why wish wedding?
When I was planning my own wedding, I found myself getting frustrated that so much of the information I could find online was tailored for American and British brides and grooms. We do weddings differently in Australia though, and so many of the timelines and guides that were no doubt super helpful for those couples were not much help at all for me. After spending so much time planning my big day(s) and then helping others plan theirs, I thought it just made sense to share it with other Aussie couples, too - and hence, wish wedding!
Although my love of weddings goes much further back, from adoring the weddings in Disney movies to binge watching Say Yes to the Dress and Four Weddings, my actual experience in the wedding industry started in 2015, when I was twenty-one. That's when I started working in a bridal boutique selling wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses, mother-of-the-bride/groom dresses and accessories, booking suit and tuxedo rentals, and organising alterations. I loved helping brides find their perfect dresses (you really can tell when it's the one), and as I chatted with them about their plans for the day, I got to hear about so many different types of weddings. There were definitely patterns and trends that were more popular, but each couple was unique and there was always a detail, even if it was something tiny, that set their wedding apart.
I had my own fairytale engagement in 2019 and immediately set about putting all of the knowledge I'd accrued over the years to good use planning our wedding. Which was supposed to happen in 2020. As you can probably guess, we didn't end up getting married in 2020. We didn't even end up getting married in 2021.
Unfortunately, the area where my partner and I lived, in Melbourne, Australia, was subject to extremely strict and ongoing lockdowns, so even though both of our families were only an hour away, we couldn't meet up. At first, we couldn't imagine getting married without them there, so we postponed the event. And then we had to postpone it again. And again. As the lockdowns dragged on we decided to switch to a courthouse wedding to make it legal and then have the party later on - but at that point they weren't even allowing courthouse weddings, so we were stuck in limbo.
I ended up planning and re-planning this wedding a total of five times over the course of the pandemic, as restrictions constantly changed. Which was horrible at the time, but it did give me a lot of practice! And we were extremely lucky to have absolutely wonderful, understanding vendors who stuck with us and made things as painless as possible through the countless reschedules. Eventually, our 'big' wedding with all of our family and friends was booked in for winter 2022.
Things seemed to be getting better early that year, but due to the insane amount of reschedules and the backlog of new bookings, our venue wasn't able to move our wedding forward at all. Once it was confirmed restrictions were eased, I wasn't going to wait through another winter and risk everything closing up again, so I planned another, entirely new, completely separate wedding for autumn.
This was a micro wedding, with just my partner and I, our immediate families and best friends, and our photographer, videographer and celebrant - less than twenty people total - at a botanic garden. It was absolutely picturesque. We had cake and wine there after the ceremony and photos were done, and then everyone was invited back to our favourite restaurant in our neighbourhood for a casual dinner. It was intimate, it was relaxed, it was absolutely perfect after all of the stress of just trying to get to the day.
And then, come winter, we were able to have the big wedding party we'd originally organised, at a traditional wedding venue, fully catered, with a DJ and a dance floor and all of our extended family and wider friend circles - roughly 90 guests - celebrating with us. It was also absolutely picturesque, but in a completely different way.
Planning and hosting both of these days has given me a unique insight into the different approaches required for each, and their pros and cons.
As I discussed the minutiae of each of my own wedding events with people in my life who were engaged and had started their planning, I realised that I had a lot more knowledge about the wedding industry and the effort required to plan a wedding than most, and that I actually loved sharing that knowledge. I loved talking coworkers through what to expect when trying on wedding gowns and timelines of when you should order your dress. It made me so happy helping a friend tone down her event to the smaller scale she and her partner were hoping for, tweaking the timeline so that they didn't miss out on the parts of the day they wanted but weren't going to exhaust themselves with the parts they didn't. I took such pride in coordinating my sister and brother in law's wedding, helping them celebrate from the night of the engagement all the way to the post-wedding brunch.
And I'd really love to help share that knowledge with you, too! I've learnt so much through my own experiences, it'd be a shame not to share it. So feel free to browse through the guides and timelines, general info, and downloadable resources I've compiled on this website for you. Let me know if I've missed anything!
And, if you've got a question about anything at all wedding related - if you're the lucky one getting married, if you're in a bridal party or even a wedding guest - I'd absolutely love to hear it! You can send in your questions here and I'll help you out.