Wedding Budget Calculator
— plan your dream day without the financial guesswork
What does your wedding actually cost?
Planning a wedding in Ottawa? Our free wedding budget calculator estimates your full wedding cost line by line, based on realistic 2025 averages from local Ottawa vendors. Enter your guest count, choose your vendors, and tier your key priorities below to see what your day really adds up to. The average traditional Ottawa wedding now runs upwards of $90,000 while most Custom Ottawa Elopements cost between $7,000 and $15,000. See the difference for your specific vision, and decide which path feels right for the two of you.
Ottawa Wedding Budget Calculator
Estimated costs based on 2025 averages — 164-guest baseline
Guest Count
Source baseline is 164 guests. Scaled vendors adjust proportionally.
Select Your Vendors
Ranges (low/mid/high) let you tier to match your venue or cake style.
Your Budget
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Or… You Could Elope.
A different kind of wedding day
The Traditional Route
A full-scale Ottawa wedding
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With Ottawa Elopements
A Picnic in the Park elopement
Up to 14 of your favourite people, all-in
By choosing to elope, you save
$0
Configure the calculator above to see how much you'd save
You Could Elope AND…
Here's what your savings could unlock
Why are weddings so expensive?
Let’s be honest: looking at average wedding costs can cause some serious sticker shock. It’s easy to feel like there’s a sneaky “wedding tax” applied the moment you mention the word “marriage” to a vendor. But the truth is, traditional weddings are expensive because they are massive, high-stakes productions. You aren’t just paying for a dinner; you’re funding a catered banquet for a small village, renting a venue that requires insurance and heavy staffing, and hiring specialized pros who spend months prepping for your big day. When every line item, from cake slices to champagne toasts, is multiplied by 150 guests, the numbers spiral fast.
In our experience, traditional weddings often force you to pay for the experience of the crowd rather than the experience of you, the wedding couple. That’s exactly why we built our Wedding Budget Calculator. We want to help you see where the money actually goes, so you can decide if a massive production is truly your style, or if stripping away the noise for an intimate elopement is the breath of fresh air your wallet (and sanity) needs.
Make your Elopement epic!
A smaller guest list doesn’t mean your wedding needs to be less elaborate. In fact, having a micro-wedding or intimate elopement makes it easier for your wedding day to be even more memorable. Here are some epic ways we’ve helped our couples elope:
