In March of 2022, event planner Shannon Leahy was in Napa Valley meeting a tent rental company for a couple who planned to wed at a private estate. At the helm of her company for 15 years, she knew approximately how much the tent should cost; she had put up tents on private properties several times before.
Leahy said she estimated the quote would come in at $50,000 to $70,000. Instead, she got a quote for $165,000.
“I got two more quotes that week about the same,” she says. “I couldn’t believe it. How was I going to explain this to my client?”
A few days later, she met with a florist for a centerpiece mockup for another couple. Once again, the vendor shared a surprising quote, almost double the budget.
“We couldn’t deny it anymore,” Leahy says. “Inflation is a huge problem.”
When these interviews were first reported in 2022, U.S. inflation was above 8 percent and wedding professionals were managing overlapping supply-chain, staffing, and rescheduling pressure. The economic picture has changed, but cost planning remains important: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that consumer prices were 3.5 percent higher in June 2026 than a year earlier. A $10,000 contract can still lose purchasing power between booking and delivery when materials, travel, or labor costs rise, so margins need to be reviewed over the full life of an event.
“Costs have gone up for suppliers, and they’ve been passing it on to us,” says Brian Buonassissi, who runs two wedding music businesses as DJ Brian B. “We’ve had to do the same to our clients, so it’s definitely been a trickle down effect.”
Couples felt the pressure too. In March 2022, The New York Times documented a Brooklyn couple who changed venues and cut line items, including replacing a DJ with a playlist, to stay closer to their budget. The event still topped $30,000, illustrating how quickly savings in one category can be absorbed by higher costs elsewhere.
The planners interviewed for the original story also described client education as part of the job. Gretchen Culver, of Rocket Science Events, recommended building budgets that leave room for changing quotes and explaining which categories are most exposed before couples commit.
In the original reporting, vendor categories with higher overhead—such as catering, venues, and florists—were particularly exposed. Rising ingredient costs, cost-of-living raises for team members, and higher fabricator prices had translated into pricier client options, said Carly Katz-Hackman, then chief sales officer of Pinch Food Design. Although clients were encountering higher food costs in their personal lives, she said, they did not always expect the same pressure in a wedding budget.
At the time, businesses were deciding how much cost they could absorb. Sarah Worsley, then director of operations at Race + Religious, explained the 2022 pressure this way: “We tried to avoid [increasing pricing] for the sake of the couples who have been trying to wait out the post-COVID rush to wed, but we aren't able to push it any longer. A 30 percent increase on our basic overhead isn't something we can eat any longer. Our profit margins are suffering.”
Floral teams reported similar pressure in 2022. Supply shortages had pushed popular wedding flowers such as roses to as much as 25 percent above their pre-pandemic prices, said Rishi Patel of HMR Designs. He described an “out bid or overpay” environment with suppliers competing for the products needed for client events.
At the time, he advised clients to expect as much as a 35 percent increase in their design budgets.
Labor costs were another part of the 2022 increase. Tracey Morris of Ella & Louie had maintained the overhead reductions she made in 2020 and said her costs were up about 20 percent. She also described the customer-service tradeoff: a smaller team reduced payroll but left less capacity for client communication.
“I just don't have the bandwidth for all the back and forth, so I use technology to manage it instead of extra employees that I either can't find or afford,” Morris says. “There is no extra help to do anything non-essential.”
Professionals interviewed for the original story described several ways couples adapted. Xin Huang, lead designer at Le Petite Privé, saw couples streamline guest lists to preserve higher-priority experiences such as live performances and specific design elements. Others skipped favors, hosted smaller rehearsal dinners, or chose digital invitations to make room for higher costs.
In 2022, some couples also considered destination weddings as a way to reduce headcount. Florida-based Nicole Brandfon and her fiancé, Adam Alonso, told CNBC in May 2022 that they expected to spend “a fraction of the cost” to marry in Cartagena, Colombia, instead of Miami. Airfare was also volatile at the time, so destination-event savings still depended on the guest list, location, season, and travel plan.
“Even if couples have unlimited money, they're more careful about who they select to come,” Gessel says. “Some of them even gave their parents a set number of guests they could invite.”
The original story also captured smaller ways couples and vendors cut costs. Planner Lea Stafford described reducing the number of rental partners to save on delivery fees and labor. Don Hennig, owner of Chandon Arbors in Keller, Texas, said couples were reducing bar service and choosing more vegetarian dishes to manage higher catering costs.
Shafonne Myers, an online sales strategist for wedding vendors and publisher at Pretty Pear Bride, said in 2022 that she was seeing vendors shift some spending from traditional directory advertising toward time-bound influencer campaigns. Her observation is a useful reminder to review every recurring marketing expense against the leads and bookings it actually produces.
For current events, review supplier quotes on a schedule, set a clear validity period for proposals, and identify costs likely to move between booking and delivery. If you use a price adjustment clause, spell out the trigger, calculation, notice, and documentation requirements, and have qualified counsel review the language for your business and jurisdiction. For destination events, state how travel costs will be estimated, approved, documented, and reimbursed instead of burying them in a single fee.
Maroo started as an invoicing and payments platform and is rapidly adding capabilities across the client workflow. Wedding professionals can use itemized invoices to separate labor, rentals, travel, and reimbursable expenses, keep payment schedules aligned with contract terms, and make approved changes easier for clients to review.
The clearest lesson from the professionals interviewed is to explain price changes early, document what is included, and show couples which choices affect the budget before they commit.
Leahy put it this way during the 2022 spike: “As an industry, we have to be honest about what prices are like right now, even if it means disappointing potential new clients and risking losing the sale,” she says. “If you aren’t telling the truth, you are only setting that client up for failure and disappointment.”
