Destination Wedding Cost in Riviera Maya, Mexico in 2017

 Hello Dear Reader!

I was watching a Humphrey Yang video on YouTube and he mentioned some average wedding costs by a "the knot" survey, so I dug out my old wedding spreadsheet and decided to organize my wedding costs in a way that was "readable" and "easy to digest."

I had estimated costs from 2017 in the spreadsheet along with actual costs, and then plugged in a column for the knot's survey from 2025 which you can see here: 

https://www.theknot.com/content/average-wedding-cost

I live in a VHCOL area (have for most of my life) but I just compared it against the average cost.

Our wedding was a destination wedding in Riviera Maya, Mexico, in 2017, so you can imagine it was much cheaper.

Without further ado you can see our numbers here:

	2017 Estimate	Actual Cost	the knot 2025
Groom's Attire	$227	$731	$330
Wedding Dress	$1,371	$1,243	$2,000
Additional Jewelry	$283	$51	$360
Hair and Makeup	$371	$1,307	$290
Reception DJ	$1,819	$680	$1,700
Reception Live Band and Ceremony Ensemble	$4,263	$0	$5,350
Florist	$2,057	$2,049	$2,700
Gifts and Favors	$1,742	$2,385	$460
Invitations	$400	$510	$520
Engagement Ring	$4,572	$2,800	$5,200
Wedding Ring	$1,693	$340	$2,900
Photographer	$8,485	$2,600	$2,900
Videographer	$2,589	$1,400	$2,300
Officiant	$795	$400	$240
Wedding Event Planner	N/A	$0	$2,100
Alcohol	$1,596	$0	$2,800
Rehearsal Dinner	$1,367	$0	$2,700
Transportation/Hotel	$1,182	$4,303	$1,100
Catering	$3,202	$1,595	$2,320
Wedding Cake	$283	$0	$540
Honeymoon	N/A	$0	$5,300
Misc Entertainment and Event Rentals	$1,154	$0	$5,300
Wedding Reception Venue	$2,826	$1,800	$12,200
Total Cost	$42,277	$24,194	$61,610

You can see some of our numbers are actually $0!

There was no reception live band and ceremony ensemble. Our wedding event planner was included in the $1800 cost (though we made sure to tip everyone. Tips are included under "gifts and favors."

Similarly, alcohol, rehearsal dinner, wedding cake and misc entertainment and event rentals were all included in the $1800 fee. When we went, they were renovating the area we planned to stay at for 11 nights, so they gave us 11 nights free to return to the renovated adults only area which we had booked. That essentially meant the honeymoon was covered, except for airfare and airport transfers. 

Our wedding price was incredible considering it included videographer AND Trash the Dress. It was an amazing wedding and the only sad part was that most of Mr. Into the FIRE's friends declined to come due to the dangers of Zika at that time (which was only for pregnant individuals but they were trying to conceive).

Honestly, the friends deciding not to come probably made the wedding much more inexpensive but it was definitely a bit disappointing. Almost all the family members made it out, including both grandmothers, which was amazing. It was such a beautiful and perfect wedding, I would only change a few very minor things. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this write-up. Ask any questions you might have in the comments, I'll try to keep an eye out for it although you can see I don't update this blog very often.

Warmly,

Into the FIRE