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Zara McDonald
Foreign.
Rhiannon Joyce
Guys. Welcome to the wedding series by Stylish. This is a three part series all about. Well, I think it's pretty self explanatory. It's about wedding culture. I'm Rhiannon Joyce, head of business development at Shameless Media. And today I'm joined by the wonderful Jo.
Jo
Hi, how are you? I'm so excited to be here.
Rhiannon Joyce
I know, I am so excited to talk about this. But Jo, it's not just you and me in the room. There is someone else here that we're very excited to have. Zara McDonald.
Jo
Hi guys.
Zara McDonald
I'm your special guest today and I'm so excited.
Jo
You're very, very special because you're going to be dropping some serious figures for us today which Ray and I don't know about.
Zara McDonald
No.
Jo
So we're ready to be shocked.
Zara McDonald
Yeah. I've kept you in the dark. I'm so excited. And you guys are like the perfect co hosts, I think for a season like this. Our soon to be brides.
Rhiannon Joyce
Yeah, we're both 2025. Br. Yes, Jo, when are you getting married?
Jo
End of November.
Rhiannon Joyce
End of November. Okay. I'm.
Jo
You're around the corner.
Rhiannon Joyce
I am around the corner. And yeah, it's really settling in. I'm getting married at the end of May. We're recording at the end of April, so not long to go, I was gonna say.
Zara McDonald
How we feeling?
Rhiannon Joyce
I'm feeling good. I'm feeling good. I'm actually really happy to be having this conversation. I do wanna use this opportunity to pick the brains of some of the most stylish and insightful married people we know. And Zara, you are not only one of my closest friends, but I think your wedding is one of the most incredible weddings I've been to. It was so personal, it was so lovely. And I'm so excited to pick your brain on everything about your wedding.
Zara McDonald
I'm just excited to talk about them because I got married well over a year ago and people just like stop asking you questions. Oh really? You should stop posting your photos by a certain point.
Rhiannon Joyce
Do you think?
Zara McDonald
No, I. I internalize. No, you shan't. For those listening, I internalize. I think at this point only my anniversary is the only time I can post.
Rhiannon Joyce
You have such beautiful photos though.
Zara McDonald
But I'm just excited to be and kind of lean into the excuse to going back in time.
Jo
Hair and makeup goals from your wedding as well though.
Zara McDonald
Oh, thank you.
Jo
Loved the hair. Actually taking a little bit of inspo.
Zara McDonald
Well, hair extensions. I have naturally very thin hair. I mean we're getting there really early, but hair extensions were the go. I'd never worn them before.
Rhiannon Joyce
Really?
Zara McDonald
Yeah.
Jo
Wouldn't have even known you had extensions in.
Zara McDonald
Yeah, I know a lot of people said that, but they were amazing. How are you feeling about your wedding, Jo?
Jo
Yeah, pretty good.
Zara McDonald
Yeah.
Jo
It's all planned. It's happening. So quick turnaround.
Zara McDonald
I know.
Jo
Yeah, it was a quick turnaround. I only got engaged in December for those listening that aren't aware of the timeline and I just turned that around really quickly.
Rhiannon Joyce
Yeah, I feel like you're quite an organized person. You've got a lot going on in life, so I'm not really surprised.
Jo
Hey, I just wanted to get this. I wanted to get it out of the way.
Zara McDonald
I don't think that's.
Jo
I just needed the planning to be done. I didn't want it looming over my head. I just wanted it to be planned and sorted so that I could sit back and relax for a while and then I'll start to get worried about it when it's a couple of months out.
Rhiannon Joyce
Yeah, that's how I'm feeling right now. No, to be honest, we actually haven't been that stressed or worried throughout. I feel like at the moment where we're getting to is a place of both excitement but also nerves. We are getting married interstate as well, so maybe that has something to do with it. But planning wise, I feel the process has been quite. Not easy, I would say just quite fulfilling, to be honest. Louis been really involved. Context. Louis is my fiance. He's quite hands on.
Zara McDonald
Like your dog.
Rhiannon Joyce
Well, this is a podcast about wedding, so we will talk about our partners. But Lou has been really involved throughout this whole process and I think that's made it really enjoyable, but also a lot easier than what I think most people experience. We know a lot of the time the pressure can mostly fall on the female in the relationship. So not me.
Jo
Adrian hasn't done a lot.
Zara McDonald
Oh, ok.
Jo
I tasked him with sorting out the rings, which he did. He did organize that appointment and we went and we chose our rings. That's done. But that's really the only task he's had so far. So I'm planning on giving him a few more things to do. But in saying that we have had a wedding planner who's a very good friend of mine helping with our wedding. So that makes things a lot easier for me because I've been able to just bounce off her nepo wedding plan.
Zara McDonald
A friend thing.
Jo
Yeah.
Zara McDonald
It's like having a close friend as a wedding planner. Is like the ultimate.
Jo
It's elite.
Zara McDonald
Yeah.
Jo
Like, I knew absolutely nothing about weddings coming into this. I'm not a wedding person naturally. I just don't really care that much about weddings. And I know that some people just adore weddings and they, you know, want it to be absolutely amazing and every little detail. I'm not really that detail oriented with the wedding. I'm kind of like, if Olivia thinks it's going to look good, then I'm okay with that.
Zara McDonald
And tick.
Rhiannon Joyce
Guys, I feel like we've already got into a lot of the weeds before. We've actually spoken about what we're talking about today. So we do want to emphasize this is a three part series. In our very first episode, we've actually surveyed our stylish community to understand the economics of their wedding. So we're getting really nitty gritty with the community, which I absolutely love from the get go. I'm so excited to find out how much the average stylish listener spent on their weddings. To be honest, I feel like everyone wants to know that.
Jo
Yeah, I definitely do.
Rhiannon Joyce
A lot of what I see on social media is two ends of the spectrum, to be honest.
Zara McDonald
Yes.
Rhiannon Joyce
I see the glitz, the glam, the really extravagant weddings. And then on the other end, you see people who do the most incredible weddings with a really, really small budget in a very intimate setting and equally is beautiful. So I'm really, really interested to see where this sits.
Jo
Yeah. Well, so often the data that's captured about spending around weddings is produced by the people that want you to spend more. So it'll be really interesting to get a sense of how much financial pressure Australians are under when they're actually planning a wedding. Zara, we're going to get into your wedding in a little bit more detail. I'm glad that we're asking you again about your wedding.
Zara McDonald
It's like, oh, we're back here.
Jo
But Zara, before we run through the results of our wedding survey, I want to do little elevator pitch of your wedding. We're going to do this with every guest of the wedding series in your first up. So give us the elevator pitch. We want to know the details.
Zara McDonald
I have some bullet points here for questions.
Jo
Great.
Rhiannon Joyce
She's organized.
Jo
I love it.
Zara McDonald
Michelle actually wrote this location and theme and I was like, theme, theme was marriage. I actually got married in, in Melbourne in the Botanical Gardens. I wasn't, I was like a bit anxious about kind of working out how to plan a wedding. I'm not great generally at planning events and I always Felt a bit intimidated by the thought of planning a wedding. It doesn't come very naturally to me. Yeah, same like when you said I'm not very detail oriented, nor am I really. And so I thought Melbourne was very easy. And I also just knew I wanted a big party. So we just needed to basically find a venue that worked. So we got married at the Terrace. Not me. That's slipping out of my brain. The Terrace in the Botanical Gardens, which had actually just kind of reopened and been renovated by the time we got married there. So it was good because we had two, over 200 people. And there aren't a lot of venues in Melbourne close to home.
Rhiannon Joyce
There are not a lot of venues that cater to that amount of people.
Zara McDonald
Yeah. And also I wanted a huge dance floor as well. And then I think when you're getting to that level of guest list, a lot of the dance floors become quite pokey. And so I was spending a lot of time being like, I don't know what kind of works. And also my partner was very passionate about it being cocktail. Okay. Which is where we kind of disagreed a little bit. But I set it free very quickly.
Rhiannon Joyce
So you were passionate about having a sit down?
Zara McDonald
I just always imagined having a sit down.
Rhiannon Joyce
Is that because that's what everyone does?
Zara McDonald
I think it's because I love sitting down over food and eating and chatting and drinking.
Rhiannon Joyce
You know, where you're happy, that's your happy place.
Zara McDonald
Totally. Ollie, my partner, is like a big extrovert. Loves doing a room, love seeing lots of different people. And I think. I don't know if it's. He'd had one too many weddings where he wasn't stoked with the scene.
Rhiannon Joyce
Oh, he was stitched up in the corner.
Zara McDonald
If he was just like triggered something or he just wanted the opportunity to be able to get around to as many people as he possibly could. But very soon we had to settle on that. So I kind of compromised that very, very early. You guys are having sit down?
Rhiannon Joyce
Yeah, Having a sit down wedding. Lou and I agreed from the get go, we were having sit down. Interestingly, we had a bit of a compromise on this, the layout of the table. So Louis was really passionate about having round tables. But again, Zara, coming back to your point around conversation and eating in that shared environment, I think from his perspective, he was like, it's more conversational. It feels more family style. The rectangular tables feel a little bit more structured, a bit more formal. So we wanted the guests. He wanted the guests to feel really relaxed.
Zara McDonald
Yeah.
Rhiannon Joyce
Me thinking about the Gram was like, how does that work from a styling? Because I'd only ever really seen rectangular, long tables being styled. What we did was really just prioritize. Less is more.
Zara McDonald
Yeah.
Rhiannon Joyce
When it comes to styling, we can talk about that throughout this series because I'm quite passionate about that.
Zara McDonald
But, yeah, it's funny because I think when people think about cocktail weddings, a question I get asked a lot is like, is it ostensibly more affordable? And to that, I would say with food and drink.
Jo
No.
Zara McDonald
Surprisingly. Even though every time you go to a cocktail wedding, you eat less, you end up barely eating.
Rhiannon Joyce
I don't.
Zara McDonald
I stalk the caterers. I get so distracted that I don't eat. And that was part of the reason why I honestly didn't really want to do cocktail, because I. I was like, I'm not going to end up eating.
Jo
Yeah.
Zara McDonald
I just flutter around and forget. But it's not cheaper in that sense. But where you save money is around styling because you're not thinking about stationery. You don't have to think about how to style the tables. There was, like, an entire part of the wedding thing that a lot of people love to do that I just didn't have to do. And I think that was much better suited to me because if I had to make decisions on napkins and stationery and flowers on the table, I genuinely wouldn't have known where to start. So that made it much easier. But then I was also worried about a big, empty room. But then you fill it with people on a sign.
Jo
Yeah.
Rhiannon Joyce
Yeah. Honestly, your wedding, as I said before, was spectacular. The energy was so high. The people in the room everywhere. I think, as well, what makes a really great wedding isn't the styling, isn't, you know, the stationary. Those things are beautiful and they add to the experience, but the most important thing are the people in the room and the love. The love room.
Zara McDonald
Yeah.
Rhiannon Joyce
You know instantly when you go to a good wedding, when the couple is, like, so obsessed with each other and.
Zara McDonald
So you can feel love. Yeah, totally. And I think there are two parts of weddings that I love the most. Speeches. Very passionate about speeches. Perhaps to the shock of no one. My pet peeve is when people speak and speak to somebody.
Rhiannon Joyce
That's so rude, Jo.
Zara McDonald
You should see me. I. Dagger. Really, I just can't stand it. I'm like, people get married once, maybe twice in their life.
Jo
Yeah.
Zara McDonald
And honestly, their family or their parents or whoever it might be, get one opportunity to really stand in front. Honestly, as morbid as it sounds outside of your funeral, to speak about you and people. And they've paid for everybody to be there and for other people to have the call to talk through it. I can't stand.
Rhiannon Joyce
No, I think that's so reasonable.
Jo
Yeah. No, I would agree with that. I'd be throwing daggers, too, I think. I don't know that I've noticed that many people talking during speeches.
Zara McDonald
Yeah.
Rhiannon Joyce
I think the occasional wedding, when speeches are scheduled later in the night and people start to get a bit boozy.
Zara McDonald
It gets a little bit of bigger wedding, I think.
Jo
And when the speech goes on for a little too long, like there hasn't been a time cap on it and it's 15 minutes in, I think.
Zara McDonald
I still think that's worthless. Yeah, I can see that is kind of the time that people do. But also, the dance floor is very important to us. I think I just wanted to spend a huge portion of my night dancing.
Jo
Yeah.
Zara McDonald
Because we don't get to do that as much.
Rhiannon Joyce
And we dance the night away.
Zara McDonald
Yeah. And so I think when it came to the areas that I really focused on, it was the dj, the percussionist. We had, like, a drama percussionist who was amazing. And then, to be honest, videography.
Jo
Yeah.
Zara McDonald
You know, everybody has their things that they want. I think because I'm in content and podcasting, I don't think it's that shocking to. I was, like, quite passionate about what this video would look like and what we would be showing for our kids one day.
Jo
Yeah, I'm the same. I was very focused on videography and had my sight set on the videographer. I was like, this is exactly what I want. And now I've seen heaps of people using them. I don't know if you guys have.
Zara McDonald
Seen some of my friends use them.
Jo
So they're doing ours, and I'm so excited for it. Just do the most stunning work. And it's so different to everything else you see as well.
Zara McDonald
Their stuff is amazing.
Rhiannon Joyce
It's interesting because we don't have a videographer.
Zara McDonald
You're not passionate about it.
Jo
I do remember us having this conversation.
Rhiannon Joyce
Yes. And this is the thing about planning a wedding. I think you really have to align as a couple what is important to you and where your values are and how you want to spend your money, because it can be really expensive. So for Lou and I, we agreed from the get go, we would not have a videographer. We do have a content creator who is snapping Super 8 film behind the scenes sort of bits throughout the day and the evening, but we have no professional videographer. We actually Took the money for videography and put that into our bar. Lol. Alcohol and food were really important to us. So it went to the bar and it went to food so we could have canapes and a little bit extra throughout the day. We also took some of that money and put it towards additional film. Photography. Photography. Really important to Lou and I. And we. A destination wedding. We have two days that we wanted to capture intimate moments. So we have a photographer for two of those days. So that was what we wanted to do. That's how we wanted to spend our money. I think people get really caught up in thinking you have to do it all. You don't. And Zara, you have been married before. So one thing I really want to ask is someone who is soon to be married, and I'm asking a lot of people about this. Do you have any regrets?
Zara McDonald
Any regrets? I don't think so. I think that there are definitely ways where I felt pressure without realizing I felt pressure to spend money when I wouldn't have probably done that again. I think when it comes to great big floral installations, our florists were incredible and everything they put together was amazing. But when I think about money and what we spend on everything, I'm like, I do think, particularly when it comes to flowers. And I think videography is another one. People do feel a lot of pressure to spend money in those places when you just don't have to. When people are talking about their weddings online, no one's talking about the things they didn't spend their money on.
Jo
Yeah.
Zara McDonald
And the things they sacrificed, only talking about the stuff they did spend money on. And I think when you're planning a wedding, it then becomes like, oh, well, then I've just got to do everything. But it's just not possible. You literally go broke if you try to do everything.
Jo
Was videography your splurge?
Zara McDonald
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Videography was our splurge. And our videographer till death Mel is. Was amazing. Like, I just loved what she did and I loved the story that she put together and it felt. I felt like she captured us. Yeah.
Rhiannon Joyce
I was about to say, I think the biggest strength of your video was the storytelling piece. And given that you are a podcaster and someone who is in content, it didn't really surprise me that you gravitated towards someone who had really strong sense of storytelling.
Zara McDonald
Yeah, that's what I really, really wanted. I mean, the last piece of the pie, I think, is just the dress, which was. I kind of knew from the start that I would being quite short I would drown in a big dress. I don't wear long stuff very often, so I just went the mini route.
Rhiannon Joyce
It was so you. And I think that's also something that's really important when you're choosing a Dr. Is making sure you stay true to yourself. I found I had a very clear vision of what I was going to wear on my wedding day. I think you were the same. Zara Jo. Did you have that experience? Have you started? Actually, have you started?
Jo
I have started the process. So I'm having my dress made. I did go try on a few and I just wasn't. I felt like everything was very same, same out at the moment. And so I just felt like I was seeing the same thing constantly and I wanted something a little bit different. So I decided to have it made. But everyone that I've described my dress to is like, oh, my God. I didn't think you would go for that. I thought you would go for this. Yeah. So I think it's going to be not people are an element of surprise.
Rhiannon Joyce
I love that because, God, anyone who knows me will just. It will be exactly what you think.
Zara McDonald
But also that's amazing too. Like, I like both sides of that coin. It's like, oh, yeah, that's. That's what Ray was going to wear.
Jo
Yeah.
Zara McDonald
And also, how fun to have that surprise. I also think there was part of me. I remember my second last fitting. I think I came back straight to work and I said to Ray, have I just gone to boring? Like, have I just stripped it so far back and tried to be so timeless and simple with it? Like, people are going to be bored by this. And you were like, no, relax, chill out. Like, you're just having those, like, slight, like, wobbles that everybody tends to have. And then it. And then when I got married, I was like, this is like, exactly what I wanted to wear.
Rhiannon Joyce
It was exactly that. But it was also because of your accessories, Zara.
Jo
Yes.
Zara McDonald
Yeah.
Rhiannon Joyce
You made an outfit out of that dress. The dress was absolutely stunning and Kaya did such an incredible job. But the whole ensemble, how you did your hair, your earrings, the shoes, like, everything felt like a look. So it was always going to come together because you want stylish gal.
Jo
I know.
Zara McDonald
But to many people, that could be like a deeply underwhelming wedding dress. And yet I just don't regret it at all. And I don't think I ever will because it felt very me.
Jo
It was perfectly you.
Zara McDonald
Yeah.
Jo
Yeah.
Rhiannon Joyce
It was so special. Okay. Zara. That was so my heart is literally like excited about talking about. I'm glad you had the opportunity to revisit. You can talk to me about it anytime in the office. You don't need a podcast to bring.
Zara McDonald
It up in your diaries at work. Like meeting.
Rhiannon Joyce
Okay, so you and our producers actually surveyed over 1,000 stylish listeners. That's quite a decent number. To find out exactly how much Australians are spending on their weddings. And you're here to give us the answers. But before we get into it, let's take a moment to hear from our sponsor, Jo. It seems we both caught a case of wedding fever.
Jo
We certainly have. And as we've been planning our own, there being been so many beautiful weddings that we've been devouring on social media and we're learning tons in this new series.
Rhiannon Joyce
Absolutely. As we know, there's a lot that goes into planning a big day. But let's be honest, the fashion is our favorite part.
Jo
I think most of our listeners that are in wedding planning mode would consider fashion a huge priority on their big day. But re now that we know all of the costs involved, how can we keep the budget down?
Rhiannon Joyce
I'm not sure if you've seen, but this year Meshki released Meshki Bridal. It's a luxurious bridal wear for the modern bride with accessible pricing.
Jo
I have actually seen this and I'm obsessed with it. Tell me more.
Rhiannon Joyce
So it caters to the full bridal journey from the engagement party bachelorette to the wedding day and bridesmaids looks right through to the afterparty. Each piece has been meticulously crafted from luxurious fabrics like silk, satin and French lace. Even some of the beaded styles have been hand beaded.
Jo
And aside from the accessible pricing, I also noticed they do free returns on gowns so our brides can shop stress free, which is such a nice touch.
Rhiannon Joyce
Listeners, make sure you explore Meshki's bridal via the wedding suite online@meshki.com and thank.
Jo
You so much for Meshki for making this episode of stylish possible.
Rhiannon Joyce
Okay, Zaz, where do you want to kick us off?
Zara McDonald
Shall we kick off pre wedding with hens and bucks parties?
Rhiannon Joyce
Okay.
Zara McDonald
Yes, I we ask the audience, how much do you think is reasonable to ask someone to fork out for a hens or box party? There's always been a lot of chatter online about how wedding culture can very much add up. Hence box parties can be part of that. What do you think the media median answer was?
Rhiannon Joyce
You go first, Jo.
Jo
I think the median answer is going to be 200.
Rhiannon Joyce
I'm going to say? I'm going to say 250.
Zara McDonald
Joe. You're right. 200, yeah. The median answer from our 1,000 responses was 200, which I think was kind of bang on what I roundabout would have thought. It's interesting when we were talking in the office about this and I wonder if you guys agree with this planning a hens or box. I mean I've never planted box, but keep it inclusive. Planning a hens is not easy.
Jo
No.
Zara McDonald
And I think if you want to plan something in a city we live in Melbourne, inner city Melbourne, it's very hard to plan a lunch or a dinner for a group of 15 or so or more and keep the cost per head below $200. Yep. I think where it starts to get more affordable is if you're like, okay, it doesn't have to be in the middle of the city.
Jo
Yeah.
Zara McDonald
But it can be really difficult to keep the costs down.
Rhiannon Joyce
Especially when a lot of venues do have minimum spends. Generally the size of a hens group, I would say averages anywhere between 15 to 30 people. The majority of the hands I've been to have been around those numbers. When you're getting 12 plus people immediately you're on a set menu immediately. There's a minimum spend. If you have a private room that contributes a lot to those costs and then the experiences, it's always that plus, plus, plus.
Zara McDonald
Yeah. I don't know if you guys feel like this. I mean, Ray, I know we've had your hands and Joe, are you having hands?
Jo
I am, yes. It's being planned at the moment.
Zara McDonald
Moment I'm interested in. It feels like now the culture of hen's parties is. It's actually not enough to just plan a friend a lunch or dinner. Like you have to plan them something else.
Jo
Yeah.
Zara McDonald
With maybe like some beautiful styling and something that really represents them. And that's a lot of pressure to put on people and a lot of financial pressure to put on the people going, what have you kind of thought about when it comes to your hands?
Jo
Well, I gave instructions. So I'm not having a bridal party.
Zara McDonald
Yeah.
Jo
So I gave instructions to two of my closest friends and my sister in law. And I was like, I don't want people spending more than 200 ish a head because cost of living people just don't have that kind of money lying around. That was one instruction. And then I was like, I don't want to do anything like burlesque dancing, I don't want to do nude painting. I don't want to do Any of that. Happy to have a stripper, but I don't want this.
Rhiannon Joyce
I want.
Zara McDonald
To. But I don't want to do, like.
Jo
Those activities that are just gonna bore me, because I don't.
Rhiannon Joyce
It's the novelty stuff. Yeah.
Jo
Like, I'm not into the novelty stuff. So I'm like, let's do the lunch. Let's have a really good time. Let's dance. But I don't need all the extra shit.
Zara McDonald
Yeah, yeah. Some people love the extra shit. But you also. Yeah, I think the expectation that there has to be extra novelty shit to kind of fill the day, because maybe you'll get back to work and people will say, how was the hens you planned? What did you do? And if you just said lunch, people will be like, and what else did you do?
Jo
Where were the nude men?
Zara McDonald
Yeah. Where was the new painter? So I completely understand that, but they are. They are very difficult to do. Wishing wells. Wishing wells. We asked our stylish listeners, how much do you think is reasonable to spend per head on a wishing well? I. I want to know what you think the median answer was.
Rhiannon Joyce
I would say between 100 to 100. Wait, can I give a range or do I have to give a range? Help me try to change the course. I would say. I would say between 100 to 150 per person.
Jo
I'm gonna say it's gonna be bang on, 150 ahead. So 300 per couple.
Zara McDonald
You guys have done very well together through that. Because I've actually got two answers. So you're giving a range was Perfect. Excellent. The median answer was $150 per head. But the most common answer. And I know this sounds a bit confusing, but the medium was 150. But the most common answer was a hundred dollars per head.
Jo
Really?
Zara McDonald
Yeah.
Rhiannon Joyce
Yeah.
Zara McDonald
So I think there's Anything in that range is what people, our listeners, a thousand of them generally feel is reasonable to spend on a wishing well.
Jo
Yeah. Do you guys spend more if it's a closer friend?
Zara McDonald
Yes.
Rhiannon Joyce
Yeah.
Jo
I tend to. To hike that up quite a bit. But for a standard wing, like someone that I don't really know that well, it's going to be 150.
Rhiannon Joyce
The other factors I consider am I having to travel. Are there additional costs I have to spend? For example, is it an interstate or an international wedding? I went overseas last year to. To one of my good friends. She was. She's American. She was married in Dallas. I went to that wedding, spent quite a bit. Still gave a gift in the wishing well, but it Was definitely less than what I would usually give if I was still in Melbourne. I don't know if this is normal, but Lou and I as well, our approach to the wishing well as a couple is if one person is closer to the bride or the groom, they actually put in more.
Zara McDonald
Yeah.
Rhiannon Joyce
In the total. Okay. You're the same.
Jo
We just do it as if it's like one of my friends weddings. I put all the money in.
Rhiannon Joyce
Right.
Jo
It's one of Adrian's friends, and that.
Rhiannon Joyce
All comes out in the wash.
Zara McDonald
It's kind of the same concept, I guess. Yeah, I agree with that. I think that's probably how it should be. I have an interesting aside here that I just pulled out that I kind of want to get your thoughts on. 2.6% of people say they don't contribute to wishing wells.
Rhiannon Joyce
Right.
Zara McDonald
It's not a huge number, but it is a number. And I'm interested how we feel about that. Is it people's prerogative to go to a wedding and not give a gift?
Rhiannon Joyce
I think it's a bit on the nose.
Jo
Yeah. I could never. Personally, I think I would feel empty handed going without a car. Well, I mean, I guess they might be giving a card, but they're just not putting any money in it, I guess.
Rhiannon Joyce
Or did they give a present?
Zara McDonald
Well, this is what I find interesting is some people do have an aversion to wishing wells. And I do understand the pressure of having to say, I'm going to put a certain amount of money next to my name. Especially, you know, there is a. As you say, Joe, there is a cost of living crisis. I think there's a lot of pressure when it comes to weddings to kind of like show up. And a lot of that showing up is actually spending money.
Jo
Yeah.
Zara McDonald
And so I don't. I never mind the idea of someone saying, I'm actually not gonna give in the wishing well. I will just give them a gift that's appropriate that I feel passionate about.
Jo
I think the gift is fine.
Rhiannon Joyce
Where I'm coming from is the assumption that you're not giving anything because we don't know this.
Zara McDonald
Yeah.
Rhiannon Joyce
So based on the assumption that you're actually giving nothing and you're attending this wedding, I. I think it's a bit strange to not give it.
Zara McDonald
No, I completely agree.
Rhiannon Joyce
I don't think any couple should ever expect a certain amount. I do not think that's appropriate. I don't think anyone should have any expectations around what people should be giving them based on how much they've also spent on their day. Don't offset your wedding budget or your wedding onto your guests.
Zara McDonald
So you raise a very good argument when people try to do the backwards math how much they'll get in the wishing well to offset their wedding. It's.
Rhiannon Joyce
It's not anyone else's problem. That is your problem. If you have spent the amount of money on your wedding, that that's your decision. Don't put that onto your guests. I think the reality of it is it's a nice thing to do to attend someone's wedding to celebrate their love, to give them a gift or put money in their wishing well, whatever the format is of that wedding. But I don't think you should ever expect people to give you a certain amount.
Jo
No, no. I think the gift is fine if you don't want to contribute to a wishing well because I feel like they only became popular in the last probably 10 years anyway. Prior to that, it was. Is a gift.
Rhiannon Joyce
Also, if you're giving me like a diptyque candle or like a wicked set of pots like you best believe, I'm happy about that.
Zara McDonald
Love that you just dropped the examples of gifts people can give you.
Rhiannon Joyce
Oh, I think those are good gifts.
Zara McDonald
Let's turn our minds to people that have had weddings. We asked our audience who have had a wedding, what did you spend on the wedding?
Jo
This is the scary part. I'm actually getting sweaty now.
Zara McDonald
I've got the median answer for you. What do you think the average stylish listener spent on their wedding? And this is the median answer.
Rhiannon Joyce
Okay, I would say anywhere between 50 to 60,000.
Jo
I'm going to come in a little bit lower than that and say 40 to 50.
Zara McDonald
The median answer is $28,000.
Rhiannon Joyce
Really?
Zara McDonald
Of our thousand listeners. So I think when I looked at this graph, it was really interesting. Most people kind of sat between the 20 to 40 range. Quite, quite a lot.
Jo
Do you get further details about the size of their weddings though? Were they cocktail? Was it 50 people?
Zara McDonald
Like, I need to know when we built the survey. I'm not a data person.
Rhiannon Joyce
The data person is sitting here and I didn't build this. It wasn't as robust as our usual research, but I think it is quite robust. Yeah. Sorry, Zar.
Zara McDonald
No.
Rhiannon Joyce
Okay, so.
Zara McDonald
But yes, there are lots of different ways weddings can look, but I think that's the entire point, is that yes, yes, some people do elope. If you are looking at venues that are inner city and things like that, it is actually impossible to come out in an affordable way. But if you are choosing to get married in different places, if you are happy to get married with your immediate family around backyard weddings, things like that. If you're not going to these inner city venues, I can imagine it's easier. But I think, you know, given all of us kind of live closer, close ish to the city, that's where you naturally look. And also it feels most central for people traveling. I did find this interesting and I definitely did find it lower than what's generally being reported.
Rhiannon Joyce
Yeah, I would say it's lower than what I've seen, not just on social media, but what the industry is reporting.
Zara McDonald
Yeah. So here's the thing, right. I looked into this because I was like, where does this figure sit amongst what other research people have done this year? Easy Weddings did a did a survey of 4,000 recently married couples and engaged people and found that the average Australian couple spent an average of $35,000 on their wedding day. So that's a bit higher than where our numbers came out, but still kind of sitting in that 20 to 40 range that I was mentioning before. I think, again, it really does speak to how the weddings we see on social media are so very rarely the weddings that people are having and how much we should use these figures to not feel this intense level of pressure and to understand that there are so many different kinds of weddings and so many different ways you can do them that are beautiful and perfect. So when you're thinking about having like 200 people at an inner city venue, I mean, when I look at that median answer and I look at how much my headcount was going to cost in the quotes I got back, just for food and drink for these people, it's very hard to kind of stay within those confines.
Jo
Absolutely. Well, we're having 120 and I really had to put my foot down on that maximum because as you said per head, the more people you start adding and it could have gone on forever. We could have had 200 people. We just got to put our foot down and cut it at 120 because otherwise we're not gonna be able to afford this wedding.
Zara McDonald
Totally.
Rhiannon Joyce
This is the thing as well. We invited 165 initially. We've landed on about 134 again. Having a destination wedding. I think naturally you have people drop off and we had a lot of family overseas that aren't attended. We had about 25 people that live overseas that we invited. Surprisingly, quite a few of them are coming. We were expecting quite a few, few, few people to travel, but there was quite a Big drop off from there. The head count is a really interesting one because initially we'd planned for 150, but we invited 164 knowing that people would drop off. And then we came significantly under.
Zara McDonald
So I was like, woohoo.
Jo
We invited the 120 hoping that there would be a little bit of drop off. There's been no drop off.
Zara McDonald
Ray, you asked me earlier about wedding regret. We also asked our community about wedding regret. And before I kind of ask you what. What you think they regret spending on the most, I want to tell you a few things. The majority. So 65, said they were content with how they spent their money.
Jo
Okay.
Zara McDonald
So if that makes you feel better.
Jo
That does.
Zara McDonald
Yeah. And didn't have any real regrets. Only about 12 said they wish they'd spent less.
Jo
Okay.
Zara McDonald
So I think it's also important for them. Yeah. I think it's also important to kind of feel good about the way that you're choosing to spend your money and to throw the party that you want to throw as. Even though everybody does it quite differently. So when I asked people, and our producers asked people, where do you wish you spent less money? What do you think they said?
Rhiannon Joyce
I would say flowers.
Jo
Yeah.
Zara McDonald
Headcount 25.
Rhiannon Joyce
Really?
Zara McDonald
That was the most common answer. Because it's so true. You could so imagine. I mean, I've only been married a year, so I haven't had this at all. But I can imagine you getting five years down the track and then being like, I do not speak to like 15 of those people.
Rhiannon Joyce
Especially if you do invite quite a few people from work and then maybe you've changed jobs and those people were what, perhaps friends of circumstance. The other scenario is friends, friendships just out of. Over time. You grow out of them.
Zara McDonald
Yeah.
Rhiannon Joyce
So, you know, if you did get married eight years ago, you probably have a new. You could have a few new people on the roster, but yeah, a few.
Zara McDonald
New people that you could. That's gonna be the nature of any big party I think you throw across your life. The next answer was actually wedding dress. Ah. Though I really do feel like in the last couple of years, the kind of movement to sell your wedding dress has taken off more than it ever has. Your ability to sell it has taken off more than it ever has.
Rhiannon Joyce
The Bridal Journey have a secondhand resale site as an extension to their social page. And I'm always going through and looking at the dresses.
Jo
I was on there the other day looking for a second dress, but there's.
Rhiannon Joyce
So many beautiful dresses. I'm talking Vivienne Westwood, Danielle Frankel. And there's a lot cheaper than what they retail for, albeit still quite expensive. Going on the record there. But there are also some beautiful alternatives.
Zara McDonald
Kaya.
Rhiannon Joyce
Local designers, definitely. I did actually initially look at secondhand dresses as part of my process. I was very wedded to.
Zara McDonald
Oh, nice. You also just gave that a little break so that we could copy.
Rhiannon Joyce
I was really wedded to Vivian Westwood and then I decided to go in a different direction. Vivian Westwood is, I would say, the dress of the moment. Rightfully so, very beautiful. But a lot of second hand options were available. Yes.
Zara McDonald
Should have surveyed people on whether they sold their wedding dresses. Sorry, I forgot to do that. But this isn't robust data, I think.
Rhiannon Joyce
Just compared to our traditional service.
Zara McDonald
Of course.
Rhiannon Joyce
Of course.
Zara McDonald
Speaking of wedding dresses, what do you think the average stylish listener spent on her dress?
Rhiannon Joyce
Okay, I'm going to say between 1500 and two and a half thousand dollars.
Jo
I'm gonna give you a single figure. I'm gonna say 3,000.
Zara McDonald
All right. You're both in the range.
Rhiannon Joyce
Okay.
Zara McDonald
The average listener spent $3,750 on her wedding dress. 19% of Alice has spent between 5 and 7K.
Jo
Okay. I think that is probably the average right now. Based on what I have seen from trying on dresses and having a dress made. I feel like that's the most common figure I was getting back from the bridal stores and from designers on how much it would cost for a dress these days.
Rhiannon Joyce
It does really depend on the intricacy of the detail and the type of fabrics you use for a dress. Again, shock. My dress is quite simple and I don't think it sits in that higher end because the elements of it don't require the craftsmanship. The detail of beading, you know, all of those elements that generally will push you up into a higher price bracket. I think as well. At the moment you're seeing a lot of people again go secondhand with dresses. But also the custom route isn't for everyone. And I do think there are a lot of options off the rack. Are incredible at the moment. And I think that's making it more affordable for brides, which is great.
Zara McDonald
Well, yeah. And also 10% even managed to spend between 100 and 500. Which says to me there are some incredible online retailers at the moment who have lent into the bridal thing and said we can also create and make you something pretty special and pretty chic for a fraction of the cost. But I think to me it is interesting to look at the Proportion of an overall budget spent on a dress.
Rhiannon Joyce
I also think it's important, perhaps the people who were completing this survey were also looking at it from. Was their dress included in their wedding budget? Was it a gift from their parents? Did they have other money set aside?
Zara McDonald
It's.
Rhiannon Joyce
How do you define and define the wedding budget?
Zara McDonald
Ray, that's very interesting that you pose that, because that is actually my next question.
Rhiannon Joyce
Oh, I didn't even know that.
Zara McDonald
And I do think when we're looking at this. This kind of data, it is really interesting to. To wonder how people define a budget. Like, is that how much they physically spent themselves? Yeah. Because family help is a huge kind of conversation when it comes to weddings that I think not a lot of people have very openly. I think it is a bit awkward to talk about. And so it's much easier to kind of anonymize this kind of data. We asked our listeners, how much help did you get from loved ones, from family, from whoever it might be? I want you to guess what percentage of people had no help?
Rhiannon Joyce
30.
Jo
I'm gonna say 20%.
Zara McDonald
11. No help. Yeah. Really? Yeah. 8% of people had family cover over 90% of the wedding.
Jo
Okay.
Rhiannon Joyce
Now the math is math.
Zara McDonald
Yeah. And again, I do think people could define things quite differently, and it tells an interesting story. When I was looking at this graph of how people responded, we surveyed people on like 10% brackets. Right. So did your. Did a loved one cover between 30 and 40% or 50 and 60%? And when I was looking at the graphs, they were all really quite equal. But it is basically saying to me that people are getting help for their weddings. And again, if you're looking at stuff online and you aren't getting help, it is really pertinent to know these are people who are not just, like, saying, I worked really hard and I threw this wedding myself. You know, it's really, really helpful to know where money's coming from.
Rhiannon Joyce
I think all of this information is helpful. And now when people go online and they see all of these amazing weddings and the things that look like what they should have, I say that in a voted commas.
Zara McDonald
It's not.
Rhiannon Joyce
It's not the truth. It's not what people actually are spending. And it's a nice reminder because so much of what we see is created by what the industry tells us, what society tells us. Us checking in with our community is so good to understand what are people actually spending.
Zara McDonald
Yeah. All right, my last one for you.
Jo
Okay.
Zara McDonald
Bridal parties. Joe, I know you're not having One. So I am actually interested in someone who's decided against the bridal party. What you think about this. But what do you think you owe your bridal party? Do you think if you're having a bridal party, you should try and cover all the costs?
Jo
Yes.
Rhiannon Joyce
I'll be honest. I've covered all of my bridesmaids course.
Zara McDonald
Do you want my opinion?
Jo
Go for it.
Zara McDonald
I think as much as. As much as possible. Yeah. I think sometimes it's not possible to cover every single thing, but I think a gesture goes a long way where you're like, you know, doing what you can within the comp. I think it really also depends to me on the type of wedding you're having. If you're having a crazy, ostentatious wedding and spending a heap on florals and photography and videography and you do not prioritize helping your bridal party as well, I. I do kind of asterisks that if you are having a more simple wedding and you're also deciding not to have a videographer, not to have a photographer, not going hard on florals, and also kind of not helping out your bridal party in its entirety, that makes sense to me. It's not like you're spending on yourself. It's just kind of a priorities thing. So that's definitely how I feel. But we asked this and Our community said 49 who have got married partially covered the cost costs of their bridal party, while 46 covered everything.
Jo
Okay. So pretty even so.
Zara McDonald
And which basically says almost everyone agrees, apart from 5%, that you should help out.
Rhiannon Joyce
Yeah, yeah, I agree with that wholeheartedly. For me, I think the element of having a destination wedding, it was very much top of mind how much my bridal party and people who are attending my wedding are already spending. So also we're having a black tie wedding and that element of it. For women, it's expensive to invest in black tie dresses. Generally they're more formal, full length. I was quite adamant on the style, the look, the feel. If you're going to dictate what people are wearing in your bridal party, I do think you should be covering the cost, if not a portion of it, which.
Zara McDonald
Yeah, well, I think that's a good point as well. Because if someone's like, wear whatever you like, like we're addressed just in this color, something you may own, I actually don't think you need to cover that at all. But I think if you are saying you need to wear this specific dress from this specific brand, I think you should probably as much as you can pay for that.
Rhiannon Joyce
I agree.
Zara McDonald
Yeah. Yeah. Guys, they're all my stats for you. Oh, that was so good.
Jo
So many more questions.
Rhiannon Joyce
I know.
Zara McDonald
How are we feeling?
Rhiannon Joyce
I feel great. I. I'd love some little follow ups with the community and understand what they think and feel about our opinions on the stats. Oh, maybe just some context because we have had a couple of questions. What is the color? What is the context? I'd love the community jump in the DMs and let us know.
Zara McDonald
Well, we can ask some questions on stories we can do when this episode goes live. I'm looking at producer Lucy to be like, don't let me forget to do this. We can put up some of your follow up questions to them to say, do you define your wedding budget as what you spent or what the entirety of what, you know, the wedding cost? Because I think that's a really interesting question. I'm walking out of here with what else did you want to know?
Rhiannon Joyce
The wedding dress one was really interesting. The price range in comparison to the total investment.
Zara McDonald
Maybe like what percentage of wedding of your wedding budget did you spend on your dress? Yes.
Jo
Yeah, I'm really even like off the rack versus having it made.
Zara McDonald
What's cheaper? Yeah. Yeah.
Jo
And what did you do? What did you decide to go with?
Zara McDonald
I love that. Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me.
Rhiannon Joyce
That was, was so good. Thank you for being here.
Jo
Couldn't have thought of a more perfect first guest for this little miniseries.
Zara McDonald
Thanks, guys. I can't wait to hear the next few episodes that you've got. You've got some great guests coming up. Some very stylish brides, if I may say so, in those two who I think we're keeping a secret.
Rhiannon Joyce
Yes, it is a secret. Zaz, thank you so much for being our special guest and thanks for joining us on our first episode. As I said before, there are three episodes of the Stylish Wedding series. We have two really, really great episodes coming up. Guests are a secret, as we've just made a big deal about. But we'll be back next week to talk about all things personal style and wedding. See you then, guys.
Zara McDonald
See you then.
Jo
Bye.
Zara McDonald
This podcast was recorded on Wurundjeri land. Always was, always will be, aboriginal land.
Rhiannon Joyce
Hello, guys. Ray here, head of business development at Shameless Media. And you just listened to a full episode of Stylish, which we think and hope means you enjoyed what you heard. Since you're a fan, I wanted to tell you about our Stylish newsletter. Reading the Stylish newsletter. Honestly feels like flicking through your favorite magazine, except it's all free and delivered straight to your inbox. Are you looking for the best bowl of pasta in Melbourne? Or maybe you need a new door shoe. Guys, if you know, you know, maybe you'd just like an exclusive peek in the shameless media offices Shopping carts. I mean, you're only human. Or some styling and beauty tips from the professionals. Well, we've got all of that and more in the Stylish newsletter. If you scroll to the show notes in this episode, you'll find a link to subscribe to the Stylish newsletter. We'll be dropping it in your inbox very, very soon.
Style-ish Podcast Episode Summary: "The Wedding Series: What Are We Really Spending on Weddings?"
Podcast Information:
Introduction to the Wedding Spending Culture
In the inaugural episode of the three-part "Wedding Series," hosts Rhiannon Joyce and Jo delve deep into the financial aspects of modern weddings. Joined by special guest Zara McDonald, the discussion centers around the true costs associated with weddings, juxtaposing societal expectations with actual spending patterns.
Personal Wedding Journeys
Jo and Rhiannon's Upcoming Weddings:
Zara McDonald's Past Wedding Experience:
Survey Insights: Wedding Spending Breakdown
Rhiannon and Jo present findings from a survey conducted with over 1,000 stylish listeners, offering a comprehensive look at wedding expenditures across various categories.
Overall Wedding Costs:
Pre-Wedding Parties (Hens and Bucks):
Wishing Wells:
Wedding Dresses:
Bridal Party Costs:
Regrets in Wedding Spending:
Navigating Wedding Budget Pressures
The hosts discuss the societal pressures amplified by social media, contrasting the extravagant weddings often showcased online with the more modest, budget-conscious realities of most couples. They advocate for prioritizing personal values and meaningful elements over conforming to perceived norms.
Key Takeaways and Recommendations
Notable Quotes:
Conclusion
This episode of "Style-ish" provides a refreshing and realistic perspective on wedding expenditures, challenging the often glamorized portrayals seen on social media. By sharing personal experiences and presenting survey data, Rhiannon, Jo, and Zara offer valuable insights for couples navigating their own wedding planning journeys, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and mindful budgeting.
Further Engagement:
Listeners are encouraged to participate in ongoing discussions and share their own experiences with wedding spending by reaching out through the podcast's social media channels. Upcoming episodes promise to delve deeper into personal style and other facets of wedding planning, featuring more stylish and insightful guests.