget is essentially a reflection of your values," Jessica Bishop, who founded the wedding budgeting website The Budget Savvy Bride, told Bankrate. "If you're budgeting according to what matters to you, then you’re saving every month to be able to afford to participate in these big life events for the people that you really care about."
