Last Updated on July 10, 2026 by Cliche
One of the Most Detailed Wedding Cost Studies Yet
Wedding season always brings a familiar question: how much is this all actually going to cost? A new study offers one of the most detailed answers yet, ranking wedding costs across 148 cities and all 50 states using 19 distinct cost metrics.
The research, conducted by the event space marketplace Giggster, breaks wedding spending into three core categories: reception costs, vendor services, and guest weekend expenses. Together, they paint a fuller picture of what a wedding actually costs than a single headline number ever could.
The States Furthest Apart on Price
Hawaii tops the list as the most expensive state overall, driven by high costs across nearly every category measured. Reception costs there run around $4,100, vendor services average about $15,100, and guests attending a Hawaii wedding can expect to spend roughly $122 over the weekend on meals, drinks, and getting around. Arkansas sits at the other end of the spectrum, with total costs running about seven times lower.
City-level data tells a similarly varied story. New York, Miami, and Urban Honolulu rank as the three most expensive cities nationwide. On the affordable side, Tulsa leads the list, followed by Fayetteville, Milwaukee, Chesapeake, and Colorado Springs as some of the most budget-friendly major cities for couples to marry in.
Reception and Vendor Costs Vary More Than You’d Think
What might surprise some readers is just how much receptions alone can vary. Utah posts the highest average reception cost in the country, just over $10,300, largely because of expensive venue rentals. Iowa, by contrast, comes in around $900, making it roughly 11 times more affordable for the same basic reception package of venue, catering, and bar service.
Vendor costs follow their own geography. Maryland ranks highest nationally for vendor services, with couples there spending an average of about $18,000 on categories like florists, photographers, videographers, and beauty services. Wyoming sits at the opposite end, with vendor costs averaging closer to $4,500. Two cities, Indianapolis and Baltimore, stand out as the only markets nationwide where vendor costs top $20,000.
What It Actually Costs to Be a Guest
The report also digs into something easy to overlook when budgeting a wedding: what it costs guests to actually show up. The national average guest weekend cost, covering a casual meal, part of a mid-range dinner, drinks, and a short cab ride, comes out to about $82. New York leads every city in this category at $124, while Wyoming posts the lowest state average at $62. For couples planning a wedding with a lot of out-of-town guests, that guest-side cost is worth factoring into save-the-date timing and location choices.
Perhaps the most useful finding in the entire study involves what drives costs the most. Across 48 of the 50 states analyzed, venue and reception expenses make up the single largest share of total wedding costs. Vendors, beauty services, and guest logistics all matter, but the venue and reception line item consistently outweighs them. That finding is echoed in broader national surveys too.
The Knot’s annual Real Weddings Study, which surveys over ten thousand US couples each year, has consistently found venue and catering to be the two biggest line items in a typical wedding budget.
A Clear Regional Divide
There is a regional pattern worth noting as well. The Northeast ranks as the most expensive region overall, posting the highest average costs across receptions, vendors, and guest expenses. That helps explain why cities like New York and Providence show up so consistently near the top of nearly every category in the report.
For anyone currently in the middle of wedding planning, or simply curious how their hometown stacks up, the study offers a genuinely useful benchmark. Costs vary enormously depending on where a couple chooses to marry, and this kind of data makes it easier to understand why two weddings with similar guest counts and similar styles can land on wildly different final price tags.
A Few More Numbers Worth Knowing
A few additional details from the report round out the picture nicely. Indianapolis and Baltimore stand out as the only two cities nationwide where vendor services alone exceed $20,000, nearly double the national average. On the design side, Charlotte reports the highest cost for florals, decor, and rentals combined, while Denver leads the country in media and entertainment spending, driven largely by photography, videography, and live entertainment pricing. Miami, meanwhile, tops the list for beauty services specifically, reflecting just how much hair and makeup costs can vary by city.
The study also flags an interesting wrinkle in how it handles incomplete data. Rather than penalizing cities with missing cost figures by treating gaps as zero, the index applies a coverage adjustment so that partial data does not artificially inflate or deflate a city’s overall ranking. That kind of methodological care matters for readers trying to take the rankings seriously rather than treating them as a casual listicle.
For anyone using this report to actually plan a wedding rather than simply browse the numbers out of curiosity, the most practical move is comparing your target city against both the national averages and your specific budget category, whether that means reception, vendors, or guest costs. The geographic spread in this year’s data is wide enough that a thoughtful location choice alone can shift a wedding budget by thousands of dollars before a single vendor contract gets signed.
Read more wedding articles at ClichéMag.com
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