5 Things I’ve Learnt Trying to Plan a Wedding (So Far)

What’s up ladies and gentlemen!

Hang on a moment, “drinks large gulp of water”.

That’s better, sorry guys – it’s been crazy these last couple of weeks with work, wedding planning, moving house and all the usual bedlam and chaos that occurs in December.

You know how that feels!

Luckily I’m not doing it alone and MrsTheFrugalSamurai-to-be has been behind me every step of the way.

That’s right, tell the audience how much I’ve supported you. Yes dear, can you remove the knife from my back now? No, not yet – here let me give it an extra twist. 

I’m joking of course, behind every man is a woman doing all the work.

Love you babe.

I was thinking on what to post about today when I realised I had the answer in front of me.

The astronomical time, money and effort poured into planning a wedding (ours).

Those of you who have gone through the process, I applaud and envy you.

We’ve only started planning for 3 weeks and already feel like I can’t wait to get that day over and done with so we can move on with our lives together.

I was bemoaning the financial impact to my friend and he remarked “by the end of it, you don’t even know what you’re spending money on, money just turns to water”.

Far out – I’ve watched Titanic OK, I know what happens when you let water do its own thing.

So I thought I’d share some of what I’ve picked up on our planning journey to dare I say it, yes I will, stem the tide.

Elope

So many times I’ve heard couples say that they just wished they eloped or spent the money on an amazing holiday or a nice car – this is so true.

The average cost of an Australian wedding is around $36k, but man I’ve heard many stories of numbers double sometimes triple this amount. That’s serious coin.

It amazes me that having gone through what other couples have gone through thus far, why are we spending so much money to be stressed out? Are we suckers for pain?

No wonder everyone is so happy on their wedding day!

Not antelope, you fool, elope.

Seek Professional Help 

How many times have you come home from a hard day at work to REALLY want to talk about whether to have Hydrangeas or Ranun…Ranancu… can’t even spell the fucking word… Ranunculus flowers? Yeah same.

That’s why we both made the conscious decision to seek professional help.

So last night we met with a wedding planner.

I was going to post something very witty about the two hour meeting we had but honestly after about 15 minutes, I had this existential moment and decided to have a crack at solving the meaning of life in my head instead.

Luckily MrsFrugalSamurai-to-be was there to keep things at an even keel – bless her.

But to be perfectly honest with you, if you have/want to invest sufficient time in planning a wedding or a bit tight with budgeting, go right ahead – plenty of people have DIY and it turned out great.

A wedding planner in action.

Just that both MrsFrugalSamurai-to-be and I decided the amount of time and effort involved is better spent on ourselves instead – we’re happy to outsource the process out for a fee.

Everything’s Negotiable

Happy to outsource doesn’t mean that we will be paying whatever is quoted, no sirree – I learnt very early on that everything in life is negotiable, a wedding is no different, $500 for Ranunculus flowers? Someone can do it for $350 – can you do lower?

We haven’t even gone close to our final spend amount, nowhere close, but as they say – every dollar counts.

You’d be surprised to see how easy it is if you only ask. Weddings are an insanely lucrative business for suppliers – they want to have as many days booked as possible, even if that means they offer a discount.

You don’t ask, you don’t get.

Get fucked Ranunculus.

Use Your Networks

We really leveraged our existing networks of family and friends as unfortunately being the only child(s) from our respective families we don’t have any older siblings to piggyback off so everything was done from scratch.

Your support network is very important and no one should think they have to do it alone.

We’ve both been asking everyone – family, friend, acquaintance, stranger we’ve come across if they know any wedding suppliers/caterers/vendors for the multitude of items to be ticked off.

I find word-of-mouth to be the most potent form of marketing. As there are only so many people in the Wedding game in Sydney – it’s quite easy to determine who are the better ones out there.

Nothing beats research like experience.

Not a recommended wedding supplier.

Keep Things in Perspective

At the end of the day, the wedding is only one day in your life – it’s one of the most important for sure but keep things in perspective.

One good day does not mean a good life.

What I’ve learnt talking to people who have gone through it is the overwhelming majority state that when they look back on their wedding day, they’re glad they went through the process but they would 100% do things differently, keep it simpler, less stress, less hassles, less time commitment.

Why is that? Because they’ve moved on past their wedding day and are actively building a life together with their better half, that’s more important.

There you have it guys! A few things we’ve learnt so far on this wedding journey.

MrsFrugalSamurai-to-be and I have certainly grown together more as a couple during this process. It’s almost impossible not to!

Awwww.

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