Hayleigh and Marc met at an alternative nightclub in 2010 so they always knew their wedding would be quite non-traditional. “We went for a bohemian-esque evening wedding however tried not to go over the top with our decorations”, said the bride. “We really wanted it to be about us and our families, not the ‘stuff’. Whilst I had hundreds of photos saved on Pinterest not a lot of those ideas made it to the big day!”
“The bouquets and headpiece were made by me, my mother and my godmother the day before the wedding”. she continued. “We went to the local flower market and picked out anything that we wanted. It ended up costing approx $200 including the wire, tape and ribbons and a few hours of laughter! We also made our own rug and cushions. I picked out all of the fabrics and my mother and her sister made the amazing creations. I decorated some small bottles and vases for the bar tables to put flowers in.”
“The best part of the day was, hands down, our ceremony. The anticipation was incredible but to see all of the smiling faces back at us was just magical. My Nanna also made the PERFECT flower girl – we don’t have any young ones in the family that could make it on the day so having her there meant everything to us. I had Johnny Cash’s Rose of My Heart play as my bridesmaids and I walked down the aisle and seeing Marc’s face staring back at me as I reached the top was excellent, we high-fived and began the ceremony.”
“Our wedding budget was $10000 and the biggest expense was my dress which came in just under $2000. I was really particular about the dress as I knew a princess gown was not what I was after. I was so lucky to find Daughter’s of Simone.”
“There were lots of things we did to save money though. Firstly, we were so lucky to actually win our ceremony by Lindsay Carroll through an IG competition in 2014 on our way to a friends wedding. We used Spotify to create all the g playlists. I work at a party shop and am really interested in event planning so I was able to coordinate everything and do all of the setting up myself. Another way we saved money is that my dad is the operations manager at the Women’s College. Whilst we wanted to elope, we were offered to have the wedding at his work, plus they have amazing chefs! Katelyn who was head chef that night is also AMAZING with making cakes and she created ours! I was also lucky to be friends with our fantastic photographer, Rachel. We went to high school together so I thought I’d message her after seeing some of her wedding photos and she was more than happy to travel up to Brisbane for us! I also designed and we printed all of our wedding stationary ourselves.”
“I do still kinda wish we had eloped, which was our original plan, and I wish I didn’t get so caught up with using Pinterest so much during planning as it was a little bit depressing seeing these amazing ideas which I knew wouldn’t be within our budget”, she concluded. “My advice to other couples would be to think about who the wedding is for, is it just for the two of you? Is it for your close family and friends? Decide on that and then consider where and how to have your wedding. Also drink lots of champagne during planning and don’t be too serious about the whole thing!”
