U.S. and Canada: Wedding Facts

Weddings are beautiful ceremonies that are always evolving to accommodate each couple’s unique love story. They welcome all sorts of traditions and celebrate the union of two very special people. Weddings blossom in all seasons, and we appreciate the details of every single one!

There are many ways to plan your wedding day. With so many details to take care of, newlyweds have endless opportunities to create a wedding that reflects their love story and personality. Let’s compare a few special wedding differences between the United States and Canada.

United States Wedding Facts

• The busiest wedding days are Saturday afternoon, Saturday morning, Friday evening, and Sunday afternoon.
• June is the most popular month for weddings, followed by August.
• There’s no law that dictates brides must take the groom’s last name. However, almost 70% of Americans agree that a bride should change her last name.
• Las Vegas is the top wedding destination (over 100,000 weddings a year); Hawaii follows with 25,000 weddings a year.
• An average wedding has 175 guests.
• The average age for a man’s first marriage is 28.2 and 26.1 for a woman. Americans are waiting longer before marrying.
• More than 60 percent of first marriages live together before they actually “tie the knot.”
• An average wedding costs $31,213, according to The Knot’s 2014 Real Weddings survey.
• There are an estimated 252,000 same-sex married couples in the U.S.
• Wedding Sparklers are becoming increasingly popular almost 40% used at weddings for exit.

Canadian Wedding Facts

• According to Golden Girl Finance, the average cost of a Canadian wedding is $31,110, including the honeymoon.
• The average age for a woman to first marry is 29.6 years.
• Canada was the third country in the world to allow same-sex marriages.
• Wedding Bells found that 75 per cent of brides plan on taking their husband’s name as soon as they get married.
• The average cost of a bridal gown (as of March 2014) is $1,716, Wedding Bells reports.
• According to The Huffington Post, the average cost of a wedding venue is $9,430.
• The average cost for a wedding gift is $109.00.
• In a survey of 1,000 brides, Wedding Bells reports that over 1/3 of engagements happened between December and February.
• Wedding Bells revealed that 13 percent of brides-to-be dated one or more of their wedding party’s groomsmen.

We hope you enjoyed these fun facts! Here are a few more general Canadian Facts!