There’s no doubt that the cost of getting married— and even just a general cost of living — varies city to city. Take New York City and, well, anywhere in Arkansas. It’s pretty obvious which location is going to be more affordable to get married in. But other cities and states aren’t as clear-cut.
Thankfully, The Knot‘s 2018 Real Weddings Study broke down both the most expensive and most affordable places to get married. You can use the data to either plan a destination wedding within the U.S., or to get a heads up that you need to start saving now. Hopefully, you’ll wind up lucky and already live in or near one of the places on the affordable side!
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Top 25 Most Expensive Places to Get Married
These locations, accompanied by the average cost of a wedding there, will cost you a pretty penny.
-  NY – Manhattan $96,910
- NY – Long Island $66,409
- IL – Chicago $60,294
- Rhode Island $59,201
- MA – Cape Cod $58,425
- NJ – North/Central $58,107
- NY – Westchester/Hudson Valley $57,678
- NY – NYC Outer Boroughs $56,967
- NJ – South $47,148
- Philadelphia/Delaware $46,640
- CA – Santa Barbara/Ventura $45,991
- MA – Boston $44,557
- Connecticut $42,853
- CA – Los Angeles $42,638
- Southern Florida $42,596
- CA – San Francisco/Bay Area $41,341
- New Orleans $40,753
- Washington DC/Northern VA/Suburban MD $39,801
- CA – Palm Springs/Desert Communities $39,504
- Baltimore $39,167
- CA – Orange County/Inland Empire $37,760
- Hawaii $37,338
- IL – Chicago Suburbs $36,25
- South Carolina $35,942
- Houston/East Texas $35,334
The results shouldn’t be too surprising, especially since some of the biggest cities in the U.S. — New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston — all made the list; however, a number of highly-populated areas also didn’t, like Phoenix and Austin.
Also, as the list descends, the price of the average wedding goes down significantly, especially considering the fact that The Knot found the average wedding cost across the entire country to be $33,931. Granted, that doesn’t compare to some of the locations that top the “most affordable” list…
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Top 10 Most Affordable Places to Get Married
You’re more likely to spend a lot less if you live in or nearby any of these locations.
- Idaho $16,366
- West Virginia $17,997
- Wyoming $19,395
- South Dakota $19,515
- Alaska $19,887
- Arkansas $20,223
- Utah $20,391
- West Texas $20,541
- Lansing, Michigan $20,861
- Oklahoma $20,935
The good thing about these results is that most of the places listed are entire states rather than cities. You don’t necessarily have to flock to one particular metro area, and instead have more choices for the exact location of your wedding.
Idaho came out on top for the least expensive place to get married, and at $16,366 for the average cost of a wedding, it’s more than half the national average. The locations that follow stay within a similar range, too.
Regardless of where you choose to get married, you certainly don’t have to spend anywhere near as much as the “average” wedding for that location. It may be harder to stick to a budget in particular cities or states, but it’ll be worth it to save even a little!
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