Free tool · No signup
Wedding cost calculator, by city, guests and style
Estimate vendor and venue costs by region. Pick a city, set your guest count, choose your style — get a category-by-category budget in seconds.
Estimated wedding cost
For a classic & traditional wedding of 120 guests in US National Average
≈ $275 per guest
Cost breakdown by category
Estimates blend regional industry averages with your guest count and style. Real costs vary by venue and season — use this as a starting budget, not a final quote.
Scan me
I Spy…
- First dance
- A candid laugh
- Table selfie
Your Wedding
Emma & James
12
7
21guests scan
Your names on our print-ready I Spy sign. Scan it to see what guests see.
Your wedding photos
Your photographer gets the posed shots. Your guests get everything else.
One QR code puts every photo and video your guests take into one private album, in original quality. Add your names to see them on your sign.
- Set up in 5 minutes
- No app for guests
- From $49 once, no subscription
Your wedding photo album
One QR code for every guest photo · from $49
Average wedding cost by US city
Baseline cost for a typical 120-guest classic wedding. Use the calculator above to fine-tune for your guest count and style.
| Rank | City | Avg. wedding cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York City, NY | $76,900 |
| 2 | San Francisco, CA | $62,500 |
| 3 | Los Angeles, CA | $55,300 |
| 4 | Boston, MA | $53,200 |
| 5 | Washington, DC | $49,800 |
| 6 | Chicago, IL | $45,700 |
| 7 | Miami, FL | $44,100 |
| 8 | Seattle, WA | $41,600 |
| 9 | San Diego, CA | $41,200 |
| 10 | Denver, CO | $36,400 |
| 11 | Philadelphia, PA | $35,200 |
| 12 | Austin, TX | $34,800 |
| 13 | Atlanta, GA | $32,100 |
| 14 | Nashville, TN | $31,600 |
| 15 | Dallas, TX | $30,700 |
| 16 | Phoenix, AZ | $28,900 |
| 17 | Minneapolis, MN | $28,100 |
| 18 | Charlotte, NC | $27,400 |
| 19 | Jacksonville, FL | $25,700 |
| 20 | Indianapolis, IN | $25,300 |
Understanding wedding costs across the US
Wedding costs in the US swing wildly by region. A 120-guest wedding in New York City regularly clears $75,000 before tips; the same wedding in Indianapolis lands close to $25,000. The driver isn't taste — it's venue rental rates, labour, and floral supply chains.
Within any one city, the next biggest swing is style. A "classic" wedding in our calculator uses standard regional pricing. "Upscale" assumes you're hiring a planner, going with premium florals, and choosing a higher-end venue. "Luxury black-tie" assumes a top-tier venue, top-tier vendors, and the kind of guest experience your friends will be telling each other about for a decade.
Use the calculator as a directional anchor, then quote three actual venues in your city before locking the budget. The line that always overshoots is venue and catering — get it pinned first.
How to use this calculator
Five ways to get a number you can actually plan with.
Know your total already? Split it by category with the wedding budget calculator.
- 1Start with the national average to anchor your expectations, then switch to your city to see the local reality.
- 2Move the guest count slider — every 20 guests up or down has a real impact on venue size, catering, and stationery.
- 3Compare the same guest count at "Classic" vs "Upscale" to see what the upgrade costs.
- 4Take the venue & catering line (50% of total) to your venue tour as your hard ceiling for site fee + per-head.
- 5Add 10% on top of the total as a personal contingency — between the buffer line we include and your own, you'll be ready for the curveballs.
Hidden wedding costs most couples forget
The calculator includes a 4% buffer line — these are the costs that buffer is for.
Service charges & gratuities (15–22%)
Most venue and catering quotes don't include service charges. Add 15–22% on top of the catering total before you commit. That alone can be a $4,000–$6,000 surprise on a 120-person wedding.
Marriage license & officiant tip
Licence fees vary by state ($25–$100). Officiants typically expect $100–$300 as a tip in addition to their fee. Build a $250 line into your budget.
Alterations & garment care
Dress alterations average $300–$800. Suits run $50–$200. Steaming, pressing, and emergency tailoring on the day add another $100–$200.
Postage and design
Save-the-dates and invitations both need stamps — about $1.10 each — plus envelope addressing if you outsource ($1–$3 per envelope). 100 invites can hit $600 in postage and assembly alone.
Vendor meals
Photographer, videographer, DJ, planner — most expect to be fed. Vendor meals are often a discounted plate but still $35–$60 each. Multiply by your vendor count.
Transport and parking
Shuttles for guests, valet at the venue, getaway car for the couple. Even a single shuttle for 50 guests runs $600–$1,200 for the evening.
From Eventoly, the makers of this tool
Costs calculated. Now add the photo layer.
After your photographer line is set, a wedding QR code from Eventoly turns every guest's phone into a contributor to your shared album. No app, no logins, unlimited uploads in original quality.
It's one of the smallest lines in the whole budget, and the one that catches the moments your photographer can't be at.
No app for guests · One payment from $49, no subscription
12 June 2027
Emma & James
Emma & James
127
21Scan to try
What hosts say about Eventoly
We put the QR code on the welcome sign and let everyone do their thing. Guests loved this so much they couldn't stop playing with it. The next day, we had hundreds of photos from our guests. Love it! And they didn't have to download an app
I've tried a bunch of these for clients and most ask guests to download something nobody wants to download. With Eventoly the QR just works. I had a 70-year-old uncle of the groom upload three videos on his own. That sold me. Been using it for events ever since.
For my 30th I really didn't want to chase everyone for their photos like I always end up doing. The QR code went on the table cards and that was it. A week later I downloaded everything in one zip. Way easier than texting 15 different group chats.
Wedding cost calculator FAQ
Something else on your mind? Write to support@eventoly.com.
The 2024–25 national average sits around $33,000 for a wedding of roughly 120 guests, based on aggregated industry data from major wedding planning platforms.
Three factors: venue rental rates (driven by real estate prices), labour costs (catering staff, hair and makeup, planners), and floral availability. NYC, San Francisco, and Boston cost roughly 2x what mid-size Sun Belt cities cost for the same wedding.
Venue and catering combined typically eat 50% of the budget. That's the lever with the biggest impact — choosing an all-inclusive venue versus a bare-shell venue can swing the total by tens of thousands.
Yes. The standard moves: keep the guest count below 75, choose a non-traditional venue (a restaurant buyout, an Airbnb estate, a state park lodge), do a Friday or Sunday date, and skip videography. Couples regularly hit $15K–$20K with 60 guests in mid-cost regions.
The estimates blend regional industry averages with your specific guest count and style. They're a strong directional anchor — within roughly 15–20% of what you'll actually spend at a typical venue. Real quotes from your shortlisted venues will narrow it further.
Book off-peak (November–April, or Friday/Sunday in summer). Use seasonal flowers grown locally. Skip favours — they end up in the bin. Hire a day-of coordinator instead of a full-service planner. Self-print or e-print save-the-dates.
Catering and bar: 18–22% (often built into service charge). Photographer/videographer: $50–$150 each, or a percentage if you loved the work. DJ: $50–$150. Hair/makeup: 15–20%. Officiant: $100–$300. Transport drivers: 15–20%.
For couples, often yes — destination weddings average 30–40% smaller guest counts because not every guest can travel. For guests, no — they're effectively paying for a holiday. Factor in your guests' costs when deciding.
Keep reading
More free wedding tools
Budget set. Now make sure no photo goes missing.
Try the demo event, then create your own. Pay once for your event. No subscription.
- Live demo event to try first
- One payment from $49 per event
- Refund if you don't use it for your event