The average wedding now costs north of $27,000, 45 percent of which is for food and the catering hall.
Cost conscious couples are now opting for nontraditional, cheaper locales, including historic buildings or botanical gardens.
And they're cutting guests, since each table for 10 costs more than $1,400, on average.
As for paying for the wedding itself, the couple pays at least part of the bill about 17 percent of the time.
The total average covers bride, groom and an average of 138 guests,.
The study was done by Pew Research, The Wedding Report and the U.S. Census Bureau.
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