Gotta love leftovers!
Lunch today came together quickly thanks to reheated leftovers from last night’s dinner. All of the sausage pieces were gone thanks to Ryan, but the remaining wheat berry risotto was still fantastic.
I added a sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top because I’m cheesy. 
Since today’s portion wasn’t that large, I also ate a cup of Fage 2 percent Greek yogurt on the side.
If you see a green tint the the yogurt, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. I added a spoonful of pistachio pudding mix to the yogurt for some sweetness and flavor. Yogurt pudding! It’s a great little treat!
Now for some wedding fun!
Wedding Statistics
Since the wedding-related posts that pop up on this blog always seem to be relatively popular (dating duration before engagement + average engagement length), I figured a handful of you guys would likely find the following collection of statistics as interesting as I did when I read them at the gym this morning!
In the February 2012 issue of Ocala Magazine, a large portion of the content is dedicated to weddings trends and wedding planning.
Even though I am already married, I still love reading about weddings. And yes, I even have a “Wedding Ideas… For Other People” board on Pinterest. I’m pretty sure everyone who got married before Pinterest took off wishes that site was around when they were planning their big day!
Well, one page in the latest issue of Ocala Magazine included a plethora of wedding statistics compiled by Caroline Fischer, many of which completely surprised me.
Most Popular:
- Most popular month for weddings: June, followed by August and May
- Most popular engagement month: December
- Most popular wedding location: Istanbul, Turkey, followed by Las Vegas
By the States:
West Texas has the youngest average brides, New York has the oldest. Nebraska and Iowa have the largest weddings, while Hawaii and Nevada have the smallest wedding guest lists.
The most expensive wedding areas in the United States in 2010 were Manhattan ($70,730), Long Island ($51,811) and North/Central New Jersey ($49,374). (Floridians: South Florida was number 10 on the list.)
Averages:
- Average number of weddings per year: 2.3 million (6,200 weddings per day or 44,230 weddings per weekend)
- Average budget: $26,951
- Average number of guests: 178
- Average cost of wedding dress: $1,124
- Average cost of bride’s ring: $6,113
- Average cost of groom’s ring: $468
- Average cost of a wedding cake: $591
- Average age of bride: 25.3
- Average age of groom: 26.9
- Average number of bridesmaids/groomsmen: 5
(Sources: www.weddingstats.org, www.soundvision.com, www.partytime-rentals.com, www.weddingbusinesstoday.com)
Question of the Afternoon
- Did any of these wedding statistics surprise you?
I remember reading a handful of wedding statistics when Ryan and I started planning our big day and felt completely shocked by the average cost of everything. Wowza!
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I just got engaged in January and planning on a June wedding, looks like those stats are on point!
Makes me feel better – I live in NY and am barking up about 75K on my wedding and it’s right outside of Manhattan i think that Manhattan number is way off. Manhattan weddings are 120K+
oh mannnnn I can never get over the fact that weddings can cost over $25,000!!!! It definitely helps me not feel to stressed about paying anything for our wedding hehe 🙂 I’m aiming for less than $18000, and I’m happy to say that I think it’s working!!! It’s not TOO surprising that NY has oldest brides, since it’s such a fast-paced culture there!
Wow those statistics are pretty close to me haha! I just got engaged in December and am getting married in August. Our ages are a little off the average. And we are planning on 150 guests… although we aren’t sure how many will attend since we are inviting way more. I’m trying to keep my budget under $20,000, but Dad is braced for up to $30,000… So the fact that the average budget is in the middle is kind of funny. I don’t think I need it though and hope it stays that way! The cake throws me off… I’m about to start looking… How much did your cake cost?
Oh btw, I look at your wedding posts all the time to help me keep on track with how planning should go 🙂
The average cost of the wedding definitely surprises me. I know that there are a lot of people who spend extravagant amounts of money on their weddings, but I would have thought there would be a lot MORE people who could only afford an inexpensive affair. Very interesting!
I’m sorry, the bride’s ring(s) cost HOW much?!??
That’s it. When The BF proposes, the ring better be one of those plastic ones from the $0.25 vending machines at grocery stores.
i love the difference in prices between the bride and groom’s rings. haha
The average price of a wedding dress seemed kind of low to me (though mine definitely won’t be more than that!). I guess shows like Say Yes To The Dress have made me think everyone spends 5 grand and up on a dress….
makes sense that NY has among the oldest brides and texas has among the youngest- divorce rates are much lower in the northeast than in the south!
Wow, there were a lot of new stats for me. Personally, we had 300 guests and that was trying VERY hard to trim it down. His parents know a lot of people! Not surprisingly, we didn’t get to eat but my matron of honor’s hisband packed food up for us which we enjoyed after. The Vietnamese wedding receptions are pretty delicious. 8 course meals! We spent more money on the food and areas where we thhad many friends say it was the most fun wedding in which they had been.
Sorry, accidentally clicked Submit. On the mobile. I meant to say we concentrated more on what would be fun for the guests, the rings, and the dress, of course. I didn’t care about any of the other details really and even when we got rained on taking outside photos with the bridal party and ha to run inside. My hair was wet and I forgot to bring the curling iron and extra make-up…I didn’t let any of it ruin the day. Best day of my life! 😉
I’m not caught up on my wedding info but surprised by Turkey being the #1 spot. I’m a geek for stats.
Also love mixing in pudding mixes (or hot coco packets) into greek yogurt.
I’m not at all surprised that the oldest brides are in NYC–everyone is so career focused and definitely seem to put their relationships second.
25 seems so young to me to get married.
Who gets married in Turkey or Istanbul – must be some sort of tax break:)
What kind of dog do you have?
Not to pry, but did you and Ryan (or any pbf commenters) spend anywhere near $26,000 on your wedding? That number seems insanely high. I mean if you have the money and want to spend it great, but it just seems like most people don’t have that much money to spend on a wedding. My parents and my boyfriend’s parents will both help out when we get married but there’s no way we’ll be spending anywhere near the average. I just can’t even imagine spending as much money on my wedding (roughly) as I have on college!
The cost of the bride’s ring suprises me. I like nice rings but 6,000! Geesh. 26,000 doesnt suprise me because so many things add up.
Aren’t these numbers STAGGERING?! In NYC – the average wedding dress costs 3X that amount – around $3500!
For all of you ladies looking to save – http://www.somethingborrowedny.com RENTS designer bridal accessories for a fraction of the retail price!
We love Julie and her PB blogging (favorite…cinnamon raisin PB by PB&Co) – and we’re happy to style any of her readers!!
xoxo
Brittany
Something Borrowed NY
I’m surprised by the fact that the largest weddings were in Nebraska and Iowa!!! But I guess they might to less expensive weddings in smaller towns where they just invite everyone? I love this post, haha because I love weddings AND statistics!
LOVE weddings…and I love learning about them even more now that I’m planning mine :D. Some of those cost values do surprise me, but after beginning to plan I’m not as shocked as I would have been before I got engaged! It’s crazy how expensive weddings can be! I should go into the business haha 😉
hahahah dying over the difference in cost over bride’s vs. groom’s ring. wowww.
Im surprised at the average number of guests. We have 450 invited and had to cut the list by 50 or 60…..Guess big families of 8-10 kids like my parents have are a thing of the past…
The cake price definitely shocked me!!!
After reading the average cost of weddings, I am reminded why I am eloping! Maybe we can get married in Turkey 🙂
The cost of the bride’s ring surprised me. I felt it was a little low if its the engagement ring. I know $6,000 sounds like a lot of money, but most people don’t have a clue how much diamonds cost! Crazy expensive!
Over 6,000 dollars for a ring?! Holy moly!
Hold on a second. Can I assume that the cost of the bride’s ring includes her engagement ring, and not just her wedding band? Because that’s just nutty—either way!
How timely…I just got engaged on Saturday! Perhaps I should look into Turkey for a venue. People will gladly travel there, yeah? No.
Justwanted to say I was browsing pinterest and just saw your photo with you and Ryan holding hands on other sides of the door pre-wedding!
None of them line up with my stats, but that’s ok 🙂 PS. Did I see that Lindzi on The Bachelor is from Ocala, FL?? Am I confused? There weren’t any palm trees???
St Louis’s busiest month is October… When I got married. 🙂
I am from West Texas, and it DOES NOT surprise me that the youngest brides are from there. I am getting married in September and I am 25, an old maid per our standards!! Probably why I am having a destination wedding 😉
Wow, none of these surprised me because my wedding fit into almost all of them. Oh boy! 😉
The average cost makes me so sad! Like, I knew this (read it somewhere recently) but I chose to pretend it’s not real. What kills me is that that’s actually LOW compared to the more expensive states. I know that costs add up quickly, but…ugh. I wish more people would just be like, “OK so we can all agree this is ridiculous? And just because people have been doing this for the past 20 years, we’re going to be part of the solution? And…get married at City Hall and have a party in someone’s backyard?” But no. Everyone just seems to think, “Oh, yeah, $26K NBD.”
It blows my mind.
Interesting wedding facts…some of the costs seem a little on the high side to me though.
Turkey was my first destination wedding location, but I opted to stay in Orlando….
I TOTALLY wish that pinterest was around when I got married! Facebook wasn’t even much of a thing at all when that happend lol…lord I’m only 30 lol!!
I totally underspend on my wedding, although my dress was right there. I spent more on my cake though. I wonder why no averages on photography or catering? I assume that’s in the total average cost. Interesting!
getting married this June…guess I chose the best month?!
thanks for this! always makes me giddy to read wedding trivia. anything wedding-y!
The average cost of a wedding blows my mind! We live in the city and thats more than the down payment on our house!!
When we were planning my sister’s wedding, some of the figures killed me…crazy expensive!
I’m always amazed by how expensive it seems to be. My grandmother had a church service and a reception in a local cafe…my mother had a church service and a reception in the local community centre…suddenly this generation wants it to be a massive event!
Of course it is an important event but I don’t like the way retailers hear the word “wedding” and add a few zeros to the price. For example, I saw a white iced square cake for £20, and next to it a white iced square cake with a “wedding” tag on it for £50! It’s the same cake, I was thinking…
I spent nearly my entire life in Nebraska and was a little suprised at first to read that they (along with Iowa) have the largest weddings! But then I got to thinking about it… and I personally think the reason is because people seem to invite anyone and everyone they have everyknown… and because most people have spent their entire lives in the same town, they invite the entire town… or leave an open-ended invitation and people just kind of show up.
Both of those things drove me crazy… We didn’t do it either of those ways when we were married…
I’d be curious to know the real reason behind this stat 🙂
I kind of just went through that list of statistics with a higher/lower on my own wedding. haha.
That’s about how much was spent on my wedding (the average) but my dress, ring, and the cake were MUCH cheaper!
Dress: <$700
Ring: <$500 (my engagement ring was an heirloom so we only had to pay for the wedding band)
Cake: FREE! We had a family friend that gave the cake as a gift 🙂
I wonder where all that money went to haha
I got married in New York and it wasn’t too bad. We spent about $30,000 on 325 guests. My dress was $499 and my engagement ring was $1,200 🙂
I had no idea about Istanbul being a popular wedding location. It is a truly amazing city and I highly recommend a visit. My husband’s family is from Istanbul. We got married in November in Marco Island, Florida which was a destination wedding for us being from New Jersey. Coincidentally, we’re planning a second wedding celebration in Istanbul this summer.
These stats are NUTS!
For my wedding: We got engaged in June 2010, married in July 2011. I was 31, my husband was 37.
My dress was $180 (it was a bridesmaid dress- and it was perfect!) and our cake was around $400 (and it was custom designed with tasteful Red Sox logos and mini edible figurines of us and our dogs). I don’t remember what our rings cost- that’s the one thing we didn’t really skimp on.
We had 100 people at our wedding ( I can not imagine having MORE!) and I think we spent around 15,000 when all was said and done (including what we wore). The biggest part of our budget was the location- we got married at a vineyard and had to serve their wine.
Our wedding was awesome and I wouldn’t change it- but if we were to do it over again- we might just elope. 🙂
sooo Caroline is the sister of one of Beau’s groomsmen..her mom is the one throwing my lingerie shower! She told me she was doing that article for Ocala mag. So funny!
Surprised at the av. cost of dress and ring! Dang, expensive! Also the age of newlyweds, I thought it’d be older. I like these wedding posts, they’re really interesting. 🙂
I’m the SAME way! I still love reading about weddings and pretend wedding planning even though I’m already married! I loved reading through these wedding statistics. My husband and I were both the “average” age list when we got married: me 25 and him 26. And we got married in the 2nd most popular month: August. Interesting!