34,000 couples, $500 million in gifts. Here comes the biggest wedding day of the year

Ilana Keller, Asbury Park Press
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Going to a wedding this weekend?

You're not alone – 4.3 million guests will attend nearly 34,000 weddings Saturday, Oct. 19, the most popular wedding day of the year, according to The Knot and WeddingWire. The companies based that number on weddings recorded on their sites.

“As fall weddings continue to grow in popularity, we’re seeing more and more couples opt for those September and October wedding dates,” said Jeffra Trumpower, senior creative director at WeddingWire. “It’s no surprise to us that 2019’s most popular wedding day of the year falls in mid-October. On Oct. 19, we expect to see couples incorporating bold, vibrant and festive colors into their décor coupled with hearty comfort food dishes; seasonal cocktails like spiked warm apple cider, and lots of texture like pampas grass, greenery and velvet.”

It's fall and love is in the air: This wedding season's hottest trends

Half a billion dollars will be spent on gifts for the happy couples. Including those gifts, guests can expect to spend $180 attending a wedding in town and an average of $1,440 for out-of-town weddings, the report from The Knot and WeddingWire said.

According to The Knot Registry, the average registry cost for the Oct. 19 couples is $3,210.

Get married on Valentine's Day.
Get married on Valentine's Day.

The top three most popular items on their registries are Crate and Barrel Tour red wine glasses, Crate and Barrel Tour white wine glasses and a B. Smith multipurpose server with coordinating tray.

The top three most expensive gifts requested are the iRobot Roomba i7+ Wi-Fi connected robot vacuum with auto dirt disposal ($999.99 from Bed Bath & Beyond); Outdoor Interiors five-piece sling and eucalyptus patio dining set ($999.99 from Bed Bath & Beyond); and Samsung's 65-inch smart UHD TV in black ($997.99 from Amazon), The Knot says.

Another popular gift request is cold, hard cash. Through Oct. 15, nearly $700,000 had been gifted to the Oct. 19 couples via The Knot.

The 2019 WeddingWire Guest Study found that guests pay most attention to food (77%), music (55%) and the venue (51%). Their top challenges are finding something to wear (44%), keeping costs down (27%) and choosing a gift (24%).

Here are Oct. 19 weddings, by the numbers:

  • 33,874 couples will get married.

  • 4.3 million people will attend weddings; 1.7 million from out of town.

  • 474,000 wedding professionals (florists, caterers, photographers, etc) will bring the weddings to life.

  • 11,517 wedding parties will be mixed gender.

  • 14,517 couples will write their own vows.

  • 8,129 couples will serve a late-night snack.

  • 7,452 weddings will incorporate decor or cuisine from where they met or grew up.

  • 5,759 will incorporate religious or cultural traditions into their ceremony.

  • $508 million will be spent on gifts for the couples.

  • $155 will be spent on new outfits on average, which half of guests will buy

The Knot and WeddingWire are each wedding planning industry brands. Visit TheKnot.com and at WeddingWire.com for more information.

Ilana Keller is an award-winning journalist and lifelong New Jersey resident who loves Broadway and really bad puns. She highlights arts advocacy and education, theater fundraisers and more through her column, "Sightlines." Her "about me" fact during icebreakers will always be that she rode a roller coaster with the original cast of "Hamilton." Reach out on Twitter: @ilanakeller; 732-643-4260; ikeller@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Oct. 19 is the most popular wedding day of 2019

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