Let’s talk wedding budgets
For most couples, planning a wedding is an experience you have no idea about - you’ve never done it before and you’re probably only ever gonna do it once in your life!
From the outside looking in, it can seem like all you have to do is pick somewhere to get married, something to wear, invite your favourite people, feed them with food and drinks and provide a great soundtrack for an awesome night out.
But once you dive in fully, you realise there’s a lot more to it than you first thought - and there are varying costs associated with all the elements involved. You’ve just realised that one of the biggest things to consider right now is how much it’s all gonna cost.
And there are lots of costs to consider when you’re starting your wedding planning. The first thing you’ll want to do is set an overall budget - an amount of money that you’re comfortable spending for your wedding day, as well as deciding exactly what your dream wedding day looks like. (Pssst, we have a budget blog here if you wanna take a read!)
Today’s blog features a breakdown of average costs of different wedding elements - from real couples surveyed during last year’s WA Wedding Survey.
Below is the average cost of most key elements for your wedding day, so you can get an idea of what you could expect to pay for your dream day.
NB: All statistics come from weddings held in WA between 1 September 2019 and 1 September 2021
If you’re interested in seeing other details of real couples’ weddings from the Wedding Survey, you can check out my previous survey results blog here - it’s a round up of survey answers including information on venue choices, guest + wedding party numbers and the best + worst things about wedding planning. Plus it includes all the best advice from couples who have planned their weddings in the last 2 years during COVID.
When setting your wedding day budget, there are a few things you need to consider and decide on first, before you can plan individual costs and set a budget accordingly.
Our “First 5 Things” guide details the first things you should be discussing together when it comes to planning your wedding and what should be decided on before you even start to book any wedding vendors. You can download a copy for FREE here.
Then you need to set your non-negotiables for your wedding day. Read one of my most popular blog posts from last year on setting your wedding day priorities. It’ll help you decide those non-negotiables as a couple together. That way, you can change and rejig your budget based on what you both consider to be the most important elements of your wedding day.
Overall Spend
Based on survey responses, the average wedding cost in WA between September 2019 and September 2021 was $29,354.
70% of couples spent more than they originally budgeted for, while 14% of couples also had added costs associated with their spend for postponing and rescheduling their wedding day due to COVID.
Venues + Food & Beverage
A wedding venue is probably one of the first elements you’ll book when it comes to planning your wedding - and depending on your chosen venue, the food and beverage costs will be associated with this too. It’s also set to be one of the biggest costs of your wedding budget. Booking a venue first helps to decide on your wedding date and helps you to adjust the rest of your budget accordingly once you have an idea of total spend.
Based on this, the average spend here (from our survey) is based on the venue, food + beverage costs combined - as they weren’t all specifically split out in the responses. The average spend for a venue here in WA was $9,108.
(NB: This is only for venues that provide full food + dining services - but not a DIY or blank space venue where you have to organise your own catering/food trucks/stalls etc. The average spend for food costs / catering is below in the catering section).
Other average spends for individual wedding elements included:
Wedding Photography - $2,770
Wedding Videography - $2,414
Marriage Celebrant - $619
Florals - $1,496
Stylist / Planner - $2,216
Wedding Dress (including alterations) - $1,753
Bridal Accessories (veil/headpiece, shoes, jewellery, lingerie etc) - $266
Bridesmaids Dresses - $437
Formalwear (including attire for the groom + groomsmen) - $700
Hair + Makeup - $600
Kids in Weddings (Flower Girls/Page Boys) - $182
Cake - $189
Bomboniere / Favours - $134
Wedding Cars / Transport - $632
Wedding Music (DJ, band, acoustic singers, string quartet) - $995
Wedding Night Accommodation - $397
Catering (if food + beverage was not included in the venue costs : food trucks, grazing boards etc) - $5463
Wedding Party Gifts - $253
Wedding Rings - $2550
Stationery (invitations, save the dates, menus, signage) - $300
Style + Decor (not florals) - $493
Wedding Hire (including marquees, furniture, linens, cutlery, crockery etc) - $2,920
References to national averages and/or costs are based on the Easy Wedding survey results. You can compare these costs with the national average from the Easy Weddings survey (for all of Australia) right here - their article breaks down all the individual average spends per element for around the country.
I hope these average spends help you with starting your budget planning for your wedding day. Obviously the best way to figure out accurate spend and budget for your own wedding would be to gather quotes from all the vendors on your faves list and compare pricing to see how it fits in with your overall budget and gut feel.
If you’re looking for a bit of extra budget help - why not check out our budget guide and spreadsheet? It’s available now in our Shop.