Are you thinking of getting married? We hope you’ve been attentive to your piggy bank if you’re considering a celebration anything like the average wedding last year — one wedding website says brides and grooms (and their generous families, perhaps) shelled out an average of $28,427 on the big shebang in 2012.

This latest matrimonial figure is the highest price tag for weddings since the economy went flurb back in 2008, says a new survey of 17,5000 couples released by TheKnot.com (via CNNMoney).

From the flowers to the DJ to those fancy invites with nine different pieces of paper inside them, couples splashed out more cash in almost all the categories involved.

“Couples are a little bit more comfortable and able to splurge a little bit more,” said the site’s director.

Included for the first time this year were same-sex couples, who spent a little bit more than their heterosexual counterparts even though they usually had fewer guests.

The biggest spenders live in Manhattan, where an average wedding is (gulp) $76,687. Other pricey places to get hitched include Chicago ($49,810), northern and central New Jersey ($48,496), Santa Barbara and Ventura, Calif. ($42,319) and Boston ($39,239).

For the sparest of weddings, head to Alaska, where the average budget was $15,504.

Pushing up the costs this time around could be a trend the site’s director calls, “the year of the guest” — a lot of couples forked out cash for guest extras like transportation between wedding events and morning-after brunches.

“A lot of couples are having stateside destination weddings,” she said. “Their friends and family live all over the place. They are planning these three-day weekend events.”

Putting a ring on it never sounded so expensive. Maybe all the single ladies are on to something.

Average wedding bill in 2012: $28,400 [CNNMoney]

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