A wedding can compete with other major financial priorities, particularly for couples balancing large expenses in the same period.
The average U.S. wedding cost $34,000 in 2025, according to The Knot, while the median first-time homebuyer put down 10% of the purchase price, the highest share since 1989, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Charles Schwab has highlighted the tension directly, noting that wedding costs can compete with debt repayment, homebuying, and retirement savings when couples skip what the firm calls a “money talk” before booking vendors.
Schwab shares categories that consume average wedding budgets
Schwab’s category breakdown, sourced from The Knot’s 2026 Real Weddings Study, shows how the average wedding budget is divided:
Venue and rentals: 29%
Catering, cake, and drinks: 24%
Photography and videography: 10%
Flowers and decor: 9%
Music (live band or DJ): 6%
Wedding attire and beauty: 6%
Wedding rings: 5%
Wedding planner: 5%
Guest entertainment: 3%
Transportation: 2%
Stationery/wedding invitations: 1%
Officiant: 1%
The top three categories alone take roughly 63% of the budget, which is why Schwab’s guide treats them as the primary targets when couples need to cut costs.
The average cost per guest reached $292 in 2025, up $8 from the prior year, according to Schwab’s breakdown of The Knot’s data. At that rate, a 117-guest wedding costs about $34,164 in per-guest expenses alone.
The $34,000 average overstates what most couples spend
The widely cited figure is an average pulled upward by high-end outliers, not a median.
The Knot’s data shows three spending tiers: couples budgeting under $15,000 spent $8,900 on average, those between $15,000 and $40,000 spent $26,400, and those above $40,000 averaged $70,300.
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Estimates of the true median fall well below the headline number, and Paperlust’s 2026 analysis places it between $18,000 and $25,000.
That gap is one reason Schwab’s guide directs couples to budget from personal finances rather than a national average.
Wedding spending varies widely, with most couples spending far less than the widely cited $34,000 average, which high-end weddings inflate.Klaus Vedfelt / Getty Images
How to budget a wedding without sidelining other goals
Schwab’s guide lays out six steps for building a wedding budget that doesn’t undercut other financial priorities.
Balance your wedding budget with your overall financial goals
Schwab tells couples to identify short- and long-term financial goals, debt payoff, homebuying, retirement savings, and prioritize them before allocating a single dollar to the wedding.
Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree, told CNBC that couples who use credit cards for wedding expenses should be strategic, paying balances immediately with savings already set aside rather than carrying debt at rates above 24%.
A couple who finances $20,000 of the wedding on a credit card and carries the balance for a year pays roughly $4,000 to $5,000 in interest alone before touching principal, according to Federal Reserve data.
Determine your maximum wedding budget
Schwab advises couples to start from their actual savings rate, monthly cash flow, and any family contributions rather than anchoring to a national average.
Gloria Garcia Cisneros, certified financial planner at LourdMurray, warned couples against letting wedding spending undermine their financial foundation.
Ultimately, a beautiful wedding should never come at the cost of financial stress to a new marriage.
The Knot’s tier data shows most couples spend well under $34,000. Picking a tier that fits current cash flow reduces the chance that wedding spending forces new debt.
Estimate category spend with a wedding budget breakdown
Schwab’s breakdown, sourced from The Knot, shows venue and rentals at 29%, catering at 24%, and photography at 10%. Couples who overshoot in one category should pull equally from another rather than expanding the total budget.
Track your actual wedding spending as you go
Schwab warns that taxes, tips, and minor costs like wedding favors and the marriage license add up quickly. The firm recommends updating the budget as each vendor is booked so overruns in one category can be offset before they compound.
Find creative ways to save
At $292 per guest, every 10 guests cut saves roughly $2,920. A couple that reduces a 150-guest list to 100 frees up about $14,600, more than half a year of maximum 401(k) contributions under the 2026 IRS limit of $24,500.
Every dollar diverted from the account also forfeits the employer match on that dollar, which Vanguard’s How America Saves 2026 report shows reached a record 4.7% of pay in 2025.
Schwab also suggests off-peak dates, non-traditional venues, and limiting the open bar to a set number of hours.
Focus on what matters most and forget other people’s expectations
Schwab’s final point is that social media and magazine-worthy weddings create pressure to overshoot. Couples who focus their budget on the two or three categories they value most and cut the rest stay closer to their plan.
The real cost of a wedding goes beyond the big day
“Spend on what really matters to you. Don’t spend on what doesn’t,” said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree. That applies to every line item in a wedding budget, and to every financial goal competing with it.
A couple that cuts 50 guests and redirects the $14,600 saved into a retirement account at age 28 could hold roughly $178,000 more by age 65, based on a 7% average annual return.
Applied instead to a home, that $14,600 covers the majority of the median first-time buyer down payment, at the 10% down payment share NAR reported for 2025, the highest first-time buyer share since 1989.
Couples who protect their financial goals through their wedding planning apply a framework to the same money, so one celebration doesn’t compete with every milestone after it.
Related: Bank of America reveals costly wedding inflation problem