The short version.
We observed four price patterns.
Pick your destination.
The peaks show search demand, so a few spots have peak demand in a month that isn't the priciest. Each card below shows you the peak month, an off-peak alternative, and what the weather is like in both. We understand there may be some weather outliers or differing opinions on weather.
Go deeper on a destination.
Each guide has the month-by-month hotel rates, the demand curve, the weather bar, and the months to avoid.
- When to book a wedding in Napa ValleyDecember vs. October, 43% cheaper
- When to book a wedding in New OrleansDecember vs. October, 37% cheaper
- When to book a wedding in CharlestonDecember vs. October, 37% cheaper
- When to book a wedding in NewportMay vs. July, 35% cheaper
- When to book a wedding in San DiegoSeptember vs. July, 32% cheaper
Date set, place open?
A lower-priced and a higher-priced destination each month, counting only places with good weather in that month.
How we did this.
The 20 destinationsThey came from the places that show up again and again in wedding-planning lists like The Knot's best U.S. destination wedding spots, narrowed to the ones where we had enough search and rate data to trust. A few well-known spots, Aspen and Banff among them, were too thin on data and were swapped for close substitutes.
Peak monthPeak month is the month couples most want to get married in, measured by wedding-venue searches for weddings in that month, not when hotels cost the most. Hotels spike for conventions and tourists too. Where search volume is thin, the card says so.
The off-peak alternativeIt is the cheapest month within a couple of months of the peak that still has good weather. For the five hurricane-belt destinations, June through November can never be the alternative. That's why Charleston and Savannah show December, not November.
Hurricane beltMiami, Key West, St. Augustine, Savannah, and Charleston are excluded June through November, even when those months are cheaper.
Good weatherGood weather is a 0 to 100 score based on temperature, humidity, and storm or fire season. A month qualifies if it scores at least 83% of that destination's best month. We rank alternatives by demand and price, so occasionally one falls outside the good-weather window. We flag it when it happens.
The month-by-month tableIt is stricter. A month needs a 90 or better, and we removed a few the model likes and we don't: St. Augustine in May, Nashville in June, Temecula in summer.