Wedding Cost Calculator
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This free wedding cost calculator estimates your total wedding budget from your guest count, your market and the tier you are planning at, then breaks the number down by category so you can see where the money actually goes. Set your guests, pick a tier, tick the parts you are paying for, and your estimate updates instantly.
A typical mid-range US wedding for 100 guests lands around 35,000 dollars, but your real number depends entirely on which line items you include. Uncheck what you are skipping and the total follows.
Nothing is saved or sent anywhere, it all runs right here in your browser.
Include these line items
Estimated wedding cost
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Planning range, US / Tier-1 estimates, not quotes.
These are planning estimates for a US / Tier-1 wedding, not quotes. Real costs vary by date, region and vendor. Use them to set a starting budget, then replace each line with your own numbers.
Turn the estimate into a real plan
Lock these numbers into the Ultimate Wedding Planner
This calculator gives you the headline number. The Ultimate Wedding Planner holds every wedding tab in one file: budget, guest list with RSVPs, seating chart, timeline, checklist and vendor tracker, so the estimate above becomes a plan you actually track. Works in Google Sheets and Excel, 39 dollars one-time, lifetime use. Built by Ren, trusted by over 76,000 customers.
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How the wedding cost calculator works
The calculator uses a simple, transparent model. Some costs are fixed no matter how many people come (your photographer, your attire, the venue hire), and some scale with every guest (catering, the bar, rentals, favours). Your total is the fixed items you selected, plus your guest count multiplied by the per-guest items, adjusted for your tier and market. That is the same maths a planner runs on the back of an envelope, just done instantly.
How much should you budget per guest?
Per head, a mid-range US wedding runs roughly 100 to 120 dollars in guest-driven costs alone (food, drink, place settings and favours), before the fixed costs are spread across the room. Once you fold in the venue, photography and everything else, the all-in figure per guest is far higher at a small wedding and lower at a large one, because the fixed costs get shared out. That is why cutting the guest list is the single most powerful lever on the total.
What percentage goes to the venue and catering?
Together, the venue and catering usually eat close to half of a wedding budget. In the default breakdown above they are the two largest bars by a wide margin. Photography, attire and flowers make up the next tier. Knowing this order is useful, because trimming a big-ticket category moves the total far more than cancelling favours ever will.
Turn the estimate into a working budget
An estimate is a starting point, not a plan. Once you have a number you believe, move it into a real budget where you can log deposits, track what is paid against what is still owed, and watch the running total as quotes come in. That is exactly what the wedding budget spreadsheet guide walks through, and what the Ultimate Wedding Planner is built to do.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the average wedding cost?
A mid-range US wedding for around 100 guests typically lands near 30,000 to 40,000 dollars all in, which is where the default estimate above sits. Smaller guest lists, a budget tier or skipping big line items like videography or a planner can pull it well below that, while a luxury tier or a large guest list pushes it higher.
How is a wedding budget calculated?
Add up the fixed costs you are paying for, add your guest count multiplied by the per-guest costs, then adjust for how upscale you are going and where you live. This wedding budget calculator does that for you and shows the category breakdown so nothing hides.
How much should I budget per guest?
Plan for roughly 100 to 120 dollars per guest in food, drink and place settings at a mid-range US wedding, more at a luxury tier and less at a budget one. Remember that fixed costs sit on top of that, so the true all-in cost per guest is higher at a small wedding.
What percentage of a wedding budget goes to the venue?
The venue is usually the largest single line, often somewhere between a quarter and a third of the total once catering is counted separately. In the breakdown above you can watch the venue bar shrink as a share of the total the moment you add more guests, because guest-driven costs grow while the venue hire stays fixed.
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