Your wedding may cost more than Kimye's did. Here's why.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West may have spent anywhere between $7.5 million to $30 million on their wedding. You may only spend a fraction of that amount on your wedding, but here's why it'll take a harder hit on your budget.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West arrive at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala Benefit in Upper Manhattan, New York, May 5, 2014. Most Americans won't spend as nearly as much as Kardashian and West did on their wedding, but wedding costs will take a harder hit on the average person's finances.
Luca Jackson/Reuters/Staff
As you may have heard, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West had a little wedding last weekend in Italy.
Kardashian鈥攅xcuse me,听, as she formalized it on Twitter鈥攊s hoping to be听third time lucky听with her wedding to the rap megastar. Estimates abound about the cost of the nuptials, with its pre-wedding parties in Paris followed by a star-studded ceremony in a 16th century Florence fort. Suffice it to say, it was a bundle鈥攅stimates range from听听to an almost certainly apocryphal听.
Some of the estimated costs include:
Venue:听Forte di Belvedere in Florence:听
Dress:听haute couture Givenchy听gown, plus one for daughter North and a tux for West:听
Flowers:听$136,000
Hair and stylists:听$65,000
Catering for 200 guests:听
Cake:听
Performance by Andrea Bocelli:听between听
Rehearsal dinner in Paris:听$681,600
Rehearsal dinner fireworks:听$204,210
Security:听
Accommodations:听
Transportation (Private jets and shuttles from Paris to Florence): $218,000
Bachelorette party:听$4,100
Bachelorette party dress:听$16,000
Now, you may be thinking,听I鈥檒l never spend anything close to that! This article is ridiculous!听But as a percentage of income, it is indeed likely your wedding will cost more.
According to the Wedding Report, a research firm, the听. That鈥檚 about half of the median income of the average household听and听. A survey of 13,000 people married in 2013 by The Knot found the average cost听. Manhattan weddings averaged the most expensive at $86,916, whereas Idaho weddings averaged the lowest at $16,159.
Kimye鈥檚 combined net worth, meanwhile, is听, largely built from West鈥檚 income from record sales, tours, shoe deals and his production company. Even if the estimate of $30 million for their wedding is correct, that would be less than 20% of their net worth. And there鈥檚 speculation the E! Network will be听听for exclusive filming rights, as it did for Kardashian鈥檚 last wedding.
So, as a percentage of net worth, the Kimye extravaganza may prove to be a relative bargain compared to the marriages of mere mortals.