A wedding is one of the most important milestones in a couple’s life, but it can also be very costly. Planning and budgeting is necessary to ensure you don’t spend more than you can afford. But don’t worry – that doesn’t mean you won’t have the wedding of your dreams!

You can reduce costs by organising and doing things yourself, along with the help of your family and friends. This can include making your own wedding dress and bouquet, to decorating the venue just the way you like it. There are many DIY wedding ideas you can try for the perfect (budget) wedding.

How much can weddings cost?

The average Australian wedding costs $36,200. Here’s a rundown of the individual costs, from the most to least expensive:

• Food, alcohol and venue – $18,683
• Wedding clothes and accessories – $4,271
• Photography – $3,983
• Entertainment – $2,896
• Flowers and décor – $2,896
• Other (hair, makeup, cars, accommodation, stationery) – $2,534
• Ceremony – $941

Most people paid for the costs of their wedding using their savings (82%), followed by a loan (60%), contributions from their parents (56%), and their credit card (18%).

Saving money on your wedding

Although a wedding can cost tens of thousands of dollars, there are many ways to save money so you can still pay for your honeymoon, a home loan deposit, and other things on your to-do list. Here’s how:

Guest list

Only invite people who you’re close to, like family and best friends, and those who you actually visit often. Make a list so you know how many people to invite and pay for.

Budget

Talk to your partner about having a wedding that’s less than $10,000 – it’s possible! Don’t let magazines make you spend out of your comfort zone. Look at how much you can spend, and stick to it. You can also consider using a wedding budget calculator to help you out with the costs.

Favours

Offer small baked cupcakes, or big pretzels decorated with chocolate and sprinkles in cellophane bags, or give out personalised thank you cards or homemade candles. Also consider a printout of a photo of you and your partner, make a candy station for your guests to take home a goodies bag, create a love song CD, print out a poem, or make paper cranes with your guests’ names on them.

Venue

Party venues such as barns and halls are cheaper than traditional wedding reception venues. You can also look into public parks, gardens, wineries, backyards, churches, aquariums, zoos, galleries, historical sites, vacation homes, bed and breakfasts, your alma mater, or a scenic property owned by a family member. If you belong to the military or a community organisation, you can rent a venue that belongs to them. You can also consider a country or destination wedding with a smaller guest list.

Consider having a full ceremony, and then having a separate reception with only family and friends, or hold the ceremony and reception in the same place. It’s good to look for places offering reception packages, which usually include catering and food service items, like napkins, tables, chairs and the cake. It’s important to check what’s included in the price for every venue you consider. As for the timing of your wedding, have a 3pm ceremony, for example, to reduce the number of hours you have to pay to hire the venue. Also book the wedding midweek, or out of season for an even cheaper price.

Food

Save on food by carefully arranging the time, and meal plan, for your wedding. If you have a 2pm ceremony, for example, you can provide just one meal and some light evening snacks. Consider an afternoon tea, or pig or lamb roasts. You can also have food trucks, finger foods, or just cocktail hours and desserts.

Cake

Go for a plain iced wedding cake decorated with fresh flowers, and a bride and groom or Mr & Mrs cake topper. You could also consider a naked wedding cake, which is easy and cheaper to make. Make your own wedding cake, and offer it as dessert for your guests.

Drinks

Keep alcohol to a minimum, or have none at all – especially for a day wedding. Buy your own alcohol in bulk at a discounted price from a liquor store, and ask if you can return unopened bottles for a refund. You can also run a cash bar for your wedding, or limit the open bar.

Attire

You can make your own wedding dress using either a vintage or cute mini dress, or opt for an off-the-rack or used wedding dress. You can create your own veil, wear a birdcage veil, or just have beautiful fresh flowers in your hair. Wear hand-me-down jewellery, or borrow jewellery from a friend. Wear shoes you already own, and make your own garter.

Stationery

Stationery can include wedding invitations, the program, thank you cards, the menu, guestbook, name cards, and a seating arrangement chart. Of course, there’s no need to supply all of these. You can invite friends on Facebook or via email, buy ready-made templates on Etsy and take them to a printer, do postcard invitations to save on stamp fee, or have someone help people find their table and seat.

You can create and print your own invitations, thank you cards, menus and programs at home or at a local printer. You could also order thank you cards and invitations in bulk online. Choose basic black ink for all your stationery on white or ecru paper in the standard square or rectangle shape. Get your bridal party to assemble your invitations, and if a friend is a good calligrapher have them address your invitations, or download free calligraphic fonts from Search Free Fonts, High Fonts, or DaFont.

Photography

You can still hire a professional photographer to take pictures of your wedding, but opt for just 3 hours of coverage. This should be enough to capture everything for an afternoon ceremony and reception. You can also have a friend or family member take photos if they’re good at it, or they’ve got a DSLR camera. Save all your wedding photos on Facebook, iPhone and Instagram and make a collage.

Entertainment

Consider making your own playlist and playing it from an iPod dock or your laptop (have a friend change the volume and songs), or get someone you know to DJ or play an instrument. Set up a cupcake decorating station, bringing in face painters, or having a sparkler send-off. You can also create your own photo booth, with cheap props in a box, and buntings or pom-poms for a backdrop.

Flowers

Make your own wedding bouquet, place ribbon along the aisle instead of flowers, or only place ceremony flowers near the spot where you’ll exchange vows. Your maids can carry single stems, or wear flower crowns or wrist corsages.

As for the reception flowers, consider making your own table arrangements, such as styling with single stems in glass jars, or vintage containers as vases. Try groupings of the same flower in various hues, clustering vases of various sizes in interesting configurations, or submerging flowers or petals in water in clear bowls. You can also opt for silk, paper, tissue paper or potted flowers. Or don’t place flowers on tables, and instead pick a focal point (the entrance or front corners of the room) and place one flower arrangement there.

Decorations

It’s much easier and cheaper to buy decorations in bulk. Use lots of candles or Christmas lights, tissue pom-poms, ribbon tassels, buntings, balloons or pinwheel aisle markers. You can also place branches (curly willow or dogwood) in cheap urns or tall glass vases and hang LED tea lights from them with ribbons, or fill out arrangements with fruits and vegetables. Cover the tables with a plain white tablecloth, and then layer organza or tulle on top of it. Or, simply cover the tables with frosted glass or mirrors.

Other things you can do include placing a canopy over a barn dance floor, decorating a ceremony arch or arbour with lush coral, purple butterflies and flowers, and making a Just Married car sign using buntings with letters. Consider a wedding with minimum decorations – keep it romantically simple instead.

Your wedding day is something you’ll remember for the rest of your life, so make the most of it by staying within your budget, while still having the wedding of your dreams.