One of the first questions couples ask when they get engaged is “how much is a wedding going to cost?” They will likely turn to the internet for answers. Unfortunately, in our opinion, many well-known wedding publications are giving inaccurate information when it comes to wedding budgets. The average numbers we see listed are usually way lower than what we’re seeing couples spend in the Milwaukee area. Why is this and what is the actual 2024 average Milwaukee wedding budget?

First of all, it’s important to take a look at the date on when the information was gathered. The costs of weddings are ever changing, especially since Covid. I have seen wedding costs basically double in the last five years, so looking at numbers pre-Covid or even just from a few years ago can be very misleading. As we all know, the cost of food, flowers, fuel, labor, etc. have all increased, which of course impacts the wedding industry.

Secondly, these “averages” are gathered from people with all different sizes and styles of weddings, including courthouse weddings and micro weddings. Not to mention, some of these couples may have received free or heavily discounted services for some elements. Perhaps their uncle is a DJ or their aunt made the wedding cake. In addition to that, which line items did each person include in their “total wedding budget”? Do you see how all of these items can really skew the average?

At Weddings With A Twist we are currently seeing 2024 average Milwaukee wedding budgets around $50-60K and higher for guests counts of around 150 for our 2024 and 2025 weddings (of course that average budget will increase as the guest count increases). These budgets are for good quality, full service vendors, but nothing really over the top (We’re not talking about the luxury weddings found all over Pinterest).

Of course guest count impacts your wedding budget greatly. On average our clients are spending about $100 per person for food and another $50 per person on an open bar (these prices are including basic linens, china, and service fees). In addition to the food and beverage costs, an increased number of guests requires more rentals, centerpieces, invitations, etc.

Now this isn’t to say that you can’t plan a wedding for less than $50K. Everyone has a different budget and different priorities. For some people, DIYing aspects of their wedding may sound appealing, but keep in mind DIY requires a lot more time and energy both during the planning process and on the wedding day itself. You need to think about who will be executing the wedding day if you don’t have full service vendors. Either your friends and family will need to or you will need to hire vendors to handle it. We strongly encourage our clients to hire full service vendors, so that they won’t have to worry about a thing on the wedding day.

Hiring a wedding planner can help you understand how to use your wedding budget, whatever it may be, to have the biggest impact on your wedding day. We can advise you on typical costs for what you are looking for and guide you on areas that might provide a good opportunity to save money vs. which areas you should consider spending a little more. We can also help you prioritize within your budget and help you consider all costs (such as taxes and gratuities) that can unexpectedly add up.

There is a lot more to say about wedding budgets and we know a lot of engaged couples out there have a lot of questions. So we teamed up with three other Milwaukee wedding planners - Heather Farr Events, Veronica Rose Planning, and Celebrait by Kait - on the Wedding BFF podcast to talk all about wedding budgets in Milwaukee. We hope you will check it out!

2024 Average Milwaukee Wedding Budget

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Your dream wedding awaits.