Credit & Money Management
Clinton Wedding Cost Up to $5 Million - How Much is the Average?
Kiplinger News
August 2, 2010
Chelsea Clinton's wedding had an all-star guest list - but the Clintons paid handsomely to have the nation's most-watched nuptials.
The New York Daily News quotes wedding experts as saying that the Clinton-Mezvinsky tie-up cost between $3 million and $5 million. The tents, the experts say, cost about $6,000, while security - which was, by all accounts, airtight - had a price tag of $200,000.
The flowers cost a staggering half-million dollars, KTLA News reports, and the rehearsal dinner added on another quarter-million. Food was a comparatively affordable $125,000.
A Clinton family friend denied the rumors of a seven-figure service, telling Yahoo News that the Clintons did not spend more than $1 million. Whatever the final tally, it's likely that the Clintons paid substantially more than the typical American family.
In the first half of 2010, the Wedding Industry Survey Network said last month, the average wedding cost $23,867. That figure marked a sharp increase from the final three months of 2009: It cost $19,581 to tie the knot in the fourth quarter, on average.
The WISN's first-half survey involved 3,429 people.
