Planning My Own Budget Wedding - Twice Over! Part 11

My second wedding was almost exactly ten years after my first wedding.

Second Wedding

For my second wedding, my fiance and I paid for most of it ourselves and I organised the whole thing myself, which was a bit of a task because I had to do it long distance, as we lived about a 5 hour flight from where the wedding was held.

We timed our wedding to coincide with my younger brother’s wedding, he got married on the Saturday and we got married the next day. He and his wife were quite happy for us to do that as it saved us a couple of thousand dollars in flight fares and accommodation not having to fly down to my home town twice.

The wedding was an early winter in Brisbane, Australia which has a temperate climate so the weather was just perfect. It was a crisp clear day with blue sky and white puffy clouds. The birds sang in the trees as my father lead me down the garden on a red carpeted aisle as the crystal sounds of harp music softly played in the background. Get the picture?

My Wedding Planning

Wedding Catering

It was impractical to try and cater the wedding ourselves so after a lot of research, we chose a lovely wedding reception centre which was situated on a rise on the banks of the river overlooking the city and surrounded by elegant gardens.  The place also offered hotel-style accommodation for us and our guests. We only had 40 guests and the wedding package we chose was very reasonably priced at $42 per guest plus the drinks tab, which cost another $800.

We had the wedding ceremony in the garden setting which was filled with naturally growing pink flowers. There was a marque set up in front of a backdrop of green vines with cherub statues lining the way to the marque and white garden chairs for guests bordered a red carpeted aisle for me to walk down.

 Wedding Cake

My parents paid for our two tier wedding cake which was made by a local cake shop who also delivered it to the reception venue. It had white icing with pink flowers and a thick white satin ribbon.







 Wedding Music

I wanted harp music for my wedding ceremony and looked through the yellow pages for a harpist. I found a lovely young lady who had never done a wedding before but was willing to play at my wedding. I let her choose the music that she thought would be appropriate for a wedding as I didn’t want anything traditional as I walked down the aisle.

I also auditioned a couple of DJs for the music at the wedding and went with one who had a good cross selection of music and also allowed for guests to make requests. I told him exactly what I wanted and on the day he proved to be a great DJ, playing appropriate dinner music at the right volume and then later he played popular dance music from different generations that went down well with all the guests.

Wedding Attire
For both weddings, I hired a dressmaker to make my wedding dress. My first wedding, I had a cream lace dress with a slight train. The bridesmaids bought their own dresses, they were long in yellow lace on satin.

For my second wedding my sister’s sister-in-law made the bridesmaids outfits from fabric that I had bought. The dresses were three quarter length with long sleeves and a v-drop waist. The bodice was pale pink satin and the skirt was a pink floral print on white. My dress was three quarter length and made of cream lace on soft satin.
Once my dress was finished, I hand-sewed tiny pearls and sequins onto the bodice just to add a bit of glamour.

I kept my first wedding dress for some years until my second marriage, then I cut it up to make dresses for a couple of nieces. I have been married to my second husband for nearly 18 years now and I still have that dress which I will keep for the rest of my life as it is very special to me.

The groomsmen and the father of the bride all hired tuxedos with maroon satin vests and bow ties, they all looked very dashing on the day.

Wedding Rings
We didn’t have a jeweler where we lived so we had to wait until after we got to the city to buy our wedding rings. To have wedding rings sized and made would have taken a few weeks but as we only had a week to go before the wedding we decided on choosing something in stock, that was less traditional and that was in our size.

Wedding Photography
My sister had a professional camera so she was elected to do the wedding photos. I just made up a list of photos I wanted taken on the day for her to use as a guide. We also had a friend who did a wedding video for us as a wedding present.

Flowers

I had a local lady make all the floral bouquets and headpieces for the wedding using silk flowers. The main flowers were gardenias in pinks and creams and white baby's breath and ivy. I had to pack them carefully to take with me on the flight down to the wedding.

Wedding Transport
We didn’t need wedding cars as I had the bridal suite to use to get ready and then only had to walk downstairs into the garden to get to the wedding. The afterwards we only had to walk from the garden inside to the reception.

Well, that’s my wedding planning story told. I hope it gives you the idea that you can have a beautiful wedding to.some inspiration and tips on how to organise your own wedding on a budget.


PS. I'm pleased to report that my second marriage has been an almost 18 year success and still going stong!