My Australian Wedding

Planning my wedding was the most exciting time in my life, full of love and jitters, but also stress and nerves. It was in my hometown of Sydney and while it ended up being an amazing day, there were bumps along the way, so here are the tips I picked up that might help you:

Budget first.

When you’re in the middle of a floral shop, the last thing you want to be thinking about is numbers, and if you don’t have a set budget from the very start, you’ll have a lot of problems down the line. Not only did we set our budget firmly at the very start, but we also allotted specific amounts to each planning section, with some change that we could add in the end. This kept us on track and made me realize that even if I wanted the most beautiful berry dahlia flowers, they were way out of my price range. However, we found a similar flower that is local to Australia, which made this purchase considerably less expensive.

Don’t make the party too big.

Your wedding party are your right-hand men and women on whom you will rely throughout the whole process. However, you’ll have lots of family and friends coming to you and offering to be part of the planning process. Unless you really want them to be there every step of the way, respectfully decline. Remember that you can still call them if you need a specific thing that they can help you with, however, keep your primary team up to five people.

Splash on one big thing.

There are a few key spending points for every wedding: the food, the dress, the flowers, and the venue. Nowadays, it’s nearly impossible to go big on all of these, because there’s only so much a budget can take. Since neither myself nor my partner are big cake lovers, we opted for small cupcake platters, which left us with a budget for the one thing we really wanted: a fancy way in and out. We found a company that rents wedding cars in Sydney and had a real luxury treatment. It felt amazing because it was the moment that was just for the two of us; and at that moment, we really felt like we were the important ones. That made all the difference since the rest of the time we mostly spent focused on our guests.

Get back to a clean home.

There’s nothing worse than leaving in a hurry, spending the whole day partying and then coming home to find your bed piled high with clothes and makeup. I knew I wanted to come home to a clean, comfortable bed, so we hired someone to clean up the house while we were at our wedding. We were exhausted at the end of the day and we just wanted to get some rest, so this was a welcome gesture.

Don’t forget each other.

When you’re constantly busy with planning, while still holding down a full-time job and trying to get some self-care in, it can be very easy to forget each other. To make sure this didn’t happen, we scheduled at least one date per week on the weekends where we’d go visit one of Sydney’s cultural spots. We also made sure to put our phones down for at least an hour every night to just be with each other and share our day. This brought us even closer during planning, and the fact that we split the planning load equally meant that neither felt left out or overwhelmed.

Every couple has their own journey and this is just one example of what planning a wedding can look like. You just need to make sure that you’re discussing everything along the way, accepting the things you can’t control and keeping a positive attitude. Too many times I’ve seen future brides completely miserable whilst planning their own wedding, which defeats the entire purpose! Have fun, spend time with the people you love and don’t worry too much.