How much does a wedding cost in Romania? 2027 budget guide
What a Romanian wedding really costs in 2027, by category and city, with a full table for 100, 150 and 200 guests, deposits and how the cash gift fits in.
- A 150-guest wedding in Romania costs roughly 70,100 to 157,100 lei in 2027 (about €13,100 to €29,400).
- Food and drink usually take over half the budget, at 150 to 550 lei per guest depending on city and level.
- Set aside a 10 to 15% reserve and keep every deposit and due date in one place.
- The cash gift often covers much of the cost, but it arrives on the night, so never budget on it.
- The biggest saving is the guest list: each guest adds 300 to 700 lei to the bill.
A Romanian wedding for 150 guests costs roughly 70,100 to 157,100 lei in 2027 (about €13,100 to €29,400), and one for 100 guests roughly 53,800 to 125,500 lei (about €10,000 to €23,500). More than half of that goes on food and drink, so the guest count shapes the budget more than any other decision.
Below we show where the figures come from, what each category costs, how the budget usually splits and how to avoid nasty surprises. All amounts are indicative, gathered from public Romanian sources checked in October 2026 and linked throughout. Euro figures use the National Bank of Romania rate of about 5.35 lei to the euro (BNR). The quotes you get from your own venue and suppliers are the only numbers that really count.
Why costs vary so much from couple to couple
Three things move a Romanian wedding budget the most: how many people you invite, which city you choose and which day of the week you marry. Dress, band and flowers matter, but in thousands of lei, not tens of thousands.
Romanian weddings are large by Western standards. Guest lists of 120 to 180 people are common in cities and bigger still in rural areas, because extended family, parents' friends and the godparents' (nași) circles are all expected. A Raiffeisen Bank Romania survey with Appinio, published in August 2026, put the average estimated budget for a summer 2026 wedding at 60,000 lei (about €11,200). Organisers named the venue (39%), food and drink (37%) and music (29%) as the most expensive items.
For 2027, add a little. Memory Makers in Iași estimates that the typical wedding basket will cost about 8 to 9% more than in 2026, because hospitality and services are rising faster than general inflation.
Menu price per guest, by city
Food and drink is the largest cost and the only one multiplied by every name on the list. Romanian venues price per head, usually with drinks included. The guide from ievent.ro, updated September 2026, based on more than 3,500 listed venues, gives these ranges for menu plus drinks:
| City | Standard (lei/guest) | Premium (lei/guest) | Luxury (lei/guest) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bucharest | 150-220 | 220-350 | 350-550 |
| Cluj-Napoca | 130-200 | 200-320 | 320-500 |
| Brașov | 130-200 | 200-310 | 310-490 |
| Timișoara | 120-190 | 190-300 | 300-470 |
| Constanța | 120-190 | 190-300 | 300-470 |
| Iași | 110-175 | 175-270 | 270-430 |
| Craiova | 100-160 | 160-250 | 250-400 |
These are list prices. Final quotes for a Saturday in peak season are often higher: UpEventi estimates around 600 lei (about €112) per guest for a premium menu in Bucharest and around 400 lei elsewhere, and WedDay notes that a premium open bar can add another 100 to 300 lei per head.
your photographer, DJ and other suppliers working through the night also eat. Venues usually charge 50 to 75% of the guest menu price for their meals (WedDay). Budget them from day one, like six to ten extra guests.
What each category costs
These ranges come from the guides by EventMap (May 2026) and ievent.ro (September 2026), both based on published offers.
- Music. A DJ with sound for 5 to 6 hours: 2,500 to 4,500 lei. A live band of 4 to 5 musicians: 6,500 to 12,000 lei. Band plus DJ: 8,500 to 15,000 lei. Well-known bands go far higher. Romanian weddings run late, often until dawn, so check how many hours are included.
- Photo and video. A full-day photographer: 4,500 to 7,500 lei; full-day photo and video: 7,000 to 12,000 lei.
- Outfits. A bridal gown from a Romanian shop: 2,500 to 6,000 lei; from a designer: 6,000 to 25,000 lei. Groom's suit: 1,500 to 4,500 lei. Bride's shoes and accessories: 700 to 2,500 lei.
- Rings. 1,500 to 8,000 lei.
- Decor and flowers. 3,500 to 8,000 lei for 100 guests, rising with the number of tables.
- Cake. 110 to 200 lei per kilo, about 8 kg for 100 guests, plus 200 to 500 lei for a display cake for photos.
- Printed invitations. 600 to 1,800 lei per 100 on standard card, 1,500 to 3,500 lei with luxury envelopes and wax seals.
- Favours (mărturii, small thank-you gifts for each guest): 5 to 15 lei each.
- Transport: 500 to 3,000 lei. Civil and church ceremonies together: 500 to 2,000 lei. In Romania the civil ceremony at the town hall is the legal one and the Orthodox church wedding is separate.
- Accommodation for godparents or guests from abroad varies with city and season; ask a nearby hotel for a group rate before invitations go out.
The full table: 100, 150 and 200 guests
We combined the categories above into one table for a Saturday wedding in a large Romanian city, with food and drink at 250 to 450 lei per guest (between ievent's premium list prices and the real-world quotes cited by UpEventi). The first figure in each range is the modest option across the board, the second is premium everywhere. All amounts in lei.
| Category | 100 guests | 150 guests | 200 guests |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food + drink (250-450 lei/guest) | 25,000-45,000 | 37,500-67,500 | 50,000-90,000 |
| Music (DJ or band) | 4,000-12,000 | 4,000-12,000 | 4,000-12,000 |
| Photo + video | 7,000-12,000 | 7,000-12,000 | 7,000-12,000 |
| Decor + flowers | 3,500-8,000 | 5,000-11,000 | 6,500-14,000 |
| Outfits | 4,700-13,000 | 4,700-13,000 | 4,700-13,000 |
| Rings | 1,500-8,000 | 1,500-8,000 | 1,500-8,000 |
| Cake | 1,100-2,100 | 1,500-2,900 | 2,000-3,700 |
| Invitations + stationery | 600-2,500 | 800-3,000 | 1,000-3,500 |
| Favours | 500-1,500 | 750-2,250 | 1,000-3,000 |
| Transport | 500-3,000 | 500-3,000 | 500-3,000 |
| Civil + church ceremony | 500-2,000 | 500-2,000 | 500-2,000 |
| Subtotal | 48,900-109,100 | 63,750-136,650 | 78,700-164,200 |
| Reserve (10% low, 15% high) | 4,900-16,400 | 6,400-20,500 | 7,900-24,600 |
| Indicative total | 53,800-125,500 | 70,100-157,100 | 86,600-188,800 |
| In euros (approx.) | €10,000-23,500 | €13,100-29,400 | €16,200-35,300 |
We scaled decor, cake, stationery and favours by guest count ourselves, starting from the 100-guest benchmarks. Accommodation, hair and make-up and the honeymoon are not included. For comparison, ievent.ro gives 40,000 to 70,000 lei for 100 guests using list prices, and EventMap 54,000 to 102,000 lei; nearly all of the difference comes from the menu price each assumes.
How the budget splits, in percentages
If you start from a total, the ievent.ro benchmarks are: menu 35 to 45%, drinks 8 to 12%, music 8 to 15%, photo and video 6 to 10%, decor 5 to 10%, outfits 4 to 8%, rings 2 to 5%, cake 2 to 4%, favours and transport 1 to 3% each, invitations 1 to 2%. In our table, food and drink pass half of the total at 150 and 200 guests. That is typical in Romania, where, as Memory Makers notes, the venue and menu take 50 to 65% of the budget, far more than in Western Europe or the US.
Reserve and payment schedule
Set aside 10 to 15% on top of the total from day one. Decor installation fees, an extra hour of music, six more guests confirming in the final week or relatives arriving from abroad turn up at almost every wedding.
There is no standard deposit percentage in Romania; every venue and supplier sets its own terms in the contract. Typically you pay a deposit to secure the date and the balance closer to the wedding, and the venue's final bill follows the confirmed head count. Before signing, check:
- How much the deposit is and whether it is refundable if you postpone or cancel.
- Until when you can change guest numbers without a penalty.
- Whether the per-guest price is fixed for your 2027 date.
- What exactly the menu includes: drinks, cake, basic decor, suppliers' meals.
- When and how the balance is paid.
keep every deposit and every due date in one place. With six suppliers and two or three instalments each, it is easy to miss a payment in the very week of the wedding.
Booking order, following Memory Makers: venue 12 to 18 months ahead, church 8 to 12 months, photo and video 9 to 12, music 6 to 12, dress 5 to 6, and invitations out at least 3 months before. See our month-by-month wedding planning checklist.
Does the cash gift cover the wedding?
In Romania guests give money in an envelope (darul) rather than choosing from a gift list, and at many weddings this covers a large part of the costs. For 2026, ievent.ro suggests 300 to 600 lei per person for a friend and 1,000 to 3,000 lei for the godparents; Memory Makers cites about 1,500 lei per couple in Iași, Cluj or Timișoara and about 2,000 lei in Bucharest. Our guide on how much to give at a Romanian wedding has the details.
An illustration: at a 150-person wedding with 60 couples giving 1,500 lei and 30 single guests giving 700, the envelopes add up to about 111,000 lei. Even so, please do not build your budget on it. Suppliers are paid weeks or months before the wedding, while the gift arrives on the night itself. Amounts vary widely, some guests cancel at the last minute, and in some families the godparents pay certain costs directly (the band, the church candles) while in others they only give a gift. Plan as if you were paying from savings and family help; whatever comes in the envelopes is then a joyful start, not a hole to fill.
How to cut costs without it showing
- Trim the guest list. Each guest adds 300 to 700 lei according to ievent.ro (200 to 900 per UpEventi). Thirty fewer names easily saves 10,000 to 20,000 lei. Our wedding guest list guide shows how to do it with both families on board.
- Pick a different day. Thursday, Friday or Sunday instead of Saturday can save 20 to 30% on venue and suppliers (EventMap).
- Go off-season. November to April menus can be 10 to 30% cheaper (WedDay). Check Orthodox fasting periods first, as church weddings are not held during them.
- Combine photo and video with one team (10 to 15% cheaper, EventMap), choose a DJ with a live musician instead of a full band, and use dried or preserved flowers.
- Send invitations online with RSVP and print only a few for grandparents and godparents.
Your next step
Write down a realistic guest count, ask two or three venues for their per-guest price for your date with drinks included, multiply, add the categories above at the level you want, then put 10 to 15% on top. If the total is too high, go back to the guest list. That is almost always where the answer is.
Frequently asked questions
A Raiffeisen Bank Romania survey published in August 2026 put the average estimated budget at 60,000 lei, about €11,200. For a 150-guest Saturday wedding in a large city we estimate 70,100 to 157,100 lei in 2027, including a reserve. Smaller towns and weekdays cost less.
According to ievent.ro, food and drink cost 150 to 550 lei per guest in 2026, with Bucharest and Cluj the most expensive. Final quotes for a peak-season Saturday often land around 400 lei outside Bucharest and 600 lei in Bucharest for a premium menu. Add about 8 to 9% for 2027.
Usually the couple and both sets of parents, with the godparents (nași) often covering certain costs or giving a large cash gift. Guests give money in envelopes, which at many weddings covers a big part of the bill. Agree early who pays for what, so nothing is left to the night itself.
Compared with Western Europe, per-guest menu prices and supplier fees are often lower, especially outside Bucharest. Romanian weddings are typically large, though, so the total can still be significant. Factor in travel and accommodation for guests coming from abroad.
Between 10 and 15% of the total. It covers what turns up at almost every wedding: late confirmations, extra hours of music, installation fees or accommodation for relatives from afar.
