wedding

The Knot’s annual “Real Weddings study” surveyed 16,000 brides and grooms who were married last year to find out what wedded bliss will really cost you.The total? An average wedding in North America will set you back $39,500 Canadian. And that’s even with the average guest list growing smaller from previous years at 136 people. Most brides spent an average of $1,660 on their wedding dress alone. But be happy you don’t live in NYC!

Here are the statistic in American dollars.

  • Average Wedding Cost: $31,213 (excludes honeymoon)
  • Most Expensive Place to Get Married: Manhattan, $76,328 average spend
  • Least Expensive Place to Get Married: Utah, $15,257 average spend
  • Average Length of Engagement: 14 months
  • Average Marrying Age: Bride, 29; Groom, 31
  • Average Number of Bridesmaids: 4 to 5
  • Average Number of Groomsmen: 4 to 5
  • Most Popular Month to Get Engaged: December (16%)
  • Most Popular Month to Get Married: June (15%) followed by October (14%)
  • Popular Wedding Colors: Ivory/White (44%), Blue (37%), Pink (28%), Metallics (26%), Purple (23%)
  • Percentage of Destination Weddings: 24%

Bad news if you have daughters though. It may be 2015 but, on average, the bride’s parents still contribute 43% of the cost. The bride and groom contribute 43% and the groom’s parents contribute 12% of the total wedding budget.

Only 12% of couples pay for the wedding entirely themselves.