New Zealand Wedding Budget for 2020-2021 Poll

How much does a typical New Zealand wedding cost?

How much should I set aside for my wedding?

What is a typical wedding cost in New Zealand?

Wedding cost and wedding budget are probably two of the first two things that most brides would ponder after getting that engagement rings.

The typical cost of a New Zealand wedding at $30,000, or so we thought.

According to easyweddings.com.au, “According to those surveyed, couples originally estimated an average wedding budget of $23,917. During planning, they expected their wedding to amount an average of $28,644. Despite their initial budget and amended expectations, the average total cost of a wedding for Australian couples was $32,940.”

Cnbc.com reported that in the U.S., weddings cost an average of $33,900 in 2019.

When you think about it, the average figure kinda makes sense. So lets break it down. We are going for middle of the road prices, not too expensive, and not too cheap either.

Wedding Dress – $3000

Wedding Rings – $3000, if you want like a 0.5ct diamond and on sales

Bridesmaid dresses and other dress accessories – $2000

Boys Suits – $500

Wedding Celebrant – $500

Wedding Venue – $3000 ( and you like be able to bring your own booze). Many BYO venues tend to be well above $5000. however, the fact that you can bring your own alcohol means you can make significant saving on the bar taps, which can easily runs between $7-10K.

Wedding Photographer – $3000

Catering for 80 guests – $4000

Alcohol – $2000

Wedding Band – $3000

Accommodation – $1000

So far, that is $25,000 already. You still have transportation, cake, flowers, decoration, invites, engagement photos, videography, and lots of other little bits and pieces.

We thought it would be interesting to start a survey to see what kind of budgets brides are setting aside for the 2020-2021 season, especially among the pandemic uncertainty. We would love to have your inputs, and then share the results and starts with the industry.

Please do share survey so we can have more entries, and thus more accurate statistic of the New Zealand wedding budget. Thank you.

Comment Below: What would be the most important wedding budget item for you?

New Zealand Wedding Budget Results

What will be your wedding budget for the 2020-2021 season

$0-$10K 201 / 932

21.57%

$10K - $15K 164 / 932

17.6%

$15K - $20K 132 / 932

14.16%

$20K- $25K 99 / 932

10.62%

$25K - $30K 107 / 932

11.48%

$30K - $40K 113 / 932

12.12%

$40K - $50K 48 / 932

5.15%

$50K- $60K 36 / 932

3.86%

$60K+ 32 / 932

3.43%

What will be your wedding budget for the 2020-2021 season

Update: 9 July 2020. – Our thoughts of the wedding budget survey results so far

What interesting results we are seeing from this survey. The results so far suggest that half of the participants indicated that the wedding budget was/will be less than $15,000. Of course, we don’t know how many guests this will include, how fancy or how much DIY there will be, or even just pure elopements which seems to be very popular after the lockdown at the moment. But the results certainly shows that brides are being very conscious about the wedding cost amidst the current economic climate with many uncertainties around employment, wages, international outlook, or even the dreaded second wave of the virus, which will be devastating.

The wedding budget of less than $15,000 is well below those average wedding cost quoted in Australia and America.

Breakdown of a typical wedding budget

From our brief understanding of the wedding industry:

• a nice wedding dress is $3000,
• a good wedding photographer is at least $3000,
• venue cost would be $2000 minimum,
• and food and alcohol per person is around $90 upwards (we do like our alcohols on wedding days).

Even with these simple calculations, for a wedding of say 50 guests, the wedding budget is already $12500. There are still costs for bouquets, clothes for bridesmaids and groomsmen, accommodation, transportation, invites, etc etc. In other words, compromises must be made in order to fit into the budget, and still allow the couples to have one of the best days of their lives.

Please, we are not saying every wedding should spend these kinds of values on the services and wedding items. Every wedding is different, and every wedding couple have their own needs and desires. We are also a true believer that a wedding day is just another day in your life, a very expensive day obviously. Don’t overspend the budget, and just enjoy each other and the great company of friends and families.

We are going to investigate into a way to create a more in-depth survey so we can have a better understanding of this budget results, as well as how brides (past and future) prioritise and plan their weddings, especially the future brides during this uncertain time. Any comments and suggestions are welcome so please drop us a comment below.