Average Cost of a wedding in Oregon

This is one of the highest searched terms by local wedding planning couples. As soon as one of you says "yes!" the wedding planning begins... but where do you start?!

A few things need to happen all at the same time and the answers will effect how much your wedding will cost. The first items to determine are:

1) Guest list- make a list of all the people you would like to invite.  You can get details later but you need to know approximately how many guests you are having so that you can find a venue that can accommodate that number.  Some things to ask yourselves are: Are we inviting children? Are we inviting co-workers? Which friends and family members are important to your parents and should get an invite?  These will significantly effect your planning and your budget so its important to get this figured out early.

2) Type of wedding- Location, location, location! What type of wedding you have will effect the cost of your wedding venue.  Are you having a church ceremony and then a reception at a different location? Do you want the ceremony and reception in the same place? Do you want an indoor wedding? Outdoor wedding? Rustic wedding? Ballroom wedding?  You will want to start looking for venues that fit the type of wedding you want and that will effect your budget.

3) Approximate date- What time of year do you want to get married?  April to October is peak wedding season here in Oregon and can effect the cost of your wedding.  I say "approximate date" because your dream venue may not be available on the exact date you want.  Couples are taking longer on average to plan their weddings (sometimes up to 2 years) so venues book pretty quickly. 

4) Wedding planner- do you want to hire a wedding planner?  Full service wedding planners help you from "yes!" to "I do" to "bon voyage (leaving for your honeymoon)."  There is a cost associated with them but they can help you reduce costs as well as reduce stress.  If you decide you want to plan your wedding yourself (totally doable... especially at a wedding show!) you will definitely want to consider a day of coordinator.  They help with all the to dos of the wedding day so you can relax and enjoy the day.  Plan it and hand it off.  I am not a wedding planner but I highly recommend hiring a day of coordinator if you forgo the full service planning.  The number one regret recently married couples have is not hiring a day of coordinator.

The other items will come later but at the beginning of wedding planning these are the three things you should focus on.

Now that you have those out of the way... what will this all cost you?  
$31,967
is the average cost of a wedding in Oregon for a single location (ceremony and reception in the same location), with 125 guests in the spring.  This is not based on a national survey.  This is based on almost 10 years wedding industry experience here in Portland and the Willamette Valley.  We know literally hundreds of wedding vendors across all vendor categories and did the research to find the average numbers.  Here is how it breaks down:

Now that you have all this information you are ready to get started on your wedding budget.  Register your wedding to get a copy of our FREE wedding planning checklist.