The average U.S. wedding will set a couple back $31,213


If you're planning a wedding in the United States, you'd better start saving: The average ceremony and reception will set you back $31,213, a five-year high.
XO Group Inc., owners of the popular wedding website TheKnot.com, surveyed 16,000 brides and found that spending was up on almost everything except for favors and invitations, Bloomberg reports. The report found that the biggest expense was the reception venue, eating up about 45 percent of the average wedding budget, and spending on each guest is at its highest level since XO Group started to survey brides in 2007.
People getting married in Manhattan especially need a good chunk of change at their disposal, as the average wedding cost $76,328 in 2013 — and that was down by almost $10,000 from the year before. Looking for something more reasonable? Head to Utah, where the average cost is $15,257.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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