As wedding season approaches, a survey by financial services marketplace LendingTree® reveals that half of all Americans who’ve been in a bridal party in the last 10 years say that they took on credit card debt in order to afford their expenses—and even more say they felt pressure to overspend.
A wedding should be a joyful occasion, an opportunity to celebrate love with the people closest to you (and a chance to party with an open bar). But rising expenses—and the expectation that those involved in the bridal party will pay them without question—might be putting a damper on wedding bliss. Jerry
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that saves you money on car insurance
, is here to break down the findings of LendingTree’s wedding woes survey. Compare insurance quotes from 50+ carriers with Jerry in under 45 seconds
Compare insurance quotes from 50+ carriers with Jerry in under 45 seconds
4.7/5 rating on the App Store | Trusted by 5+ million customers and 7 million cars4.7/5 app rating | Trusted by 5M+ drivers Most bridal party members think wedding costs are out of hand
When asked about how much they’ve spent on wedding-related expenses, 62% of the 842 consumers surveyed by LendingTree
agreed that bridal party costs are getting out of hand. Those costs aren’t just limited to the wedding itself. In fact, pre-wedding events like bachelor(ette) parties and bridal showers seem to play an even bigger role in bloating the bridal party budget. Here are the biggest costs bridal party members reported:
Bachelor or bachelorette party: 29%
What’s more, over half of the survey participants (56%) felt pressure to spend more than they could afford. The biggest source of that pressure? “Myself” (43%), followed closely by the bride (42%).
The average bridal party member paid $825 to participate in a wedding
Just how much do all these costs add up to? The average cost of being in a wedding, according to the LendingTree survey, is $825. That includes airfare, attire, gifts, and miscellaneous expenses associated with pre-wedding events.
But that $825 isn’t the end. On average, the survey participants had been in 2.6 bridal parties in the past decade, for a total average of $2,124 across multiple events.
The bottom line? Almost 4 in 10 of those who accept offers to be in weddings end up regretting how much they spent—and 41% said that wedding expenses hurt their relationship with another member of the wedding party. One in 10 respondents said that they’re no longer friends with the couple whose wedding they paid so much to be part of.
How to save money during wedding season
What’s the solution—start turning down wedding invites? While 19% of survey respondents said they’d done just that, there are other ways to survive wedding season. The easiest way to find financial breathing room is to shop for a new car insurance policy with Jerry
. On average, customers save $800+ a year on their new policy—exactly the cost of the average bridal party experience! MORE: Does being married lower car insurance?
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