Wedding Budgets - Things to Consider
What should your budget be?
One of the biggest stressors for couples getting married is setting their wedding budget. After all, this may be the first time you’ve done this, and weddings are notoriously expensive.
According to Easyweddings Survey 2025, the average wedding in Australia cost $35315 (gulp!), and let’s face it, that, my friends, is a lot of money.
However, that’s the average. I’ve certainly worked on weddings which have cost a lot more, and ones which have cost a lot less.
Be realistic
It’s very easy to get carried away when looking at weddings on Instagram or online. Your dream wedding might not be achievable in your budget, so be realistic.
With weddings, like many things in life, you pay for what you get. A beautiful, popular, high end venue with incredible catering, floristry, decor, etc is going to cost a lot more than a backyard wedding with a food truck.
Sounds obvious, yes, but set your vision accordingly right from the get go to reduce disappointment along the way.
And please don’t bankrupt yourself!
Think about your guest list first
The more guests, the more it’s going to cost. Why? More mouths to feed. More drinks to consume. More chairs and tables to set up. More staff to service the guests.
One thing though, as a Celebrant, the number of guests doesn’t determine my price. It’s no difference to me if I’m delivering a ceremony in front of 20 guests or 200. Yes, there’s a bit of crowd-wrangling, but aside from that, zip, zero, zilch difference. You can find my pricing here
Obviously it’s hard to determine how many people will attend, but my suggested formula is expect 15% of invitees to not be able to attend, so if you invite 100 guests, expect approximately 85 to be able to attend.
Got an idea of numbers? Now venue hunt
This’ll be fun (or potentially depressing if your expectations are a bit skewy).
Start having a look online at venues, and a good way to find those in your budget is to do the following:
- Expensive venues will usually be located in desirable locations, with high end catering and exclusive use. They may include an on-the-day coordinator, some styling, have beautiful gardens and top end furnishings.
- More affordable venues may be restaurants, surf/bowls/golf or other member clubs, breweries, wine bars, or a private residence.
- Some venues offer discounts for weekdays, and many will surcharge for public holidays.
- When at the venue, consider whether you need lots of styling/florals to make it feel right for you and whether you can budget for this.
How your ceremony looks versus feels
This is an often overlooked element to your wedding planning. What’s really more important to you? Are you an influencer who envisages your wedding appearing in blogs and posts? Are you more focussed on great music so all your guests dance?
Asking yourself these kind of questions which help you determine where to invest your money.
If you’re about the looks, invest in:
- Styling
- Venue
- Florals
If you’re about the feels, invest in:
- DJ/Musician
- Celebrant/MC
- Drinks and food
What NOT to scrimp on
This is only my opinion, but if there’s one element that (if this important to you) you shouldn’t scrimp on when setting your wedding budget, it’s a photographer.
Seriously.
And there’s a major reason why. I’ve seen inexperienced photographers miss important moments in a ceremony.
Now, cheap doesn’t mean inexperienced. I can suggest some amazing photographers who are truly affordable, yet complete geniuses at what they do. I also can suggest some higher end photographers who are a true, rare talent. You can find my suggested photographers here
Getting someone off Facebook Marketplace who has never shot a wedding before will likely lead to disappointment. Maybe they’ll be okay… but there’s a big maybe they won’t. Do you want to make take that chance?
I'll never judge
I know I’m not the cheapest Celebrant around. I know I’m out of a lot of couple’s wedding budget, and I know that lots of couples don’t want or need a super-experienced celebrant who does storytelling in a very natural way. And I’ll never, ever judge someone who is lower budget. As someone who had their wedding back in the day at the registry office, followed by a party at the pub, who am I to judge.