5 Ways to Save on Your Big Day!

OMG you’re getting married! There’s so many feelings you go through planning a wedding- excitement, joy, nervousness, decision overload and finally frustration. Yep, frustration that all the things you want for your dream day aren’t falling into your budget, or even close to it.

Why is it the second you mention the word ‘wedding’ it feels like the price increases by 500%? Well, it doesn’t have to be that way. We’ve compiled our BEST tried and tested wedding budget hacks to help save you thousands on your big day for big ticket items, without compromising any glam details. Because every bridal babe deserves to feel a million dollars on your special day!

1) Flowers

Flowers transform a nice wedding to a spectacular wedding! However, florals often turn into a luxury that takes the wedding budget well over the top, forcing your to scale back your blooms. Want to know how to get flowers for a fraction of the cost? Go seasonal and source wholesale if you can.  

Emma, The Luxe Bride Co founder saved thousands of dollars by going through a rose farm to get her stunning flowers for her own wedding. Because a flower farm grows their own supply of gorgeous florals you get wholesale prices and many of them have very reasonable rates for creating arrangements, arbour florals and bouquets. You will be choosing stunning seasonal flowers which greatly cuts down the cost too, as they don’t need to be imported from another region.

There are also flower wholesalers and flower markets that can do some great deals! Want to know exactly how much that can save you? Emma paid $1500 (AUD) for fresh roses and orchids for her giant arbour florals, wedding bouquet, 4 bridesmaid bouquets, 8 bouquets tied to chairs at the reception, throwing petals, scattered petals next to the aisle and 20 stunning floral arrangements at the reception. What would a florist have charged? Anywhere from $4000-$6000 minimum.

Flowers from The Luxe Bride Co founders wedding day, by Eumundi Roses.

2) Wedding Dress

It’s always rather shocking to learn that you need to start dress shopping 6 months in advance at the very minimum, as many ‘couture’ designer dresses are made on a production schedule. Even made-to-measure dresses in the same country as you still need at least 4 months. The sooner you can start shopping, the better! If you try dress shopping under 6 months your order may need to be put through as a rush order which adds on extra fees.

Start searching well in advance, so you have the element of long lead times in your favour. Wedding dress and bridal shops (no matter how fancy they are) have sales targets to make just like any other shop. Some even offer a discount if you say ‘yes to the dress’ on the same day as a fitting. If they don’t offer it, ask! They can only say no and if you do it in a polite way it won’t be awkward.

Bridal shops know that you will be trying on a lot of dresses and that they may need to sweeten the deal for you. Even if you get a 10% discount on a $5000 dress that’s a saving of $500!

By allowing plenty of time to search for your perfect dress you also allow time to wait for sales and trunk shows, where bridal shops will discount a portion of their stock or dresses by a particular designer. Have a look at a brands or bridal stores social media pages to see if this is something they do.

Dresses from left: Grace Loves Lace, Erin Clare Bridal and Made with Love Bridal.

3) Bridal & Hair Accessories

We all get wooed by veils and accessories in pretty bridal shops and shiny hair accessories in boutiques on expensive streets. However, these stores have big leases, merchandising costs, advertising and lots of staff to pay. This means you have to auction off your first born to cover the cost of buying your veil and wedding accessories.

If you buy your veil and headpiece from an exclusively online store like The Luxe Bride Co you save money, simply because we don’t have an expensive shop front, we hand make all our stunning items to order so we aren’t carrying excess product and you get a gorgeous hair accessory that was made just for your wedding. Win-Win!

All displayed bridal hair accessories from The Luxe Bride Co.

4) Wedding Date & Timing

These days more and more brides and grooms are marching down the aisle to the beat of their own drum when it comes timing and choosing to side-stepping ‘the Saturday Wedding in Spring’ tradition. The reward is money back in your pocket to fund your dream day.

Now, we’re not saying you need to have a wedding on a Wednesday in the middle of winter (unless that sounds appealing!), even just going into the shoulder seasons/months reduces the minimum spend at many wedding ceremony and reception venues- even on a Saturday.

Many couples are now also opting to have a Friday or Sunday wedding, as venues also offer discounts or reduced spends for events not on a Saturday. The last option to consider, lunchtime weddings are on the increase due to the considerable discount restaurants and venues offer for packages at midday instead of the evening.

5) Wedding Cake

Did you know that many bakeries are skilled cake makers? And not just a slab of cake, most of them can create gorgeous wedding masterpieces- it’s just not their sole form of business. Not to say a wedding cake company won’t create something amazing, because they will! But it will cost you a little bit more. Not all bakeries will create wedding cakes, look for independently owned or boutique bakeries. You can save 50% + by finding a good bakery to make your dream cake.

Cakes shown from top left: Chester Street Bakery, Richies Bakery (bottom left and center), Fiona's Fancies (top right) and Carlo's Bakery.

Want to know how much The Luxe Bride Co founder saved by using the above tips on her big day?

Flowers from a flower farm- savings at least $2500

Wedding Dress discount on a $4000 dress= $400 savings

Bridal Accessories & Veil online = $300 savings

Cake from a skilled baker = $200

Wedding Date and Time (shoulder season instead of peak) = $2500 savings 

Emma’s Total savings = $6000!