Want to Get Married in D.C.? It's Going to Cost You

Weddings are expensive no matter where you get married, but if you live in the Washington, D.C. area, be prepared to pay extra.

Thumbtack.com, which every year gets more than 320,000 wedding requests for a number of wedding-related services like photographers and DJs, recently ranked the 25 most expensive metro areas in the United States, and placed D.C. at No. 9 on the list.

Northern Virginia was lumped in with D.C. for this survey, which found that the average cost of a wedding in the area is $13,303 when you add up all of the 12 essential services for a wedding: planning, officiant, catering, band, photography, videography, decorator, flowers, hair, makeup, cake and limo.

The most expensive item by far was catering, which averaged a whopping $4,371 per wedding in the area, while makeup and officiant both averaged less than $300.

But at least it’s better than getting married in New York, which was No. 1 on the list. It costs $16,077 to get married in the Big Apple.

Other cities higher up on the list include Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Providence, San Francisco, San Jose, and Cleveland.