A realistic wedding budget starts with the amount you can pay, not with an average. Hold back a buffer, price every guest with gratuity and 13% HST included, then split what is left across the other categories. Do it in that order and the budget survives contact with real quotes. RBC puts the average Canadian wedding at about $32,000 in 2025, but your number is the only one that matters.
Key Takeaways
- RBC reports the average Canadian wedding cost about $32,000 in 2025, with most between $30,000 and $40,000 (January 2026).
- A BMO survey by Ipsos of 2,503 Canadian adults found they estimate a wedding costs about $19,000, some $13,000 under RBC's average.
- RBC suggests venue and catering take 40% to 60% of a wedding budget, the biggest single share.
- Timber Ridge Golf Course in Brighton, Ontario prices 2026 and 2027 receptions at $115 to $160 per guest, plus 15% gratuity and 13% HST.
- Ontario's HST rate is 13%, per the Canada Revenue Agency, and it sits on top of most vendor prices.
Step 1: Start with what you can pay
Write down three things: what you have saved, what you will save before the wedding, and what anyone else is contributing. Family helping? Ask for the amount and the date it arrives. A gift promised for "closer to the time" does not pay a venue deposit due next month.
That total is your budget. Averages are useful for context, not for planning. RBC's wedding budget guide also reports that "31 percent of couples say that they took on debt to pay for their celebration." If borrowing is not part of your plan, the total you can pay is the ceiling.
A $30,000 wedding can be stunning. So can a $15,000 one. They look different, and both can be beautiful.
Step 2: Hold back a buffer before you split anything
Take ten percent off the top. Leave it alone. Final guest counts rise, delivery and setup fees appear, and a rental order grows by six chairs. The buffer absorbs those without raiding the photographer's line.
On a hypothetical $30,000 budget, $3,000 goes aside. That leaves $27,000.
Step 3: Set the guest count, then price each guest all in
Guest count moves everything. Food, bar, chairs, linens, favours, stationery and often the venue size all scale with it.
RBC gives $75 to $100 per guest on average, and as high as $200 for a plated formal dinner. For a local check, take the Timber Ridge Golf Course 2026/2027 wedding brochure in Brighton, Ontario, which prices the reception per guest:
| Package | Listed price | About all in |
|---|---|---|
| Buffet with cash bar | $115 per guest | $147 to $149 |
| Buffet with open bar | $145 per guest | $186 to $188 |
| Plated with cash bar | $130 per guest | $166 to $169 |
| Plated with open bar | $160 per guest | $205 to $208 |
The brochure marks each price "++", which it defines as 15% gratuity and 13% HST. The range in the last column depends on one question: is the HST charged on the gratuity as well? At $160, adding both to the base gives $204.80. Taxing the gratuity too gives $207.92. Ask. On 100 guests, that small question is worth about $300.
This is the step where a listed price turns into a real one. A $160 dinner is a $208 dinner once the arithmetic is done, and the brochure leaves that arithmetic to you.
If you would rather have someone do that arithmetic across every quote, The Signature Bloom includes budget tracking and management, and a consultation costs nothing.
Step 4: Split what is left across the categories
RBC's guide suggests the shares below, and I have applied them, with a single figure picked inside each range, to the hypothetical $27,000 left after the buffer.
| Category | RBC share | On $27,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Venue and catering | 40% to 60% | $12,960 (48%) |
| Photography and videography | 10% to 15% | $3,240 (12%) |
| Music and entertainment | 8% to 12% | $2,700 (10%) |
| Attire | 8% to 10% | $2,430 (9%) |
| Flowers and decorations | 5% to 8% | $1,890 (7%) |
| Transportation and accommodations | 5% to 8% | $1,350 (5%) |
| Gifts and favours | 2.5% | $675 (2.5%) |
| Miscellaneous, including invitations and cake | 5% to 10% | $1,755 (6.5%) |
Now test it against Step 3. At about $149 per guest all in, $12,960 for venue and food covers roughly 86 guests on the Timber Ridge buffet with a cash bar. At about $208 for the plated dinner with an open bar, it covers roughly 62. Same budget, two different weddings. This is the moment to decide which matters more to you, the guest list, the menu or the bar, before a venue contract decides it for you.
A planner's fee does not appear in RBC's list. If you are hiring one, give it a line of its own before you split the rest. The day of coordinator guide covers what that fee buys and what it typically costs in Ontario.
Step 5: Add the costs budgets forget
Small items. They arrive together near the end, when the buffer is the only money not yet spoken for and several final balances fall due in the same few weeks.
- HST is 13% in Ontario, per the Canada Revenue Agency. Ask whether each quote includes it.
- Gratuity can be built into catering, as at Timber Ridge. Check each contract so you do not tip twice.
- The marriage licence carries a $75 provincial fee, per the Government of Ontario, and municipalities may add an administrative fee.
- A civil ceremony at the Town of Cobourg is $400, paid by cash or debit, per the town's marriages page. Timber Ridge lists an outdoor ceremony package at $2,500.
- Delivery, setup and pickup charges on rentals, florals and cake need to be in writing.
- Vendors who work through dinner, such as the photographer and DJ, may have a meal written into their contracts. Count those plates.
Step 6: Track it as you book
A budget is a plan until the first deposit. After that it is a record, and it needs updating every time you sign something.
Keep one sheet with four columns per vendor: the quote, the final contract amount with tax, what you have paid, and when the next payment is due. The due dates matter as much as the totals, and they follow the order of your bookings. The vendor booking timeline shows when each one lands, and the wedding timeline guide covers the final weeks, when balances come due.
Your next step is Step 1, today, with the people who are paying. If you would like a second pair of eyes on the numbers, tell me what you are planning.
