1 Years Salary Spent on the Wedding?

I just read an interesting article on Fox business news describing that the 2013 Real Weddings Study revealed that the average US wedding costs are close to $30,000. Wow that is a fair chunk of change, considering the average household income is in the low $50,000 range. As may be expected, there is quite a range of costs between the states, and it looks like if you want to spend the least the best state is Idaho, where people spend just over $16,000. On the other hand if you want to hang out with the big spenders then go to New York, specifically Manhattan, where the average is close to $87,000! In my side of the country, LA comes in at nearly $39,000 and Santa Barbara is even more at $44,000, while San Diego is more close to the average at $32,000.

These are substantial numbers, and yes it is your special day, but you may have to live with the consequences of this much spending for a long time to come. I’m also all for spending time and money on your friends, but overall goals and priorities are important too, and for me a house down payment, investment real estate and stock market investments certainly beats $40,000 debt/costs for 1 day’s expenses.

On a more personal note, I’m hoping to tie the knot in the near future, and so would love to hear about fun ideas to make a wedding a great occasion for all, but not costing us 30-40,ooo dollars! Also, as much as I love my friends, if I am going to splash the cash, I’d rather put bigger expsenses to a nice honeymoon somewhere….(with money saved up for that specific purpose, beyond a 50-70% savings rate for financial independence).