See Jeff Bezos’s over $20 million wedding
This is what the Venice wedding of billionaire Amazon founders Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez would look like.
Awaiting an upcoming luxury wedding in Venice, Amazon founder, US billionaire Jeff Bezos and his fiancee Lauren Sanchez, the bride and groom, are thinking of ways to increase their more modest wedding budget amid rising tariffs.
As USA Today previously reported, Venice Regional Governor Luca Zaire said Bezos Sanchez’s wedding is estimated to cost between $23 million and $34 million. According to a survey from Knot’s Real Weddings 2025, this is far from the average US wedding in 2024, down slightly from $35,000 in 2023.
Sanchez also shared with Vogue that the pink engagement ring is worth $2.5 million. On average, US engagement rings cost $5,200 in 2024, according to a Knot study. This is down from $5,500 in 2023, $5,800 in 2022 and $6,000 in 2021.
Customs are unwelcome wedding guests
As a florist, Allison Krivashek is doing his best to navigate the increased tariffs on imported flowers to maintain the costs of brides and grooms.
When becoming a bride, Krivashek is about to make a choice to prevent the July wedding budget from increasing.
Brides, grooms and wedding vendors are on similar boats as imported goods and tariff prices add costs to life events where they are already expensive. According to the wedding website The Knot, many aspects of a wedding day are affected by customs duties such as alcohol, flowers, wedding dresses and centerpiece decorations.
80% of cut flowers are imported from other countries, and 90% of wedding dresses sold in the US are imported.
Heavy financial costs in the hearts of the bride and groom
A survey of 741 brides and bride and groom users exclusively shared with USA Today, 73% of couples said their biggest concern was to maintain costs within budgets, while 46% said economic factors such as inflation were a major concern. 34% were not concerned about the price, especially because the change in price was not a concern due to tariffs, and 15% of couples mention it.
More than half of the couples involved (58%) said they have not seen tariffs affect their wedding yet, while 36% said they have made changes to their plans due to financial stress. Of these couples, 22% had adjusted their budgets, while 68% said they were increasing their budgets.
Rather than cutting, many couples responded to looming tariff concerns by taking aggressive measures such as early bookings and consulting occupations.
- About one in three couples buy items early to lock the pricing.
- Many people choose US-made or local products to offset import costs.
- 28% of couples have slightly reduced average 25 or 12 couples (average 112) who don’t want to sacrifice their guest experience (average 112).
Vendors are great at helping couples understand how to make changes to suit their budgets and plans for an increase, says Lauren Kay, executive editor at Knot.
“They want to help you have the best wedding you’ve ever had. They want to help you pull it off, whether it’s a trade-off to avoid tariffs or not that makes a trade-off to prevent your budget from being seriously affected,” Kay told USA Today.
The couple doesn’t seem to panic, Kay said, to deal with another moment in her wedding planning.
“I’m not particularly concerned about the tariffs themselves, but I’m just thinking about how we plan our wedding and all the economic factors we face today and stay within budget,” she said.
According to a survey from Knot’s Real Weddings 2025, the average US wedding in 2024 fell slightly from $35,000 in 2023.
Tariffs are rising
Some vendors like Krivachek are already beginning to see their rise.
“When they first came out, it’s my, well, this is going to be really devastating. We were watching everywhere from 10% to 25%. And when you’re talking about weddings with flowers, it really increases quickly when it’s 10% to 25% plus $5,000,” Krivachek said.
Some suppliers have said they use tariff news to unfairly raise prices twice as much.
Many florists and couples are panicking about how to offset the increase in tariffs and check contract language. This allows vendors to raise prices due to market fluctuations, she said.
Krivachek said she and other wedding vendors have learned that during the Covid-19 pandemic, the contract must include clauses to allow for unexpected market pricing fluctuations. She added that instead of handing out the customs related prices to the bride and groom, she communicated with the consumer about other options.
“Can they raise the budget to keep everything the same, or we can summon them with local varieties. That was something I loved. It was really positive for local growers,” Krivasek said.
She told some brides, especially those with winter weddings, that if their hearts sink into certain types of flowers that cannot be grown domestically in the winter, they would have to increase their budgets.
Florist adjusts her wedding budget
Krivachek was also married in July. Her flower budget is up to $36,000 in her budget as she feels she needs to make a statement as a florist.
She made some adjustments to keep her budget on the same budget, including using many landscaping plants and bushes.
“I’m excited about it because I want to create a tendency to take it home and plant it to remind you of the wedding and use these flowers and bushes to make it sustainable,” she said.
She also reduced the number of imported cut flowers that remain within budget.
She has not seen any tariff-related increases in other parts of her wedding budget, she said.
Customs prices are also rising for bridal gowns
Prices affect prices as many components for designing and making gowns come from different countries, according to Nayri Kalayjian, owner of Lovella Bridal in Los Angeles, between the execution of materials and transported products and the execution of transport materials and transport.
“Prices are everywhere, so wherever you gowns are manufactured, the same goes for the wedding industry,” she said.
Some designers are directly increasing the rate percentage, but some designers are adding tariff percentages, she said. Kalayjian said he saw an additional charge for customs between 10% and 35%.
But normally, bridal boutiques see price increases multiple times in the year, regardless of tariffs, Karaijian said.
Kalayjian said he would often tell the bride if he was definitely looking at the dress he liked, not waiting too long, or if the price could be abolished or the price would rise.
She said that since all bridal gowns are custom orders, it takes time to make them. Turnaround times are usually 6-8 months.
Kalayjian added that even with prices rising, there are dresses in every price range for each budget. Brides often get sample dresses with sudden discounts, she said.
(This story has been updated to fix the error.)
Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA Today. Contact her at blinfisher @usatoday.com or follow her on X, Facebook, or Instagram @Blinfisher, @Blinfisher.bsky.social.. Sign up for our free daily money newsletter. This includes Friday’s Consumer News.
