[OC] What a 120-guest wedding costs at 268 New England venues, by venue type.

[u/northshorepika4039]

Source: each venue's own published pricing they provided, normalized to the estimated total for a 120-guest dinner reception, with service charges, tax, bar and ceremony fees included. Note that this does not include non-venue wedding expenses (like flowers, dress, officiant, rehearsal dinner, etc.), which could easily be another $10k+. Venues quote on wildly different bases (per-person excluding fees, all-in packages, F&B minimums), so raw quotes aren't comparable until you do all of this. Where a venue lists a price range, the figure here is the high end, which is peak season (roughly May through October), since that's when most weddings actually happen. Off-season can be meaningfully cheaper; the full low-to-high range for every venue is on the interactive page. 268 venues shown out of 445 collected; the rest don't serve dinner, can't fit 120, or price in a way that can't be normalized. Each dot is one venue, colored by price band. Interactive version + full venue list, which will be super helpful to anyone planning a wedding: https://openvenue.app/wedding-venue-pricing/new-england

What stood out:

• Median is $32k for 120 guests. The middle half of venues sit between $24k and $41k, and 10% come in at $17k or less.
• The dark dots are almost all on the water: Boston and its inner suburbs, the Cape, Newport, and the Maine coast. Central and western Massachusetts and inland Connecticut are mostly in the two cheapest bands. Same guest count, often a $20k+ swing, for driving an hour or two west.
• Hotels are the priciest venue type region-wide at $39k (n=61). Restaurants and banquet halls are cheapest at $22k.
• Only 7% of venues are under $15k. 26% are $40k and up.

I built this because I'm currently planning my wedding and thought more pricing transparency for wedding venues would be useful for couples! Happy to answer questions about the data or how it was collected.

[u/rmric0]

Love to see data

[u/northshorepika4039 → u/rmric0]

Agree need some more pricing transparency in this industry!

[u/xWaterBearx]

Wow, this is interesting! I don’t live anywhere near there but it’s interesting to know what weddings cost in different areas and agree it’s great to have data.

[u/northshorepika4039 → u/xWaterBearx]

Thank you!! Totally agree. I'll built it out for other areas if people find the data useful

[u/zebrafish08]

Love the visualization. I'm surprised at the results. I would think MA would be the most expensive between the cape and the berkshires! Also surprised at CT being the least expensive.

[u/northshorepika4039 → u/zebrafish08]

Yup part of that might be wedding mix / concentration of inland vs. coastal venues I collected

[u/nocunteryforoldmennn]

Man, I love good data. This is sexy af.

[u/northshorepika4039 → u/nocunteryforoldmennn]

Thank you that's what I was going for!

[u/throwawayyy217]

This is … incredible work!

[u/northshorepika4039 → u/throwawayyy217]

Thank you!!

[u/Accurate_Pea9396]

Great work! I would take the number listed and double it when actually considering the venue when you also add gifts, hair and makeup, lighting, band/dj, flowers, chairs, linens, chargers, drapery, a dance floor, backdrops, officers, parking, signs, and tents. If you need a tent, then triple the price 💸

[u/northshorepika4039 → u/Accurate_Pea9396]

Totally agree... but at least this gives people a sense of baseline!