Planning your wedding in Darwin

Your wedding day – You may have been dreaming about this day for years and it’s finally happening. You’ve saved pictures from magazines, have thousand of pins saved to your Pinterest board, and can’t wait to start the planning process. You’ve thought about the music, the food, your attire, the decor, and so much more. If you haven’t already, you will likely soon have a conversation with your partner and maybe even family and friends about the B word …. BUDGET. But often the first question that comes to mind is what is the cost of a wedding in Darwin? Your wedding day is probably the largest and most elaborate event you have planned to date. There can be a tremendous amount of details and vendors to put together to make this one day happen, and the reality is, it all has to cost something and can add up very quickly. 

It’s important to set a realistic budget before you start committing to the details to ensure you are comfortable later down the line and don’t end up “wedding broke”. We’ve also shared the 6 easy ways to save for your wedding here.

How to determine your wedding budget

We’ve broken down what you can expect your main wedding expenses to cost in Darwin as well as some unexpected costs you may not realise factor into your overall wedding budget.

Before we get to the nitty-gritty and break down these expenses, we want you to have these conversations with your partner and anyone else contributing to your big day 

• What are your top 3 priorities for the wedding day (any non-negotiables)?
  • Knowing your priorities and any non-negotiables can help you better distribute your budget knowing you may want to spend a little more in specific areas.
• Who is contributing financially and what are they covering?
  • As tradition has it, typically one partner is “responsible” for paying a majority of the wedding expenses, while the other partner may pay for things like the bouquet, the officiant, the rehearsal dinner, and the marriage license. Discuss with all parties financially involved what this looks like and what you are including in your overall wedding budget.

Alright, now let’s get to the breakdown:

The average outdoor wedding budget in Darwin costs around $40 000 for a 100-person wedding. What does that actually mean when it comes to what that covers?

Wedding cost by percentage

The table below shows an example of a wedding budget by percentages. There are many contributing factors that can alter the percentages for each item. By considering your priorities and financial circumstances you can use the table below as a template to create your own wedding budget.

ITEM	PERCENTAGE OF BUDGET	NOTES
Venue/Food and Beverage	49%	~ Plated meal packages start around $110 person ~ Buffet packages start around $60 person ~ This percentage may also include alcohol, bar tabs or bar vans.
Attire	5%
Beauty	2%	~ Average hair and makeup services – $110 per service ~ This percentage will increase if you have a large wedding party
Cake	2%	~ This percentage will increase depending on the number of layers and also the amount of detail involved to decorate. ~ Some couples opt for this percentage to go towards a dessert grazing table.
Favors/Gifts	2%	A lot of couples are choosing to put the cost of guest favours towards a different item.
Flowers/Decor	8%	Average bouquet cost – $280 – $400 Average centrepiece cost – $300 – $800Average large installation (Arbour, floral wall, etc.) – $2500 This percentage will increase if you need to hire additional furniture not included at your venue.
Invites/Stationery	1%	This includes signage
Entertainment	8%	Average cost of DJ – $1500Average cost of Band – $3500
Photo/Video	10%	The cost will vary depending on packages and is usually determined by the number of hours.
Transportation	1%
Wedding Planner	7%	7% for Event Management Package 15-18% for Full-Service Package
Wedding Rings	2%
Celebrant	2%	This is an average and pricing may differ depending on what inclusions Celebrants offer within each package
Buffer	1%

Commonly forgotten items that will impact your darwin wedding budget

Read the top details  couples often forget here. We’ve also broken down some of the most common and larger expenses to consider when organising your wedding budget, but what items are you not thinking about? Don’t worry, we’ve are going to share additional items most couples forget to include in their budget:

• Getting ready space; you may need to pay for your room the night before to have access early the next morning or add extra hours onto your venue rental so you have space to do hair and makeup and get ready
• Additional beauty needs prior to the wedding day: hair and makeup trials, waxing, tanning, skin treatment, etc.
• Ceremony sound equipment
• Wedding day breakfast/brunch catering. Most couples forget about this.
• Additional ammenities for weddings held at home or at venues with no access to facilities.
• Late night/after hour charges for rental companies (and sometimes florists) to pick up and breakdown any items.

We hope this article has given you a great foundation to understand the cost of a wedding in Darwin and what to consider when discussing and determining your wedding budget. Are you recently engaged? We encourage you to read Engaged, now what?. 

Need assistance? Get in touch with us if you would like help with planning your wedding by completing the contact form here.

Photos courtesy of Psealms Photography