Couples Spend Less on Their Wedding in 2019 than in 1945
Average wedding cost, total number of weddings, total wedding market sales from 1945 to 2019.
In 1945 the average wedding cost was $2,240 with a total of 1.6 million weddings for total wedding market sales of $3.6 billion. Using the US inflation calculator from usinflationcalculator.com, that's $31,815 in 2019 dollars! In 2019 the average wedding cost was $24,675 with 2.13 million weddings for total wedding market sales of $52.5 billion. Using the inflation rate, couples spend less today than they did in 1945!
| Year | Total Weddings | Average Cost | Total Sales |
| 1945 | 1,613,000 | $2,240 | $3,613,120,000 |
| 1990 | 2,440,000 | $15,200 | $37,088,000,000 |
| 1999 | 2,359,419 | $18,900 | $44,593,019,100 |
| 2002 | 2,292,001 | $22,400 | $51,340,822,400 |
| 2005 | 2,230,000 | $26,450 | $58,983,500,000 |
| 2006 | 2,213,000 | $27,590 | $61,056,670,000 |
| 2007 | 2,197,000 | $28,732 | $63,124,204,000 |
| 2008 | 2,160,858 | $24,111 | $52,100,447,238 |
| 2009 | 2,084,828 | $22,062 | $45,995,475,336 |
| 2010 | 2,096,932 | $26,542 | $55,656,769,144 |
| 2011 | 2,119,494 | $25,631 | $54,324,750,714 |
| 2012 | 2,134,311 | $25,656 | $54,757,883,016 |
| 2013 | 2,146,169 | $25,200 | $54,083,458,800 |
| 2014 | 2,205,269 | $26,444 | $58,316,133,436 |
| 2015 | 2,220,389 | $26,645 | $59,162,264,905 |
| 2016 | 2,250,631 | $26,720 | $60,136,860,320 |
| 2017 | 2,227,024 | $25,764 | $57,377,046,336 |
| 2018 | 2,130,061 | $24,723 | $52,661,498,103 |
| 2019 | 2,126,126 | $24,675 | $52,462,159,050 |
- 1945 Source: Saturday Evening Post; 5/26/1945, Vol. 217 Issue 48, p11-46, 4p
- 1990,1999 Source: Christian Science Monitor; 6/4/2001, Vol.93 Issue 132, p12
- 2002 Source: Fairchild Bridal Group The American Wedding
- 2005 - 2019 Source: The Wedding Report, Inc. Wedding Cost Surveys