It’s the biggest day of your life. Now the planning begins.
But you, your family, and your guests could be facing some serious sticker shock this year, as inflation hits the wedding industry.
At bridal shops everywhere, consultants are trying to find affordable dresses for nervous couples stunned by recent price hikes.
Bride-to-be Madison Cox is struggling to keep costs in check.
“It’s crazy, it’s really expensive for sure,” she said. “Stuff has gone up a lot, even compared to people who got married a few years ago.”
How much more you may pay
According to the wedding site The Knot, the average gown is now almost $1,900, up from $1,600 pre-pandemic.
Tina Minshall, manager of a popular dress shop, Bridal and Formal, says manufacturers are hitting her with rising labor, shipping, and silk costs.
“They are just now passing on the price increases they have had the past two years.”
She is trying to absorb as much of it as she can, without passing those costs along to brides.
But it’s not just bridal gowns and bridesmaids dresses seeing price hikes this year.
Sit down dinner? Plan on $75 a guest, according to The Knot’s latest survey.
Photographer? The average is now $2,500, which shocked grandmother Sandra Ashby.
“We were talking thousands of dollars for photography,” she said. “Not just $1,000 or 1,500 as it was when my daughters got married.”
And if you are just a guest, you are not off the hook either.
A setting of fine china dinnerware is now almost $100, and many guests now pay upwards of $200 for their gifts, according to recent surveys.
Minshall says be prepared for higher prices everywhere.
“The cost of food has gone up, the price of rentals has gone up, gas prices, and that effects everything when you are planning a wedding,” she said.
Ways to keep costs down
Minshal says to keep costs down, she suggests that brides look for marked down off-the-rack dresses, or visit a shop during a trunk show, when she has dozens of dresses out on display that can be purchased.
And start planning a year ahead, if you can, she says.
6 months is no longer enough time to order a gown in many cases, and is not enough time to find a nice wedding venue, especially with vendors now overbooked due to postponed weddings.
“When I was looking for my venue there just were two weekends available for 2022,” Cox said.
She and her fiancé are just glad they locked in some decent prices last year.
Finally, to keep venue costs down, skip Saturdays during peak season.
Plan a Friday night wedding, or a Sunday afternoon wedding (which can really keep bar costs down).
That way you don’t waste your money.
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