Wedding Cost Estimator
Estimate a wedding’s total cost from guest count, per-guest catering, venue, and the major extra categories, with a per-guest breakdown.
Result
- Catering (100 × $150.00)$15,000.00
- Venue / rental$5,000.00
- Photography / video$3,000.00
- Attire & beauty$2,500.00
- Flowers, music & decor$4,000.00
- Other$3,000.00
- Total$32,500.00
- All-in cost per guest$325.00
- Suggested 10% contingency$3,250.00
Step-by-step
- Catering = guests × per-guest = 100 × $150.00 = $15,000.00.
- Add fixed items: venue $5,000.00, photo $3,000.00, attire $2,500.00, flowers/music $4,000.00, other $3,000.00.
- Total = $32,500.00 (≈ $325.00 per guest). Consider a 10% contingency: $3,250.00.
How to use this calculator
- Enter your guest count and the per-guest catering cost.
- Enter the venue, photography, attire, flowers/music, and other category amounts.
- Read the estimated total and the all-in cost per guest.
- Add the suggested contingency and trim the guest list to lower the total.
About this calculator
Weddings are budgeted around one dominant variable — the guest count — because catering, bar, rentals, and even venue size all scale with how many people attend. This estimator multiplies your guest count by a per-guest catering cost, then adds the major fixed categories: venue, photography and video, attire and beauty, flowers, music and decor, and a catch-all for rings, cake, stationery, the officiant, and favors. The result is a total plus an all-in cost per guest, which is a useful figure for deciding whether to trim the list. Because guest count drives so much of the spend, cutting it is the most effective way to reduce a budget. Costs vary enormously by region and season, so treat the total as a planning baseline and add a 5–10% contingency for the inevitable surprises, which this tool suggests.
How it works — the formula
Catering = Guests × Per-guest cost
Total = Catering + Venue + Photo + Attire + Flowers/Music + Other
Per-guest all-in = Total ÷ GuestsCatering scales with headcount; the remaining categories are fixed line items summed into the total.
Worked examples
- Inputs:
- guests=100, perGuest=150, venue=5000, photo=3000, attire=2500, flowersMusic=4000, other=3000
- Output:
- catering $15k → total $32,500
- Inputs:
- guests=50, perGuest=120, venue=4000, photo=2500, attire=2000, flowersMusic=3000, other=2000
- Output:
- catering $6k → total $19,500
- Inputs:
- guests=200, perGuest=180, venue=8000
- Output:
- catering $36k drives a large total
Limitations
- Regional and seasonal price variation is large.
- Per-guest input covers catering only; other items are fixed inputs.
- Does not include taxes, service charges, or vendor gratuities explicitly.
Planning estimate; collect real vendor quotes before committing.