Weddings Aren’t as Expensive As You May Think
According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, the average cost of a wedding, which is the cost you hear on the news and in magazines all the time, may be a lot different than the typical cost. The numbers that are typically reported take the sum of all survey respondents’ wedding costs divided by the total number of respondents. While this sounds like a sensible way to determine the average wedding cost, what happens when one respondent has a $1 million wedding? The overall average is skewed since the lowest the cost could possibly be is $0. As an example:
One $1 million wedding put into the mix with 54 weddings costing $10,000 each would boost the mean to $28,000, although among the 55 couples, $10,000 would seem a much better representation of the typical cost.
This type of fuzzy math has also been used to overstate the average person’s credit card debt. Since some consumers have an abnormally high amount of credit card debt, the overall arithmetic average, or mean, is skewed.
One other bias in these wedding surveys is that the surveys are typically done by the traditionally expensive matrimonial industry. They are less likely to find those that had small, intimate weddings with tiny price tags.
So, if the typical wedding doesn’t cost $25,000+ as some surveys suggest, then what DO they cost? According to Shane McMurray from CostOfWedding.com:
…the median figure [was]…$15,100
From Condé Nast Bridal Media who publishes Brides.com:
The median cost was $14,182.
If you are in the market for a wedding and are dreading the huge price tag, this could be a huge relief. Just make sure you only have to do it once!
Photo: HappyNews.com
Very good point about average vs median. I adore statistics.
$15,000 is still scary to me though. Thank goodness I am done with weddings! And even done paying for it.
What if my daughter wants me to pay for her wedding….. better start saving now lol.
You may take some comfort in a statistic that I didn’t include in my post. The cost of weddings over the last 16 years has only increased about 1.1% annually.
I’m currently worried more about the cost of college for my 2 kids as its cost has risen much faster than inflation!
It really isn’t much surprise to see that the matrimonial industry would share data that leads one to believe the “average” wedding is quite expensive. That gives people the perception that they have to spend that much and funnel their money right into the industry to try and live up to the standard.
My wife and I got married at Disney World with immediate family only and then came home to throw a modest party for friends and family. Much cheaper!
2 years ago my wife and I did a small wedding (immediate family only) and had a reception post-honeymoon with friends and family at her parents house. We took the different approach and made it extremely nice and yet it still only cost a fraction of what “normal” weddings cost. I think we probably spent $2000 on the whole thing and I wouldn’t have rather had anything else.
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Weddings in my opinion almost all the time have to be expensive for the woman, or they dont think they are getting that special treatment. But I agree with you the Weddings dont have to be expensive to be a really wonderful occasion.
You may take some comfort in a statistic that I didn’t include in my post. The cost of weddings over the last 16 years has only increased about 1.1% annually.