The wedding of your dreams will be a memory you’ll keep forever. The feeling of slipping on your dream wedding dress, memories of walking down the aisle with that perfect view, your first dance with your beloved, and the perfect meal surrounded by your friends and family on the most stunning bridal table.
Having delivered over 140 stunning luxe weddings in the last year, and working with Sydney’s leading Wedding experts, it’s safe to say that Pier One Sydney Harbour know a thing or two about planning a dream wedding! Pier One asked their favourite wedding experts and partners for top tips on how to have your dream wedding, while maximizing your budget. Read on to find out these expert tips and advice.
1. Style to Enhance, Not to Hide
Luxury Event Stylist, Kate Tran from Kate and Co. Events says that if you want to create the most impact for your budget, choose a beautiful venue or a venue with a view, and then style with feature elements to enhance and add personal style.
For a premium styling brief, choose also a venue which has the necessary structures, such as truss and lighting equipment, strategically setup which works for your brief. This will help to save time and money installing structures into your venue. Kate says it’s also important to choose a venue who works well with the rest of your vendor crew.
Choose a stylist whose style you love and who is connected with an experienced vendor partner network who work well together and whose style is also in alignment. “Be sure to leverage your stylist’s vendor partners network, so you can style your dream wedding with optimal quality and pricing” says Kate.
2. Consider Day of Week
Have your eye on your dream wedding venue, but need to negotiate the price tag? Pier One Sydney Harbour’s Weddings Sales expert Georgia Simpson, says to consider the day you hold your wedding to secure your dream venue for the best price. “Saturdays are the most popular days for weddings in Australia, but these days many couples like to make a mini-vacation out of their wedding, and guests are happy to take time off for a Wedding getaway or staycation. Simply by holding your wedding on a Thursday or Friday could save you thousands – meaning you can have that dream harbourfront wedding while sticking to your budget. Plus, you can encourage guests to stay onsite or close by and enjoy a ‘long weekend’ with your guests!” says Georgia.
3. Get Your Dream Wedding Dress
Australian luxury wedding dress designer Khatira Alina says that “the perfect wedding dress for any bride is the one she feels the most beautiful in.” Whether the dress is custom made or purchased, how the bride feels in her wedding gown shows. When choosing your designer, choose one that your personal style resonates with and you feel undoubtedly like yourself around.
While most brides may think that their dream dress must be custom made, they usually find that there are many similar options available in ready-to-wear collections. Most bespoke designers now also offer ready-to-wear gowns which are still made to order and adjusted to the bride’s measurements – so there is no compromise on style.
However, although “ready-to-wear” gowns are initially cheaper in price, the alterations and design changes are an additional cost so sometimes it’s actually more cost effective to have your gown custom made. There are also many options in fabrications that can be used to reduce the price yet still create the bride’s desired look, so discussing custom made with your designer is certainly worthwhile
For the bride who wants to maximise her budget, it’s always a good idea to do your research, visit your top four bridal boutiques that you resonate with and explore both avenues before making your final decision. You may be pleasantly surprised!
4. Maximise Your Flower Power!
Kate Tran from Kate & Co. Events says to choose a florist whose style you love as oppose to choosing one who promises “quantity” but not “quality”. Choose your theme and colour scheme, but seek your florist’s help to select the flowers and foliage to suit your theme. For the best bang for your buck, choose flowers that are local and seasonal. However, your dream flowers can be imported if need be and your florist can make that decision based on their supplier network and pricing in order to work within your budget and design brief.
Kate & Co’s hot tip is to opt for high quality faux flowers instead of fresh flowers if your style brief requires a large amount of flowers to implement. “Bridal flowers should remain as fresh always, but flowers for ceiling installations or tall centrepieces for examples could be in high quality faux.”
If you’d like to know more about planning your dream Sydney wedding, contact the Pier One Sydney Harbour team on the enquiry form below.
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The Wedding Experts Contact List:
- Venue: @pieroneweddings @pieronesydney
- Planning, Floral & Styling: @kate_and_co_events with @starlightchandeliers @theallstarsgroup @whitelabelhire @takemehire @montana__silk @expertaudiovisual
- Dry Ice: @sydney_fireworks_pyrotechnic
- Cake: @p4ndaco
- Hair: @sydneyhairandmakeupco
- Make Up: @rachie_mua
- Photography: @inlightenphotography
- Videography: @197media @faustas_media
- Suit: @couturemenswear
- Gown: @khatiraalina
