Key Takeaways
Celebrating a friend’s wedding can cost as much as a month of rent, according to a new analysis by Zillow Rentals. These financial demands are hitting Gen Z and millennials in particular, as they try to balance milestone life events with the rising cost of, well, everything else.
The average cost of attending a wedding plus a bachelorette or bachelor weekend was just over $2,000 in August 2025, Zillow Rentals found. That same month, the average cost of rent in the U.S. was $2,100.
That’s bad news for the young people who attend a lot of weddings—and they often go to bachelor/bachelorette parties, as well. The same Zillow analysis found that 59% of Gen Z and millennials have attended at least one wedding in the past year, and 28% have attended two or more. In addition, more than a third (36%) of Gen Z and nearly half (48%) of millennials attended at least one bachelor/bachelorette party.
Young people are making significant trade-offs to afford these wedding expenses. Zillow Rentals found that 45% of Gen Z and millennial respondents say they have made housing sacrifices to afford the cost of attending weddings, such as buying a smaller home or living with roommates.
How You Can Reduce Costs as a Wedding Guest
There can be significant social and financial pressure to participate in costly wedding events. When you love the people getting married and want to celebrate them, saying no to wedding expenses can be difficult.
So what can you do?
Lindsey Stanberry, a budgeting expert who has been looking at how women spend money for over a decade, shared advice with Investopedia about how to manage wedding spending without blowing up your budget (or losing a month of rent).
“Wedding season has always been very expensive, but I do think we’ve seen an uptick in destination weddings and destination bachelor and bachelorette parties,” Stanberry said. “That’s made wedding spending much more expensive for guests.”
Her advice:
Be thoughtful about whether you want to attend: Close friends might be worth the splurge. For a distant relative or work acquaintance, though, it’s fine to send a gift with a heartfelt card and skip the pricey travel.
Get creative with costs: Can you share a hotel room or rental car with a friend? Use points to bring down the cost of airfare? Turn the trip into a larger vacation to make that plane ticket worthwhile? Can you combine celebrations by having a single bachelorette party to celebrate several friends who are getting married in the same year?
Divide and conquer: If you and your partner are invited to multiple weddings, it’s OK to split up and go solo. Instead of buying four plane tickets to two events, buy just two tickets and send one person to each wedding. You’ll be able to spend the time there with friends and family members that you don’t see as often as you see your partner.
Keep gifts modest: If you’re spending a lot of money just to get to a wedding, it’s OK to give a token gift or something similar to a housewarming present. A good friend or a loved one will value your presence more than an expensive item off their registry. (And if you don’t think they will, that might be one of those weddings you can skip.)
Talk about your budget: If you’re invited to be part of the wedding party, don’t wait until you’re saddled with a huge bill to bring up money. Talk to your friend up front about what you can and can’t afford to spend. A good friend won’t hold your budget against you.
Be honest with yourself: You might want to go to an event you can’t afford. Or you might be able to afford an event but not want to go. In either case, it’s OK to decline the invitation and find other ways to celebrate your loved one.
Fast Fact
About half (54%) of Americans would decline a wedding invite from a close friend or family member if the cost was outside their budget.
The Bottom Line
Analysis from Zillow Rentals in August 2025 found that the average cost of attending a wedding and bachelor/bachelorette celebration was just over $2,000, close to the same as the average cost of rent in the U.S.
To handle the rising cost of milestone celebrations, some members of Gen Z and millennials are cutting back on housing expenses.
There are other ways that you can manage wedding costs, too. Sharing travel costs with friends, attending without a partner, and giving small or no gifts can keep costs down. And remember, just because you’re invited to a wedding doesn’t mean you have to attend. And if you are asked to be part of a wedding party, talk with the bride or groom about your budget early, rather than waiting until the costs are already adding up.
