The $28,000 Budget: Myth?
In my latest internet travels for info about budgeting, I came across this very interesting article posted in the August 24 issue of The Wall Street Journals Online’s The Number Guy column.
We’ve all heard the $27,000+ price tag stat on “average” US weddings, right? Well, Carl Bialik is taking a closer look at that number and how it was determined. Turns out, “average” really isn’t average. The figures from these surveys are derived by adding up the budgets reported (by a limited pool of brides) and then dividing them up by the number of respondents. So, in Bialik’s example, a single $1,000,000 wedding would totally skew the results to make the “average” look higher.
According to the article, $15,000 is closer to the real average, or median, wedding budget.
For the three surveys, the median wedding cost is closer to $15,000. The median is the middle figure when you line up a set of numbers in order of size. It is a popular choice for social statistics because it is unperturbed by very small or very large numbers.
How does that make you feel about your budget now?
August 30th, 2007 at 1:40 pm #Jen
I had the same thought when I saw the 27K figure. It would only take a few very expensive weddings to throw that off. It also probably doesn’t take in account simple weddings held in church were family does all the preperations.
August 31st, 2007 at 12:39 am #tto
makes me hopeful, that’s for sure! a lot of people think it’s impossible…especially in nyc, la, sf. so i’m on a mission to dispel the big-city-budget myth!
August 31st, 2007 at 4:49 am #Shanika J Butts
Great post Khris! You’re exactly right!
August 31st, 2007 at 11:05 am #Laura
This makes me wonder why in heck I can’t seem to make a $25,000 budget cover everything!!
August 31st, 2007 at 12:25 pm #crowiecat
I wish that were true in the SF bay area. My fiancee and I are trying pretty hard to stay within our $15,000 budget (in the silicon valley) for about 80 people here and it has been very challenging. We are footing the entire bill ourselves, including possibly flying some family out since they can’t afford it. Just the venue and the food (it’s outdoor with a buffet brunch) is already stretching our limit. I think though if you are willing to think outside the box, be more creative, and not buy into all the “wedding hype”, $15,000 or somewhere close to that is an achievable budget.
August 31st, 2007 at 1:33 pm #Tammi
I’m happy to hear this. Now I don’t feel like a cheapskate. Caterers and wedding planners have scoffed when I told them I want to keep my upcoming Brooklyn, NY wedding to 15K. I know this can be done. I am so glad to hear that the $27,000 wedding is more hype than happening.
September 5th, 2007 at 6:53 pm #Little Miss Planner
I wish that was the case in my area. I’m not having an outlandish wedding by any means… but my reception site and the catering is over 17k by itself. When I first saw the prices I freaked out… but every place was the same. At that moment of realiziation, our budget went from 20 to 35k.
September 10th, 2007 at 6:49 pm #Quynh
I feel a lot better! I live in the DC area and we are trying to do a 150 guest wedding for no more than 15K. It’s a little bit of a challenge so far but I think we actually might make it! We might even be able to pull it off for a little less than that.
September 13th, 2007 at 4:30 pm #kelleyatbrideorama
This is good news, but not surprising. I think a lot about budget depends on where you live; and of course,how expensive or simple your tastes are. Here is the good news though: I got married last year, had a beautiful wedding in NY with 100 guests, and we managed to stay just under around $17,000. So it can be done. You just have to use sites like this to help you out!
September 29th, 2007 at 11:38 am #Morgan
I remember from my high school statistics class that some type of average was calculated by eliminating the top 5% and bottom 5%, or 10%, so the average was more representative of real people. I think they should do that so the $30 drive-through weddings and the $1,000,000 celeb weddings aren’t in the picture. Then we would have a more realistic view of wedding costs.
June 1st, 2008 at 7:25 pm #Allison
$15k is more reasonable than $28k, but still a whole lot of money to spend on a party in my mind. Our budget for a 200-person wedding in a Midwestern city is $7,500, and I think we’ll be under that.