Wow: The Average Cost of Attending a Wedding is Now $673


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If you were shocked hear what the average wedding costs these days (spoiler: it’s over $30,000), you can pretty much guarantee that your friends and family will have the same reaction when they find out what the round-about price is they’ll have to fork over to attend your Big Day.

According to some just-crunched numbers, it is estimated that the average wedding guest will spend $673 this year—and that’s per wedding, so if you have quite a few invites hanging on your fridge, that’s one hefty bill to foot. (Members of the wedding party will have to shell out a bit more, with their cost coming in at an estimated $701.)

Airfare, hotel accommodations, dining out and wedding-day attire are the top contributors to the $673 price tag, which is up 14 percent from last year and is nearly double what guests were spending in 2012. (So for every local wedding you’re going to, do a little happy dance that your total should come in below this average.)

Also interesting to note is how the growing costs can affect your guest list: According to a poll released in 2013 by American Consumer Credit Counseling, some 43 percent of Americans say they’ve missed a wedding due to financial reasons—while 36 percent have actually gone into debt to attend a wedding.

Read more about it here.

RELATED: Hold On to Your Hat: The Average Wedding Now Costs More Than $30,000

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