Never used one of these forums before. But i was wondering if anyone had any ideas on wedding saving ideas? My fiance is from England and we have moved back to my home in Sydney so I could do my Bachelor of Nursing degree at university. With trying to get ready for uni and all the uni fees, having to apply for his permanent visa which is around $2575, and everything in between we have lost sight of the wedding.
We had originally planned to get married this August but with all these expenses its really knocking us for 6.

Has anyone else had to go through anything like this with a fiance who is from another country? Some advice or help would be amazing and mean alot!

Also after any cheap but nice wedding ideas around Sydney. I live in South West Sydney. Our guestlist only consists of 50 people maximum!

Id love to hear anyones advice!

Thanks!

Welcome Jessii! Sounds like things are very busy for you!!

I'm not in Sydney, but am having a small wedding like you (50 max). We are having our ceremony on a boat, so there is the added expense of boat hire, but when I first started planning people suggested having the reception at a restaurant.

You could just book an area in restaurant. It may not appeal to you, but you could request no gifts and ask people to pay for their own meal and drinks?

Other cost saving tips are DIY where ever you can. We weren't looking at cutting costs necessarily, but I made my own invitations (probably cost less than $2 each - didn't actually work it out!) and my mum is making the cupcakes (only because we couldn't find nicer cupcakes than the ones out of a packet mix!! )

Good luck with it all! And remember, the most important thing is you making a committment to your DF in front of your nearest and dearest - the rest is just garnish!

LJ

Hi Jessii, congrats on your engagement!

A wedding can absolutely be done inexpensively!

Firstly, cut/DIY as much as possible. We didn't have bonbonierre, instead we scattered choc hearts over the table ($75ish total), we (I) DIY'd invitations, used friends cars etc etc.

Do you know a friend who is a talented photographer that would maybe take some pics in lieu of a present?

Look online / factory outlets for bridesmaids dresses you can get made in white/ivory.

Think outside the square when it comes to your reception - Friday night / Sunday afternoon would be much cheaper than a Sat night.

Could you plan a relaxed engagement party, then surprise everyone and have a celebrant come out and marry you?

There are lots of different options out there!

Best of luck with your planning.

There's a place at Mt Keira Wollongong that does receptions for $65.00 pp including cake and dj. That's the cheapest I've seen.