Wedding gown tips - Tips for buying your dream gown on a budget

Shop for your gown in January or June. Most wedding gown shops have huge sales in January and June with remarkable discounts.

If you try a dress on and fall in love with it, ask if you can buy the sample. The dress will be fully cleaned and you can easily save 30%.

Alternatively, ask the boutique if they have a section where they sell samples. 

© Sydney Fairytale Weddings on a budget

Bridesmaids dresses

Bridesmaid dresses don’t necessarily have to come from traditional formalwear shops. Whilst you will certainly get suitable gowns for a wedding there, you may want something a bit more unique.

You will get a more individual look if you think outside the square. Shops like Harts, designers like Lisa Ho, Matthew Eager, Laura Ashley, Studibaker or George, department stores, even stores like Portmans or Sportsgirl sometimes have some really beautiful dresses that would make perfect bridesmaid dresses.

A great boutique to find stunning evening gowns like Matthew Eager gowns is Paris in Paddington boutique at 15 Glenmore Road, Paddington. Tel: 9358 1551.

If you are on a budget try the following stores:

Springfields Designer Labels. These stores are bursting at the seams with gorgeous evening and formal dresses in every colour imaginable at rock bottom prices. They carry a variety of designer labels including George and Studibaker. The best part is that they have multiples sizes of many of their dresses making it a perfect hunting ground for bridesmaid dresses. They even carry some long white dresses which would make wonderful wedding dresses for a beach or informal wedding.

Springfields have 3 stores:

Shop 1, 161 Rowe Street, Eastwood. Tel: (02) 9804  8174.    

478 – 482 High Street, Penrith. Tel: (02) 4721 7735.

If you go into the Penrith store and you see bridesmaid dresses that you love but they don’t have them in the sizes you need, if you order them far enough in advance, they can get them in for you.

Springfields also has a store at Birkenhead Point, the Outlet Centre. Birkenhead Point is located at Roseby Street, Drummoyne.  

Other outlet stores at Birkenhead Point where you can find great bridesmaid dresses are Harts, Alannah Hill and Laura Ashley.

At the DFO outlet at the corner of Homebush Bay Drive and Underwood Road, Homebush, there is the Lisa Ho outlet store where you can find some gorgeous gowns both for bridesmaids and occasionally, the bride.

If the dresses are slinky, backless or a bit tight in the tummy area, you can find a range of seamless undies, seamless control wear and backless bras at Bras and Things – BNT and David Jones.

© Sydney Fairytale Weddings on a budget

Wedding details you should never skimp on - Part 2

Grooms Suit

A common mistake when planning a wedding is assuming that all grooms suits are the same and just looking for the cheapest place to hire one from. The risk with this approach is that you may end up with a suit that has been worn dozens if not hundreds of times before and has been over dry cleaned.

The last thing you want is your groom in an over dry cleaned suit with shiny patches on it.

Lingerie

The right lingerie for under your dress is crucial. Visible panty lines, bra straps sticking out or protruding bellies in fitted gowns are not a good look and can ruin the appearance of an otherwise stunning gown.

This also applies to your bridesmaids.

© Sydney Fairytale Weddings on a budget

Wedding details you can skimp on - Part 2

Entertainment

If you are trying to save money on your wedding, you don't need to have a chimney sweep, magicians, fire eaters, belly dancers, jugglers or professional dancers offering lessons to your guests. All of these extra professionals add extra expense to your wedding budget. Those extra dollars can be diverted to other areas or better still, saved for your honeymoon.

The music provided at your wedding for dancing as well as the meal and speeches should be all the entertainment your guests need.

Ice Sculptures

Whilst they undoubtedly look beautiful, there are cheaper ways to decorate your reception venue.

Chocolate Fountains

Chocolate fountains increase the risk of mess on the floor of your reception venue, injury on that mess and spillage on your pristine white gown. This risk increases exponentially if you add children’s little fingers to the mix.

Your wedding cake will make a wonderful dessert without the need for anything else.


Lolly table

See my comments in relation to chocolate fountains above.


Bathroom baskets


Whilst bathroom baskets are a lovely idea, they are an unnecessary expense. Remember $50 here and $40 there quickly adds up.....


© Sydney Fairytale Weddings on a budget

Receptions

You’ve all heard the horror stories about exhorbitant reception costs. It is true, the largest chunk of your wedding budget will be spent on the wedding reception. There are many ways to have a fabulous reception without spending the equivalent of a downpayment on a house.

When people think of wedding receptions, they generally think of function centres or wedding reception centres.  There are some distinct benefits to holding your reception at a wedding reception venue.  The venue will be accustomed to hosting weddings; the staff, tables, chairs, linens, meal, drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and room hire will generally all be included in the one price, some venues will also include candelabras or similar decorations at no extra cost. If you want to save money on a reception at a function centre, see if you can have a package which includes the wedding cake and DJ.

Meals

Serve the wedding cake as dessert. There are many different forms of wedding cake not just fruit cake with marzipan and white icing. These days the choices include traditional looking cakes with flavours that range from mud cake to carrot cake, banana cake to vanilla. There are also cupcake trees and croquembouche and anything else your imagination can conjure up. Any of these cakes will make a great dessert and save serious dollars off your reception budget.     

Alcohol

A lot of receptions include alcohol which can be a very big chunk of the reception budget.

Your first step to saving money on alcohol at your reception is to serve red and white wine, beer and soft drink/water only during the meal at your reception.  Save the champagne for the toasts.

Serving spirits and cocktails will completely blow your budget.

Consider the drinking habits of your guests when deciding which alcohol package best suits your needs. With the prominence of random breath testing units and wanting to keep your guests safe, unless your guests are staying at the reception venue, you can assume that approximately 40% of your guests will be driving, so will only have a couple of drinks all night maximum. 

As a general rule:

A light drinker will have 2 glasses of alcohol during the night;

A medium drinker will have 4 glasses of alcohol during the night; 

A heavy drinker will consume 6 glasses of alcohol during the night. 

Weigh up the cost of alcohol on a consumption basis. It may be cheaper to pay for a package which includes alcohol on a consumption basis rather than unlimited drinks.

Go through your guest list and work out roughly how many drinks each person will have. You may need your parents input with calculating this for some guests.   

A great alternative is a restaurant. Some restaurants have a separate area set aside especially for functions.  Other restaurants will close the entire restaurant for your wedding. They have the same benefits as reception venues with the added bonus in most cases, of a greater selection of food choices.     

If you are on a real razor wire budget, but yearn for an incredible view from your reception venue, consider a surf club. Yes, you read that right. A surf club. Most surf clubs can be hired for under $1,000 and you can find some very good caterers for $30 a head which includes seafood! You won’t have to worry about chairs or tables as the surf club will have them already. Apart from the food, you will need to pay for waitresses and the chef. You can hire draping, chair covers and linens from an events decoration company and make the space look wonderful.

© Sydney Fairytale Weddings on a budget

Wedding Shoes

The number one priority to consider when choosing your shoes is comfort. Many a wedding day has been ruined by ill fitted or uncomfortable shoes that caused blisters or ankle injuries. True, you want a gorgeous shoe but you can have both. You also don’t necessarily need white, ivory or cream shoes. If your dress has diamantes or beading on it, you can consider silver shoes or even gold.

My number one recommendation for bridal shoes is Panache Shoes in the Dymocks Building, Shop 10, Level 2, 428 George Street, Sydney. Their shoes are gorgeous, comfortable and they have a large range. The bonus is that they seem to have a constant array of heavily discounted bridal shoes. You can also get all the female bridal parties including flower girls and mothers shoes sorted out in the one location.

Other shops to consider: Wittner has some stunning evening shoes.  They also tend to be comfortable. Their clearance store at 580 George Street, Sydney in the arcade leading to Town Hall railway station is noteworthy both in terms of selection and discounted merchandise.

  

You can also find some great shoes at Wanted Shoes or Nine West.

  

If you are having a wedding on a beach or with a tropical vibe, I suggest a little online shop called Islandway. They have some sandals such as the Motika, or any of the flower sandals that would look adorable for a beach or tropical wedding.

 

 

© Sydney Fairytale Weddings on a budget

Engagement Ring - Attention Future Grooms

There are many ways to save on an engagement ring.

The obvious way to save money on an engagement ring is to visit a jeweller specialising in estate jewellery and choose a vintage engagement ring.

The other way is to visit a pawn shop or a jeweller who sells rings on consignment and buy the engagement ring from them.  

If you don’t want to go down the path of buying a vintage piece from a jeweller specialising in antique jewellery or an engagement ring being sold on consignment from a jeweller selling estate jewellery or a pawn shop, there are many other ways to save big dollars on an engagement ring but still end up with an exquisite piece of jewellery.

  

Manufacturing jewellers:

Look for manufacturing jewellers online or in the yellow pages. These are usually jewellers operating out of smallish premises in buildings such as the Dymocks Arcade in 428 George Street, Sydney. Generally, these jewellers won’t have the costs associated with larger jewellers such as huge shop fronts, advertising, added security that large jewellery stores will tend to have. Those savings will be passed on to you – the consumer.

As they are manufacturing jewellers they will tend to have a range of their own rings as well as be able to create a design to order. 

Auctions:

Another way to save on an engagement ring is to go to auctions such as First State auctions. You can bid on new rings there at incredible savings. An interesting option is to bid on a diamond pendant or diamond earrings and then take that piece of jewellery to a manufacturing jeweller to have it made into an engagement ring.

Look in the Sydney Morning Herald on a Saturday for details of upcoming auctions.

Online auctions:

I have seen some incredible bargains on engagement rings on graysonline.

I have also seen loose diamonds offered from time to time on graysonline which, like buying another piece of diamond jewellery, can also be taken to a manufacturing  jeweller to design a custom made ring.


Don’t think you can save money when buying a Tiffany’s engagement ring? Think again...

A Tiffany’s engagement ring in Sydney can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

On a visit to the Tiffany’s store at the Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu, my husband and I ventured into the store to look at their stock (we had no intention of buying but the kind patient sales assistant let me play dress ups anyway).  I tried on an engagement ring that was selling at the Sydney store for $30,000. The price at the Honolulu store? $14,000.

Consider this - Hawaii is only a 10 hour flight away. With the bargain flights and packages available on both Jetstar and Hawaiian Airlines, you could easily fly to Honolulu over a long weekend for example, take an extra day off work, and even with those travel costs you can save at least $10,000.  You can find flight and hotel packages to Hawaii that come in at well under $2,000.

If you register to be on the Hawaiian Airlines email list, you can be notified of upcoming sales to save you even more money. Hawaiian Airlines flights leave at 9.20pm so you can catch a flight after work and arrive in Honolulu early the same morning. Please note though that you will effectively lose a day on your flight home.

Just check the visa requirements for the US. If you qualify for the visa waiver program, you need to pay $14 US by credit card over the internet, have a passport with at least 6 months validity left on it and apply at least 72 hours before your flight.

© Sydney Fairytale Weddings on a budget

Weddings details you should never skimp on

Hair and make up

This is the one day that you should get your hair and make up professionally done.

Ask if the make up artist has experience in make up for television or magazines. These artists understand how to create a look that photographs well. You will pay more for these artists however on the photos you will have a stunning natural looking glow rather than the possibility of thickly applied foundation in the wrong colour giving you what I call “the mask effect”.  We’ve all seen those photos with brides with foundation that is the wrong colour and looks really thick and unnatural on.

Find a hairdresser and make up artist who will come to your home/hotel. This will save valuable time on the big day.

Have a well lit area set up and a large table nearby so your beauty team have room to set up properly. 

Hairdressing and make up trials

I highly recommend spending the money on a hairdressing and makeup trial. On the big day, when time is tight and timelines crucial, you can’t afford to waste valuable time having the hairdresser and/or make up artist redo your look several times over. Worse still, settling on a look you hate and being miserable throughout your wedding day. Remember those photos last forever.

Photography

After the big day is over, your gown is packed away, the cake has either been completely devoured or you’ve saved the top tier, the only permanent souvenir of your wedding day (apart from the wedding rings and your dress if you keep it) are the wedding photos.  Having Uncle Harry or your best friend’s husband take the wedding photos is a recipe for total disaster, unless these people are professional photographers. The last thing you want is to look at photos where heads are cut off, the images are blurry, the lighting is bad so everyone’s face is dark or obscured by bright sun.

Professional photographers understand lighting, angles and backdrops ensuring that you have photographs that you will treasure for a lifetime. 

Ceremony Music

You should consider having either an organist, pianist or violinist playing at your wedding. Walking down the aisle to music you have pre-recorded or downloaded on your ipod removes some of the regal feel of the occasion.    

Reception music

As is the case for ceremony music, an ipod and speakers for your guests to dance to, will not provide the same atmosphere for your reception.

A DJ will really add to the festive mood of your wedding reception.

© Sydney Fairytale Weddings on a budget

Wedding details you can skimp on

Flowers

Buy flowers that are in season. This will save a fortune on having to import tulips in November for example.

Whilst they can look beautiful, large table top arrangements in metre tall vases on each table can be a very expensive way to decorate your reception venue.

Ceremony music

You don’t need a special soloist to sing while you are signing the register. The ceremony musician can perform a beautiful chosen piece of music for you at that time.

After the ceremony

Releasing doves or butterflies after your ceremony may look lovely on television, but if you are on a budget, it’s an expense you can safely do without.

Reception

Having a number of choices of entrée and main course just adds extra expense. Serving alternate dishes is perfectly acceptable.  Of course, if guests have specific dietary requirements, then a quick notification to the reception venue, will ensure that those dietary needs can be met.

Serving dessert at the reception. Serve the wedding cake as dessert.

Drinks

It is unnecessary to serve an open bar offering spirits and cocktails.

Reception Music

Bands look and sound great but if you are on a budget, a DJ is an excellent alternative.

Bomboniere

Unless bombonieres are a tradition in your cultural heritage, you can save big dollars cutting out having a bomboniere for each guest.

Guest list

This is the major cost in any wedding.

The best way to save major dollars is to cut the guest list.

Some guests you can cut from your list:

“AND friend” – It goes without saying that the Husbands, wives, fiancés, fiancées and long term boyfriend/girlfriends/partners of your guests should always be invited. However if you are on a budget, you simply cannot afford to invite your guests “and friend.”  For the comfort of your single friends, have a singles table. Match singles with similar tastes, outlook and you never know, a future wedding may be the result.

People you haven’t seen in over 2 years – If you haven’t seen or been in contact with someone for over 2 years, you can probably safely cut them from your guest list.

 

 

Children – Not all children are able to sit still throughout a wedding meal, speeches and until the formalities are over. Unless you intend to invite immediate family only, you really cannot invite some guests children and exclude others.  If you want to save serious dollars, limit the guest list to adults only.

Extended family – Inviting aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins to your wedding is perfectly understandable and generally expected.  If however, you come from a massive family with dozens and dozens of cousins, to keep costs down you may consider inviting grandparents, aunts and uncles only. You risk causing offence if you invite some cousins and not others. 

It is unnecessary to invite distant relatives like your sibling’s in-laws to your wedding.  It is also unnecessary to invite second degree cousins that you have only seen or met a few times in your life.

Large bridal parties

Whilst it may be tempting to want to share all the intricate details and excitement of your wedding with as many of your female friends as possible, the practicality is, that every bridesmaid that you have adds to your costs.

Every bridesmaid needs a dress, shoes, her hair and make up done and a bouquet.

 

 

Even if the bridesmaids buy their own dresses and shoes, there is still their hair and make up to consider.

 

 

Even if the bridesmaids also pay for or do their own hair and make up (which I strongly advise against), there are still bouquets to buy for each bridesmaid.

 

 

Unless you want a mismatched bridal party, then more bridesmaids = more groomsman. More groomsman = extra boutonieres which again adds to your costs.

 

 

The more bridesmaids and groomsmen you have, the more wedding cars you need or you need a hire a bigger, more expensive limo to accommodate everyone.

© Sydney Fairytale Weddings on a budget