Unspoken Conversations are the topics that are often swept under the carpet, whispered amongst the closest of friends and bitched about by many. I want to create awareness about difficult things that people face in life; grief, mental health, money, illnesses, family troubles, relationship difficulties and putting yourself first. I want to tell the truth about things that really matter.

Monday 28 October 2013

Don't Tell the Guests; The Updated Budget

Budget smudget - yup that's a little bit how you feel 3 weeks out from the wedding when you just start signing cheques (in American terms - who actually signs cheques these days?), maybe I should say, clicking the 'transfer funds' button to everything from toilet paper to doilies to music and bubbles, in hope that you'll eventually pay it all off, and you start becoming numb to the number of 0's behind the dollar signs!

Yup, you get to a point where you are just over the organising and constant dipping of your hand into your pocket and you just go into auto pilot mode with the end in sight!!!


Aww - sounds all doom and gloom but really it isn't! It's exciting to know that it's not too far away and that everything is almost all taken care of in the moolah department!




Soooo it turns out that we wayyyyy overestimated the cost of the reception ( a whoop!!!) when we thought that it would cost $100 a head for 156 people!!!

Instead of costing $15,600 for the 3 course meal and open bar tab for our guests, it was only $5, 490 for the food for 156 guests, and $3, 300 for the bar tab, and we spent around $1200 on wine which was charged an $8 corkage per bottle and was taken out of the bar tab.

So in total, it cost $9,900 divided by 156 guests is $64 per head for a 3 course meal and all they could drink. BARGAIN!

Here's a break down of what we've spent so far (just to show how quickly it all adds up, where you can expect to spend money, and what things you need to think about!!!)

Our itemised budget 



Breakfast the morning of the wedding: $11 per person from Del Journos


Coffees, fruit platters, pastries and croissants 

CEREMONY = $687


Celebrant; Carol Cabot = $300


Ceremony venue hire; Boston Bay Winery; $300



Chalk board signs for the ceremony; $87

Instagram Bunting Sign - free - made by a friend

Music at ceremony - friend sang and player her own guitar for the aisle song = FREE

Happily Ever After sign - made by friend = free

Afternoon tea after the ceremony; home made goodies donated by friends and family
Amazing cupcakes made by a great friend.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Carlas-Kitchen/490369867695624
INSTAGRAM AWAY!



RECEPTION = $14960

Reception hire; Port Lincoln Yacht Club; $650

2 COURSE CATERING


Reception; 2 course meal with a mixture of local seafood and grain fed meat; $35 per person for 156 guests = $5, 490




 


DESSERT


Wedding cake; Cake Dreams by Wendy, 3 tiered, two chocolate, one lemon = $425





https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=285842954796031&set=a.285842951462698.66047.285840231462970&type=1&theater
DRINKS

Alcohol; pre purchased wine; $1200 (mixture of Shirazes, Cab Savs, champagnes, mosacato, dry whites etc)

Bar tab; beers, soft drink and cider; $3300 bar tab + $1200 wine = $4500



DECORATIONS



Decorations; Fairy Tale Weddings; white material around the edges and full fairy lights = $650



White table cloths (we are hiring these) 14 x round and 2 x rectangle = $150 + dry cleaning ($260)  = $410

Chair covers, table runners, decorations, bunting flags, signing table and chairs, Americana chairs for the ceremony, decorations for the ceremony and little bits and bobs; Exclusive Bridal Hire $300 (mates rates from my Aunty and Uncle's business!!!)



header
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Exclusive-Bridal-Hire-And-Gifts/207114872666636?ref=br_tf&id=207114872666636&sk=app_180810088654561




Hand crafted table centrepieces; $100 in lace, hessian, glue sticks, blackboard pant, doilies


The table decorations at night
Hand crafted table seating plan; $15

Bunting material made by a great friend; $420



MUSIC

Music; Jazz It Up; 4 piece band singing everything from jazz to pop to old school and modern, plus lighting and sound $2000


Jazz it up 
https://www.facebook.com/jazzitupmusic 


Will Metzer - an absoloute legend and LOADS of fun!

BITS AND BOBS - $250




Toasting glasses for bride and groom; donated by Glamour Events

Cake knife and server; engagement party gift

Groomsmen's gifts - an engraved stainless steel mug: $40 x 5 = $200

Ribbons for the bridal cars = $20

Tea light candles = $20

Lighters for the candles = $10

CLOTHING/ACCESSORIES = $2443.90




My stunning dress.
My dress from behind!
Wedding dress; Spurling Bridal = $1,400

Wedding dress alterations; $550

Bridal shoes; $40 from Betts and Betts



Something blue!

Veil; my mums :)


Groom's Suit; jacket, pants, shirt, belt = $303.90 per person (we only paid for the grooms)


Shoe stoppers: $15 x 10 = $150 (so that the girls heels didn't dig into the grass!)



JEWELLERY = $2534.90


Wedding rings; both his and hers, Michael Hill Jewellers = $2,534.90

Bridal jewelry; kindly given as a present from one of my beautiful bridesmaids (earrings) and a stunning bracelet from a Belgium friend.



PHOTOGRAPHY = $3600




Just a sample of James's amazingness!
Photographer; James Field, inclusive of an engagement shoot, photo booth with automatic prints, 15 hours on the day, and photo disc $3600

http://jame.com.au/


PHOTO BOOTH



Included in the price of the photography





Videographer = $500

 Zac Christan; $500




FLOWERS = $612


Fake flowers by Artificial Wedding Bouquets = 9 x bouquets (bride and 8 x bridesmaids) and 13 x button pins (5 for groomsmen, 1 for groom, 3 for fathers, 3 for mothers) = $612

ACCOMMODATION = $660


Accommodation over the weekend; English Rose Cottage for the bridesmaids and bride the night before the wedding and the newly married couple for the rest of the weekend; $660


The boys stayed at one of Mick's best mates the night before the wedding = FREE
English Rose - so beautiful!
   
 
 
 
 

http://www.englishrosecottage.com.au/englishrose/index.html 

HAIR AND MAKE UP = $1080


Hair; Hair Razorz, Cummins 5 girls x $75 per girl = $375

Alyssa Gale 4 x $75 = $300
Make Up; Neats Nails; 9 x $45 per girl = $405


Neats doing my make up!
https://www.facebook.com/neat.nails.3?fref=ts

PAMPERING SESSION THE DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING 



$60 per girl for a 30 minute massage, manicure and pedicure!
The girls paid for their own, and lucky for me, one of the girls shouted me!

https://www.facebook.com/neat.nails.3?fref=ts  
Me looking ridiculous but relaxed after my massage!

PAPER BASED = $550


Save the date invitations; $150

Wedding invitations; $200 plus postage stamps (50 c x 

Printed menus, wine list for the bar and name settings; $200


GRAND TOTAL; $27,888.80

So... reception = 54% of the total cost.


RECEPTION = $14,960


46% = everything else!

$8000 was contributed by family so Mick and I managed to saved $19888.80 in a year + our honeymoon!

A whoop!

Go us!

How much did your wedding cost?

I am going to write another blog post on things that we could've saved money on but we choose to spend more on them because they meant something to us ie photography and music (so other people can see where they can save!)

Look after yourself and those around you,

Kirsty xxxx

















Saturday 26 October 2013

Don't Tell the Guests - My Favourite Photos So Far!

I love photography.

I love how, in one quick second, someone can pick up a camera, look through the lens, and capture a special moment that will create a memory that lasts forever.

Photos.

That's probably why we based the date for our wedding around the availability of our photographer, and probably why I have stalked my wedding photos about 1,000 times on Facebook.

So here goes, some of my favourite photos to pop up so far.




I feel a little vein putting this up, but I love this photo! I look like a princess!




Okay so PD eeeee but it's the only time that you can get away with it and nawww it's a bit cute!


I love this photo because it's of one of our best friends  who spoke a reading that we had written ourselves so beautifully!



And another best friend who feels like family who took part in our special day!
I love this because you can see the beauty and detail in my gown!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this photo of my mum and dad walking me down the aisle!
Me with my new brothers, and one new family with Mick's Mum and Russ.
One of my beautiful mother in laws
This one makes me giggle because the girls kept getting teary all morning and blamed it on hay fever so we had to do our best hay fever symptom pose.
A stunning shot by our photographer James Field who climbed up a tree to capture this precious moment.
A beautiful friend was still making this sign the day before the wedding! We'll use this for our thank yous!
Probably my most favourite shot from the day so far! Check out the background and scenery!
Celebrating after our wedding dance that we winged!!!
Giggle you can put a girl in a pretty dress but she can still be feral! Haha the girls made me put down a towel so that I wouldn't spill my cold leftover pizza from the night before on my dress before the ceremony!
We had the most amazing whether and the most amazing scenery and backdrops for our perfect day at the Boston Bay Winery.
Yes, we had a HUGE wedding party, 15 in total, but it was SO much fun!
Me and my new father in law dancing, and also the front shot of my sister and her husband and best friends cuddling and having a good time on the dance floor!
Alcoholics! Half way through the photos we realised that we had had a beer and champagne in hand the WHOLE time!!!
Me and one of my gorgeous bridesmaids, Amie.
Our beautiful flower girl.
My entire new family!
Being announced Mr and Mrs Traeger!
Another favourite!!! 
Another gorgeous bridesmaid, Samara.
Looking massively nervous!
A couple more of my gorgeous girls!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this photo as these are 10 of the most important people in my life; the girls that I have known since school (and two of which I was born in the same hospital, in the same week and have gone all through life together), plus one girl from Belgium and one from Austria and my amazing husband!


  Okay, so you get the point, there are tonnes of amazing photos, and this are without our instant photo booth ones that are hilarious and will take up a whole other blog post.


A massive thanks to James Field for some of these beauties - check that kid out - he's AMAZING! We have only had a sneak preview of 22 of his shots so far, so I'll keep you posted when the others come through!


JAMES FIELD PHOTOGRAPHY

 Also, a huge thanks to the other photographers who have snapped some amazing shots!

Such a special day.

What were some of your favourite shots on your day?

Look after yourself and those around you,

Kirsty xxx