Wedding decor cost calculator

Work out what decorating your wedding will really cost by pricing each part separately: ceremony decor, centrepieces multiplied by your table count, linens and place settings, lighting and drapery, signage, then the delivery, setup and breakdown labour that carries it all. Add a designer fee if someone is styling it for you. See the total, a realistic range, and which parts move it most.

§ 01 Your numbers

Change anything. The answer updates as you type.

Guest tables to dress

How many tables need a centrepiece and a linen. Not your guest count.

This is the multiplier that quietly decides your decor budget. A hundred guests at ten per table is ten centrepieces; the same hundred at eight per table is thirteen. Seating one more person per table removes whole centrepieces from the bill, and it is one of the cheaper decor decisions available to you. Count the sweetheart or head table separately if it is being dressed differently, and price that as ceremony decor below.

Centrepiece per table (dollars)

What one table's centrepiece costs, whether it is hired, bought or built.

Ask whether the quote is per table or per stem, because the two look alike on a proposal and are not. If you are hiring vessels rather than buying them, check whether the hire is per item per day and whether breakages are charged at replacement value, which is usually well above the hire fee.

Ceremony decor: arch, aisle, backdrop (dollars)

The arch or arbour, aisle markers, the backdrop behind you and anything dressing the entrance. Ask whether the ceremony pieces can be moved to the reception afterwards, and whether that move is charged as labour, because a repurposed arch is often the single largest saving on a decor quote.

Linens and place settings (dollars)

Tablecloths, napkins, runners, chargers, and any glassware or flatware you are hiring rather than taking from the venue. Check what the venue includes first, because house linen is frequently already in your catering price and hiring it twice is a common duplication.

Lighting, drapery and rigging (dollars)

Uplighting, string lights, draped fabric, hanging installations and the rigging that holds them up.

This is the line with a hidden gate on it. Anything suspended needs rigging points, and many venues insist their own crew or an approved supplier does it, which turns a rental price into a rental price plus a labour call-out. Ask the venue what may be hung and by whom before you accept a quote for a hanging piece.

Signage, stationery and small details (dollars)

Welcome signs, seating chart, table numbers, menus, place cards, favours and the small props that fill a room. Individually cheap, collectively not, and this is the category that grows quietly in the last month before the date.

Delivery, setup and breakdown (dollars)

The van, the crew, the load-in and the load-out. Zero only if you are genuinely doing all of it yourselves.

The line people forget entirely. Rental houses commonly quote items and labour separately, and the labour happens at unsociable hours: the setup in the morning and the breakdown after the venue's hard stop at midnight. If your venue requires everything gone the same night, somebody is being paid to be there. Ask whether breakdown is inside this figure or a second charge.

Designer or stylist fee (%)

If someone is designing and styling rather than just supplying, they usually charge a percentage of the decor spend or a flat fee. Zero if you are hiring direct and dressing the room yourselves. A percentage fee rises with every item you add, so ask what it is calculated on before you approve an upgrade.

Estimated cost

$2,620

Typical range $1,310 – $5,764

Centrepieces, across your tables$1,020
Ceremony decor: arch, aisle, backdrop$600
Linens & place settings$400
Lighting, drapery & rigging$0
Signage, stationery & details$250
Delivery, setup & breakdown$350
Designer or stylist fee$0
Total$2,620

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$1,500 to $5,000 is the usual path: ceremony pieces, dressed tables, some lighting, and a rental house delivering and collecting. Get the labour itemised separately from the items so you can compare two quotes on the same basis.

PlanningWedding planning tools↗Keeping hire lists and venue restrictions in one place.InsuranceWedding cover↗Hired items are usually your responsibility while they are in the room.

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.

EVERY PRICE ON THIS PAGE IS YOURS, BECAUSE DECOR IS QUOTED ITEM BY ITEM.

A rental house prices your room off what you hire, how many tables it covers and how much labour the load-in and load-out take. Two weddings with the same guest count can be quoted very differently depending on whether the venue is already a pretty room or an empty hall. A published average stands in for proposals it has never seen, and yours are in front of you. The defaults are ours and editable

Your table count is the multiplier, not your guest count. Ten guests per table rather than eight removes whole centrepieces from the bill at the same headcount, and few other changes cut the bill as far for as little effort.

Delivery, setup and breakdown are labour and are frequently billed separately from the items. The load-out in particular happens after the venue's hard stop, so if everything must be gone the same night, somebody is being paid to be there at midnight. Ask whether breakdown is inside the quote or on top of it.

Check what the venue already supplies before hiring anything. House linen, glassware, chairs and basic uplighting are often inside a catering or hire package, and paying twice for linen is one of the commonest duplications on a wedding budget.

Flowers are their own quote and are not inside this total. Neither is the cake, the stationery you post rather than display, or the venue hire itself. This page prices dressing the room, which is why the ceremony and reception lines here are the decor rather than the florals.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to decorate a wedding?

There is a range rather than a price, because it is a stack of separate hires rather than one service. Price the ceremony decor, the centrepieces multiplied by your table count, the linens, any lighting or drapery, the signage, and the delivery and setup labour, then add a styling fee if somebody is designing it. The calculator above builds that total from the quotes you already have, which is more use than an average drawn from weddings unlike yours.

What brings wedding decor down fastest?

Seat more people per table. Every table you remove takes a centrepiece and a linen with it, and it changes nothing a guest notices. After that, ask whether the ceremony arch and aisle pieces can be moved to the reception and whether the move is charged as labour, and ask the venue what it already supplies before you hire linen or glassware you are effectively paying for twice.

Is delivery and setup usually included?

Often not, and it is the line that surprises people. Rental houses commonly quote the items and the labour as separate figures, and the labour covers a van, a crew, a morning load-in and a load-out that happens after the venue's hard stop. Ask specifically whether breakdown is included, because setup and breakdown are sometimes quoted as two charges rather than one.

Should we do our own decor?

It saves the hire margin and the crew, and it costs you the morning of the wedding and somebody sober at midnight. The honest test is who is actually doing the load-out: if the answer is your family after the reception, ask them first, and check whether your venue permits it, because some require an approved supplier for anything rigged or hung. Buying rather than hiring also leaves you owning twelve vases you then have to sell.

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