Approximately 2 million Americans tied the knot in 2025, generating over $100 billion in total wedding-related spending and powering a domestic industry valued at more than $66 billion. Despite steady headwinds from rising costs, shifting generational attitudes, and an economy squeezing budgets at the lower end, weddings remain one of the most resilient categories in U.S. consumer spending. This article compiles the latest verified statistics on wedding volume, costs, vendor spend, demographics, trends, and the 2026 outlook to give couples, vendors, and industry observers the most complete picture available.

Key Takeaways

$66.16 billion total U.S. wedding industry revenue – in 2025, across 2,011,044 weddings – up from roughly $63 billion the prior year.
$34,200 average U.S. wedding cost in 2025 – down from $35,000 in 2024 as couples respond to economic pressure, but still 18% above the $29,000 average recorded in 2023.
117 average guests per wedding in 2025 – up from 116 in 2024 but 11% below the pre-pandemic peak of 131 in 2019.
30.8 years for men, 28.4 for women – the 2025 median age at first marriage in the U.S., up from 23.5 and 21.1 respectively in 1975 – both historic highs.
36% of engaged couples used AI to plan their 2025 wedding – nearly double the prior year’s share and on track to grow further in 2026.
18% of weddings had 50 or fewer guests in 2024 – up from just 10% in 2013, confirming the structural rise of micro weddings.
$7,364 average engagement ring cost in 2025 – a 9% year-on-year rise driven by renewed natural diamond demand.
$6,500 average honeymoon budget in 2026 – with couples now allocating 26% of total wedding spend to the trip – more than double the traditional 10% guideline.

Market Size and Wedding Volume

National industry scale

2,011,044 weddings – took place in the U.S. in 2025, with couples spending an average of $34,200 each.
$66.16 billion total U.S. wedding market value in 2025 – based on core wedding spending across all 2,011,044 weddings held that year.
$100 billion+ in total wedding-related spending – when ancillary categories such as honeymoons, attire, and engagement rings are included on top of core wedding budgets.
$62.74 billion U.S. wedding services market in 2024 – forecast to reach $105.82 billion by 2034, a 69% increase at a 5.98% CAGR.
$240.32 billion global wedding services market in 2025 – projected to grow to $265.46 billion in 2026 at a 10.5% CAGR – more than triple the U.S. market alone.
$403.65 billion global market forecast for 2030 – an 11% CAGR from 2026 as personalized and destination weddings fuel growth.
4.3 million U.S. weddings forecast by 2030 – more than double the 2 million held in 2025 as post-pandemic cohorts age into peak marrying years.

State-level revenue

California leads all states with $9.64 billion in wedding sales in 2025 – equivalent to roughly one in every seven dollars spent on weddings nationally.
Texas ranks second at $5.53 billion – and New York third at $5.20 billion in 2025 wedding market revenue.
Florida generates $4.91 billion in annual wedding revenue – underpinned by its year-round climate and destination appeal.
Nevada records $2.55 billion in wedding revenue – disproportionately high relative to population due to the Las Vegas elopement and destination trade.
North Dakota is the smallest state market at $142.5 million – a 67-fold gap versus California’s $9.64 billion.
The five largest state markets account for 41% of total U.S. wedding revenue in 2025 – with California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois alone generating $29 billion of the $66.16 billion total.

Wedding Costs

Overall spending

$34,200 average U.S. wedding cost in 2025 – down from $35,000 in 2024 as couples respond to economic pressure – but still 18% above the $29,000 average in 2023.
$33,000 average total cost in 2024 – a $2,000 decline from the prior year before partially recovering to $34,200 in 2025.
Gen Z couples average $27,000 per wedding – while Millennials average $38,000 and Gen X $23,000 – a $15,000 spread reflecting differences in guest counts, venue choices, and family contributions.
59% of couples said the economy impacted their wedding budget in 2025 – and 40% scaled back guest counts in response to rising costs.
Weddings spending over $41,000 average 141 guests – and are funded roughly 62% by family contributions, with 77% prioritising guest experience.
Weddings under $12,000 average just 92 guests – rely on DIY decor (44%) and friend officiants (67%), and are primarily self-funded – illustrating the K-shaped split in U.S. wedding spend.

Cost by state

New Jersey is the most expensive state to marry in – with averages near $57,000 in 2024, followed by Rhode Island ($51,000) and Illinois ($39,000).
Utah is among the cheapest states at approximately $17,000-$18,000 – more than three times cheaper than New Jersey’s $57,000 average.
New York averages $47,000 for a wedding – while Alaska sits at the lower end of the national range.
Mid-Atlantic catering costs average $123 per person – versus $62 per person in the Midwest – a 98% premium reflecting regional cost-of-living differences.
July-to-September weddings average $34,000 – making summer the priciest season by total spend.

Vendor Spend Breakdown

Venue and catering

$12,200 average venue cost in 2024 – representing over 30% of total wedding expenditure and making it the single largest line item.
$80 average per-plate catering cost in 2024 – translating to approximately $8,000 in food alone for a 100-guest wedding.
$7,000-$15,000 total catering spend for a 100-guest wedding – before bar service and extras.
Catering accounts for 20-25% of total wedding budget on average – making it the second-largest vendor category after venues.

Photography and videography

$5,800 average U.S. wedding photography package price in 2025 – based on a survey of 138 U.S. photographers and reflecting what photographers charge for up to 10 hours of coverage.
$2,900 average photography spend by couples in 2025 – versus the $5,800 photographer-priced package – the gap reflects the broad range between entry-level and premium options.
$2,300 average videographer cost – with the 37% of couples who book videography spending on average $600 less than they do on photography.
Wedding photography segment forecast to grow at 7.3% CAGR over the next decade – driven by AI-enhanced editing tools and demand for social-ready content via options such as wedding photobooths.
21% of 2025 couples hired professional content creators for social media – alongside a rise in phone-free ceremonies, marking a clear split in how couples handle digital coverage.

Flowers, music, and other vendors

8-10% of total wedding budget is typically allocated to flowers – equating to roughly $2,700-$3,400 on a $34,200 average wedding.
$1,800 average DJ cost in 2025 – up from $1,700 in 2024, versus $4,500 for a live wedding band – couples who choose live entertainment face a $2,700 premium.
$2,700 average flower spend in 2024 – alongside $1,700 average DJ spend – both four-figure expenses even for mid-range celebrations.
13 vendors hired on average per 2025 wedding – down from 15 in 2019 but still reflecting heavy couple reliance on professional services.
27% of couples hire a professional wedding planner – with day-of planners the most in-demand service tier.

Attire and rings

$7,364 average engagement ring cost in 2025 – a 9% year-on-year increase driven by renewed natural diamond demand.
$5,493 average bridal jewelry spend – up 2% since 2023, with 29% of buyers spending between $2,500 and $5,000.
$1,700-$2,500 average wedding dress cost in 2026 – with alterations adding a further $400-$800 – a 16-47% uplift on the gown price.
$400-$800 average wedding dress alteration cost – with preservation and dry-cleaning adding $100-$1,000 more post-wedding.

Guest Lists and Wedding Size

Average size and trends

117 average wedding guests in 2025 – up from 116 in 2024 and 115 in 2023, but still 11% below the pre-pandemic average of 131 in 2019.
Guest counts fell 20% between 2019 and recent years – as the typical wedding party shrank from 10 to 8 participants.
Gen Z couples average 129 guests – compared to 112 for Millennials and 90 for Gen X – a 43% spread that shows younger couples driving a partial recovery.
18% of weddings had 50 or fewer guests in 2024 – up from just 10% in 2013, confirming the structural rise of micro weddings.
Micro wedding searches on Google hit an all-time high in 2025 – reflecting sustained consumer interest in intimate celebrations.
Couples spending under $12,000 average 92 guests – while those spending over $41,000 average 141 – a 53% larger guest list for high-budget weddings.
Midwest weddings average 140 guests – the highest of any U.S. region, versus just 102 in the South and Southeast.

Destination and micro weddings

31% of weddings in 2025 were destination weddings – with Italy, the Bahamas, and Mexico leading internationally and Florida, California, and Hawaii leading domestically.
Domestic destination weddings average 92 guests – and international ones just 69 – roughly half the size of the 123-guest average for hometown celebrations.
U.S. destination wedding market valued at $6.65 billion in 2024 – projected to nearly double to $12.01 billion by 2033 at a 6.79% CAGR.
Destination wedding demand grew 22% between 2021 and 2024 – spanning more than 120 global destinations.
Micro weddings can cost 50% or less of a traditional wedding – making them a financially driven choice for the majority of couples who opt for them.
13% of couples chose micro weddings with 50 or fewer guests in 2024 – and nearly half (48%) had at least considered this option.

Timing and Seasonality

Marriage Demographics

Age at marriage

30.8 years for men and 28.4 years for women – the 2025 median age at first marriage, up from 23.5 and 21.1 respectively in 1975 – a 7.3-year delay for men and a 7.3-year delay for women over 50 years.
Median age at first marriage has increased by 2.5-2.6 years since 2008 – for both men and women – the steepest 17-year shift in the modern series.
Washington D.C., New York, and California have the oldest first-time newlyweds – averaging around 31 years old, versus approximately 27 in Utah, Idaho, and West Virginia – a 4-year geographic gap.

Marriage and divorce rates

6.1 marriages per 1,000 people recorded in 2023 – the most recent year of full CDC data, alongside 672,502 divorces across 45 states and D.C.
Just 47% of U.S. households were married-couple households in 2025 – down from 66% fifty years earlier – a 19-percentage-point structural decline.
Divorce rate of 2.4 per 1,000 people in 2023 – roughly 40% below the 4.0+ rates recorded in the 1980s and 1990s.
Just 1.4% of married adults divorced in 2023 – a historic low, with Millennials and Gen X marrying later and more selectively than prior generations.
Only 4% of Americans planned to have a wedding in 2025 – down from 7% the prior year – a 43% drop in stated wedding intent in a single year.
U.S. fertility rate at a historic low of 1.7 births per woman – below the 2.1 replacement rate and closely tied to declining marriage rates among younger generations.
42% of adults were unpartnered in 2023 – with single-person households reaching a record 38.5 million (29% of all U.S. households) in 2024.

Same-sex marriage

823,000 married same-sex couples in the U.S. as of June 2025 – more than double the 390,000 married at the time of the 2015 Obergefell ruling.
59% of cohabiting same-sex couples are married – up from 43% in 2014 – a 16-percentage-point rise over a decade of marriage equality.
Same-sex couples accounted for roughly 4% of all newlywed households in 2023 – consistent with levels seen since 2019.
53% of married same-sex couples are female-female and 47% male-male – with approximately 299,000 children being raised by married same-sex couples.
The South saw the greatest growth in married same-sex couples since Obergefell – with the share of cohabiting same-sex couples who are married rising 21 percentage points.

Engagement and Wedding Planning

Proposals and engagement trends

14 months is the average engagement length in 2026 – giving couples just over a year to plan their wedding.
$7,364 national average engagement ring cost in 2025 – a 9% year-on-year increase, with significant state-level variation – some states average over $10,000.

Planning resources and AI adoption

72% of engaged couples use online resources to plan their wedding – and 63% start planning online first.
36% of engaged couples used AI to assist with wedding planning in 2025 – nearly double the prior year’s share.
1 in 4 couples use AI for wedding or honeymoon planning – primarily for itineraries, budgeting, decor mockups, and travel comparisons.
Wedding planning app market valued at $1.07 billion in 2026 – projected to reach $4 billion by 2035 at a 15.5% CAGR, with North America holding 38-42% of the market.
The Knot, Zola, and WeddingWire appear in 73% of wedding-planning AI responses – creating a two-platform effective duopoly since The Knot Worldwide owns both The Knot and WeddingWire.
84% of individual wedding vendors have effectively zero AI citation share – in their own metro and specialty, leaving the long tail of the industry largely invisible in AI search.
51% of couples are open to using AI to write their vows – while 49% are opposed – the most evenly split tech-adoption question in the wedding planning space.

Honeymoon Spending and Travel

$6,500 average honeymoon budget in 2026 – covering 1.5 million couples and up from a lower 2025 baseline as travel demand recovers.
26% of total wedding spend allocated to the honeymoon in 2026 – more than double the traditional 10% guideline.
$4,466-$5,000 average actual honeymoon spend on a 7-8 day trip – versus the $6,500 stated budget – showing couples typically come in below their planned trip spend.
Hawaii remains the #1 honeymoon destination for 2026 – followed by Italy (#2) and Japan (#3), the latter’s highest-ever ranking.
Mexico fell out of the top 3 honeymoon destinations in 2026 – for the first time in eight years, displaced by Japan.
23% of honeymoons are domestic – reflecting a rise in passport-free destinations and growing preference for affordable U.S. travel options.
59% of American couples travel outside the continental U.S. for their honeymoon – more than five times the share of couples who choose a destination wedding outside the U.S.

Wedding Industry Workforce

25,064 people employed in U.S. wedding planning in 2025 – a 3.3% decline from 2024 but reflecting a 5.2% CAGR over the 2020-2025 period.
California (13,910), New York (10,010), and Texas (7,010) employ the most wedding planners – accounting for the three largest state workforces in the sector.
89.5% of U.S. wedding planners are women – with near-pay parity: women earn $1.01 for every $1 earned by male planners.
$59,440 median annual wage for event planners in May 2024 – the broader occupational category that includes wedding planners.
Event planner employment projected to grow 5% from 2024 to 2034 – faster than the average for all occupations.
About 15,500 openings for event planners projected annually over the next decade – driven partly by the need to replace retiring workers.

Generational Attitudes to Marriage

74% of Gen Z respondents say they can have fulfilling lives without children – the highest share of any generation on record, based on a 2024 survey of 3,500 adults.
67% of Gen Z believe marriage is critical for raising children in a stable environment – the lowest percentage of any surveyed generation.
Just 4% of women and 2% of men born in 1998 had married by age 25 – compared to 60% of women and 41% of men born in 1960 – a 56-point and 39-point collapse in early-life marriage rates.
97% of U.S. respondents say gatherings like weddings offer significant benefits for overall well-being – based on the 2025 Future of Celebrations Report.
84% of 2025 couples said they were looking forward to their wedding more than any other event that year – underlining weddings’ enduring social weight even as marriage rates decline.

Key Wedding Trends for 2025 and 2026

Ceremony and format

71% of weddings in 2025 lasted two to three days – incorporating rehearsal dinners, welcome receptions, afterparties, and post-wedding brunches.
21% of 2025 couples hired professional content creators for social media – while a parallel rise in phone-free ceremonies marks a clear split in how couples handle digital coverage.
Intimate vow exchanges before the main ceremony became a widespread practice in 2025 – and are expected to become the norm by 2026.

Style and decor

Earthy tones dominated wedding palettes in 2025 and 2026 – with terracotta, blush, sage green, and olive replacing the cooler pastels of prior years.

2026 Outlook

U.S. wedding services market projected to reach approximately $68 billion in 2026 – continuing a post-pandemic recovery trajectory toward a $105 billion target by 2034.
6 marriages per 1,000 people projected as the steady-state U.S. rate from 2026 to 2030 – stable by global standards but below historical peaks.
K-shaped spending divergence expected to continue in 2026 – with high-budget couples spending more on guest experience and low-budget couples cutting guest counts and vendor spend further.
Wedding planning apps market forecast to grow at 15.5% CAGR to $4 billion by 2035 – as AI adoption in wedding planning accelerates from 2025’s 36% baseline.
Up to 80% of U.S. cut flowers are imported – leaving 2026 floral costs exposed to ongoing tariff impacts on materials and hard goods.
31% of weddings are destination weddings – a figure expected to grow as the U.S. destination wedding market tracks toward $12 billion by 2033 at a 6.79% CAGR.
Median age at first marriage forecast to rise further through 2030 – from the 2025 highs of 30.8 (men) and 28.4 (women) as economic barriers to homeownership and household formation persist.
Multi-day wedding formats expected to consolidate as the new standard in 2026 – building on the 71% share recorded in 2025 and generating incremental revenue for venues, caterers, and accommodation providers.

Sources

The Wedding Report – 2025 United States Wedding Market Statistics & Analysis (2025)
The Knot Worldwide – Real Weddings Study 2026, covering 10,000+ U.S. couples married in 2025 (2026)
The Knot Worldwide – Future of Celebrations Report (2025)
The Knot – Average Wedding Guest List Size data (2026)
The Knot – Average Wedding Cost article (2026)
The Knot – Average Cost of Wedding Videographer (2026)
The Knot – Average Cost of Hiring a Band or DJ for Your Wedding (2026)
The Knot WeddingPro – Navigating a New Era: Vendor Insights from The Knot’s 2026 Real Weddings Study (2026)
Zola – Average Wedding Cost 2025 data (2025)
The Wedding Report – 2025 Wedding Market Size by State (2025)
Renub Research – United States Wedding Services Market Size and Forecast 2026-2034 (2026)
Research and Markets / Renub Research – United States Wedding Services Market report (2025)
Research and Markets – Wedding Service Market Report 2026 (2026)
Natural Diamond Council – NDC Engagement Ring Trend Report 2025 (2026)
Faithful Platform – National Average Engagement Ring Cost 2025 study (2025)
The Plumb Club – Bridal Jewelry Consumer Spending Study (2025)
Fearless Photographers – 2025 Wedding Photography Pricing Survey of 138 U.S. photographers (2025)
U.S. Census Bureau – Families and Living Arrangements, historical tables including median age at first marriage (2025)
U.S. Census Bureau – America’s Families and Living Arrangements (December 2025)
National Center for Family and Marriage Research, Bowling Green State University – Median Age at First Marriage: Geographic Variation (2026)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – National Center for Health Statistics, provisional marriage and divorce data (2025)
Pew Research Center – 8 Facts About Divorce in the United States (2025)
Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law – Marriage Equality 10 Years After Obergefell report (2025)
Bowling Green State University, National Center for Family and Marriage Research – Recent Marriages to Same-sex and Different-sex Couples (2026)
CivicScience – Wedding Trends in 2025: Fewer Celebrations, More Spending (2025)
Honeyfund – 2026 Honeymoon Destinations & Wedding Travel Trends Report (2026)
Carats & Cake – Best Month to Get Married: 2025 dataset of 2,181 real U.S. weddings (2025)
The New York Times – What’s Trending in Weddings for 2026 (2026)
Vogue – The New ‘I Do’: Unpacking the Bridal Market in 2026 (2026)
Axios – Why Weddings Are Shrinking (2025)
Quartz (qz.com) – Americans are Spending Less on Weddings in 2026 (2026)
IBISWorld – Wedding Planners in the US Employment Statistics (2025)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – Occupational Outlook Handbook: Meeting, Convention, and Event Planners (2025)
5W PR – Wedding Industry AI Visibility Index 2026 (2026)
Zola – 2025 First Look Report on wedding planning trends (2024)
Deep Market Insights – United States Destination Wedding Market Size & Outlook 2025-2033 (2025)
Business Research Insights – Wedding Planning Apps Market report (2026)
Newsweek – How Millennials and Gen Z Are Lowering Birth Rates Around the World (2025)
CBN / Survey on Gen Z attitudes to marriage and family (2026)

Wedding Statistics & Facts USA 2026