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New York, NY—On average, it costs about $27,000 to get married, according to a recent article in USA Today. Citing figures from Brides magazine, the article says the average couple getting married in 2012 will spend $26,989 on the wedding, with nearly one-third getting so caught up in the emotion of the moment that they bust their budget.

Brides/USA Today’s figures tally closely with those released earlier this year by TheKnot.com, and reported in The Centurion Newsletter. That study, conducted in 2011 by The Knot.com and The Wedding Channel.com, found the average cost of a wedding came in at $27,021—a negligible difference from Brides’ 2012 findings. But the Brides figure for the average engagement ring cost—$5,229—was $100 higher than that reported by The Knot.

Still, both are significantly lower than the typical luxury jeweler’s sale: A special bridal jewelry sales survey conducted by The Centurion in May found more than 25% of luxury jewelers reported their best-selling engagement ring category was above $10,000.

Here are some wedding costs broken down:

                                                 BRIDES Study                        TheKnot.com Study

Reception:                              $11,599                                  $12,116 (venue only)

Engagement Ring:                  $5,229                                    $5,130

Wedding rings:                        $1,594                                    Not Listed

Photography:                           $2,186                                    $2,299

Wedding gown:                        $1,355                                    $1,121

Flowers:                                    $1,334                                    $1,894 (includes décor)

Wedding cake:                           $486                                        $535

Other findings from the Brides study:

• Tradeoffs are commonplace. For example, one bride who fell in love with a gown that cost three times more than she expected bought it anyway and cut other details from the reception to make up the difference. Others trim the guest list or scaling back the honeymoon to pay for the wedding.
• 72% of couples used savings to pay for the wedding.
• 30% use credit cards, though most expect to pay off the balance within six months of the wedding.
• 54% of couples said paying for the wedding won’t affect their plans for other big expenditures like buying a house or car or starting a family.
• 36% of couples foot the wedding bill themselves.