{
  "slug": "wedding-vendor-profit-margin-calculator",
  "title": "Wedding Vendor Profit Margin Calculator",
  "heading": "Wedding Vendor Profit Margin Calculator",
  "category": "financial",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/wedding-vendor-profit-margin-calculator",
  "summary": "See real profit margin after COGS, labor, and overhead on any vendor booking.",
  "description": "It's easy for a wedding vendor to look busy and still be unprofitable once real costs are counted. This calculator takes a booking price and subtracts direct cost of goods (materials, rentals, subcontractors), labor cost, and an allocated share of monthly overhead, then computes gross margin, net margin, and breakeven bookings per month — a general-purpose profitability check that works across photography, catering, florals, or any service-based wedding vendor.",
  "formula": "Net margin % = (booking price − COGS − labor − overhead allocation) ÷ booking price × 100.",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-30",
  "run_url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/calc?tool=wedding-vendor-profit-margin-calculator",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "bookingPrice",
      "label": "Booking price",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 3500,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 100,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "cogs",
      "label": "Direct cost of goods (materials, rentals, subs)",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 600,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "laborCost",
      "label": "Labor cost (your time + staff)",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 900,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "monthlyOverhead",
      "label": "Monthly business overhead",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 2800,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "bookingsPerMonth",
      "label": "Bookings per month (to allocate overhead)",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 4,
      "unit": null,
      "min": 1,
      "max": null
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "id": "netProfit",
      "label": "Net profit per booking",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "id": "netMargin",
      "label": "Net margin",
      "format": "percent",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "grossMargin",
      "label": "Gross margin (before labor/overhead)",
      "format": "percent",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "overheadPerBooking",
      "label": "Overhead allocated per booking",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "worked_example": {
    "inputs": [
      "Booking price: 3500 $",
      "Direct cost of goods (materials, rentals, subs): 600 $",
      "Labor cost (your time + staff): 900 $",
      "Monthly business overhead: 2800 $",
      "Bookings per month (to allocate overhead): 4"
    ],
    "outputs": [
      "Net profit per booking: $1,300",
      "Net margin: 37.1%",
      "Gross margin (before labor/overhead): 82.9%",
      "Overhead allocated per booking: $700"
    ]
  },
  "how_to": {
    "title": "How to use this",
    "steps": [
      "Enter booking price ($).",
      "Enter direct cost of goods (materials, rentals, subs) ($).",
      "Enter labor cost (your time + staff) ($).",
      "Enter monthly business overhead ($).",
      "Enter bookings per month (to allocate overhead).",
      "Read your net profit per booking on the right — it updates as you type.",
      "Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone."
    ]
  },
  "scenarios": [
    {
      "name": "Conservative",
      "description": "Lower-end numbers — what if things land soft?",
      "values": {
        "bookingPrice": 2100,
        "cogs": 350,
        "laborCost": 550,
        "monthlyOverhead": 1700,
        "bookingsPerMonth": 2
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Typical",
      "description": "Defaults — the most common real-world setup.",
      "values": {
        "bookingPrice": 3500,
        "cogs": 600,
        "laborCost": 900,
        "monthlyOverhead": 2800,
        "bookingsPerMonth": 4
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Ambitious",
      "description": "Higher-end numbers — what if things really pop?",
      "values": {
        "bookingPrice": 5600,
        "cogs": 950,
        "laborCost": 1450,
        "monthlyOverhead": 4500,
        "bookingsPerMonth": 6
      }
    }
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.",
    "Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.",
    "This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant."
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "What net margin should a wedding vendor target?",
      "a": "15%-25% net margin is a healthy target for most service-based wedding vendors after all costs including a fair wage for the owner's time counted as labor, not just as leftover profit. Below 10% consistently means the business is essentially subsidizing itself through the owner's underpaid labor."
    },
    {
      "q": "Why allocate overhead per booking instead of just looking at annual totals?",
      "a": "Per-booking allocation shows whether each individual sale is actually paying its share of rent, insurance, and software costs, which annual totals can hide — a vendor can look profitable in aggregate while systematically underpricing every single booking and only staying afloat through sheer volume."
    },
    {
      "q": "Should the owner's own time count as labor cost?",
      "a": "Yes, always — at minimum, value it at what you'd have to pay someone else to do the same job. Treating owner time as free is the single most common reason small wedding businesses look profitable on paper but the owner earns less than minimum wage in practice."
    },
    {
      "q": "How does bookings per month affect margin?",
      "a": "More bookings per month spreads fixed overhead thinner across each one, improving margin per booking even at the same price — which is why off-season pricing strategy and demand generation matter as much as the sticker price itself for overall profitability."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/venue-rental-breakeven-bookings",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/event-staffing-cost-calculator",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/wedding-season-pricing-calculator"
  ],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "citation": "RevenueLab — Wedding Vendor Profit Margin Calculator (https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/wedding-vendor-profit-margin-calculator)"
}