Melbourne Wedding Budget Hacks

Bridal Shower

A bridal shower is a time for all the women in the bride’s life to come together and reminisce, give advice, and prepare her for the new life of a married woman. Most often these showers will feature a planned meal at a fancy location. Some showers will also have a cake to mark the occasion. Instead of spending a lot of money on a fancy location, consider catering your meal at home. To go the extra mile, you can make everything on your own or ask your gal friends to each bring a dish. The cake should also be a simple affair that is similar in style to the wedding cake. With the pandemic be sure to check local guidelines.

Wedding Invitations

Every couple wants an elegant and customized invitation for their special day, often, the card is as elegant and memorable as the dress. It is the one item that your guests are able to keep as mementos from your wedding that will last for years to come. Instead of splurging on heavy card paper and invites that have moving parts, keep it simple.

Wedding invitations must be mailed to their recipients each will generate a charge according to their size and their weight. Save money by choosing lighter cards that have other thoughtful details instead. You can save a couple of hundred dollars by the time your invitations and RSVP cards have all been mailed.

If you are planning on doing another favor or takeaway for your wedding guests, you could also consider using your wedding website to send out electronic invitations, saving that cost all together and streamlining tracking your RSVPs as well.

Outfit Alterations

Wedding dresses are one of the biggest expenses of a wedding, but simply buying the dress is not the only expense. Wedding dresses are unique and meant to be worn only once, hence there is often a need for alterations. Most stores don’t disclose that there is a fee each time you need to have a wedding dress altered. Plenty of brides start their dress search as early as two years before their wedding date. Bodies change weight can go up or down in that time frame. The closer to a wedding you get, the more alterations you will have. Always ask about the alteration policy and charges prior to purchase.

This also holds true for men, though, they tend to buy their tux much closer to the wedding and generally only need one alteration sitting. Also, keep in mind that you don’t have to use the in-store seamstress, there are plenty of local ones who charge only a fraction of the rate of the department store.

Try to limit the number of alterations appointments, for example, there is no need to start that process over a year away from your date. Have a real conversation with your seamstress about the timeline and if 3-6 months out works for your first fitting, do that!

Transportation

Everyone wants to feel like a celebrity on their wedding day and with good reason. However, not everyone has a celebrity paycheck. One large expense that is not always justified is transportation. Stretch limos often charge by the hour so having one wait outside your venue for the duration of your wedding and reception can get pretty costly very quickly.

If you really want limo services as part of your wedding, consider hiring them on an hourly basis that will cover the time from the end of your ceremony to the start of your reception. If you are taking your pictures ahead of the ceremony, this will also cut down on wait times. You will only have to book them for perhaps an hour or two to pick you up from the venue of the wedding to transport you to the reception venue.

Catering

Talk to your caterer about your options! Because you could save quite a bit by doing a buffet vs a plated dinner. You could even opt for food stations or just heavy hors d’oeuvres vs a full meal.

Flowers

Flowers are indeed beautiful but can be quite expensive. Talk with your florist about what will be in season around your wedding, and using blooms that are more common and cost-effective. You can also consider artificial flowers, we are in love with the current trend of wood flowers! They look so real!

Cake

Instead of opting for the 5 tier over the top cake, have a local baker create an elaborate single or two-tier cake for you and do cupcakes for all of your guests! It will save you a ton of money and we love a good dessert table!