ONE OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT NORTH ALABAMA IS THE AMOUNT OF TALENT IN THE LOCAL WEDDING INDUSTRY
Within that talent comes a wide range of services, experience and pricing. While there are several Core Factors that determine your final wedding spend - such as guest count, season, day of the week, location and preferences - we are here to dive in to what the average cost of a wedding looks like in North Alabama in 2025 and perhaps going into 2026
While we love a good budget pie chart, the percentages they provide can be very generic and are often be a disproportionate to what a local vendor would actually charge.
it’s helpful to picture your wedding budget as pieces of a puzzle that fit together to create your dream wedding day versus an overall number that breaks out by percentages. Within a wedding budget, there are some categories that are a fixed cost, no matter the season, date, guest count or location.
With that said - You should be prepared to see a continued rise in vendor pricing, as their own costs to provide their products/services consistently increase
FIXED COST CATEGORIES MIGHT INCLUDE:
Fixed Costs are expenses that are determined up front when you book and aren't likely to increase unless you make significant changes to the services originally contracted
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Wedding Planner or a Coordinator (if flat fee based)
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Photographer
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Videographer
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Entertainment
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Specialty rentals such as photo booth, draping, lighting etc
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Venue
CORE FACTOR BASED CATEGORIES MIGHT INCLUDE:
Core Factors are those that can increase or decrease from their original estimation based on factors such as final guest count, overall wedding spend, bridal party size etc.
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Florals
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Wedding Planner (if charging a percentage)
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Catering
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Stationery
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Hair/Makeup
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Bar/Alcohol
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Transportation
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Rentals (china, glassware, linens, chairs etc)
GUEST COUNT
is the biggest cause of couples wedding budgets becoming misaligned. So if you are prioritizing quality and essentials for your wedding (not all the bells & whistles) - what would your minimum budget need to be, based on your estimated guest count? Here is how they line up with current costs:
Number of Guests
50 or less
Expected Cost
min $20,000 +
Number of Guests
125-150
min $20,000 +
$50,000 - $60,000
Number of Guests
50-100
Expected Cost
$30,000 - $40,000
Number of Guests
150-250
min $20,000 +
$60,000 - $80,000
Number of Guests
100-125
min $20,000 +
$40,000 - $50,000
Number of Guests
250-350
min $20,000 +
min $90,000
these ranges are minimums based on current costs & our experience but are not intended to represent cost ranges for all weddings or all market areas
ON AVERAGE IN NORTH ALABAMA - FOR A STANDARD WEDDING OF 125 GUESTS, YOU CAN TYPICALLY EXPECT TO ALLOCATE A MINIMUM OF $50,000 FOR YOUR WEDDING.
A LOW END-TO-HIGH END COST BREAKDOWN MIGHT LOOK SOMETHING LIKE THIS...
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Venue: $6000 - $9000
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Full Service Planner: $6000-$15,000
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Photographer: $5500 - $9000
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Catering: $8000 - $14,000
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Cake: $500-$700
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Bar Service & Alcohol: $4000 - $7000
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DJ Entertainment: $3000 - $4500 (having a band? expect well in excess of $6k)
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Florals: $10,000 - $20,,000
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Beauty: $300 - $400 (bride only)
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Rentals: $3000 +
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Miscellaneous: $5000 (this will vary but could be for items like transportation, invitations, signage, custom made items etc)
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Incidentals: $1000 (it’s always best to include some extra funds in your budget for incidentals or to allow you the option to accept a higher than expected quote for one of your wedding priorities)
using only low end numbers, this totals $52,300
These estimations assume that you are choosing professional and experienced vendors and not selecting vendors simply based on a cheaper price
WHAT ABOUT THE WEDDING DRESS AND GROOMS SUIT?
because of the wide variance in cost and the emotional connection when shopping for wedding attire, we don’t recommend including this cost in your total wedding budget
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using only low end numbers, this totals $52,300
WHERE DOES YOUR WEDDING ALIGN
WITH CURRENT COSTS?
Budget - Less than $350 per guest
Average - $450-$650 per guest
Above Average - $650-$800 per guest
Semi-Luxury Wedding - $850-$1000 per guest
Luxury Wedding - $1200+ per guest
Ultra Luxury Wedding - $5000 + per guest
