Weddings: Costs, number of guests, location, financing – This is how Germans get married

Before the big day, there is often a big argument: 43 percent of couples say that they have argued at least regularly when planning their wedding. No wonder: After all, it is not uncommon to be planning a celebration worth the price of a mid-range car. Location, catering, DJ, dress, floral decorations – not only is this expensive, it also provides plenty of grounds for disagreement.

Just three years ago, according to a survey by the wedding portal “Weddyplace”, only 0.4 percent of couples spent more than 40,000 euros on their wedding celebrations; this proportion has increased fivefold to two percent in 2024. Almost twelve percent now have a budget of more than 25,000 euros and only just over half of the bridal couples get by on less than 15,000 euros. Inflation in recent years has also hit the wedding industry hard.

Only one in four couples (24 percent) can say that they did not have to make any compromises. The most common way to cut back is on the guest list: 30 percent of those surveyed said they had to make cuts in the number of people celebrating.

At 34.3 percent, a good third of couples invite between 50 and 75 people to their wedding, only 2.5 percent end up with more than 150 names on the guest list, and more than a fourth couple opt for a more informal setting and limit themselves to fewer than 50 party guests.

Another common way to save money is to choose the dream location: instead of the villa on Lake Como or the country house in Tuscany that you know from Instagram, it is often the local clubhouse. After all, two thirds of couples pay for their wedding at least partially themselves.

More than one in four couples (26 percent) say that they still feel pressured by social media when planning. This is only topped by the perceived pressure from family, which 40 percent of wedding couples feel. This is not surprising either, because in 27 percent of cases the groom's parents help financially, and in 24 percent of celebrations the bride's parents help. Nevertheless, quite a few couples – 17 percent – even take out a loan for the party.

According to a survey commissioned by the company Kartenmacherei, couples spend the most money on food and drinks. For five percent, the bill for this ends up being over 4,000 euros, while 13 percent manage to keep these items under 500 euros. At 69 percent, the vast majority spend between 1,000 and 4,000 euros on catering. Inflation is also noticeable in the expenditure on the wedding dress and suit; in 2021, 89 percent stayed under 2,000 euros for these items, but in 2024 this figure will only be 59 percent.

The peak wedding season is just coming to an end, 58.3 percent of couples marry in the summer, almost a quarter choose spring, and only three percent tie the knot in winter. But plans for next summer have long been underway – and are causing discussions among new couples.

But despite all the wedding arguments, 94 percent of all couples said that planning the wedding had a “rather positive” effect on their relationship overall. Unfortunately, it is not known whether the other six percent got married anyway or whether they finally fell out.

Philipp Vetter is a business correspondent in Berlin. He reports on the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, Economic policy, Energy policy, Transport policy, mobility and the Deutsche BahnYou can subscribe to his exclusive WELTplus newsletter subscribe here. Since 2021 he has been co-host of the WELT podcast “Everything on stocks“.