Have you ever heard of the "wedding tax"?

It basically means that once a service provider, venue, product seller or renter of any kind knows that you need their event venue, product or service for a wedding...you are almost invariably and automatically charged more for it. 

Not just a little bit either. Some cultural observers believe the markup to be anywhere from 30 to 60 percent. 

The result is that the average wedding costs a huge percentage more than a party with all the same services, products or venue.

The wedding tax is real. It's been a part of weddings for a long time.

That DJ? Regular event price $700.

Wedding price $1200.

Professional photographer for a full day? Regular price $1500.

Wedding price $2500. 

A "Wedding dress" costs way more than a dress that could be worn to a wedding, but the retailer didn't call it that.

And does anyone really believe water, eggs and flour ought to be costing $500+ for a cake? The cake makers do! Granted, they can create some beautiful cakes...but most wedding cake bakers are gouging you with a wedding tax, too, sorry to say.

On top of the premium many service providers charge once you whisper the word "wedding"...regular inflation makes the cost of all the stuff people want for a wedding go up...just about every year.

In fact, the average cost for an average wedding has increased 12% in just the last 4 years.

On the chart on this page, we've pulled data from the 2013, 2014 and 2017 "Real Weddings Study" by The Knot.

Who's/What's NOT trying to increase their prices every year?

1. Wedding cake makers
2. Invitation printers
3. Engagement rings from CubicZirconia.com

Invitations is easy to explain if you think about it (more and more printing can be sourced online rather than through a local printer, and so the seller has less costs to cover and so can continue to sell cheaper each year).

Wedding cakes going down in price...well, it's our opinion those babies have always been overpriced. We prefer cupcakes, anyway! And lots of 'em. Or cakepops. Really, both sounds good to us.

And that leaves CubicZirconia.com engagement rings.

Opposed to the U.S. national average spent for an engagement ring going up it seems every year...our company goal is to DECREASE our average engagement ring sale every year...while making the same amount in profit.

We do that by making our operation more efficient.

We do that by sharing wholesale metal market costs for gold, palladium and platinum with our retail jewelry customers.

We do it by getting more work done with less effort and better tools for our team.

We do it by outsourcing some tasks for jewelry creation that weren't our core competency.

And how are we doing? If we're going to toot our own horn here, let's toot it.

In the same 4 years as this graphic shows the average spend for a wedding increasing overall 12% and a similar or greater percentage across most categories...our average engagement ring price has decreased by 28%.

In fact, it decreased every year between 2013 and today, and is on track to decrease even more in 2018.

No "wedding tax" here.

We celebrate your wedding with savings.

Let's get the party started early, shall we?

Shop our most popular 150 engagement rings here.