One California City Listed Among Top 20 Cities to Get Married

With Valentine’s Day around the corner and COVID-19 vaccinations paving the way for safer weddings in the coming months, we thought it would be fun to share a new report on 2021’s Best Places to Get Married.

Weddings in the U.S. traditionally have an enormous price tag, with the average couple shelling out over $38,000 for their big day. There are so many things to purchase and organize that many couples hire professional event planners to do the heavy lifting, writes Adam McCann of WalletHub. Between sending invitations, securing reservations, planning a menu and obsessing over final touches on the cake, it’s no wonder weddings are arranged months, even years, in advance. Tying the knot is a huge commitment, and the wedding industry is worth around $73.3 billion in revenue per year.

To help couples find the most wedding-friendly destinations, WalletHub compared more than 180 of the biggest U.S. cities across 20 key indicators of cost-effectiveness, convenience and enjoyment. The data set ranges from average wedding cost to venues and event spaces per capita to wedding vendors.
Best Places to Get Married in the U.S.

1. Orlando, FL
2. Fayetteville, NC
3. Austin, TX
4. Portland, OR
5. Charleston, WV
6. Kansas City, MO
7. Atlanta, GA
8. Vancouver, WA
9. Tampa, FL
10. San Francisco, CA
11. Cincinnati, OH
12. Newport News, VA
13. Seattle, WA
14. Raleigh, NC
15. Virginia Beach, VA
16. Lewiston, ME
17. Las Vegas, NV
18. Richmond, VA
19. Honolulu, HI
20. Durham, NC

Best vs. Worst

  • Brownsville, Texas, has the lowest average wedding cost, $15,418, which is 2.7 times lower than in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the city with the highest at $40,903.
  • Washington has the most event planners per capita, 92, which is 13.1 times more than in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the city with the fewest at 7.
  • Vancouver, Washington, has the most photographers per capita, 133, which is 44.3 times more than in New York, the city with the fewest at 3.
  • San Francisco has the most musicians per capita, 19, which is 73.1 times more than in Wichita, Kansas, the city with the fewest at 0.26.

To view the full report and your city’s rank, click here.