Lauren Kay
speaker
103 appearances
2 recordings
2 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard May 2025
Lauren Kay’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
That makes sense. And that's kind of one of the things I love about wedding planning today is it really is your personal preference. There are no rules. You get to do what feels right to you as a couple. And yes, what you're referencing is our Not 2025 Real Wedding Study, where we survey all sorts of data, namely the average cost. It comes up a lot.
And the average cost across the nation is $33,000. But yes, in specific cities, it's either more or less. So when you get into an urban environment like your San Francisco or my New York City, everything costs more. So I think what it gets down to then is, A, do you have the savings and do you want to spend your money that way?
And if you don't, how can you spend less than that average and still have an event that is memorable, that reflects who you are as a couple, and that is special? And it is absolutely doable. You know, you both are thinking about this from a very budget mindset, which I love because that means that your money is going where you want it to
whether that's a trip to japan or planning for your future together so we find a lot of couples are being really intentional about all their decisions and how they're spending um you know and they're they're really making sure that they're well versed in how much things cost and And that just allows you to be a little bit more thoughtful about your budget from the get-go.
If you know you only have so much to spend, you can do what it sounds like you did, Colleen. What are my number one, two, and three priorities? What are my partner's top three priorities? And how can we align on them so that we can be spending our budget with intention and be really comfortable with how we spent our money without going over budget?
Yeah, so this is going to sound kind of counterintuitive, but stick with me here. I think the number one tip I always give couples is to hire a wedding vendor team. It sounds like, you know, you're spending money on things, but truly when you work closely with these vendors, you will be able to save money.
You'll be able to stay within your budget and still get your desired outcome, whether that's a style of cake you like or florals that represent your vision. You know, these vendors are so keen in bringing your day to life and doing it in a magical way. And they're so good at what they do. They're really solution oriented. They can provide you with a lot of advice.
They can give you alternatives that you can stay within budget. So I think it's a great way to get creative while still sticking to your budget.
And like I said, there's a whole article on tipping on the knot.com. So if you get stuck or you're like, Ooh, what did she say about this? You can go back and check it out on our website and it'll help you budget ahead. And I think that's so smart because that is a thing like kind of like the alterations around your dress.
You might've budgeted a thousand dollars for your dress and you spent $999 and oops, now you need to get some alterations or you need to get some undergarments. So those are those little sneaky costs that add up and that can make people go over budget. So adding those tips in early is a huge win for you.
Sort of. I was at a wedding this past weekend. I haven't been a bridesmaid in the hot minute, but I did wear some pretty, pretty memorable dresses over the years. But yes, my gig is all weddings all the time. And I love it.
Absolutely. Doesn't everyone? You know, for me, I actually started working at The Knot just before I got married. So I went into it not knowing much and learning really quickly between August and November of my wedding date, all the things I didn't know. I used The Knot to help plan my wedding, but it was just enough to second guess all those decisions too.
But the biggest mistake I think I made, and I feel like so many couples do this, is I just picked an arbitrary number with my parents and made that my budget. And And then, oh gosh, as we started doing research and as I started figuring out what I wanted, I realized that number didn't quite really match with my vision.
And so I ended up having to adjust my budget and I did end up going a little over budget. So I'm really excited because we are aiming to fix that at The Knot. It's our life quest now.
Sure. So we do a ton of studies every year because we love data at the knot. And our knot 2023 real wedding study revealed that the average cost of a wedding is around $35,000. And I just have to caveat that because average means so many different things, right? Depending on the region you get married in, your guest count, how many vendors you use, budgets can vary widely.
And so it's important to think of it as an average. That being said, I feel like you very rarely talk to someone who's like, Sign me up for that average wedding, right? Everybody has their own vision. So I think it's a number we know and we have the data to support.
But I always kind of tread lightly there because it can really look differently depending on the type of wedding you're having and where you're doing it.
So the most expensive item is typically the venue. It's one of those things you book really early on and it's a big chunk of your budget. Sometimes it also includes catering, but if not, then catering usually comes next. And then we see couples spend a lot of money on music, photography, and flowers. So those are where we see the most of the wedding budget going to.
But again, it's so hyper-personalized. Weddings these days have so many factors that go into it around personalization and authenticity to the couple. So everyone spends a little differently, but that's the general consensus of how the budget gets spent.
Okay. So I think the most important thing is to budget for the entirety of something. And I feel like that gets lost in translation a bit. So, you know, for example, you're budgeting for your wedding dress, right? But you're not thinking, wait, I'm going to want shoes and I'm going to need alterations. And what about my jewelry?
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