How will same-sex couples compare with heterosexual couples in wedding spending? That's yet to be determined although already many states that have approved gay marriage are anticipating a new economic windfall over such ceremonies,
U.S. News & World Report said.
“The wedding industry already is just huge. As soon as you say you’re buying it for a wedding it costs 10 times more. There are so many related businesses that stand to benefit from having more weddings, gay, straight or whatever,” noted Marlene Morris Towns, a marketing professor at Georgetown University, in an interview with U.S. News in October 2014.
In one study from The Williams Institute, allowing the 9,000 unmarried same-sex couples in North Carolina to marry could possible generate more than $64 million in statewide spending over three years. Gay marriage could add $4.4 million in sales tax revenue and create 215 to 646 jobs for the state.
Heterosexual couples spend more than $31,000 on average for a wedding,
The Huffington Post reported in 2014.
By turn, a New York study in 2012 said the average
gay wedding cost $9,039, The Christian Science Monitor reported. It noted: "Gay couples weren’t tighter with money; they just typically invited fewer guests."
California and New York are destinations for gay weddings, according to the report, which cited a Williams Institute study estimating that California could generate $492 million from same-sex weddings during the next three years.
A study from NerdWallet published in 2014 found that if every state were to approve gay marriage, that could offer "a $2.5 billion flow into local economies."
“Many states where same-sex marriage is legal have seen an economic boost as couples plan their unions,” NerdWallet said. “But this increase doesn’t predict future spending because marriage rates for the first couple of years after legalization are inflated due to pent-up demand. Additionally, many of the initial marriages were planned quickly and performed at a courthouse.”
The NerdWallet anaylisis is a model for when pent-up demand stabilizes and same-sex marriage becomes the norm, allowing couples to spend more time planning and more money on their ceremonies.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.