How much does a wedding in France cost?

If you are reading this post, chances are you just got engaged (congratulations!) and decided to get married in France!

FIRST THINGS FIRST

One of the first things to define when starting to plan a wedding is your wedding budget… and this is no small task, as putting together a wedding budget requires insight (on what is needed and everything that needs to be thought of for a wedding), expertise (of how much things tend to cost), and local knowledge (as costs can vary depending on location)… which you may not have if you are not used to planning weddings in France.

SO HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

As wedding planners we get asked the question “How much does a wedding cost” a lot. And even for us there is no straight forward answer, as a wedding budget will hugely depend on location, style, standard, decor, entertainment, and guests services provided. But we do see that couples tend to under estimate the budget required to achieve some of the inspirations and ideas they have, and can be very surprised at how things quickly add up. Just like when you go out just to see a movie and come back home having spent way more than the cinema ticket in pre movie snacks and post movie drinks… which are nonetheless an important part of the movie night experience!

SAMPLE FRENCH WEDDING BUDGET

So to help you assess your wedding budget for a wedding in France, we are sharing below a sample budget with costs for a beautiful, elegant wedding on a basis of 100 guests:

• Venue rental: 15,000 Euros (depending on location and standard. Some venues cost over 40,000 Euros, some day venues can cost under 7,000 Euros)
• Catering: 17,000 Euros
• Drinks: 2,000 Euros
• Photographer: from 6,000 Euros
• Celebrant: 2,000 Euros
• Furniture hire: 4,000 Euros
• Flowers: from 6,000 Euros
• Live music for ceremony and/or cocktails: 2,000 Euros
• DJ: 3,500 Euros
• Bridal hair and make up: 900 Euros
• Lighting: 2,500 Euros
• Save the dates: 600 Euros
• Wedding invitations: 2,500 Euros
• Day of stationery (menus, place cards, seating plan,…): 1,500 Euros
• Decor items & miscellaneous (wedding rings box, ceremony paper parasols & fans, party accessories, wedding party gifts,…): 1,500 Euros
• Night shuttles: 2,000 Euros

TOTAL: 69,000 Euros.

This does not include the services of a wedding planner, videography, side events / activities, outfits, travel, honeymoon, wedding bands, bridal party outfits and beauty or bridal party gifts.

To note: this is an average calculation based on our knowledge and experience. The actual costs will of course depend on your choices, standards and vision. Weddings you will see on our portfolio would have been planned with budgets over 120,000 Euros. Also costs vary depending on location: the south west of France tends to be more budget friendly than the South East. The French Riviera and Paris tend to be more expensive areas.

TAKE THE RIGHT FIRST STEP!

We hope the above is helpful to you.

Wedding budgets have a really bad reputation for being under estimated and sometimes massively exceeded. Your wedding planner will help you draft a realistic budget from the start and will help you stick to it throughout the planning, as well as making some savings by making the smartest choices according to your priorities. Even with a 6 figure budget you may need to make some sensible choices here and there…

We would be delighted to help you plan your wedding in France so for more insight and to start discussing how we can support you in the process do get in touch!