There’s the wedding, gifts, showers, bachelorette parties and the honeymoon. Turns out, getting married is a costly milestone for Canadian couples — and their family and friends.
Canadians say a realistic price tag for a wedding is $8,937, according to an Ipsos poll on wedding expenses conducted exclusively for Global News. That’s a far cry from the $30,717 Canadians said they were spending in a 2015 poll.
They’re gifting about $147, and the bridal party is spending about $366 on average, according to the polling firm’s new data.
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“There’s this belief among some people that you need to spend reams of money to impress and make it something guests will enjoy. It’s expensive, and people understand it’s expensive,” he said.
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Keep in mind, there are generational differences contributing to these numbers. Baby boomers didn’t spend as much on weddings as millennials do, for example. And then there’s factoring in how widespread Canada is.
READ MORE: Gift registry? Wedding bands? Here are the ‘traditions’ the wedding industry helped prevent
“Attitudes differ by income and location. If you’re in Toronto and you want a nice venue on a Saturday evening in June, you’re not spending $10,000. But in rural parts of the country, there’s less demand and the prices will reflect that,” Simpson said.
And then there’s the engagement photos, wedding showers, bachelor parties and rehearsal dinners. Those only drive up cost, too.
Here’s a look at how much wedding season is costing Canadian couples, their families and their guest list.
(Infographic by Ben Simpson/Leo Kavanagh)
The Ipsos poll was conducted in May 2017. A random sample of Canadian adults were interviewed online for the survey, which was weighted to bring it in line with Canadian demographics and which has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
Follow @Carmen_Chai
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