Personal Finance Essentials
Planning Your Wedding Without Going Into Debt
The Average Wedding Costs $34,000
Charging It Could Cost You Your Marriage
Weddings are expensive – and the costs have only grown. The average wedding in 2025 cost $34,000, according to The Knot. That figure covers the dress, tuxedos, the venue, a band or DJ, food and beverages, a cake, invitations, flowers, a photographer and videographer and a wedding planner. Add the honeymoon and the total climbs to nearly $40,000. For a single day’s celebration, that is a significant sum.
Many couples cannot afford this expense – and incur it anyway. They take out home equity loans, borrow against their retirement plans or charge the entire event to credit cards. Being in debt is no way to start a marriage. Money is one of the leading causes of divorce, so creating financial stress before you even begin is especially counterproductive. The solution is not to forgo the celebration – it is to scale down to what you can actually afford.
Do not spend more money than you have. That applies equally to the couple and to their parents. A beautiful wedding and financial ruin are not your only two choices. You can have a meaningful, memorable day without paying it off for years afterward.
Social Pressure Around Weddings
The financial demands of a wedding extend beyond the event itself. If you are in a close friend’s wedding party, you may be asked to travel for a bachelor or bachelorette weekend in Nashville, Las Vegas or New Orleans – at a cost of $1,000 or more. These kinds of social financial pressures are real, and they must be planned for. If you cannot afford to participate at that level, it is worth having an honest conversation early rather than going deeper into debt to meet someone else’s expectations.
The Wedding as a Financial Goal
Wedding costs are one of the most common reasons people save and invest. Treating the wedding as a formal financial goal – setting a realistic budget, saving toward it consistently, and refusing to overspend, puts you in a far stronger position than couples who simply borrow and hope for the best. The habits you build in planning your wedding often set the tone for how you will manage money throughout your marriage.