Calcatrice cockatrice logoCalcatrice. Calculate the cost before you commit
Est. 2026
The ledger for
expensive decisions
Menu
All 240 →

Events & Weddings Weddings

Destination wedding cost calculator

Work out what a destination wedding will really cost the couple, from the venue or resort package and your guest count through the local vendors, the welcome dinner and farewell brunch, the marriage paperwork, your own flights and lodging, and the currency and card fees on everything paid abroad. See the total, a realistic range, and what each part adds.

§ 01 Your numbers

Change anything. The answer updates as you type.

How many people you expect to actually fly out. Destination guest lists shrink, so use the number you believe rather than the number you invited.
The quoted wedding package: ceremony site, coordinator, basic decor and whatever the resort folds in. Enter the site fee alone if you are building the day yourself.
The per-head reception charge above whatever the package covers: dinner, the bar and the service charge on them.
A welcome dinner, a rehearsal night, a farewell brunch or an excursion you pay for, per guest. Zero if guests cover their own.
Photographer, flowers, hair and makeup, music, officiant and anything else hired locally or flown in beyond the package.
Marriage licence abroad, residency or blood-test requirements, translation, apostille, notarisation and any independent planner fee.
Airfare and the hotel nights for the two of you, including the extra nights before the day. Guests pay their own way and are outside this total.
The exchange spread plus any foreign transaction fee on the portion billed in local currency. A fee-free card and a good rate push this toward zero.
Estimated cost
$21,216

Typical range $15,912 – $29,702

  • Venue or resort package$6,000
  • Reception food & drink (guests × per head)$3,600
  • Hosted extra events$2,200
  • Local vendors$4,500
  • Paperwork, planner & legal$900
  • Your own flights & lodging$3,500
  • Currency & card fees$516
  • Total$21,216
See next steps →

Recommended next steps

Some links below are affiliate links. If you buy through them, Calcatrice may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only suggest tools that fit your result, and a company can't pay to show up here.

$12,000 to $35,000 covers a mid-size list, a full reception, local vendors and a welcome dinner. Get the inclusions, the per-head charge and the currency the contract is written in on paper.

What this assumes, and where it could be wrong

Every one of these is a place the number could be off. They are here because you should be able to check our working, not because we are hedging.

THIS IS WHAT THE COUPLE PAYS, AND EVERY NUMBER HERE IS YOURS.
Guests buy their own flights and rooms, so their travel sits outside this total; what lands on you is the package, the reception, anything you host, the local vendors, the paperwork and your own trip. A destination wedding is priced by a resort or venue abroad and by local vendors, not by a published statistic, so each figure is your quote and the defaults are ours and editable.

Guest lists shrink, and that cuts both ways. Asking people to buy a flight and a week of hotel thins the attendance, which pulls the per-head lines down. It also thins the people you wanted there, so enter the count you actually expect rather than the count you invited.

Resort packages differ wildly in what they include. One may fold in the ceremony, a coordinator, decor and a dinner for a set number of guests; another sells a site fee and little else, with every head above the base charged separately. Read the inclusions list before you compare two prices, because the same figure can mean very different days.

The events around the wedding are where a destination budget grows. A welcome dinner, a rehearsal night, a farewell brunch and an excursion turn one paid day into three or four. Each is optional, and each is per guest, so this line moves faster than any other when the list grows.

Marrying abroad has paperwork with a price and a calendar. Some countries want residency days before the ceremony, some want documents translated, apostilled or notarised, and some make a foreign licence slow enough that couples marry legally at home first and hold the ceremony abroad. Confirm the requirements early, because they change both this line and your travel dates.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a destination wedding cost?
Start from the resort or venue package and your expected guest count, then add the reception charge per head, anything you host beyond the wedding day, the local vendors, the paperwork and your own flights and hotel. Add the currency spread on whatever is billed abroad. The calculator above builds that total from your own quotes rather than from an average, because a package price in one country tells you little about a package price in another.
Is a destination wedding cheaper than a wedding at home?
It can be, mainly because the guest list is smaller and per-head lines drive a wedding budget. It can also run higher: you add your own travel, several hosted events instead of one, vendors who may need flying in, and paperwork that a domestic wedding never sees. Run your real numbers in both shapes before you assume the trip saves money.
Do we pay for our guests' flights and hotel rooms?
Traditionally guests cover their own airfare and rooms, and this calculator assumes that. Couples often do host a welcome dinner or a farewell brunch as a thank you, which is what the hosted events line is for. If you plan to cover rooms or flights for close family or the wedding party, add that spending to the hosted events line so the total reflects it.
How do we bring a destination wedding down in price?
The guest count is the biggest lever, since the reception and the hosted events are both per head. After that: an off-peak week, a package that already includes decor and a coordinator, one hosted event instead of three, local flowers and local vendors rather than flown-in ones, and a card with no foreign transaction fee. Ask each venue for the all-in figure per guest, so you can see which trade is worth making.

Related calculators

Wedding venue costYour numbers

The site fee is not the venue's price. The service charge and the tax ride on the food and beverage, so the finished bill lands well above the fee couples quote each other.

Open the calculator→
Catered wedding costYour numbers

The plate price is not the price. The service charge, the bar, rentals and tax stack on top, and roughly double the per-guest figure the caterer first quotes.

Open the calculator→