u/Ecstatic_Royal1007

Created this with Sankeymatic. Hope it's not too hard to make out the words!

The diagram is a bit deceiving but we did pay with our savings up front, save for some early transfers from parents, and only took the monetary gifts into account after the wedding of course.

Other notes:

1. Wedding took place on a Saturday night in October 2025 in Sydney, so quite a peak day to choose. Meanwhile our honeymoon to Europe was in Feb so a little less peak for Europe.
2. Just a quick early note here because you might notice GIFTS from parents + HELP from parents listed separately... This was because of the war in Iran. Our honeymoon flights were originally with Qatar Airways, and shortly before the end of our trip, the war broke out. We got a refund on the return leg of the journey $1.6k + $300 for the seats of that leg. We tried to book via Indonesia back for $2.6k but it was cancelled a couple days later. Tried to book via Xiamen for $3.1k, but the booking was declined. So we went the other way around the world (via the USA) + having to get an ESTA which totalled $5.5k. Both our parents kindly contributed to help us fly home at a time where things were just so uncertain, fuel prices were rising, and bookings through Asia were getting cancelled left, right and centre.
3. Reception cost was for 6 hours and includes canapes, three course meals, supplier meals, beer and wine, and the DJ. It was originally 5.5 hrs and I may've missed the extra 30 minutes we added (maybe $600-800 extra?) and, noting that u18's and suppliers are cheaper, I think it rounded to around $125 per head or so. The optional reception menu tasting $380 was for 6 no matter how many people you book for. We didn't originally plan to do it, but we decided to go ahead as a nice opportunity to have both our parents meet each other for the first time. Deciding on which dishes was a nice 'ice-breaker' for them.
4. I showcased all of the main gifts that helped us out e.g. my husband's parents kindly gifted a fair chunk for the venue, namely $20k. I know they spent at least $60/floral arrangement for 4 floral arrangements for the alter so I added that... Though maybe they were closer to $80 each, I'm not sure. I know they got a couple other fresh flowers that they attached to some of the pew ribbons, but I didn't include these in the numbers because uh I'm just not too sure.
5. My parents contributed $2.5k for fresh flowers at the reception. I was originally aiming for fresh flowers only for the Church arrangements + bouquets and buttonholes, and then preserved flowers for the whole reception but my mum insisted that there MUST be some fresh flowers and said she would contribute that much, and my sister would also contribute $2.5k. So I relented and allowed the bridal table to be decorated in fresh flowers. BUT all the guest tables (16 of them) were instead decorated with preserved flowers. Pretty sure my parents maybe paid for some other stuff (I think...) and some money transferred for the remaining gift, and all of that amounted to $8k.
6. Sister also paid... uhhh... $200 for my nails the day before? I think - I have bad memory, but she did also pay for the $50 deposit for the lashes and yeah so I put her total gift as $2.75k for the contribution to fresh flowers, nails and lashes! Also she bought and put together the breakfast for the bridesmaids which I have no clue, somewhere between $50 to $100 maybe? Oh and both parents bought some food for after the rehearsal - like Costco platters, fruit, drinks, etc., which I haven't included. I didn't add these in but perhaps I should. I feel like there's other stuff, too.
7. Wedding invitations done completely digital using The Knot, so $0 spend there. Personally, I'm not interested in keeping other people's wedding invitations so I didn't see a need for physical ones for our guests, though we offered some for our parents and my grandma (who all declined anyway).
8. No wedding cake listed because the best man's wife is a cake baker and that was one of their gifts for us. I probably should've added it in as the 3 tier cake was probably worth at least $400 or so?
9. My cousin is a hair stylist and make-up artist, so she did my hair and make-up as my gift, my sister did her own hair and make-up because she doesn't like other people doing it, and so I only paid for my other three bridesmaids hair and make-up i.e. $1140, but it could've easily added to more than $1.5k if I included my own + my sisters hair and make-up.
10. I told my bridesmaids what colour to wear, and let them choose a dress and shoes to their liking which I didn't pay for. (I advised I didn't mind if they were even just gonna wear a dress or shoes they already own, and I do believe many of them did just use shoes they already own).
11. I think we only bought the groomsmen suit blazers, but told them to just wear black pants and black shoes.
12. Photography and videography package included 14 hours, 1 photographer, 2 videographers, a 5 minute highlight video, and ~4 hour documentary, so well-worth the price.
13. Photobooth included a book to put photos in, so we used that as our guest book (I always found it weird myself as a guest at other weddings to give a card + sign a wedding guest book + put an entry in the photobooth book as well!)
14. My uncle MC'd for us.
15. We bought everyone soju bottles with our wedding label as bonbonniere, placed for each guest (except for the few u18, who instead got bottles of lollies). It was a very cheap and effective way to combine bonbonniere and getting people drunk without spending an arm and a leg on spirits. We also bought 120 McDonald's hamburgers that came in at the end of the night for anyone needing a drunken feed.
16. Our original honeymoon budget was around $20k for a month long trip. Taking away the unexpected flight home via the USA, end up rounding off to approx $22.5k which isn't too badly over budget. Though note that we also did fly back ~2 days earlier than originally planned.

We're super lucky, and very appreciative of the family who supported us throughout the way and the generous gifts and contributions from of the rest of our extended families and friends <3

Inspired by this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/ikeahacks/s/qZK7z6ieU1 !

The before photo is from around when I first moved in ~5 years, and my now-husband has moved in so a lot more stuff!