Budget, line by line.

A destination wedding budget does not behave the way a local-wedding budget does. The biggest line items change; the smallest ones multiply; and three line items that do not exist in a local wedding (guest transfers, welcome bags, multi-day catering) become load-bearing costs. The cost tables below are from real 2026 weddings we booked; adjust the totals by region but treat the per-line shape of the budget as consistent.

The shape, roughly: venue and catering together are 40 to 50 percent of the total; planner, photography, florals, and music together are 30 to 40 percent; guest logistics and contingency round out the last 15 to 20 percent. Anything that varies dramatically from that shape is either a venue-buyout outlier (pushes venue share to 60 percent) or an under-planned wedding (contingency too small).

These two are the spine. Venue hire runs €6,000 to €40,000 in Europe (more for full-property buyouts) and $45,000 to $120,000 for US resort takeovers. Catering is priced per-person: plan €100–€300 per guest in Europe, $150–$400 per guest for premium US resorts, $120–$250 per guest in Mexico. Add 5 to 8 hours of open bar at €30–€80 per guest.

Negotiate together. Most venues tie catering to a minimum spend; optimising one without the other compresses value. The lowest effective per-guest cost usually comes from a venue that allows your own caterer, but in practice the venue's in-house team is often better at the property itself.

The next tier. Each one compounds with the others: a good planner gets you discounts on the remaining three, a good photographer attracts the florists and musicians you want to work with, and so on. Hire this tier as a unit if you can.

Planner: €4,500 to €15,000 for full-service on a 70-guest wedding. Pays for itself in supplier discounts and stress avoided.

Photography + video: €6,000 to €14,000 for two photographers and a filmmaker over three days. The single most useful line item in the budget: you will look at these photos every year.

Florals and styling: €4,000 to €14,000 for ceremony, reception, candlelight, and sundries on a 70-guest wedding. Strongly influenced by the density of arrangements you want.

Music: €3,000 to €10,000 for ceremony ensemble, reception DJ or band, and any late-night set. In party-forward destinations (Mykonos, Ibiza) push the upper bound.

The line items couples most consistently underestimate. They do not exist in a local wedding.

Shuttle and transfer: €1,200 to €8,000 for a three-day weekend depending on venue distance from the airport and hotel block. Mallorca is €1,500–€3,500; the Amalfi Coast is €3,000–€6,000 because van-sized vehicles are required; the Maldives is $25,000+ because seaplane transfers are the norm.

Welcome bags and sundries: €500 to €2,000. Keep modest; nothing goes to waste faster.

Paperwork and legal: €500 to €3,000 for translations, apostilles, officiant, and any civil-registry costs.

Contingency (10 to 15 percent of subtotal): Non-negotiable. Always budget the buffer; always draw on it. Something will go over.

The same wedding done in different regions varies by 2–3x on total cost. The rough order, cheapest to most expensive, for a 70-guest three-day wedding in spring 2026:

• Value tier: Algarve (€30–60k), Puglia (€35–70k), Mainland Greece and Paros (€30–60k), Tulum ($55–120k)
• Mid tier: Mallorca (€45–85k), Ibiza (€50–100k), Tuscany (€55–110k), Santorini (€55–100k), Bali ($50–130k)
• Premium tier: Mykonos (€60–120k), Provence (€60–120k), Cabo (€65–140k or $65–140k), Amalfi (€80–150k), Lake Como (€90–170k), Turks & Caicos ($90–200k), Hawaii ($85–180k)
• Luxury tier: Maldives ($200–400k for 50 guests)

A sample table for the Algarve (a value-tier destination) and a second for the Amalfi Coast (premium-tier) follow so you can see how the line-item shape shifts at different tiers.