The Biggest Day

I’m definitely not the only bride to freak out about how quickly the cost of my wedding is escalating – but sometimes I worry that my big day can’t possibly live up to my expectations, when it’s costing us more than both of our cars are worth combined!

I’ve actually stopped talking to my fiancé about the money side of things; when I receive a quote from the hairdresser, for example, or hear from the venue about the cost of chair seat covers, I don’t discuss it with him. He’s a little more anxious than me, so it’s easier to avoid the ‘All of this money for just one day?!’ conversation – he just doesn’t understand that, yes, a wedding cake can cost $500, and yes, we absolutely have to have a wedding cake…

The good thing is, we’ve been planning our trip down the aisle for around 12 months, and having such a long lead-time means that I’ve had plenty of extra time to scout around for the best deals.

There are definitely certain areas you can cut costs, but because every bride is different, we each have various items on our ‘wants’ and ‘needs’ list.

For me, the car journey is not important – I don’t want to spend $1,000 on cars to get us to the ceremony, when my dad already has a nice black car, and he’d like to drive us. We’ve asked our neighbour to drive the bridesmaids in his white sedan – he’s super excited to be involved – and I’ve bought some thick white ribbon to dress up both cars. It’s going to save us a bunch on money, and I don’t feel like I’m compromising on anything!

My friend Natalia, on the other hand, is determined to travel to the church in style. She wants to be delivered to the ceremony in a cherry-red convertible, and she’s prepared to do whatever it takes to make that happen! She is actually going to pay her hairdresser to come to the wedding and touch up her hair before the ceremony, and again before the photos get taken…

So I guess it comes down to the individual bride. At the end of the day, the guests aren’t really going to remember the colour of the napkins, or whether the chairs were tied with satin ribbons, or what car you turned up in – but as brides, we’re going to remember each and every one of these details and decisions. So as long as we’re happy, that’s all that counts!