r/AusWeddingPlanning

I'm trying to figure out the least stressful way to manage rsvps for a wedding. there seem to be so many different ways to do it now, from spreadsheets and wedding websites to group chats and online invitations.

My main concern is keeping everything organized once people start replying at different times. I also don’t want to spend weeks going through messages trying to work out who has actually confirmed.

for those who have already planned their wedding, what method did you use for rsvps? Did it make things easier or were there still a lot of people you had to chase for an answer?

I'd really like to hear what worked for you and what you would recommend to someone doing it for the first time.

I’m after some advice on anyone who’s been in the same situation. My partner and I have started the wedding planning process and have secured a venue and a few other vendors for a wedding of 65 guests. We have recently decided that we aren’t really wanting a bigger one anymore and are leaning more towards just eloping with some close family and celebrating with friends after. Has anyone been in the same boat and regretted swapping or are glad you eloped instead in the end?

Hey everyone! I’m planning on proposing to my boyfriend at some point and just wondering if anyone knows or has had experience with any jewellers/places that do engagement rings/wedding band style with a design and/or small diamond? Possibly happy to get it custom made for the right place. Budget is around 2 - 2.5k! Thanks!

Finally getting married (after two kids). I really wanted something easy and nothing over the top (as I mentioned I have two kids so I really don’t have time or patience.) So we decided on the registry but they have this special, were you can get married at the opera house (15 minute ceremony) but it has to be on Valentine’s Day.

Love some recommendations for a lunch I could book around the area (max 30 guests). Id also love a photographer before the ceremony for me and my partner in the city. We have already one booked for the ceremony/around the opera house after, so we would really only need one for an hour before the wedding but I’m finding it hard to find someone for just one hour.

Love some ideas!

We are getting married in March, in Richmond, VIC.

Ceremony and Reception are at different venues, however they are 1.5km away from each other. The walk is uphill from Swan Street to Bridge Road. We've looked into getting a coach/ mini buses for approx 75px. The cost is around $1.5k as a minimum! Fellow Melbourians would also know how horrible parking is around that area.

PT is an option with a short walk then tram, then another short walk.

Obviously the weather is unpredictable too. It rained this year in March.

Do we fork out this cost for the comfort of our guests?

Keeping in mind we have some oldies and ladies in heels.

Has anyone had dealings with these bus companies?

Would love people's ideas and opinions on this!

THNX!

Hi everyone ☺️

Basically as the title says - we’re not interested in wineries. They aren’t our style and decorative wine barrels make my fiancé irrationally angry 😂

We’re looking for venues that are more romantic/garden/nature vibes.

Have been looking at Monsalvat, Poets Lane, Lyrebird Falls. That kind of pretty-whimsy-flowery-gothic-garden party vibe but not too far from Melbourne CBD.

What’s everyone else’s recommendations that are similar? I’m finding it hard to find anything else. Maybe we’re being too picky 😅

Thank you in advance!

Hi everyone :)

Me and my fiancé are looking for a spot to have a mimi ceremony with around 15-30 people.

We haven’t been engaged for a very long and already are feeling the stress from family to have a bigger wedding (with family money that we don’t want to use) to please everyone which we don’t want.

We are looking in the blue mountains area, hunter valley area or manning valley area.

We want:
-nature is a must. We would love something with heaps of plants like a rainforest, national parks, botanical gardens, river or greenhouse etc
-less popular spots that aren’t typically wedding venues are great as well. Eg like a cliff side or clearing in a forest etc.
-airbnbs that have vintage vibes/ are naturally pretty and picturesque.

We will likely do a small ceremony and then do a party with more people afterwards somewhere else.

Any and all recommendations would be greatly appreciated!!!!

At the end of the day we would be happy to get married almost anywhere as long as we are together.

Ps budget friendly or even free would be amazing! Oh and ideally up to only like 5ish hrs away max.

Thanks everyone 😊✨

I’m feeling really stuck with our wedding plans and would love some outside perspectives, particularly from people who have dealt with international families/destination weddings.

I’m 35, Australian and live in Australia. My fiancé is 40 and South African. His family and many of his close friends are in South Africa, while my family and friends are in Australia.

Our original plan was to have a small destination wedding in South Africa in Jan–March 2027, probably around 40–50 people. We found a beautiful country lodge where everyone could stay for the weekend and envisioned something quite relaxed: welcome drinks/dinner Friday, wedding Saturday, breakfast/brunch Sunday.

It felt like a really lovely way of bringing our two worlds together.

There’s also another factor in our timeline: we want to start trying for a baby immediately after the wedding. Because I’ll be 35/36 and my fiancé is 40, neither of us really wants to deliberately delay that another year just for the wedding.

Then I recently found out that two of my absolute best friends are pregnant.

One is due in late January 2027 and the other in early March 2027.

Obviously I am incredibly happy for them, but it has completely thrown me in terms of the wedding. Realistically, there may be no point between Jan–March where both of them could safely/comfortably travel from Australia to South Africa. Depending on the date, one would either be heavily pregnant or the other would have a very young newborn.

These are two of the people I most imagined having beside me when I got married, and the thought of having the wedding without them makes me really sad.

So now I feel like we have several imperfect options:

1. Continue with the South African wedding in early 2027, knowing one or both of my best friends probably won't be there.
2. Move the wedding to Australia, which makes it much easier for my friends and family, but then puts the exact same international travel burden onto my fiancé's South African family and friends. It also loses some of the destination/weekend-away feeling we loved about the South African plan.
3. Choose a third-country destination somewhere between Australia and South Africa and essentially make everyone travel. We've considered places like Bali/Mauritius/etc., although this potentially makes things more expensive and complicated rather than less.
4. Have a very small legal/intimate wedding in Australia and a celebration in South Africa, but I'm worried that splitting it means neither event really feels like the wedding, and potentially costs more overall.
5. Postpone the wedding, but this is probably my least preferred option because we don't want our wedding timeline to dictate when we start trying to have a baby.

Our total wedding budget is also important. We're aiming for roughly AUD $20–30k, so having two huge celebrations on opposite sides of the world isn't realistic.

I know there probably isn't a magical solution where everyone can be there. I'm just struggling with accepting that.

If you were in this position, what would you do?

For anyone who had families/friends split between countries, did you choose one country and accept that some people couldn't come? Did you have two celebrations? Did you meet somewhere in the middle?

And for anyone who had a best friend get married around the time you were pregnant/had a newborn, what would actually have felt realistic to you in terms of international travel?

I'd especially love to hear from people who have been through something similar rather than just "it's your wedding, do whatever you want." I'm trying to work out which compromise we're least likely to regret.

Thank you!

Hi everyone
Our wedding will be in March 2028
Realistically, when should we be looking at booking a celebrant?
Over a year and a half away, so now seems too early, but I am also stressed about finding someone we like and then it being so far away that they back out before the day or leaving it until we can’t find anyone with our date available lol
Help a stressed bride-to-be, out!
Thanks ❤️

Editing to add this here, not just in a comment

-We will be getting married in his mums backyard, with likely under 20 people.
This was discussed with everyone months prior to us even being engaged lol
We will be doing private vows before the ceremony.
Just after something quick and easy. But have no idea how to even start looking for someone

We have decided to go with Spotify playlists for our wedding, which I will be creating myself but I need a little advice on how to structure the reception playlist.

I was thinking that the beginning of the playlist would start with more fun/dance/party music and then as the evening goes on, slowly transition into some more slower/chilled music instead.

My thought process is that earlier in the evening is when people are going to be in more of a party mode, and we will have kids at the wedding so I figure they'll have a good time (we're going to get them a bunch of glow sticks etc to play with too). And then later on when everyone is starting to wind down, the slower music will be good while people sit and chat etc.

Is this a good way to approach the playlist? How long should each of the two parts go for? (The reception will be about 2-2.5 hours)

Is there any other advice anyone might be able to offer?

Thank you!

EDIT: For context, I have a playlist for dinner already. This will be for after all the 'formalities' are done. It is also a BYO Christian wedding where 30% invited are kids, if any of this helps.

This is genuinely one of the most useful questions I hear answered in conversations with couples after their wedding and I thought it was worth opening up to the broader community.

Real answers from people who have been through it are more useful to future grooms than any amount of advice from people like me. What would you change :)

A lot of cost estimates you see are for more traditional, hetero weddings. My boyfriend and I are starting to do some more long-term planning to save for a wedding in a few years so curious to hear from gay couples on how their costs were?

Neither of us have been to a gay wedding before but from ones I've seen online, a lot have been more unorthodox (e.g. in a wine bar or similar type of venue), still fitting 50-100 people, but without a lot of the more traditional elements of weddings.

Neither of us want a bridal party and I guess the simple fact of not having to buy a dress will be a saving! (Though we'd want tailored suits)

Melbourne based, eastern suburbs

Hi I’m looking for recommendations of MUAs that are experienced with doing bridal makeup for Asian features please. Think Korean or Thai style.

Thank you

We’re getting married in November at an outdoor venue on the South Coast of NSW, and our wedding package includes a gelato bike and fairy floss station for the guests.

So at the moment, our timeline is:
3:30pm: Ceremony
4–5:30pm: Cocktail hour — drinks + 4 canapés pp
5:45pm: Reception dinner — banquet-style + dessert bar + wedding cake
11pm: Guests leave the venue

We’re thinking of having the fairy floss during cocktail hour (we have 6 kids attending so I thought it would be nice to have something fun for them earlier) and then gelato around 7:30–8:30pm.

But now I’m wondering if we should just serve both during cocktail hour instead? We’ll already have a dessert bar and wedding cake after dinner, plus the whole reception is outdoors and it could be pretty chilly by then in November.

What would you do?

Hi all, does anyone have recommendations for jewellers in Sydney (or NSW generally) who make sapphire engagement rings? Preference for green, teal or parti sapphires in a yellow gold setting.

I’ve seen several jewellers in Melbourne who regularly make rings that I love and within budget (approx ~$5k, give or take) like Corky Saint Clair, Oval + Pear, Black Finch Jewellery and Geneine Honey.

I’d prefer to look at local options first, but I haven’t found too many that aren’t like $8k+.

Thank you ☺️

I saw in tiktok some inspo on flowers to put on the tables. We will only have 30ish guest with U shape table setting. The color scheme is burgundy but not sure if this arrangement is ok?

I ordered the flowers differently compared to the inspo so need feedback/help to save this. Wedding is in 2 weeks!! And no we don’t hire florist so need input :)

Pic 1 inspo https://ibb.co/5WDXRC8T
Pic 2 my arrangement https://ibb.co/hRZpB307

We already splurged a bit on our photographer, and now just want someone to film the ceremony, speeches, some dancing shots etc- not a whole elaborate film production. It doesn’t even need to be a particularly good video camera, just some footage of the event…. Any tips on how to get this done w a budget very appreciated!!

Wedding will be in north Sydney

Hello ! My partner and I are on the hunt for a venue - preferably outdoors/bush think Wisemans Ferry area vibe - that doesn't have a hard restriction to finish up at 12am. We have a big extended family who are travelling internationally so we really want to find a place where we can just dance all night to our hearts content. We have hunted a few places but they have noise restrictions from 11pm-12am usually. Has anyone got any recommendations in the areas surrounding Sydney?