Couples Spend Less on Their Wedding in 2014 than in 1945
Average wedding cost, total number of weddings, total wedding market sales from 1945 to 2014.
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 $29,460 in 2014 dollars! In 2014 the average wedding cost was $26,444 with 2.2 million weddings for total wedding market sales of $58.3 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 |
- 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 - 2014 Source: The Wedding Report, Inc. Wedding Cost Surveys
