Question: If you didn’t register for and receive wedding gifts, did you even actually get married?
Organizing a wedding brings about many wonderful—and many stressful—moments. Unless you’re eloping in Hawaii or heading to the courthouse with a couple friends, chances are you’ll have quite a few boxes to check off before the big day arrives. You’ve got to find a venue, create (and ruthlessly edit) a guest list, order a wedding cake… the list can feel endless. Luckily, some of the major steps can be simplified, such as finding tuxedos or suits, or fun, such as building out your gift registry.
We decided to take a closer look at what couples put on those wedding registries. We used Amazon’s wedding registry listing site to see the most common items that are selected, how much these cost, and more. In addition to analyzing the overall results, we also broke them down to create averages by wedding month and by U.S. state. Read on for all of our findings.
Table of Contents
i. The Average Total Cost of a Wedding Registry in Every State
ii. The Average Cost of a Wedding Registry Item in Every State
iii. The Most Popular Wedding Registry Items and Categories
iv. The Average Item Cost and Total Cost of a Registry by Wedding Month
v. The Priciest Wedding Registries in the U.S.
vi. Methodology
i. The Average Total Cost of a Wedding Registry in Every State
First, we took a look at how much registries are worth overall. In other words, this is the sum of the cost of all items on the registry. This gives us a general picture of how much couples are hoping to receive from their wedding guests.
Overall the average is $574.84, but when breaking it down by wedding location we found some states with much higher averages. The top three are Utah ($1,872.25), North Carolina ($1,491.21), and Virginia ($1,347.57) — all three of which are more than double the national average, putting the beyond in Bed Bath &… you get it. The three lowest are Montana ($117.72), Vermont ($127.45), and Mississippi ($131.81).
ii. The Average Cost of a Wedding Registry Item in Every State
Next, we looked at the average cost of registry items. This gives us more detail about what couples are expecting of their wedding guests. Are we talking a Dyson Vacuum and a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer or a set of hand towels and some picture frames?
The national average in this case in $35.19, which is very reasonable. The states with the most costly items on average are Virginia ($52.55), Oregon ($51.62), and Ohio ($50.07), while those with the most modest item prices are Montana ($16.58), Mississippi ($17.03), Maine ($19.05).
iii. The Average Item Cost and Total Cost of a Registry by Wedding Month
We also wanted to see how these costs vary by wedding month. In terms of overall registry cost, we found that it peaks in January ($797) and June ($823). However, the average item cost stays pretty steady throughout the year, and it reaches its highest point in November ($50).
This suggests that couples who are getting married in January and June are not necessarily asking for people to spend a lot per gift, but actually are just adding a higher quantity of items to their registries.
iv. The Most Popular Wedding Registry Items and Categories
Next, we looked at which items people most commonly add to their registries. Unsurprisingly, many of these are kitchen items. The top five are Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls, an Instant Pot, a Cuisinart 15-Piece Stainless Steel Hollow Handle Block Set, a Handmade Organic Bath Soap Set, and a 3-Piece Bamboo Serving and Cutting Board Set.
When looking at the categories of the items couples want most, the results are also in line with what you would expect. The top five are kitchen goods and gadgets, non-kitchen home goods, health products, gift cards, and tech products.
v. The Priciest Wedding Registries in the U.S.
Finally, we wanted to see how high some registries go in terms of cost. As it turns out, they go pretty damn high.
The priciest registry is a few Franklins shy of $40,000, in terms of total cost, but many others below this incredible price tag were still worth thousands. The question remains: How much of these registries did wedding guests actually purchase?
vi. Methodology
Our analysis looked at wedding registries that are publicly available on Amazon’s wedding website. We compiled information from nearly 3,500 registries in the United States that were associated with weddings scheduled January 2019 through December 2019. To find the total average registry cost, we summed the prices of each item on a registry. To find the average item cost, we divided the total average registry cost by the count of items on the registry. The averages shown by state and by month were calculated based on the wedding location and wedding ceremony month, respectively.
Amid the sometimes stressful process of planning a wedding, there will also be moments of fun and excitement. Creating a registry that’s as personal to you and your partner as any other aspect of your big day should be one of those fun experiences—even if you ask for an Instant Pot, just like everyone else.