Bachelorette parties shrink to one night as wedding costs rise

Some brides are cutting the bachelorette party back to a single day as the cost of wedding-related travel rises. Wedding planning site Joy said the average bachelorette attendee spent about $1,300 per party in 2025, nearly twice the 2019 average.

The shift is a response to a celebration format that has expanded into multi-day destination trips with lodging, coordinated outfits, activities, meals and nights out. CNBC Make It reported that brides in New York, Chicago, Newport and New York City are using one-night events to reduce the financial and logistical burden on friends while preserving the ritual of a pre-wedding gathering.

Beth Montemurro, a sociology professor at Penn State Abington who has researched American bridal showers and bachelorette parties, told CNBC Make It that the modern bachelorette party began in the late 1980s and 1990s closer to a single evening out. She said the later growth of the event tracked broader changes in weddings, including the influence of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s royal wedding and a stronger emphasis on individual expression.

Businesses also helped expand the format, Montemurro said, with clubs and spas offering group packages and cities such as Nashville and Austin promoting themselves as bachelorette destinations. According to CNBC Make It, destination parties have become more common: in 2019, 40% of bachelorette parties were held in the bride’s hometown, compared with less than 25% now.

Costs reshape the itinerary

Talia Mayden, a New York-based designer and writer, described hosting a less-than-24-hour celebration in June. Her plan included drinks on the Lower East Side, a $1,100 private dinner at a 25-seat Chinatown restaurant, a one-hour party bus rental and a late night at a nearby dive bar. By 2 a.m., she wrote, guests were ordering rides home.

Olivia Sullivan, 34, chose a similar structure in Chicago for her April 2022 bachelorette party. CNBC Make It reported that Sullivan had attended nine other weddings that year and had been part of three or four bachelorette parties, many requiring travel. She said she usually spent about $1,500 on a weekend bachelorette trip.

For her own event, Sullivan invited about 20 friends, relatives and loved ones to join parts of a single-day schedule. About 10 attended a morning spin class, which she said cost $25. Later, guests joined for coffee and pastries, tea at The Langham hotel for about $100 per person, a private dinner for another roughly $100 per person and bar-hopping at her preferred Chicago spots.

Sullivan told CNBC Make It that the flexible structure let guests decide how much time and money to spend. It also allowed her to invite more people than she would have on a destination trip.

One night, fewer fixed costs

In May, Mackenzie Newcomb, 33, planned a surprise bachelorette party for her younger sister, Kate, in Newport, Rhode Island. The group stayed for one night at a cousin’s house, which kept accommodation costs at zero, and held an at-home hibachi dinner that cost about $1,100 split across 12 women, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

The group then dressed as characters played by Will Ferrell, Kate Newcomb’s celebrity crush, and went out to local bars. Mackenzie Newcomb said the shorter format gave guests one focused night together without the expense of a longer trip.

Credit Karma found in a 2025 survey that 38% of Gen Z and millennial wedding guests said they had taken on debt to attend a wedding’s series of events. Montemurro told CNBC Make It that some women marrying later may have already attended many bachelorette trips, have childcare obligations or prefer to reserve discretionary income for non-wedding travel.

Alyssa Simmons, 30, of Washington, D.C., is planning a one-day bachelorette party in New York City for spring 2027. She expects to gather five or six friends for brunch in Harlem, a burlesque show, a higher-end dinner and an overnight stay in the city where many in the group spent their teens and early 20s.

Simmons told CNBC Make It she has previously spent up to $2,500 on a four-day bachelorette trip and may attend another in the Dominican Republic. For her own celebration, she said a one-night plan better fits her budget, energy and preference for a smaller gathering.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.