Australian wedding costs 2021

The highly anticipated wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is estimated to have cost the Royal Family a staggering $58.3 million. Whilst it’s unlikely you have the budget of the Windsors, you can still make your wedding a royal success through some careful planning and research.

Here, we’ll breakdown the average cost of a wedding in Australia, and look at what’s trending for those looking to tie the knot.

Total wedding cost

The average wedding cost in Australia is around $51,000. The average cost of wedding venue hire is around $13,000, making it the highest cost in the overall budget. Finding the wedding venue is one of the first steps in the wedding planning process and due to popular venues being booked up far in advance, should be locked in around 12-18 months prior to the date of the ceremony.

Wedding dress

The next biggest expenditure is of course the dress, coming in at an average cost of $5,180. Many bride’s are now taking Ms. Markle’s lead and opting for two dresses; changing out of their traditional ball gown style dress for the ceremony to a more fun cocktail style dress for the reception. Brides are also going for less traditional dresses, coloured dresses such as, blush pink, mauve and rose gold being popular choices. Dresses with statement design features such as pockets, large bows and middle splits are also big in 2021.

Catering

The average Aussie wedding has 96 guests, with $9,000 being the typical amount spent on food and alcohol. Depending on your personal tastes and theme of your wedding, there are many different catering options you can choose from. Aside from the traditional three course meal, food stations serving quick bites like sushi, pizza, tacos and mini burgers are becoming increasingly popular, these work great if you have a large guest list and want to achieve a buzzy, social atmosphere at your reception.

Other popular trends include desert and cocktail bar setups where guests can make their own cocktails and lolly goody-bags. For country style weddings eco-menus are very in vogue, focusing on seasonal, organic and locally produced food served family style.

Photography

Wedding photographers typically spend around 8 hours capturing all of the magical moments from the day. Hiring a reputable photographer can cost around $2,600 on average, it’s important to hire a photographer that specialises in the style of imagery that you want to achieve, after all these are memories that you will want to hold onto forever. Natural and candid looking photos are popular in 2021.

Hair & makeup

Brides typically spend 60-90 minutes getting ‘wedding-ready’ with the help of a professional hair and makeup artist. In 2017 Pinterest recorded a 1247% increase in searches for bridal ‘messy updo’ hairstyles, indicating that Australian brides are preferring a more natural, romantic look than in years gone by. Dramatic eyelashes and glossy lips are the look brides want in 2021.

Entertainment

The average cost of hiring a DJ or wedding band is around $1,600, with Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking out loud’ being the top first dance song choice for Aussie newlyweds. Other popular entertainment add-ons include photo booths, magicians and live caricaturists.

Transport

Vintage, classic cars like Rolls Royce and Bentley are the most choice of wedding transportation. Costs for wedding car hire is typically around the $830 mark but is dependent on the amount of cars needed in the fleet.

Flowers

2021 is the year of wearable florals with delicate, jewellry-like floral headpieces being very on trend. Seasonal bouquets made up of wild arrangements of bold colours and greenery are very popular, for that just picked fresh from the garden look. Hanging floral arrangements and floral ceremony arches are also in demand in 2021. Couples spend on average $1,500 on wedding flowers, however this number can significantly increase for elaborate, large scale floral interior decorations.

Whatever your budget is Oneflare have access to expert wedding service providers, from wedding planners, photographers, celebrants, hair and makeup artists, florists, DJs and transport specialists.