Is The Knot WRONG?! | Conducting My OWN Survey

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[@the_madhadder]

So I left this on another video but it was thanks to you Jamie that I became a wedding planner at a historic estate. I even used the master plan to help me understand planning a wedding and I even in the short time that I have been there, my coworkers have asked me all about it. So thank you Jamie. You unlocked a passion for me that I never knew I had💜

[@kaylaballinger495]

$30,000 for a wedding is absolutely mind boggling to me and my budget. I can't believe it's The Knot's average! My boyfriend and I are striving for under $5,000.

[@carsenyoung1746]

[@Izzy4731]

I think it depends on where you live/are getting married. Venues near me tend to be an average of $1k-$5k. (Obviously some places are lower/higher)

[@kphoria1009]

@@carsenyoung1746my moms all inclusive venue was only about 8k with 200+ guests. you can definitely have a wedding that’s less than 10k if you diy some things and choose wisely

[@carsenyoung1746]

@@kphoria1009 In which year? That's less that $40/person for food if the entire wedding budget was spent on nothing but food (which means, realistically, it was a lot less than $40/person). That doesn't seem very possible in 2023. Maybe if you cooked it all yourself.

[@twilliamson4874]

I am striving for 5K as well - so far on budget and the wedding is next month - but we are only having 25 guests and doing a brunch at a rental house. No photographer, certainly couldn't keep that in a 5K budget. I am guessing by the end we will hit right about the 5K mark, maybe a little bit over - but it is possible if you are doing a tiny one. Good luck!

[@altimate19]

Important to emphasize that the quality/caliber of some of the really cheap professionals (DJ, photographer, videographer) is not taken into account in these surveys, and that's really a shame. It should be taken into account that other surveys have shown that when couples looked back at their wedding (hindsight being 20/20) nearly 100% would have spent more on their entertainment had they realized the impact and importance, and 80% felt that entertainment had the biggest impact on their reception. Whether a wedding is on a smaller or larger budget, it's important to invest in those things.

[@krystalgroshans9129]

I've always thought the numbers on The Knot were way high, especially for the area I live. Even what they consider a "budget" wedding is more than what I've seen my friends and family pay for really nice weddings

[@Mrs.G_71]

My fiancé and I have opted to use Honeyfund instead of traditional registries. I cannot tell you how many folks have commented on what a cool idea this is. We have planned our amazing honeymoon and are glad our friends and family are excited to contribute to it! Best idea ever!!!

[@ThePhantomReborn]

I find the average cost of a wedding so unhelpful, and yet that's the number I see everywhere in the industry. Using the median (middle) would be so much more useful. There are probably a handful of people with like $100,000+ weddings skewing the average way high, whereas the median would paint a more accurate picture without the skew. (That's why I appreciate Jamie calling out the percentages of people who spent a certain amount--helpful to see that breakdown!) Whether nefarious or not, it only helps The Knot to report the average to influence more people that they should spend about $30,000 to put on an "average" wedding.

[@Ellieways]

Or, the mode. The mode is the largest amount of repetions of a value in a set of numbers. I.E. if you have 2 couples who spent $10,000, 6 couples who spent $20,000, and 1 couple who spent $150,000, the mode would be $20,000 instead of a much higher skewed version of the mean (average).

[@joliesimmonds5783]

I got soooo lucky with my fiancé. We're both super nontraditional. When I suggested wearing something other than a traditional wedding dress, he was THRILLED. I can't wait to get a much cheaper dress that truly represents me. My budget is only $500 🥳

[@selenaanddemiroxy]

I think it's also important to consider the location and wedding size when commenting on the cost of something. E.g. assuming that a florist charging less than 1.5k is gonna be "early/ new to the game". My wedding was in Tallahassee, FL. I met with one of the top florists in the city and they quoted me $1,300. And they're some of the best in the city! However, Tallahassee is more affordable than bigger cities, and my wedding party wasn't very large. Lower price doesn't always mean they're new.

[@nriamond8010]

Yes - location is SO important! I live in the countryside in the North of Germany and my venue/catering did cost HALF of the amount that my sister in a popular area in the South had to pay (we both got married 4 months apart). And Germany is small compared to the US.

[@napoleons_wife]

Honestly it sounded like you read off averages from the Knot. I wonder if the Knot had used median then it would be closer to what you found. They probably had data including the people that are able to spend the super duper high budgets, which would throw off the average

[@PhantomAngel147]

I tried checking how The Knot operationalized the average on their website, but their methods section doesn’t mention it. They also didn’t give a demographic breakdown of their survey, so there’s a lot of info we’re missing.

[@MagentaLooks]

Jamie, I don't know what your background is, but judging off how much you mentioned your lack of numbers skills, it sounds like you don't have a stats background. So, as someone who recently completed a Masters of Science from Oxford, using a survey for my data, I'd like to say you did good! It's always important to justify the numbers - you seem to have a good intuition for that. One thing I would point out is that some of your numbers could be the same as the knot's numbers if you had true averages to compare. Maybe next year it would be good to include those! Thanks for a great video, as always!

[@arianeavenido2123]

Hi Jaime! I tied the knot last december 2022 and I just wanted to thank you for giving me guidance in planning my wedding. I used your guide for budgeting my DIY wedding and it really helped me a lot. I also avoided being a bridezilla since I followed your advice to not overdo the DIY and hire professionals for catering, cakes, makeup and photography. Again, thank you thank you so much. More power to you. Btw, we planned our church wedding for about 6 months and used PhP170,000.00 for everything. Our guest count was about 600 guests.

[@madeleine363]

How much did it cost for 600 guests?

[@coriehnis6422]

I was shocked by the Honeyfund numbers. That's our only registry. I love it and it's so easy to use!

[@carsenyoung1746]

I don't remember if it was The Knot or Wedding Wire, but one of those sites told us that the "average" couples spent on catering in 2021 was $8k, so that's what we budgeted. Then we started getting quotes and most were $15-20k (not including booze). We managed to find one for $9k but that doesn't include equipment rental and we had to hire additional servers so really we're back up to the $15k range. We really had to adjust and maneuver around in our budget. Everything was more expensive than we had expected.

[@Cruela2b]

Very interesting numbers. I’m my daughters wedding planner and have used both your master plan and wedding timeline and will agree it has been crucial for staying on track and worth every penny in planning her wedding next month. We live in an area with limited options for a wedding and as a result the budget is about 15% higher than we initially anticipated and subsequently more in line with the Knot’s numbers even though we’re DIY’ing many aspects of her wedding including the flowers 🙃. We used the same percentages you used on your wedding budget and found this an excellent tool to allocate and track funds. Thank you for all your fantastic videos and excellent information, it’s been an absolute stress saver ❤

[@jeanettekakareka]

Thank you once again Jamie for helping me during my wedding planning! I am one of those who felt they allocated their budget well, and although I had to bump it up a touch from when I first began planning (didn't realize how expensive things were 😆) the end result I felt good and comfortable with and it seems the majority of your viewers had a similar experience. There's no shame in people spending less OR more for their wedding. It's the couples' day and whatever THEY determine is financially sound and emotionally significant is valid. (That said, certainly helps to see more budget-friendly options since Pinterest will have you thinking you NEED to be above that 30k mark!) I wish everyone happy planning! And if any of you need recommendations for the Philadelphia area, let me know!!

[@EmzeeGaming313]

I just got married over the weekend and started watching your videos the day after I got engaged. Thank you Jamie for helping me plan an amazing, personalized wedding without a planner 👰‍♀️🥳

[@amandarachelle9234]

This was an encouraging video! I loved how you give peace of mind in terms of how many months our people were booking!

[@samdesylva6236]

I used the master plan just for the timeline and found just using that was extremely beneficial!!

[@varsitycaptain06]

The master plan was sooo helpful when planning my elopement. I loved the budget template the most as it had an amazing breakdown of things I might need and things I probably might've forgotten had it not been on the list. The perfect wedding timeline is great for actual wedding(duh!) We eloped and had a ceremony at a national park with a few guests so I didn't really use the timeline as is I mainly used it as a guideline had to remove a few things to fit our quick ceremony. I've only been to 1 other wedding before mine and it wasn't very traditional so I had no idea what a ceremony entailed. Thank you Jamie!!

[@Tina2tu]

I’m more convinced I’m going to use the master plan going forward. The knot was nice and pretty, but what we found there was not conducive to our budget.

[@lauraronnie4871]

Jamie, turn your master plan into a wedding binder. Like a physical hardcover handwritten planner. An example is clever fox wedding planner. I am not the type that likes going online and reading online. I am only 28 but I appreciate something I can write in. Because I couldn't find a hardcover planner for what you sell. I spent two months looking for the perfect two planners and one of them is clever fox in lavender. So like look at the layout of that it is absolutely beautiful and because you can't ever find a planner that has every single thing I have two of them that I worked out of and I went through every single page to make sure it had everything that I wanted. On top of using those planners I watch your videos to make sure I haven't missed anything but so far I have not. I am part of the 4% that is taking over 2 years to plan. I want a wedding to be gorgeous but me and my fiance have to pay for the wedding on our own. I am currently in school for a Bachelors of Science in Hospitality, Tourism, and Event Management. On top of the planning being so much more successful because we are taking more time to do it we are also going to have more time to save. I love this video but I was so disappointed that you do not have the master plan in stores just to buy as a binder. So please look into that if you could I feel like you would be able to make so much money and I would not mind spending $30-40 on the beautiful work that you do. This way I can bring them to the venues and the vendors and have some questions right in my book and I can write it down and I can help me remember. I took a trip to the wedding section of Barnes and Noble. To add, the knot wedding planner is the worst wedding planner I saw in person. It looks like a book and no artsy appeal like most planners. Please look into it Jamie. I still have time before I get married but I am not a use online person. I'm a have in my hand and write it down person.

[@glossbones]

Our planning lasted over 3 years due to COVID postponements 🤪

[@justkeepswimmin]

Same!!

[@jennifermcdaniel3910]

I LOVE this glowing feedback on your growing business!!! 💜💜💜

[@tayloralexb]

I love number heavy videos. Thank you so much

[@alexmardiaz1663]

Great video, thank you! This helps with reassurance I feel more comfortable with the decisions that we made, I didn't join the masterplan because I found out about to late 🙁 but definitely If I had to do this again I will totally do it, thank you for your videos they helped me a lot!

[@starneonfashion]

OHMYGOD I've never been this early let's goooo! Hey Jamie!

[@Chelseabee55]

As a data analyst this was throughly enjoyable

[@laurenadavison]

As a Covid-postponed wedding, it was funny putting 24+ months in advance for each vendor 😅 really was a crazy two years.

[@shannonespinosa103]

It’s so hard to have a budget wedding somewhere like LA. Even with DIYing everything I can. Haha

[@varsitycaptain06]

The venues are crazy expensive! We ended up eloping in Joshua Tree and had a backyard wedding at a cousins house and even after all the rentals, catering, etc we came out just under 10k. Inflation sucks!

[@HA-zx2pk]

Can you make one covering the weddingwire app?

[@mariawardell7844]

As i hear your numbers, I'm also thinking about what was happening 1-2 years in advance to 2022 weddings that may have encouraged them to wait longer to book. With Covid running well into 2021, I would've had the fear as a 2022 bride that no one would be able to show due to Covid still being a thing, if I booked in early 2021. My sister just had her wedding this past weekend and they got engaged December 2021. My fiancé and I are planning an August 2024 wedding after our engagement March 2022. (Our date is a little further back due to my sister's wedding, but it gives me more time to plan.)

[@lolalo6344]

Do you have any advise for destination weddings? I am probably getting married in my partners country which is on the opposite side of the world. Having a small party over here, so I'm not worried about guests, more about finding a good vendor/location without being able to see them all the time

[@ItssMare]

This is my type of video 😂😅

[@janicemckearney4310]

A Bach party a year out or more could have been Covid postponed weddings. Some of those weddings got postponed a few times and ended up in 2022 but Bach parties could have happened before the postponement happened.

[@lauraronnie4871]

What was the other left out percentage on time spent planning?

[@bleachguy64]

The knott is a scam. I called the number one rated wedding planner in my city on the knott. She was 30in late to the call, didn't know my name, would ask me a question then cut me off before I finished then said my wedding budget of 20k was unrealistic for a ceremony only wedding of 15 people total. When I looked her up on all other social media her reviews were 1 star. I left a review on the knott and she immediately flagged it and got it removed with out them ever talking to me. (The wedding planner also emailed me to telle her husband was in the fbi and she would sue me if I left another review.) But hey #1 best wedding planner on the knott!

[@alexandria81217]

These prices are definitely not New Jersey prices 😂

[@ItssMare]

Has anyone used the master plan in canada? Is the information transferable to canada?

[@skyh7383]

Early for once 🎉

[@WayleanWilliams]

I’m part of the long engagement I’m still engaged hopefully until 2025

[@nadiadansani2139]

I went to a wedding that did the shower the night before so the out of town family could come

[@nadiadansani2139]

A year out is weird

[@thejb54321]

You had inherently different questions that led this to be statistically incomparable to The Knot’s results. You were comparing averages to ranges with almost every question.

[@viewzwithdeedelacruz8233]

Took you forever to get to the point Hun. Appreciate the data though.