Canva
There are some little girls who try on their mother’s wedding dress and act out the day they’ll eventually say ‘I do’ to the love of their life. I, however, was collecting Bottlebrush flowers and dirt, convinced that this potion would heal my sister’s red spots.
Neither childhood is wrong. But it does make me think:, if I had been more open to weddings and love in my more formative years, would I be more excited to plan my wedding now?
Not to sound cliché, but the day I turned to find my now-fiancé kneeling, asking me to marry him, was one of the best days of my life. He makes all my dreams come true. So, I shouldn’t have been surprised when he made another one come true that day at Villa Balbianello in Lake Como.
I spent every spare second on our month-long Europe trip staring at the sparkling diamond ring. I was in awe that my partner spent his hard-earned money and months of his time to make something that was so perfectly me.
But somewhere between returning home and planning the wedding, the sparkle dulled. Brochures flooded my email, and so too did the dreaded costs. When did it become normal to spend an average $38,000 on a wedding?
A 2026 survey conducted by Easy Weddings on more than 4000 engaged and recently married Australian couples and 540 wedding suppliers, found that the average couple spent $38,252 on their wedding day. On average, couples spend roughly 23 per cent more than their original wedding budget. Most wedding budgets began at $29,471.
In my search for a venue, I have found prices from $15,000 to $40,000… and that’s before food, beverages, flowers, celebrant, music, wedding dress, photographer and all the other wedding day necessities.
I was even quoted $10,000 to use the marquee – something that is permanently on-site – and was told, ‘Woah, that’s cheap!’ by a photographer. I don’t want to buy it; I just want to use it for one night!
I remember the days when weddings were simpler. My sister held a beautiful waterside ceremony and a house-party reception. My uncle held his reception in the backyard, handing everyone Polaroid cameras to capture the day.
The ‘wedding tax’ is nothing new. They orchestrated their special day like this to save some pennies.
Nowadays, there is this unspoken pressure to have pictures that will have your Instagram followers green with envy. Looking at wedding content with new eyes, it’s obvious that some people just care about content.
It also means weddings aren’t unique to the couple. Each wedding looks as though it’sits copied from the same Pinterest board – unless you’re rich, of course.
At this point, I consider myself the ‘anti-bride’; I don’t want to create a day designed for guest experience or think about seating arrangements to make sure no family feuds reignite. But most of all, I don’t want to spend a house down payment to marry the love of my life. Yet when I say this to people, it’s met with silent judgement or condescending giggles because spending an obscene amount has become normalised.
Am I completely crazy for not wanting to spend so much and focus on my relationship, and the future that our marriage promises? But that overthinking side of me wonders: will I miss out on a major milestone if I don’t say ‘I do’ in a traditional way?
