Cheap destination weddings: where to save, and where not to.

Cheap destination weddings are cheap for the same few reasons. The couple chose a place where venues and suppliers charge less, married outside the peak-season Saturdays, and invited fewer people. Those three decisions move more of the budget than flowers, favors or stationery do, so make them first and in that order.

Every figure in this guide is a modeled planning estimate unless it names a source, and the savings do not add up: each one shrinks the total the next is taken from.

Not on average, and not per guest. The Knot's 2025 Real Weddings Study put the average spend on a destination wedding at $39,000 among couples married in 2024, against $33,000 for US weddings overall. It also noted that destination weddings tend to have fewer guests, so couples spend more on each one. Most of those weddings were inside the United States; 14 percent were in another country.

Our own estimates point the same way. The Knot's 2026 study put the average US wedding at $34,000 for 117 guests, or $292 a guest. Our lowest line-by-line budget, a three-day Algarve wedding with 70 guests, totals an estimated €57,000 at typical prices, or about €814 a guest (in euros, and for three days of events).

Where you live matters as much. The 2025 study put the average wedding at $18,000 in Utah and $57,000 in New Jersey. A destination wedding can still come in under the wedding you would have had at home, but it takes a much shorter guest list, a high-cost home market, or both.

The destination is the largest saving. As a planning estimate, the same wedding costs 40 to 60 percent less at a value-tier destination (the Algarve, Puglia, mainland Greece) than at a premium-tier one (the Amalfi Coast, Lake Como). The two line-by-line budgets in the destination wedding budget breakdown agree: for 70 guests over three days they total an estimated €57,000 in the Algarve and €105,000 on the Amalfi Coast at typical prices, 46 percent less. If your budget reaches a premium destination only by trading down on the photographer and the food, choose the less expensive place and keep the better suppliers.

Each figure is a modeled planning estimate of what the couple pays; guests' flights and rooms are not in it. A line-by-line figure is the typical total of the eight-line cost table in that destination's own guide for a three-day wedding. With every line at its cheapest the Algarve's comes to €33,700, and at its most expensive, €92,000. A summary estimate has no line items behind it and states no tax basis, so treat it as less certain.

The checklist below lists Tulum as a value-tier pick, but its total counts a hotel buyout, and next to Cabo, at about $173,500 with a resort buyout, the estimated saving is small, not 40 to 60 percent. Ask venues there what they charge without a buyout.

For more places, browse the collection of affordable destination weddings, compare destination wedding locations by estimated cost, or read how to choose a destination wedding location.

The date is the second-largest saving, and it has three parts.

• Move to a shoulder month. Late September is estimated at 15–25% less than June at most Mediterranean destinations, and late April is comparable.
• Pick a Thursday or a Sunday. A weekday is estimated to save 10–20% on venue and catering minimums, and guests who have flown in are staying several nights anyway.
• Avoid the holiday premium. Christmas through New Year, Easter week and the first week of July (the Fourth of July in the Americas) all carry surcharges.

Combined, a Thursday in late September is estimated at 25–35% less than a peak-season Saturday in the same destination. Treat the top of that range as a ceiling, because the weekday discount applies to venue and catering minimums, which are only part of the budget.

Every additional guest adds an estimated €150 to €400 in catering, seating, stationery, transport and welcome-bag costs. Taking 20 names off a 90-guest list saves an estimated €3,000 to €8,000 directly.

A small destination wedding still has room for the people you love. Be strict about plus-ones, work colleagues and the second-tier invitations that fill the last 20 percent of a list.

At a resort, the published price of the wedding itself can be under $10,000. Sandals' terms, last published in July 2026, list wedding packages at $1,000 for up to 10 guests, $3,850 for up to 50 and $7,600 for up to 70, all for guests staying at the resort. Those prices leave out rooms, flights, a $250 premium for a Friday or Saturday ceremony, and a marriage license fee of $250 to $750, depending on the island. The guide to all-inclusive destination wedding packages explains what a package covers and what gets added to it.

Most venues have a preferred-supplier list. It is convenient and almost never the cheapest option. For photography and flowers in particular, hiring independent suppliers is estimated to save 15 to 25 percent on those two lines.

Catering is the exception. The venue's kitchen is on the property and its team knows the service, and an outside caterer tends to produce a worse meal. Resorts can be another exception: Sandals' terms, for one, prohibit outside vendors for any service the resort offers itself, so read the contract before you count on this saving.

Then the extras. The smaller cuts (invitations, music, flowers, a second photographer) are in the checklist below. Welcome bags are the easiest to drop: they are estimated at €15 to €40 per guest, and a handwritten card, a bottle of something local and the weekend schedule do the same job.

Three lines are almost always a mistake to trim.

• Photography. You will look at the photographs every year, and nothing else in the budget lasts like that. Cut flowers, music and welcome bags first. A mid-priced photographer on a mid-sized budget is a sound trade; the cheapest photographer on a tight budget is not.
• The planner. Full service is estimated at €4,500 to €15,000 for a 70-guest wedding, and more at premium destinations. A good planner is estimated to save 10–15% across the other suppliers and takes the wedding week off your hands; on a 70-guest wedding that covers a good part of the fee.
• Contingency. Hold back 10–15% of the subtotal for the dress alteration, the extra transfer van and the last-minute floral swap. Cutting it does not save money. It means the overrun lands on you.

The checklist below adds two more to leave alone: the open bar and a simple welcome dinner.

Inexpensive destination weddings are planned budget first, venue second.

1. Agree on the total and the guest count. Put the 10–15% contingency inside the total, not on top of it.
2. Shortlist value-tier destinations that your guests can get to.
3. Ask every venue for two prices: a peak Saturday and a shoulder-season Thursday or Sunday, for the same guest count.
4. Compare like with like. Ask each supplier to quote the same services and to say whether tax and service are included.
5. Book early. The checklist above puts it at 14 months or more ahead, while the suppliers you want are still free.

Put the three large savings together and the estimate falls below the table of destinations above: for 40 to 70 guests at a value-tier destination on a shoulder-season Thursday, our planning figure is €25,000 to €45,000. It is the lowest full-wedding figure in this guide and the least certain, because no line-by-line budget stands behind it. Use it to see what is possible on paper, then replace it with quotes.

If you are not set on going abroad, the guide to planning a wedding on a budget applies the same cuts at home.