Here's why weddings are so expensive

The term 'wedding tax' is often used to refer to the extra money that many wedding industry suppliers charge

According to wedding vendors, the "wedding tax"—the additional money charged for goods and services specifically intended for a wedding rather than another type of event—stems from the increased amount of time and attention that someone like a florist or makeup artist spends on a wedding versus any other type of event. Unlike other events, weddings are often planned a year or more in advance and require more detailed planning and hours of communication.

From flowers to venues, seemingly everything gets a price markup when it's for a wedding

At the start of this video, a venue gives two people drastically different prices for what seems like essentially the same service: a family gathering and a wedding. These price differentials feel so ubiquitous across the wedding industry—and experts attribute this to quality of services for weddings versus other, more casual events. Learn more by watching this video.

The wedding industry is a roughly $200B global market

That market is shaped by both tradition and commercial influence. In the US, couples spend an average of $35K on a wedding, while Indian weddings range from $5K to more than $100K. Despite rising costs, weddings remain a deeply emotional tradition, celebrating love and human connection.

Some wedding expenses might be tax-deductible, depending on the situation

For instance, donating your wedding flowers to a homeless shelter or other nonprofit organization may make them tax-deductible. Some other expenses that may be tax-deductible in specific instances include historical venues, wedding gowns, and more. Find out more about which wedding expenses could be tax-deductible via this article.

In 2024, the average US wedding cost was around $33K

That's up from $29K in 2023, according to this 2024 weddings report. But that’s not the only surprising fact from the report: For instance, 89% of couples started wedding planning before getting engaged.

Wedding photographers and other vendors have tailored their services to social media in recent years

In this podcast interview with Xochitl Gonzalez—a former luxury wedding planner who wrote the viral The Fake Poor Bride article in 2023—you'll learn a lot about how the wedding-industrial complex has evolved over the past few years and how modern additions, such as the rise of wedding styling services for "wedding weeks," have driven costs up.

A wedding cost calculator

Want to know how much your wedding will cost? Simply enter your wedding date, location, and a few more details about your wedding plans, and this tool will spit out an estimate for how much it will all cost—with details on how each estimate was figured, from a wedding dress or tux to ordering the cake. If you're planning a wedding soon (or just dreaming about planning one), explore this wedding cost generator.

A typical weekend at Coachella can cost thousands of dollars

Coachella might be a cutting-edge cultural event, but it doesn't come for free. Beyond the high ticket prices—which typically start around $500—there are other costs, like lodging, food, and libations. This article spotlights four attendees who break down their expenses for the week and why, despite the hefty price tag, they were so interested in heading to the desert.

Why art history is filled with miserable brides

Paintings from the 19th century are filled with unhappy brides. The women are often visibly disturbed by their pending nuptials, sometimes even during the wedding ceremony. This Artnet article unpacks four famous examples of this trend, analyzing how and why the respective artists portrayed these disappointed figures.

Each state has its own regulations regarding marriage

Some states don’t even require a ceremony or license, opting to allow “common law” marriages. Prenuptial agreements and other legal matters will likely require an attorney’s help. And marriages can offer benefits, like tax breaks.

Why caviar is still so expensive, even though it's no longer rare

An ounce of caviar can cost more than $250, even though China has flooded the market with a surge in supply over the past decade. As it turns out, the perception of caviar as a luxury good rather than a true scarcity is part of what keeps it so expensive.

Surprising costs associated with homeownership include taxes and roof maintenance

Owning a home includes not just expected costs such as a mortgage, homeowners insurance, and landscaping, but also less-obvious expenses like property taxes, repairing and maintaining one’s roof and HVAC system, and HOA fees.

Ghost weddings used to be more common

Ghost weddings are marriages between two deceased parties, or one living and one dead partner. They satisfy departed family members’ needs for companionship and peace in the afterlife, according to Chinese spiritual beliefs. Unfortunately, since ghost marriages are pricey and can include the mingling of mortal remains, murderers and grave robbers have, at times, sought to supply spouses through nefarious means.

The rising cost of taking a family to the ballgame

While inflation affects the price of all goods and services across an economy, some hit harder for consumers than others. Taking data from the average cost of tickets all the way down to the number of hot dogs a family would buy, the average pricetag for a family of four to attend a baseball game is now just over $200–making America’s pastime cost-prohibitive for many families.

A group of 88 kindergarteners creates heartfelt centerpieces defining what love is for their teacher's wedding

Ahead of her big day, a kindergarten teacher came up with an idea to have her students help decorate her wedding tables. Teachers prompted their students to fill out the prompt "love is…" and found that the children shared a variety of heartfelt responses.

In 1924, the department store Marshall Field's invented the first modern 'wedding registry'

However, there were many traditions around wedding gifts before the wedding registry was invented, too—from dowries to marriage chests. Read about the history of the wedding registry in this article.

Jet fuel is expensive—which is one reason why it's tough to make an airline profitable

Jet fuel is typically a commercial airline's second-largest expense, second only to labor. Oil prices can be volatile—there have been recent significant increases in jet fuel prices given the 2026 Iran conflict, for instance.

Learn how to set up a trust

Setting up a trust often costs at least a few thousand dollars, given that the process typically requires paying for a lawyer’s time. An article lays out the step-by-step process one should follow in order to set a trust up.

Hosting the World Cup requires massive investments in infrastructure

Since the 1990s, those costs have crept into the billions. Cities are able to sell the high price tag with promises of jobs and tourism dollars, but long-term studies showed the promises were often overstated.

Half of the richest people in the US are finding ways around death taxes

One of the main purposes of the federal estate tax is to crack down on generational wealth, so wealth isn't concentrated among a select few. However, the ultra-rich have found ways around paying these taxes. This ProPublica article investigates the practices used by half of the 100 richest people in the US to avoid death taxes.

Campaigning for the Westminster dog show can cost up to $6K

Before dogs make it to the high-profile Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, owners invest money in registering their dog in numerous shows, paying for professional photoshoots, and grooming services. While winning dog shows often doesn't come with cash prizes, it does usually result in more interest in the dog's breeding stock.

Fees can eat away at your 401(k)

Every investment plan has an expense ratio—a percentage of the total assets that goes to the investment manager in the form of fees. Because 401(k) plans are so common, and many of their participants are not savvy investors, the relative expense ratio for them has often excessively increased.

Watch experts blindly taste test Champagne and other sparkling wines

Champagne’s prestige typically comes with a high price. So is it worth it? Professional wine judge Dr. Matthew Horkey invites a Champagne expert and a producer to a blind taste test to find out. The individuals try sparkling wines from across the world and do their best to sniff out (sip out?) which is the real-deal Champagne.

Here's why pennies don't make sense

Did you know that pennies cost roughly 3 cents to produce? That fact doesn't seem to make sense, being that pennies are only worth 1 cent each. This podcast episode explains why we still have pennies, plus where they came from, why Americans don't use pennies, and how we got here. Click here to listen.

Where to buy organic on a budget

In the past year, prices for organic fruits and vegetables rose 13.1%, significantly higher than the price increase of non-organic foods. While buying organic can be costly, certain stores can help organic shoppers save. This list highlights produce stores you may have been overlooking, like Trader Joe's and Walmart. Peruse the list and keep you grocery costs down.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

Use this calculator to find the dollar value of your mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care for your children.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

Frank Lloyd Wright's houses are historically hard to sell because they're old, subject to local landmark commissions, and often unfashionable

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

Fireworks make a loud booming sound after exploding due to air expanding faster than the speed of sound.

Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings are often assumed to be sexual, though the artist claimed she was simply interested in highlighting the beauty of flowers that most people neglect

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

While the sun's gravity keeps the planets in orbit, their gravity also pulls on the sun, causing it and everything else in the solar system to orbit around a mutual balance point called the barycenter—the true center of the solar system.

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.