How Much Is a Beach Wedding (2026 Data)

How much is a beach wedding? The part of the bill that belongs to the beach is small. A public beach permit for a small ceremony costs $20¹ on Hawaii's state shoreline, $25² in North Myrtle Beach and $300³ for an elopement in the state parks of Big Sur. Add a marriage license, which runs from $25⁴ in Indiana to $169⁵ in King County, Washington, and the legal and public-land cost of saying vows on the sand stays in the low hundreds of dollars.

Everything else is an ordinary wedding budget, and that is where the money goes: couples who reported their spending averaged $34,000⁶ for a 2025 wedding. Against that figure, even the most expensive small-ceremony permit on this page is 0.88%⁷ of the total. The sections below cover permit fees and rules, Florida, license fees in 34 states, the wider wedding budget, Hawaii, and the marriage records that show where Americans actually marry.

What you pay for the beach itself

A beach wedding permit is the right to hold a ceremony on public sand for a set time. It does not buy a venue, chairs, catering or a reserved spot, and it is separate from the marriage license. Where a beach authority prices a small ceremony, the lowest published fee ranges from $20¹ to $300³ across the 11 places collected here.⁷

At the bottom of the scale, North Myrtle Beach charges $25² per wedding or vow renewal, and Pinellas County $50⁸ a day for a non-commercial wedding of up to 50 attendees in its parks. St. Pete Beach charges a resident $50⁹ for a ceremony of up to 20 people with no equipment. Two national seashores in North Carolina, Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout, both start at $100¹⁰.¹¹

Higher up the scale, Walton County on Florida's Panhandle charges $150¹² for 1 to 30 people under its special event and beach wedding permit,¹³ and San Diego a grounds-use fee of $191¹⁴ a day, plus a park fund fee of $1.20¹⁴ an hour for a non-commercial event of under 50 people, with a permit required for every wedding whatever the number of guests. Virginia Beach charges a non-refundable $200¹⁵ processing fee for a ceremony on the Oceanfront or at Sandbridge. In California's state parks the fee has two parts: $50¹⁶ plus $175¹⁶ at Lobeiro Park on Calafia State Beach, and $25³ plus $275³ for four hours in Big Sur.⁷

How group size and equipment change the fee

The entry fee often covers only the smallest ceremony, and several schedules charge more for a bigger group, chairs and an arch, a paid vendor or a non-resident.¹²¹⁰⁸⁹ Walton County's scale climbs from $150¹² for up to 30 people to $1,000¹² for 76 or more, 6.67⁷ times the entry price. At St. Pete Beach a non-resident with a standard setup pays $250⁹, five times the resident no-equipment rate.⁷ Pinellas County doubles its day rate to $100⁸ above 50 attendees and charges $150⁸ when a commercial vendor supports the wedding.

Cape Hatteras charges $200¹⁰ for a large wedding of 50 or more participants or for any chairs, arch or tables, and monitoring by a ranger is estimated at about $55¹⁰ per hour, up to $220¹⁰ for a large two-hour event. Cape Lookout publishes $100¹¹ for weddings of 49 people or fewer; the $150¹¹ schedule for groups of 50 or more on the same page is written for memorials, so no fee is stated for a larger wedding there.

Hawaii prices the sand by the square foot

Hawaii's state shoreline works differently. A wedding run by a paid professional, such as a wedding coordinator or photographer, is commercial activity on state land and needs a right-of-entry permit.¹ The fee is 10 cents¹ per square foot, per event, per day, with a minimum of $20¹. The minimum covers 200⁷ square feet; a 20-by-20-foot ceremony area of 400⁷ square feet costs $40⁷.⁷

The permit comes with a two-hour maximum including setup, a limit of 30 people including the professionals, and liability insurance of at least $500,000¹ per incident and $1,000,000¹ in aggregate. So what does a permit actually let you do?

The rules that come with the permit

Beach permits are written for a short ceremony, not a party. North Myrtle Beach allows no more than one portable arch, two small tables, 24 folding chairs and one battery-powered speaker, bans receptions and catering, and reserves no spot on the sand.¹⁷ Virginia Beach grants exclusive use of the beach for up to three hours, including setup and breakdown, and does not allow private receptions, food or alcohol on public property.¹⁵

Guest caps are tight where they exist: 30 people including professionals on Hawaii's state beaches, 20 people for the no-equipment rate at St. Pete Beach, and 49 participants for a simple permit at Cape Hatteras, where chairs are allowed only for elderly or disabled guests.¹⁰ The Big Sur elopement permit covers four hours, is for hike-in elopements only, and the sector issues one special event permit a day.³

Other beach authorities require a permit but publish no fee, or do not allow weddings at all. Okaloosa County, home to Destin and Okaloosa Island, requires a permit for every wedding on a county beach or park and sets the fee by date, location and time frame.¹⁸ Miami-Dade County books weddings in its parks through the park manager rather than its special events permit.¹⁹ Gulf Shores, Alabama, goes further: it generally does not allow weddings on the city's public beaches, while a private beach house needs no city permit.²⁰

How much is a beach wedding in Florida?

In Florida, the beach wedding fees on this page are set by counties and cities, and the gaps are wide.⁸⁹¹² In Pinellas County parks such as Fort De Soto and Sand Key, a non-commercial ceremony costs $50⁸ a day for up to 50 attendees, $100⁸ above that, and $150⁸ with a commercial vendor. Next door in St. Pete Beach, the range runs from $50⁹ for a resident with no equipment to $250⁹ for a non-resident with a standard setup.⁹

Florida's marriage rate, counted where the wedding takes place, was 7.0²¹ per 1,000 residents in 2023, tied with Idaho, Maine and Wyoming for 10th place among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and above the US rate of 6.1²¹. It was 8.9²¹ in 2000, peaked at 9.4²¹ in 2002 and fell to 5.7²¹ in 2020.²¹

Our straight-line trend for Florida over 2000-2023 points to about 5.2⁷ marriages per 1,000 residents in 2035, with a 95% range of 3.9⁷ to 6.6⁷; it is our calculation, not a forecast.⁷

On the Panhandle, Walton County, which covers South Walton and the 30A beaches, charges $150¹² to $1,000¹² by group size under a 2024 resolution. The license adds $86²² in Miami-Dade County, or $61²² for couples who complete a premarital course, a saving of $25⁷. From one county's sand, the scale now jumps to the document every state requires.⁷

The marriage license: the fee every wedding pays

Whatever the setting, a wedding needs a marriage license from the state where the ceremony happens. Across the 34 states collected here, the standard fee runs from $25⁴ in Indiana to $169⁵ in King County, Washington, a gap of $144⁷. The median is $60⁷, and 21 of the 34 states charge $60 or less.⁷ Each row is the capital or largest county, or the statewide fee where the state sets one.

The expensive end is a mix of states and counties: Dane County, Wisconsin, charges $150²³ plus a service fee, Minnesota's statute sets $125²⁴, and Clark County, home of Las Vegas, charges $102²⁵. Among coastal wedding states, Los Angeles County charges $91²⁷ for a public license, Hawaii $65³² including the online portal fee, and Greenville County, South Carolina, $50⁴⁵ for county residents. At the cheap end sit New Jersey at $28⁵², Louisiana at $27.50⁵³ and Indiana at $25⁴; New York City charges $35⁴⁷, a fee last stated in 2021.

Discounts and surcharges

Several states cut the fee for couples who take a premarital course. In Minnesota the fee falls from $125²⁴ to $50²⁴, a saving of $75⁷; in Shelby County, Tennessee, from $97.50²⁶ to $37.50²⁶; in Fulton County, Georgia, from $68.50³¹ to $28.50³¹; and in Oklahoma County from $50⁴⁴ to $5⁴⁴.⁷

Other places charge more to couples from elsewhere, which matters for a destination wedding. Harris County, Texas, charges $181³⁰ without proof of Texas residency, $100⁷ more than the standard fee. Greenville County charges $115⁴⁵ to out-of-state couples, Indiana $65⁴ and Wayne County, Michigan, $40⁵⁰ when both applicants live out of state.

A license also works only where it was issued. Hawaii's license is valid only within the State of Hawaii, and Wayne County's only in Michigan, so a couple marrying on a beach in another state needs that state's license.³² Hawaii sets no residence or citizenship requirement.³² On a Hawaii state beach, a ceremony with no paid professional needs no right-of-entry permit, so the public cost is the $65³² license alone.¹ With a paid professional, whose ceremony is commercial activity that needs the permit, the minimum is $85⁷: the license plus the $20¹ minimum permit.⁷

The rest of the bill: what a whole wedding costs

Permit and license together are a few hundred dollars at most; the ceremony and party are the budget. Couples who reported their spending averaged $34,000⁶ for a wedding held in 2025, or $292⁶ per guest, with an average of 117⁶ guests.⁶ The reported average was $33,000⁵⁴ a year earlier and $35,000⁵⁵ in 2023.

These yearly averages do not all measure the same thing. For 2021 to 2023 the figure is stated as ceremony and reception only: $28,000⁵⁶ in 2021, $30,000⁵⁶ in 2022 and $35,000⁵⁵ in 2023.⁵⁶ For 2024 and 2025 the average is published without saying whether the engagement ring is left out, and the 2025 release reports the ring separately at $4,600⁶. The table keeps the basis next to each number, so the years are not read as one series.

Guest lists shrank sharply in the pandemic and have held steady since. The average wedding had 131⁵⁷ guests in 2019 and 105⁵⁷ in 2021, then 117⁵⁶ in 2022 and 116⁵⁴ in 2024. Within one release, reported spending per guest rose from $214⁵⁷ in 2019 to $266⁵⁷ in 2021.⁵⁷ The newest release puts it at $292⁶ for 2025, $8⁶ more than in 2024.⁶ That release does not state whether the ring is excluded, so its figures are compared only with each other, not with 2019 or 2021.

A destination wedding moves part of the cost onto the guests. One wedding-planning estimate puts a destination wedding at $25,000⁵⁸ to $40,000⁵⁸ for the couple. Each guest spends $1,500⁵⁸ to $3,500⁵⁸ to attend a destination wedding in the US and $2,500⁵⁸ to $5,000⁵⁸ for one abroad; those are the guests' own travel costs, not part of the couple's budget.

How many couples travel to marry

Two measures describe how common destination weddings are, and they count different things. Among married couples surveyed after the wedding, about one in five called theirs a destination wedding: 24%⁵⁹ in 2011, 20%⁵⁹ in 2016, 21%⁵⁷ in 2019 and nearly 20%⁵⁷ in 2021.⁵⁷

Among couples planning a 2024 wedding, 36%⁶⁰ said most guests would travel by plane, train or a very long drive: 8%⁶⁰ planned a wedding abroad and 28%⁶⁰ a wedding in the US far from most guests.⁶⁰ The first measure is a completed-wedding label; the second is a plan measured by the guests' journey, so the two are shown side by side, not combined.

Hawaii: where most weddings are visitors' weddings

Hawaii's official marriage records separate residents' weddings from visitors'. In 2023 the state recorded 17,925⁶¹ marriages; in 11,187⁶¹ of them, 62.4%⁶¹, neither partner lived in Hawaii.⁶¹ That share stayed between 60.1%⁶¹ and 68.0%⁶¹ in every year from 2004 to 2023 except 2020, when travel stopped and it fell to 34.2%⁶¹.

The total has fallen. Hawaii recorded 28,843⁶¹ marriages in 2004 and 17,925⁶¹ in 2023, 37.9%⁷ fewer. Residents' marriages declined more slowly, from 9,225⁶¹ to 6,738⁶¹, so most of the drop came from visitors: marriages with both partners from elsewhere fell from 19,618⁷ to 11,187⁷.⁷

A straight line through the whole 2004-2023 record would take total marriages close to zero by mid-century, which is not a plausible reading of a series cut in half by one closed year, so the total is shown as a table. The resident series and the nonresident share are steadier and carry a trend line: our calculation puts the share at about 51.1%⁷ in 2035, with a wide 95% range of 33.2%⁷ to 69.0%⁷. It is our calculation, not a forecast.⁷

The couples who fly in are different from those who live there. In 2023 the median age of nonresident grooms was 36⁶¹ and of brides 33⁶¹, against 32⁶¹ and 30⁶¹ when at least one partner was a resident. A third of nonresident grooms, 33.6%⁶¹, had been married before. Religious ceremonies made up 89.6%⁶¹ of nonresident weddings and 71.8%⁶¹ of resident ones, as the categories are printed; same-sex marriages were 4.8%⁶¹ of the total.⁶¹

Wedding and honeymoon travelers

Visitor surveys also count the trips. In 2024, 66,375⁷ air visitors gave a wedding ("Wedding/Get Married") as the purpose of their trip to Hawaii: 50,728⁶² from the US mainland and 15,647⁶² from other countries and US territories.⁶² That is 32,722⁷ fewer than the 99,097⁶³ of 2019, a drop of 33.0%⁷.⁷

The domestic count is close to its old level, 4,550⁷ below 2019; the loss is international: 28,172⁷ fewer visitors, down 64.3%⁷.⁷

Honeymooners outnumber wedding visitors about five to one: 336,950⁷ in 2024, 197,410⁶² domestic and 139,540⁶² international.⁶² In 2015 there were 588,236⁶⁴. A straight-line trend over 2015-2024 is dominated by the 2020 and 2021 border closures and would run to zero, so both visitor series are shown as tables without a projection.

The market matters. Among surveyed 2023 visitors from Japan, 14.4%⁶² named a honeymoon as the main purpose of the trip, against 2.0%⁶² of US visitors; getting married was the main purpose for 1.3%⁶² of Japanese and 0.4%⁶² of US visitors.⁶²

Honeymooners also spend more per day. In 2024 a visitor from the US East on honeymoon spent $376.5⁶² a day, against $264.6⁶² for all US East visitors, $111.9⁷ more. For the US West the gap was $89.2⁷: $319.0⁶² against $229.8⁶².⁷

Where Americans marry: rates by state

State marriage rates are counted where the wedding takes place, not where the couple lives, so destination states stand out.²¹ In 2023 Nevada recorded 24.6²¹ marriages per 1,000 residents, 4.03⁷ times the US rate of 6.1²¹. Hawaii followed at 12.5²¹, about twice the national rate, then Utah at 11.2²¹ and Montana at 9.2²¹.²¹ Nineteen of the 51 areas were above the US rate, and Louisiana had the lowest, 3.7²¹.²¹

The destination hubs have shrunk sharply. Nevada's rate was 99.0²¹ in 1990 and 72.2²¹ in 2000; its 2023 rate is about a third of the 2000 level. Hawaii's rate peaked at 22.6²¹ in 2004 and 2005 and dropped to 7.4²¹ in 2020 before recovering to 14.4²¹ in 2022, then fell 1.9⁷ points to 2023.²¹ Straight-line trends for Nevada and Hawaii would reach zero within a few decades, so the destination states are shown in a table rather than with trend lines.⁷

The full state table shows how widespread the decline is. South Carolina went from 15.9²¹ in 1990 to 6.3²¹ in 2019. The 2020 column shows the pandemic year, when Louisiana fell to 3.4²¹ and Nevada to 21.0²¹.²¹

Fewer weddings nationwide

The United States recorded 2,041,926⁷¹ marriages in 2023, 273,074⁷ or 11.8%⁷ fewer than the 2,315,000⁷¹ of 2000.⁷ The pandemic cut 2020 to 1,676,911⁷¹, 16.8%⁷ below 2019, and the count rebounded to 2,065,905⁷¹ in 2022.⁷¹ Our straight-line trend over 2000-2023, which includes the 2020 dip, points to about 1,897,829⁷ marriages in 2030 and about 1,628,574⁷ in 2050, with a 95% range of 1,302,236⁷ to 1,954,913⁷ for 2050; it is our calculation, not a forecast.⁷

The rate fell faster than the count because the population grew: from 8.2⁷¹ marriages per 1,000 people in 2000 to 6.1⁷¹ in 2023, 2.1⁷ points lower. The same straight-line method puts the rate near 5.2⁷ per 1,000 in 2030 and 3.2⁷ in 2050, again our calculation, not a forecast.⁷

What this means for a couple planning a beach wedding

For the budget, the public side of a beach wedding is small and knowable. The lowest license and the lowest permit on this page add up to $45⁷; the highest license and the highest small-ceremony permit to $469⁷.⁷ The venue, food, photographer and travel are where the money goes, and a destination budget of $25,000⁵⁸ to $40,000⁵⁸ for the couple brackets the $34,000⁶ average that surveyed couples reported for 2025.⁵⁸

For the plan, the rules matter more than the fee. Permits cap the ceremony at two hours in Hawaii, three in Virginia Beach and four in Big Sur; guest limits of 20 to 50 people apply at the cheapest rates; and North Myrtle Beach and Virginia Beach allow no reception on the sand.^11539817 The format the permits are built for is a short ceremony on the beach and a party somewhere else, such as a hotel, a restaurant or a rented beach house.

For the guest list, distance moves money onto the guests: each one spends $1,500⁵⁸ to $3,500⁵⁸ to attend a destination wedding in the US.⁵⁸ A permit also gives no exclusive spot in North Myrtle Beach, so other beachgoers may share the sand during the ceremony.²

For the paperwork, the license must come from the state of the ceremony, and some counties charge out-of-state couples more, as Harris County's $181³⁰ shows.³⁰ Checking the local fee sheet a few weeks ahead matters too: Virginia Beach wants the application 14 days before the date.¹⁵

Conclusions

1. The sand is almost free; the wedding is not. A small-ceremony permit costs $20 to $300 across the 11 places on this page, and even the top of that range is 0.88% of the $34,000 that surveyed couples reported spending on a 2025 wedding.
2. Rules shape a beach wedding more than fees. Guest caps of 20 to 50 people, two- to four-hour windows and bans on receptions make a short ceremony plus a party elsewhere the format the permits are built for.
3. Destination weddings are measurable where records split residents, and both hubs are shrinking. 62.4% of Hawaii's marriages joined two visitors in 2023, and Nevada's rate is four times the US rate, yet Hawaii recorded 37.9% fewer marriages in 2023 than in 2004 and Nevada's rate fell from 72.2 to 24.6 since 2000.
4. Fewer couples marry, and within each survey release they spend more per guest. US marriages were 11.8% below 2000 in 2023. Reported spending per guest rose from $214 to $266 between 2019 and 2021 in one release, and by $8 to $292 between 2024 and 2025 in another; the two releases may not share a cost basis, so they are not read as one trend.