How to Survive Wedding Season Without Going Broke (or Looking Cheap)

Wedding season is expensive, with the average wedding guest spending $610 in 2024, according to an internal survey by wedding planning website The Knot. If you have multiple weddings to attend this year, those costs can quickly blow through your budget.

Luckily, there are ways to handle the expense of wedding season without going broke (or feeling cheap!). It all starts with knowing what matters to you.

Set Spending Priorities

To keep the costs of attending a wedding under control, Lindsey Stanberry, a budgeting expert who reports on the spending habits of real people, recommends looking not just at your budget, but at your priorities.

“Be honest with yourself about one, how much you can afford, and two, how much you can spend,” says Stanberry. “You may be able to afford more, but that might not be how you want to spend your money.”

Spending $610 to see your childhood best friend get married might be worth it, even if it’s a financial stretch. Spending the same amount to attend the wedding of a co-worker you’ve only known for a year or two might not be, even if you have that wiggle room in your budget. “It’s okay to make those decisions, especially if you have multiple weddings to attend,” advises Stanberry.

“The thing that doesn’t work,” she adds, “is just putting it on a credit card without budgeting or figuring out what you can afford. With everything in life, it’s worth taking a pause to figure out what’s important.”

Reduce Costs for Wedding Travel

One of the biggest factors in the cost of attending a wedding is location and travel. The Knot survey found that guests who were attending local weddings, without paying for travel and lodging, spent an average of $270. But for guests who had to fly to a wedding, costs rose to an average of $1,680.

Look for ways to make travel more affordable, such as:

• Sharing lodging with friends who are also attending
• Staying at a nearby but less expensive hotel
• Forgoing a rental car if other transportation is available
• Using credit card, hotel, or airline points to lower your costs
• Turning a destination wedding into a longer trip to make the cost of travel more worthwhile
• Attending different events than your partner if you have multiple wedding invites in a season
• Skipping extra events that require travel, such as showers or bachelor’s/bachelorette’s parties

In some cases, you may find that the cost of travel puts a wedding out of your budget. If you have a close relationship with the bride or groom, be honest with them about the reason you won’t be there.

“If you can’t go, figure out other ways to celebrate your friends,” Stanberry suggests. “Maybe you take them out to dinner, or maybe that’s when you buy a really nice wedding gift.”

Reconsider Wedding Gifts

The survey from The Knot found that wedding gifts averaged between $120 and $160 in 2024, depending on the guest’s relationship with the couple getting married. But in many cases, according to Stanberry, it’s okay to buy a smaller gift or skip one altogether.

“If a bride and groom have a destination wedding, it’s a lot to also expect wedding guests to buy gifts,” Stanberry says. Even if the wedding is local, if you have a tight budget, she recommends skipping a wedding gift.

If you don’t feel comfortable forgoing a gift, think outside the registry. Consider giving a small but meaningful present, such as a framed photograph of the bride and groom, or a second-hand gift that they would enjoy, such as a pair of vintage champagne flutes.

Some weddings will have multiple associated events where gifts are given. If you can’t afford to buy something from the registry for each one, Stanberry says, engagement parties are a good time to skip bringing a gift. “If you don’t want to show up empty-handed, you can bring a small token that’s more like a housewarming present,” she suggests. “There’s a lot of opportunity to get creative.”

For showers, she suggests going in on a present with friends. You can share the cost of something from the registry, or you can pamper the friend who is getting married by splitting the cost of something like a gift card to a spa.

Manage Spending in the Wedding Party

Being in a wedding party is even more expensive than being a guest, with costs often reaching into the thousands of dollars. And many wedding party members are spending far more than they can afford. A 2021 survey from LendingTree found that a third of bridal party members went into debt to finance their participation in a friend’s wedding, with 37% of them charging more than $1,000 of wedding expenses on a credit card.

Stanberry says the best way to rein in those expenses is to talk to the bride or groom early about what you can afford. “Have a conversation from day one about budget, what you can spend, what the expectations are,” she suggests. Let them know how honored you are to be asked to stand up with them, but be clear about what you can and can’t take on.

Bachelor and bachelorette parties are an area that can quickly get pricey, with many turning into multi-day events at destination locations. If you’re in the wedding party, you might assume that attending the bachelor’s or bachelorette’s party is required. But no one can force you to spend your money.

“I think this is one area that, if you really feel strongly about it, you can tell the bride and groom that you can’t participate, or that you’re going to participate in a smaller way,” advises Stanberry. “If they’re not able to understand and have open conversations about money, maybe that’s a red flag about the friendship.”

The Bottom Line

Attending a wedding can be expensive, whether you’re a guest or a member of the wedding party. Travel, lodging, gifts, and extra parties can all add up. To stay within your budget, be clear on your priorities and honest about your finances. Then, look for ways you can trim costs, whether that means finding less expensive ways to travel or scaling down your gift-giving. If you are in the wedding party, communicate with the bride or groom about what you can and can’t afford from the very beginning.

“I think the most important thing is the actual wedding day and being there for your friends,” says Stanberry. “Figure out how to get there, and the rest of it is just icing on the cake.”