Destination wedding budget breakdown, line by line.

A destination wedding budget does not behave the way a local-wedding budget does. The biggest lines change; the smallest ones multiply; and three costs that do not exist in a local wedding (guest transfers, welcome bags, multi-day catering) become load-bearing. The cost tables below are modelled for 2026 rather than taken from any one booking; adjust the totals by region, but the per-line shape of the budget holds.

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 the two together. Most venues tie catering to a minimum spend, so there is little point pushing on one line and leaving the other alone. 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. The supplier discounts a planner brings offset part of the fee, and the scheduling stops being your job.

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): Budget it, and expect to spend it. Something goes over on every wedding.

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.