These percentages are this calculator's own planning model, built specifically for weddings under 75 guests — not a big-wedding average scaled down. They're calibrated using the same category logic as the Small Wedding & Elopement Budget Planner spreadsheet: venue, catering, and photography as the three largest categories, with a smaller contingency buffer than a large wedding needs (less can go wrong logistically with 30 guests than with 150).
For context on overall wedding spending (which is a very different number from a small wedding's), independent 2026 industry studies report:
- The average U.S. wedding cost $34,200 in the 2026 Real Weddings Study, based on 10,474 couples married in 2025 — The Knot, "Average Wedding Cost" (accessed 2026).
- Zola's 2026 First Look Report put average wedding cost at $36,000 — Zola, "Average Cost of Weddings in 2026" (accessed 2026).
- Micro-weddings (typically under 30 guests) average roughly $11,200 total — a large gap from the full-size average, and the reason a scaled-down "big wedding" percentage chart doesn't fit a small one — Zola, "Average Cost of Weddings in 2026" (accessed 2026).
These three figures are the only third-party statistics on this page; they're cited to their source and used purely for context. Every percentage in the bars and table above is this site's own calculator model, not a claimed industry statistic.