Plan an event, and see what it usually costs.

Almost no venue publishes an all-in price per guest. So the indication is built from the parts that are published: menus, day rates for meetings, venue hire and musicians' fees, each read at the source.

For each kind of event and each area there are two figures: the fixed costs, which do not grow with the guest list (the room, the music, the production), and the cost per guest (food, drink and service). The total is the fixed costs plus the guests times the cost per guest.

Dinners, receptions and celebrations add 10% for contingency, the low end of what planners advise. Launches and galas take the venue and catering as about 65% of the whole, as one London venue guide puts it; the rest is production. Retreats, incentive trips and conferences use packages priced per person, which include everything.

The low end is the lowest credible published option, the typical a five-star hotel package or an established caterer's menu, and the high end the top published package. Figures exclude VAT. Guest travel, flowers and styling for private events, gifts, photography and any planner's fee are not included.

Elsewhere in Europe uses the spread of the ten areas with figures. Where an area had no published low or high end, it follows the same event in the other areas, and the indication says so.

Figures are in euros. Dollars and pounds are converted at the European Central Bank's reference rates.

The VAT taken off

Every figure here is before VAT. The prices the research found were recorded with VAT, so it comes off again at the rate for each kind of cost in each area: catering, hire and music, hotel packages and meeting day rates. Whether VAT applies to your event depends on where it takes place and where you are based; we confirm it in our proposal.

France and Monaco

catering 13%, hire, music and production 20%, hotel packages 12%, meeting day rates 15%.

United Kingdom

catering 20%, hire, music and production 20%, hotel packages 20%, meeting day rates 20%.

Italy

catering 10%, hire, music and production 22%, hotel packages 10%, meeting day rates 22%.

Switzerland

catering 8.1%, hire, music and production 8.1%, hotel packages 3.8%, meeting day rates 8.1%.

Spain (Balearics)

catering 10%, hire, music and production 21%, hotel packages 10%, meeting day rates 21%.

SourcesRIV-7VAT-1VAT-2VAT-3

An indication to help you plan, not a quote.