Weddings are getting pricier just as Gen Z gets in the game
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Image: Bank of America Institute
Wedding spending is up significantly so far this year, per new data from Bank of America Institute.
The big picture: Overall higher inflation, combined with tariffs that have hit smaller wedding vendors harder, has jacked up the cost of getting hitched.
By the numbers: Average wedding-related spending per customer rose 8.5% through May this year, compared with the same time last year — that's more than double the rate of growth for the previous two years.
- The report uses the bank's anonymized customer data. It categorizes spending as "wedding related" when payments are made to vendors offering things like venue rentals, catering, photography, flowers and apparel.
Yes, but: The report would probably miss some things, like say, the multimillion-dollar cost of renting out New York City's Madison Square Garden for your venue.
Zoom in: Tariff costs cut into many small businesses' margins over the past year, but the BofA data finds that for those wedding vendors, the impact was more pronounced.
- For example, the majority of cut flowers sold in the U.S. are imported.
Between the lines: Increasingly, these higher wedding costs are falling on Gen Z, those born after 1995.
- The number of Gen Z weddings tripled in 2025 relative to 2019, per BofA's analysis of its payment data.
- Millennial weddings are down roughly 20% over the same period.
