The average cost of a wedding in Sydney is currently $37,000, making it the most expensive city in Australia to tie the knot in. That said, there are still plenty of weddings in Sydney that come in under the $20,000 mark and in this article I want to share 5 tips that have personally helped me lower the cost of my Sydney Wedding.
1. GET married in winter
As I spoke about in a previous post about The Best Time of Year to Get Married in Sydney — the weather in Sydney is pretty much perfect all year round. Average daytime temperatures in the dead of winter still reach 18°C making it perfect weather to get married. Mix with that the fact that winter receives less average rainfall than Summer and Autumn and you’re bound to have an amazing day.
It seems however that most Wedding Venues haven’t cracked onto this fact yet because they still charge heavily discounted rates for all weekends from May to August. Some will even give you a 50% discount compared to their peak prices charged in Spring and Summer. This makes winter an amazing time to get married if you like the thought of savings a few dollars.
2. Get married in a church out of the City
For those of you getting married in a church, consider having your ceremony at a church in the suburbs. Suburban churches are no less beautiful, however they rarely charge the exuberant prices that churches in the city do all because no one knows about them.
The average cost to having a ceremony at a church in the Sydney City (or other picturesque locations) is about $1,800. Contrast that to churches just 15 minutes drive away in the Inner West or South that may be free or by donation. After all you can still have a gorgeous reception venue by Sydney Harbour and save yourself some money on the ceremony.
3. Visit the Sydney Flower Markets
One of the biggest money savers on this list for anyone thinking about having tonnes of flowers at their wedding. The Sydney Flower Markets, the place where literally every florist in Sydney gets their flowers from each day, is open to the public as well. Located at the Sydney Markets in Flemington (near Homebush) these flower markets have every flower you could ever dream of and at warehouse prices. Yes you may have to do a bit of prep work to them but if you’re an artsy person and don’t mind getting your hands dirty, this will save you a little mine.
The one caveat is that you have to be willing to get there at 5am in the morning either the day of or day before your wedding. In my experience most of the flowers have been cleared out by 6:30am by florists and other suppliers so it really is first in best dressed. Maybe this is a job for a few friends or family members.
4. Use public spaces for photos, not private ones
You may not know this but most private gardens in Sydney like the Botanical Gardens or Wendy’s Secret Garden charge a fee (between $300-$500) to have professional wedding photos taken there. Instead consider having wedding photos taken by the Harbour, on the beach or at a public garden or park. You may not get exclusive use of the space but most people will move out of your way onc they see the wedding dress and the photos will be just as incredible, all without the price tag.
5. Hire Wedding Vendors who are just starting out
Sydney is a land of opportunity and so many young creatives are trying to make their break every day. Make-up Artists, Florists, Bakers, Photographers, Hair Stylists, DJs, Musicians, Videographers all start somewhere and some of the best of them are out their waiting for people to take a chance on them and hire them for their wedding.
Having less experience isn’t always a bad thing because most new business owners will always go above and beyond for their clients and deliver an amazing service. Plus they will often charge lower prices due to being new to the industry and wanting to build up their portfolio. Trust me, as someone who recently started out a Wedding Photographer, booking new wedding vendors for lower prices is not under-valuing them because most creatives are over the moon to get the work and prove themselves in this industry. Everyone has to start somewhere and you could be helping someone kickstart a career doing something they love whilst scoring yourself a bargain.
As you can see there are plenty of ways you can save money on your Wedding if you know the tricks of the trade. These examples were specific to Sydney Weddings but there are plenty of other ways to save money that can be applied to any wedding no matter where you’re getting married. If you interested in hearing more money saving and wedding planning tips be sure to follow me on Instagram @mikejeffreyphotography and tune into my Wedding Planning Podcast To Be Wed every single Friday.
