It doesn’t take long into the wedding planning journey to realize how expensive wedding are. But an aspect of finances that often gets overlooked by an engaged couple is how expensive weddings can be for their wedding guests.

The average wedding guest will spend over $700 to attend a wedding and millennials nearly $900!

The factors for the high expenditures are based off costs of airfare, hotel, transportation, gifts and attire.

Weddings have become quite the affair with multiple events occurring; engagement party, bridal shower, bachelor/bachelorette parties and the rehearsal dinner.

And each of these events comes with the expectations that a gift will be given or travel may be needed. No wonder this this can get extremely pricey for your wedding guests. However, there are a few things you can do in planning your wedding to keep costs down for your friends and family…

1)    Try to host your wedding where the majority of your guests reside. This way it eliminates the need for travel since airfare and accommodations is the most expensive cost of attending a destination wedding.

2)    For out-of-towners, encourage them to split costs with other guests. Add info on your wedding website on how singles attending can connect with one another to share a hotel room or Uber ride from the airport.

3)    Negotiate the best room rate at the hotel by reserving a block of rooms so guests receive the lowest price possible. 

4)    Try not to have your wedding near a major holiday since airfare is much higher around holiday season.

5)    Forego inviting out-of-towners to events like the engagement party or bridal shower since they most likely won’t attend but feel pressured to send a gift.

6)    Set-up and pay for the shuttle service from the hotel to the wedding location to save guests from paying for transportation.

7)    Invite all the out-of-towners to the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding. It’s polite to include them in the wedding activities since they've traveled to support you.  It saves them from buying an additional meal.

8)    Lastly, host a day after brunch and invite the out-of-towners to attend. This gives the couple another chance to thank them for coming while treating them to a farewell meal.

While you may want to splurge on specific items for your wedding, and utilize resources such as a day-of coordinator, your guests might not be particularly excited about spending a great deal of money on various wedding events, multiple wedding presents or a destination wedding.

It’s your big day, but just remember to keep your wedding guests (and their wallets) in mind.

Happy Planning!

~Janet