It’s expensive to throw a wedding — but prepare for some serious sticker shock if you choose to wed on the Cape.
In a new national survey by wedding website The Knot, Cape Cod ranked as the fifth most expensive place in the US to get married in 2017, up from sixth the year before. Couples spent an average of $55,000, according to the survey of about 13,000 theknot.com members who said they married in the US last year.
Just behind Cape Cod was Rhode Island, where a wedding set couples back an average of about $53,000 in 2017, according to the wedding-planning site. For those looking to get hitched in Massachusetts, Boston was a better (but still pricey) bet. At 13th on the list, couples spent an average of about $40,000 on their nuptials.
Advertisement
New Love Letters podcast: In Season One, Meredith Goldstein explores what happens when love ends in a breakup. Listen to the podcast now, and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and RadioPublic.
The most expensive place in the country to wed was Manhattan, where the average cost of a wedding skyrockets to $76,000. North and central New Jersey, Long Island, and the New York City suburbs of Westchester and Hudson Valley rounded out the top five list.
The average cost of a wedding nationally was just over $33,000, which was down slightly from the survey’s all-time high of $35,000 in 2016.
So, where is all this money going?
According to the Knot, the venue where the reception is held took up the biggest share of the budget, where couples spent an average of $15,000. After that, couples spent an average of $5,700 on engagement rings, $4,000 on reception bands, $2,600 on photographers, and $2,300 each on florists and the ceremony site.
The Knot’s survey did not include the cost of the honeymoon, which can run into the thousands of dollars.
Below is the full list of top 25 priciest places to get married, based on average cost:
Advertisement
1. New York – Manhattan: $76,944
2. New Jersey – North/Central: $62,074
3. New York – Long Island: $61,113
4. New York – Westchester/Hudson Valley: $55,357
5. Massachusetts – Cape Cod: $55,083
6. Rhode Island: $52,777
7. Illinois – Chicago: $52,332
8. Connecticut: $47,435
9. New York City – Boroughs Outside of Manhattan: $46,808
10. Pennsylvania: Philadelphia/Delaware: $46,211
11. California – Los Angeles: $44,142
12. Louisiana – New Orleans: $41,167
13. Massachusetts – Boston: $40,667
14. Florida – Southern: $40,634
15. New Jersey – South: $40,231
16. DC-Washington DC/Northern Virginia/Suburban Maryland: $39,465
17. California – San Francisco/Greater Bay Area: $39,329
18. Hawaii: $38,984
19. California – Santa Barbara/Ventura: $38,025
20. California – Orange County/Inland Empire: $37,050
21. Maryland – Baltimore: $36,305
22. Michigan – Detroit: $35,843
23. Pennsylvania – Pittsburgh/Southwest: $34,928
24. California – San Diego: $34,722
25. Illinois – Chicago Suburbs: $34,675
Christina Prignano can be reached at christina.prignano@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @cprignano.