Getting married is a huge commitment and nowadays not everyone dares to do it. And for those who do want everything with their partner, WalletHub conducted an investigation to discover, among 182 cities, which are the best and worst in which this important commitment can be made, leaving Orlando and Pearl City at the ends of the list .
The wedding industry is currently worth around $62 billion, significantly less than the $78 billion a few years ago due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“At WalletHub, we understand the logistical and financial stresses of that typically long march to “I do.” To help with the planning process, we compared more than 180 US cities to find the cheapest and most convenient wedding destinations that also promise a memorable day,” the report says. “We examined each city across 26 key wedding-friendliness indicators, ranging from average wedding cost to venues and event spaces per capita to hotel availability.”
The site specialized in finance and economics says that anyone who has organized a wedding knows very well how difficult and time-consuming the process can be. And the cost only adds more stress, with the average couple shelling out around $28,000 for their event.
To identify the best and worst cities to get married in, WalletHub compared 182 cities across three key dimensions: 1) Costs, 2) Facilities and Services, and 3) Activities and Attractions.
It then examined those dimensions using 26 relevant metrics. Each metric was scored on a 100-point scale, where a score of 100 represents the most favorable conditions for weddings. He then determined each city’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank the sample.
The best places to get married in the US, according to WalletHub:
City: (1) Orlando, Florida
Total score: 72.84
Costs: 56
Facilities and services: 2
Activities and attractions: 6
City: (2) Las Vegas, Nevada
Total score: 68.08
Costs: 106
Facilities and services: 4
Activities and attractions: 1
City: (3) Tulsa, Oklahoma
Total score: 66.58
Costs: 1
Facilities and services: 85
Activities and attractions: 43
City: (4) Tampa, Florida
Total score: 66.57
Costs: 39
Facilities and services: 12
Activities and attractions: 11
City: (5) Atlanta, Georgia
Total score: 65.61
Costs: 86
Facilities and services: 3
Activities and attractions: 13
In contrast:
City: (178) Yonkers, New York
Total score: 29.18
Costs: 176
Facilities and services: 21
Activities and attractions: 182
City: (179) South Burlington, Vermont
Total score: 27.13
Costs: 162
Facilities and services: 156
Activities and attractions: 181
City: (180) Oxnard, California
Total score: 25.64
Costs: 178
Facilities and services: 148
Activities and attractions: 154
City: (181) Bridgeport, Connecticut
Total score: 18.61
Costs: 181
Facilities and services: 165
Activities and attractions: 177
City: (182) Pearl City, Hawaii
Total score: 8.83
Costs: 182
Facilities and services: 178
Activities and attractions: 178
Note: With the exception of “Total Score,” all columns in the table above represent the relative ranking of that city, where a ranking of 1 represents the best conditions for that metric category.
To see the complete list and more details about the methodology, go here.
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