Wedding Budget Calculator

Use our Wedding Budget Calculator to see how a wedding budget splits across the usual categories, or to estimate a budget from your guest count when you have a list but no total yet.

The typical split gives venue and catering about 45%, photography and video 12%, flowers and decor 10%, music, and attire and beauty 8% each, stationery 4%, rings 3%, transportation 2%, and keeps an 8% buffer for easily forgotten costs like tips, alterations and vendor meals. On a $30,000 budget, venue and catering comes to $13,500.

From a guest count, the budget is guests × cost per guest — about $150 a guest for a budget-friendly wedding, $300 for an average one and $500 for upscale. 120 guests at $300 is $36,000; trimming the list to 100 brings it to $30,000, which is why the guest list is the biggest lever you have.

The shares are a starting point, not a rule — shift money between categories to match your priorities, and treat the results as an estimate. To save toward the date, use our Sinking Fund Calculator; to plan the honeymoon, our Vacation Budget Calculator.