New Orleans Area Event Cost Report 2026: What Weddings and Events Really Cost, 2009 to Today

We’ve been hosting events since 2009 at Fleur de Lis Event Center in Mandeville, on the Northshore near New Orleans. This report uses more than 17 years of our own event records, from 2009 to today, to show what couples and families actually paid. It’s one venue’s data, not a New Orleans market average, but it’s real: every number below comes from signed contracts, not surveys or guesses.

All figures: Fleur de Lis Event Center, one Northshore venue in Mandeville. Inflation adjustment uses the BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). “Contract total” is our all-in grand total: food, bar, tax, room and every added option. Jazz and Pontchartrain are reported separately because a blended figure fits neither room. Most numbers in this report are past contracts. For today’s price on your date, use our pricing calculator.

The key numbers at a glance

*2026 = weddings held through October 31, 2026, plus confirmed bookings through December 31. A small share of 2026 totals include fees that earlier contracts didn’t have (see methodology). Pontchartrain’s lower 2026 median reflects smaller guest lists, not lower prices: its 2026 price per guest is in line with 2023–2025.

†2027 = weddings already booked as of October 31, 2026, in actual dollars (not adjusted for inflation). Their medians are higher mainly because the weddings booked first tend to be larger; price per guest is about the same as in 2026 (Jazz about 8% lower, Pontchartrain about 2% higher). Most 2027 contracts include the fees in our new all-in pricing, and couples often add options closer to the date, so treat 2027 as an early look. 2027 bookings aren’t used anywhere else in this report.

An early look at 2027: as of October 2026, 2027 bookings lean toward Friday and Saturday nights. About 41% are Saturday night and 29% Friday night, compared with 38% and 19% of 2026 weddings, and Sundays are 13% versus 19%. The weddings that book first favor prime dates, and Sunday couples tend to book later, so this is a snapshot, not yet a trend.

“Combined” includes a handful of Private Restaurant weddings, too few to report on their own. We don’t price weddings per person; every quote is a total for your date, room and guest count. Spent per guest here is for comparison only: total contract dollars ÷ total guests for the weddings in each group, so it applies to the guest counts shown. 2026 dollars use BLS CPI-U; the 2026 index is an estimate until BLS publishes the annual average.

What does a wedding cost to book now?

Our wedding prices are now all-in: one price that includes the food, open bar, coordination, décor, the security officer, sales tax and fees. Prices vary by date, because our most-requested dates cost more and quieter dates cost less. Here are the ranges for dates through December 2027.

We don’t price per person: every quote is a total for your date, room and guest count. Prices are set for each date, and a quote you’ve received is always honored; your price is locked when you sign. Prices include sales tax. Add-ons such as a DJ, ceremony or photo booth are extra, with tax and fees added, and paying by credit card adds a processing fee. Sundays include any start time and three extra bridal suite hours. Weddings without alcohol cost less; ask us for a quote. See the price for your date.

These are base prices for the guest counts shown, before add-ons. The contract totals in the rest of this report include whatever options each couple added, so they aren’t directly comparable.

What have recent weddings cost at Fleur de Lis?

At Fleur de Lis Event Center in Mandeville, one Northshore venue, guest count and ballroom drove the total more than anything else from 2023 through 2026. Most weddings at Fleur de Lis now have 75 to 150 guests, with a median of about 100. Here’s what typical weddings cost from 2023 through 2026, by ballroom and by the number of guests planned.

Sizes with too few weddings to report are left out. We have no guest minimum in either ballroom. We don’t price per person. Spent per guest = total dollars ÷ total guests for each group, so it won’t equal the median total divided by median guests. Actual dollars are in each wedding’s own year; 2026 dollars adjust with BLS CPI-U. Contract totals include optional add-ons, such as a DJ, on-site ceremony or photo booth, when the couple chose them.

Notice how the per-guest price falls as the guest count rises. Some things cost the same whether you invite 60 people or 260: the coordination team, the setup, and add-ons like a DJ or ceremony. A per-guest price from a 150-guest wedding will understate what a 50-guest wedding costs per person.

This isn’t unique to us; you’ll see the same pattern at any venue, because some costs don’t grow with the guest list. That’s why a per-guest price quoted at one guest count can’t be compared with another venue’s. Ask each venue for the total for your date and your guest count.

At the same size, the larger room costs more, but less than the raw medians suggest. At 100 to 149 guests, the median Pontchartrain wedding cost about $3,700 more than the median Jazz wedding (2026 dollars, 2023–2026). Most of that gap isn’t the room. Pontchartrain weddings in this size range are more often Saturday nights (about half, versus about a third in the Jazz Ballroom), run somewhat larger within the range, and add slightly more options. Hold guest count and day the same, and the Pontchartrain premium is closer to $1,000 to $2,000. The Pontchartrain Ballroom is built for bigger weddings, with a comfortable range of about 100 to 500 guests; the Jazz Ballroom seats about 50 to 175, or up to 300 for a standing event.

The date you choose matters in either room. Our most-requested dates cost more and quieter dates cost less, so two weddings of the same size and room can differ by thousands of dollars. Use our pricing calculator to see the price for your date.

How much does the day and time change the price?

At Fleur de Lis Event Center in Mandeville, one Northshore venue, the day and time you choose matter most after guest count and ballroom. In 2023–2026 contracts, Saturday night cost the most, followed by Friday night, with Saturday daytime and Sunday lower and weekdays lowest. Today’s prices rank a little differently: Saturday night, then Sunday, Friday night, Saturday daytime, and Monday through Thursday.

Day = reception starts before 4:30 PM; night = 4:30 PM or later. Sunday includes daytime and evening weddings. Weekday weddings are combined across rooms. These medians also reflect guest count: Pontchartrain Saturday daytime weddings were large (median 200 guests), which lowers their per-guest price. We don’t price per person. Spent per guest = total dollars ÷ total guests for each group, not the median total divided by median guests.

Is the Saturday night premium just about guest count?

No. Night weddings do tend to be larger, but even at the same size, Saturday night costs more. Comparing Jazz Ballroom weddings from 2023 through 2026:

Night premium compares the medians in 2026 dollars. Pontchartrain had too few Saturday daytime weddings in each size group to compare.

At today’s prices, a Saturday night in the Jazz Ballroom for 100 guests costs about a third to a half more than a Saturday daytime on comparable dates. If your heart isn’t set on a Saturday night, a Friday night or Saturday daytime wedding is one of the biggest savings available, and Friday night is our best value for a weekend evening wedding.

Is Friday night a smart alternative to Saturday night?

If you want a weekend evening wedding, Friday night is the biggest savings. In the Jazz Ballroom, the median Friday night wedding cost about $11,700, against about $14,400 on Saturday night. In the Pontchartrain Ballroom, it was about $16,000 against about $20,000 (2023–2026, 2026 dollars). Part of that is size, because Friday weddings run smaller: a median of 75 guests versus 100 in the Jazz Ballroom, and 150 versus 175 in the Pontchartrain. Compare weddings of the same size and Friday is still cheaper, by roughly $2,000 to $3,000. In the Jazz Ballroom with under 100 guests, a Friday night wedding cost about 17% less than a Saturday night wedding ($10,900 versus $13,100). At today’s prices, a Friday night in the Jazz Ballroom for 100 guests is about $1,700 to $2,700 less than a Saturday night on a comparable date.

The trade-off is tradition and turnout. Saturday night is still our most popular choice, at about 38% to 41% of weddings against about 20% for Friday, and Saturday night guest lists run larger: a median of 130 guests across both ballrooms in 2023–2026, versus 100 for Friday night. Our records show planned guest counts, not who attends. In our experience, though, a Friday wedding often gets a higher share of invited guests to say yes. Fall Saturdays in Louisiana compete with LSU football and other big events, while most people are free on a Friday night, and after a long work week, plenty of them want somewhere to be. Restaurant data points the same way: Friday is the second-busiest day for restaurant reservations, after Saturday, with 21% of reservations to Saturday’s 27% in Toast’s data for the third quarter of 2024. If most of your guests are local, Friday night is worth a close look.

Which days are couples choosing?

Columns may not total 100% because of rounding.

Saturday night is still the most popular choice, and it’s taking a bigger share of Saturdays: 60% of our Saturday weddings were at night in 2010–2012, 66% in 2023–2025 and 68% in 2026. Sundays have grown the most, from 6% of our weddings in 2010–2012 to 19% in 2026.

How far ahead should you book your wedding or event?

The bigger the wedding and the more popular the date, the earlier couples book. Our median wedding was booked 339 days ahead in 2021–2025, up from 274 days in 2010–2014. Pontchartrain weddings went from 291 to 347 days, and Jazz weddings from 229 to 313 days.

Days booked ahead = wedding date minus the date the booking was confirmed. Medians.

For Saturday night weddings in 2021–2025, the middle half of couples booked between about 9 and 14 months ahead. Smaller events book much later: across all our Saturday events since 2010, the smallest quarter of contracts (under about $4,300) was booked a median of 64 days ahead, and Saturday events in the Private Restaurant a median of 73 days ahead.

My advice: if you want a Saturday or Friday night wedding, start looking about a year out. For a shower or rehearsal dinner, two months or so is often enough, though popular dates go first.

Do weddings cost more than they did in 2010?

At Fleur de Lis Event Center in Mandeville, one Northshore venue, weddings cost more in actual dollars than they did in 2010. From 2010–2012 to 2023–2025, the median Jazz Ballroom wedding rose from $7,530 to $11,034, and the median Pontchartrain wedding from $11,256 to $17,331. General prices rose too: the CPI-U is up about 54% from 2010 to 2026. Adjusted for inflation, the median Jazz wedding is up about 5% and the median Pontchartrain wedding about 9%.

What changed more is what that money covers. Guest lists are much shorter: the median Jazz wedding went from 133 to 95 guests, and the median Pontchartrain wedding from 200 to 161. So the real price per guest rose about 57% in the Jazz Ballroom and 35% in the Pontchartrain. Keep in mind that this is only the venue contract. Photography, flowers, attire, music and other vendors are separate, and many of them cost the same whatever your guest count.

*2020 was an abnormal year because of COVID-19 restrictions. **2026 includes weddings held through October 31 plus confirmed bookings through December 31. Jazz Ballroom figures begin in 2011, its first full year after a remodel. 2010 includes a few events we hosted in 2009, entered in 2010 when we started using our event software.

Does a same-size wedding cost more than it used to?

Yes. Today’s typical wedding is smaller, so the steady medians above hide part of the increase. When you compare weddings with the same guest count in the same ballroom, the real cost is higher now than in 2010–2012: about 24% to 28% in the Jazz Ballroom, and 14% to 58% in the Pontchartrain, with the biggest increase for smaller Pontchartrain weddings.

Only sizes with enough weddings in both periods to compare are shown. Contract totals include optional add-ons such as a DJ, ceremony or photo booth, so part of any increase reflects what couples chose to add. 2023–2026 includes 2026 bookings.

How much smaller are weddings now?

Columns may not total 100% because of rounding.

In 2010–2012, more than a third of our weddings had 200 or more guests. In 2026, 42% have fewer than 100. Couples are inviting fewer people and spending more on each guest.

How does this compare to other weddings in the New Orleans area?

The most widely cited outside benchmark is The Knot’s 2026 Real Weddings Study, a survey of 10,474 U.S. couples married in 2025, recruited through The Knot and WeddingWire. It put the average wedding at $34,200 nationally and $34,000 in Louisiana, with an average of 117 guests and about $292 spent per guest. The same study put the average spent on a reception venue at $12,900, or $16,000 for weddings of more than 100 guests. At Fleur de Lis Event Center in Mandeville, one Northshore venue, the median 2026 wedding contract was $12,019 in the Jazz Ballroom and $16,196 in the Pontchartrain Ballroom.

These figures aren’t directly comparable, for three reasons. First, ours are signed contracts, while The Knot’s are couples’ own survey answers, reported as averages rather than medians. Second, our figure is the venue contract only, while the area averages cover the whole wedding, including photography, flowers, attire, music and other vendors. Third, a “venue” figure means different things at different places: in The Knot’s study, 41% of couples said their venue fee included catering and 37% said it included alcohol, while a standard Fleur de Lis wedding contract includes food and an open bar. Use the outside averages to size the whole budget, and our numbers to plan the venue, food and bar.

Why are more events moving to smaller spaces?

At Fleur de Lis Event Center in Mandeville, one Northshore venue, almost everything we hosted 15 years ago was in a ballroom. Today, the largest share of our events is in the Private Restaurant, which seats up to about 100 guests and is booked as a completely private space. Part of the shift is timing: the Private Restaurant opened in 2016, and small events moved into it quickly once it did.

*The Private Restaurant opened in 2016, so it appears only from then on. A few early events held in small rooms we no longer use are left out of this table. The Jazz Ballroom was remodeled and came into full use in late 2010, so the earliest years lean toward the Pontchartrain. Columns may not total 100% because of rounding.

Weddings followed the same trend. The Jazz Ballroom hosted 41% of our weddings in 2010–2014, 52% in 2021–2025 and 62% in 2026.

This shift matters if you compare prices: a venue’s overall average event price can fall simply because it hosts more small events. Always compare the same kind of event, in the same kind of room.

What other events cost

We don’t price per person; spent per guest is shown for comparison. Nearly all rehearsal dinners and showers were held in the Private Restaurant; private parties were split between the Restaurant and the ballrooms. “Private party” covers birthdays, anniversaries and other celebrations recorded as parties. 2026 includes confirmed bookings. Quinceañeras, corporate events and other event types will be added in future editions.

What did real weddings cost?

Here are six typical weddings from 2025 and 2026, without names, each close to the median for its ballroom and time slot.

Single weddings, shown as examples only. We don’t price per person; spent per guest is shown for comparison. Each total is the full contract total and may include optional add-ons, so some run above today’s base prices, which don’t include add-ons. Our prices also vary by date (our most-requested dates cost more and quieter dates cost less), which explains part of the spread between similar weddings.

What does a Fleur de Lis contract total include?

Every contract total in this report is our all-in grand total: food, bar, tax, room, and any options the couple added. For a standard ballroom wedding today, that includes all 18 hand-passed hors d’oeuvres, the full Louisiana-style buffet with staffed action stations, food service that’s open from the moment guests walk in, a three-hour House Plus Wine open bar, tables, chairs, linens, china and glassware, standard centerpieces, setup and cleanup, a bridal coordinator from booking through send-off, a bridal team on the day, a dedicated assistant for the parents, a guest team led by a guest service leader, and the Fairytale Dinner, a private moment for the newlyweds to eat before their grand entrance.

Packages change over time, so older totals bought a slightly different package. Options change too. Our AI photo booth first appeared in our records in 2024 and was added to about 14% of weddings that year and the next. In 2026 it’s on about 28%, and about one in three weddings now includes some kind of photo booth.

Totals also include options the couple chose, such as our in-house DJ, an on-site ceremony, extra getting-ready suite time or a photo booth. Most also include the uniformed security officer required with an open bar, which is now part of our standard wedding price. Read every figure here as “what the couple paid us in total.”

Not included: gratuity (never required), credit card processing fees, and outside vendors couples hire themselves, such as photographers, florists, cake bakers, attire, and hair and makeup. Budget for those separately. See everything included in a Fleur de Lis wedding.

What’s driving event costs right now?

Food and labor are major costs for any event, and both keep rising. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the CPI-U rose 3.7% in the 12 months ending September 2026. Prices for food away from home rose 3.5% over that year, and full-service meals rose 3.8%, while grocery (food at home) prices rose 1.8%. Over the full span of this report, the CPI-U is up about 54% from 2010 to 2026 (BLS annual averages; 2026 estimated).

Insurance is another cost every venue carries. The Louisiana Department of Insurance reported that approved rates for commercial multiple-peril policies, a common business property-and-liability package, rose an average of 6.0% in 2025, even as rates across all lines combined fell 0.4%. That followed a 3% average increase in 2024.

How we built this report