Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are telling couples to think twice before spending big on a wedding. On Thursday, Ripa said weddings are having a micro trend in 2026, and the advice came with a blunt reminder from the couple: their own May 1996 Las Vegas elopement cost less than $200.
That is the kind of number that lands differently when wedding costs are still a live conversation. Ripa said their ceremony was tiny, with a quirky cake, candles instead of flowers and no big production, while Consuelos said couples come to them for counseling and hear the same thing: don’t do it if the goal is to spend heavily on one day.
Ripa framed the appeal as cost-effectiveness. She said ceremonies are out and parties are in, with some couples choosing a small ceremony and then a bigger celebration later. She also pointed to trends that fit that approach, including buffet menus and brides buying secondhand wedding dresses. In her telling, the new logic is simple: keep the day small, keep the money in play for something that lasts longer than a reception.
She put a sharper edge on that argument by saying the couple’s own wedding was great at $179, including airfare. Consuelos backed the point with a more direct warning, saying the money spent on parties, flowers, rings and dresses does not make sense to him. Ripa added that the same cash could buy a house or become equity for the future, which is a hard sentence to ignore when the bill for a wedding can climb far beyond the ceremony itself.
The friction is obvious. Even as Ripa and Consuelos push a no-big-wedding message, broader industry chatter points the other way, with one projection calling for a $2.2 billion increase in global wedding spending over two years. That makes their advice less like a trend report and more like a challenge to the entire idea that a bigger wedding is automatically a better one.
The segment aired while Live with Kelly and Mark was on summer break, with live episodes set to return after Labor Day. For now, the couple’s pitch is clear: if the choice is between a wedding that drains savings and one that starts with a small ceremony and a bigger life, they think the answer is already written.
