Ah, weddings. A time to celebrate love, witness Aunt Diane drunkenly hit on a groomsman 30 years her junior, and fork over a month’s rent to attend as a guest, even though you’re not really that close with the bride anymore.
As Brides reports, a new survey from Priceline.com broke down just how insanely expensive it actually is to attend a wedding. Polling data from 1,016 adults over the age of 21 showed that millennial men and women generally spend upwards of $600 per each wedding-related event for a couple’s nuptials — from the wedding itself to bachelorette and bachelor parties, showers, engagement parties, gifts, and, we assume, the subsequent therapy necessary to get over the trauma of it all.
Unsurprisingly, the survey found that many people between the ages of 21 and 34 end up skipping weddings because of how expensive it can be to attend — particularly when it comes to accommodations, which 38 percent said typically costs the most. On top of that, 53 percent of respondents have had to travel for bachelorette or bachelor parties — and 24 percent of them end up spending at least $800 to $1,000 on those trips.
So, let’s stop feeling bad that we didn’t get an invite to our casual friend’s upcoming wedding at a farm in the middle of nowhere — and maybe put that money toward paying off our credit cards instead.
