Erin El Issa, Nerdwallet
Attending a wedding on the street can be costly. Buy gifts and formal wear, hire a babysitter, and quitting your job can all be summed up. However, if your wedding goes out of town and requires a flight or hotel stay, celebrating another person’s fiancé can be indeed expensive.
One in 10 Americans (9%) will be attending weddings this summer, according to a new Nald Wallet survey conducted online in the Harris poll. We estimate that these wedding guests will spend on average $1,989 on related accommodation and transportation costs.
Is traveling for someone else’s wedding just worth the cost? The answer depends on your finances and personal priorities.
Decide whether to travel for someone else’s wedding
Most Americans say they’re leaving town for a wedding (87%), but their biggest considerations to decide whether it’s different to do so. Almost half (46%) of Americans have the highest consideration being travel expenses, with 42% considering the location of their wedding.
Even if funds are available and locale is desirable, work and child care responsibilities can make it difficult, if not impossible, to leave town for a wedding. You may also decide that it is not worth spending your time and money to celebrate this particular union in person. However, if you want RSVP “Yes”, there are a few ways to make it cost-effective.
1. Skip gift
Some invitations may explicitly say that no gifts are expected, but they may not. However, if you are already spending money on traveling to a wedding, you may choose to abandon the gift. Controversial? Maybe in that subreddit thread you were scrolling desperately. However, some weddings and etiquette experts agree that “you are present” at your destination wedding (this is probably a wedding that is not local).
This will be your comfort by opting out of gift gifts and relationships with the couple. If you know them well enough – perhaps if you are traveling for their wedding, you probably know how they will react just by bringing the card.
2. Pay for a rewarded trip
For those who saved points or miles, out-of-town weddings may be a good time to cash them out in a free or reduced air ticket or hotel room. While it may not be more appealing than using rewards for your preferred vacation, points and miles can lose value over time. For this reason, it is recommended to use them when opportunities arise.
3. Two-tiered with friends and family
Being with your loved one can significantly reduce your financial spending on wedding accommodation costs. This could mean staying at your own home – for example, if you are traveling to your hometown for a wedding, or in a hotel, share the costs by sharing a room with them. This may be a more stringent suggestion when traveling with kids, but think about whether savings are inconveniently valuable.
Bonus: Start a savings account for your wedding
For some people, attending a wedding may be a rare experience. But for others, especially young Americans, this can be a season of life where receiving wedding invitations is common and costs are increasing.
According to the survey, 18% of ZERS generation (ages 18-28) travel for weddings, compared to 9% of millennials (ages 29-44), 6% of Gen XERS (ages 45-60), and 6% of baby boomers (ages 61-79). This makes a lot of sense, as General Zers (and perhaps their colleagues) are statistical age of marriage or near it, according to US census data. Median age for first marriage is in your late 20s/early 30s, depending on your gender.
For those attending multiple weddings a year, the wedding guest thinking fund is probably a good idea. Consider opening a specially allocated savings or subvation account to attend someone else’s wedding and put in your money regularly. This will help you take away the stress when the next date hits your mailbox.
The complete research method is available in the original article published on Nerdwallet.
Erin El Issa writes for Nald Wallet. Email: erin@nerdwallet.com.
Article Wedding Guest Trips: Minimizing the cost of making it work originally appeared in Nerdwallet.
Original issue: April 4, 2025, 2:41pm EDT
