Budget Wedding: Keep It Simple and Save Money!

Let’s face it, planning a wedding and saving money usually don’t go hand in hand. From booking the venue to sourcing party favours for your guests, money plays a vital role in the success of your big day. Beware that seemingly small budget wedding can spiral out of control. If you need some tips on how to plan a budget wedding, read on.

According to Easy Weddings Australian Wedding Survey 2016, Aussies spent on average $30,985 on their wedding days. If you don’t have a cool $30k lying around, don’t worry just yet! There are plenty of ways to reduce that final figure. Here is some helpful tips I’ve learnt from some of our own brides to apply to save money on your big day.

How to organize a budget wedding.

• Reduce the size of your bridal party
  So it’s your dream to have your three besties, sister, cousin and nail technician standing with you at the altar. If you’ve done your research you’ll know having a large bridal party means more money spent on hair, makeup, bridesmaids dresses, shoes, gifts and accessories. For those who can’t possibly see themselves with a smaller bridal party. Maybe suggest the idea of splitting the costs with your bridesmaids. I’m sure most of them will be willing to pitch in, even if it’s just for the dress and shoes.

• How to save money on catering

• Swap single serve dishes for share plates
  The traditional entree, main, dessert menu can certainly set you back a pretty penny, especially for those planning on having a rather sizeable guest list. Consider serving tapas style dishes that each table can share. This usually makes things easier for the catering company and might also encourage your guests to interact with one another.

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How to accessorize wedding dresses with colour.

At Leah S Designs we have many wedding dresses in store. Because not everyone wants to or can wear white. We have put together a styled bridal shoot to help. Sometimes blush ore champagne is a far more flattering colour depending on the tone of your skin. Choosing a colour that compliments will liven up your skin tone and not leave you looking tired and drained. We have featured the Katherine gown in this styled shoot. Katherine is available in ivory or latte with a stunning ivory lace overlay. Come into our bridal shop and try on sizes 6 to 34.

Accessories used for this styled bridal shoot

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Wedding dress dream team bridal stylists

Hi and welcome to my latest blog post, it’s where you get to meet the wedding dress dream team at Leah S Designs. From myself the designer, to the stylists, to the girls of Ginger Pins alterations. Learn about what each of us does in store everyday. We are not too serious here, so I won’t leave out the fun things, like what each of our favourite foods are and our ultimate holiday destinations. Enjoy.

Georgina

Georgina has been working at Leah’s designs for the past 6 years as a Stylist and has recently become the Store Manager.

I have a personal passion for the Plus Size Perfection collection. I love all of the dresses but mostly the brides that come to visit us. There is nothing quite like the transformation of self that can come from finding the right wedding dress.

The perfect dress can delight your figure, body and soul. I love boosting someones confidence and even if they don’t purchase a dress, everyone leaves with a smile on their face. It also helps that we have over 50 styles of size 18+ dresses to choose from. Every thing from a simple wedding dress style to an elaborate long sleeve wedding dresses.

Whats your most satisfying client experience?

When we helped a woman who came in with a tight budget. The bride had to move the wedding forward as her father had been diagnosed with a terminal disease. Fortunately we found the most gorgeous dress; she loved it and dad loved it too. The whole room was in tears, including me!

Georgina’s advice for brides before coming in to choose a wedding dress is to have a vision in mind of what type of bride you want to be. If you’re not sure think of your location and be open to our suggestions and don’t be afraid to think out side of the box try on styles from bohemian wedding dresses to mermaid styles.

Try different styles

Keep in mind that the gorgeous Pinterest photo of the dress on your phone might not be the perfect dress for you. Some popular theme’s at the moment are Vintage, Rustic, Glam, Country, Modern. Also, season if your wedding is in January or February look at summer wedding dresses to keep your cool.

Favourite cocktail – Fruit tingle | Favourite dessert – Good quality home made chocolate cake | Favourite holiday – Christmas | Heels or flats? Flats for work, heels to parrrrty!

What is your ultimate Leah S Designs look?

• Wedding Dress – Anastasia Wedding dress.
• Veil – PK005 cathedral with face veil 108 inches long – ivory – the veil has to be longer then the train of the dress.
• Earrings – Halo earrings.
• Hair piece – Cinderella hair comb.
• Shoes – Donna shoes.

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Planning your wedding day can be one of the most stressful events of your life, so is only natural that on the big day you might be feeling a little (or a lot) of pressure. You are often so focused on making the day perfect, that you forget what your wedding is really all about. There seems to be a lot of strategies out there for dealing with pre wedding stress, but what should you be doing on the actual day?

Leah’s top wedding day tips to keep you Zen will make sure you enjoy your day, and don’t overload with stress!

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Dandenong Weddings: in the shadows of the misty mountains you’ll find Lyrebird Falls.

Home to one of Victoria’s favorite Dandenong weddings venues, we were lucky enough to be asked to work with Dewinta from Dewinta Dandot Photography. After arriving at Lyrebird Falls I did a quick location scout, I was sure the cool colors of the rain forest really made our dresses and the floral arrangements really pop!

This styled shoot featuring on easy weddings.com

Photographer Dewinta Dandot was looking to create a colorful bohemian vibe for the day. Using Forest greenery to achieve a boho vision. Moody, earthy with a bright colour.

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When we first met Morgan she was excited but extremely nervous for her big day. After hearing her heartwarming story of how she met her future husband we couldn’t resist re-telling. Let’s give you a sneak peak inside their magical garden weddings.

The proposal

It was a warm summer night in Melbourne and Morgan had made plans to go to her friends birthday party. After being a little apprehensive about going she finally convinced herself to go. When she arrived at the bar she sat with her friend for a while and then headed to the bar for a drink. Upon her return she noticed her soon to be fiance, Tom was sitting in her seat. Not wanting to make Tom move she sat in the seat opposite him. Tom couldn’t keep his eyes off Morgan, offering to walk her home at the end of the night. Their instant attraction soon turned into a beautiful romance.

Morgan and Toms wedding was featured in Real Weddings on Easy Weddings.com

Five years into their relationship, Tom decided it was time to pop the question and proposed to Morgan at the very bar where they first met.

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How to Travel With Your Wedding Dress is very often treated as an afterthought and sometimes only remembered a few days before jetting off. As if you needed something else to stress about, right? It’s your big day, and everything needs to be PERFECT. So how do you keep your dress perfectly pressed up to the moment you walk down the aisle? We understand the struggle is so real when maneuvering in a car or on a plane with your precious dress, so we’ve put together a few top tips on How to Travel With Your Wedding Dress.

Most important things to note

The fabric of the dress is important to note. Ideally, you should hold up to the latest possible moment before you slip on your dress to avoid wrinkling, especially for materials like pure silk. Poly mixes, chiffon, jersey, tulle and lace hold up the best.

Clearly label your carry on with your name, email, phone number and address for both your home and destination.

Packing into a garment bag

1. Keep your gown on the hanger and pull the hook through the garment bag’s top opening.
2. Keep the train and skirt outside of the bag.
3. Hang the gown facing you with the top half inside the bag.
4. Take the dress’ bottom left and right sides and fold them into the center in a trifold. Note: sheath dresses may not need this step.
5. Keep the two sides of the skirt folded and roll the train from the bottom until it is short enough to place in the bottom of the bag. Lace and other textured fabrics are less likely to show wrinkles. If you’re careful about how you fold and roll the train, there will be a lot less wrinkling and touch-up pressing needed upon arrival.
6. Zip close the garment bag. Guide the zipper up to the top as you zip, with your middle finger behind the zipper. This protects any delicate beading, tulle or lace on your wedding gown from catching and ripping in the zipper.
7. Lay the garment bag on a flat surface, and carefully roll it into a loose trifold.

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Leah S Designs is now designing wedding dresses in black, blush pink, latte and champagne. Leah loves coloured dresses now, after 14 years of making dresses in white and ivory. We spoke with her to uncover more about the gorgeous coloured dresses currently available on her website.

Leah started incorporating colour in the wedding dresses at Leah S Designs about two years ago, starting with an all purple dress. Now, her coloured range has expanded to over 10 different styles! If you would like to give your wedding a unique touch, go with a dash of colour in your outfit. Leah believes that champagne with ivory gives off an especially couture look and feel.

Ivory bridal lace over Latte trend

Leah loves trend spotting from American designers and taking in her customers’ feedback, which led her to finally incorporating colour to her fashion label. She follows coutourists on Instagram and noticed a lot of ‘ivory lace over latte’ going on, took inspiration, and created the Georgie and Katherine wedding dresses in those two tones.

“As a designer, you learn very quickly which colours are safe to use. You can’t go wrong with neutrals – for example, the blush or pink wedding dresses have the power to warm up a cool skin tone. The latte can make you look more tan and the champagne can even out your skin tone if you’re on the darker side.”

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Let’s dig a little deeper into the story behind these gorgeous gowns. Leah Ann has been a Melbourne-based designer for over 15 years, retailing affordable designer and plus size wedding dresses with the perfect accessories to match! She’s definitely come a long way to achieve what Leah S Designs is today since her humble beginnings, working in a barn from a very young age. Background

Leah started off making debutante dresses for her neighbours and friends, but one thing led to another, and now she’s helping to dress women from all over the world. Running a bridal business was never part of the plan at 19 years old, but sewing was always in her blood.

Thanks mum! those craft days were worth while.

My mum, Lyn Sukroo, used to have her own gallery with silk products and has been involved in plus size fashion for over 30 years. As such, Leah spent several years doing piece work for her family’s business and found that sewing came naturally to her. Lyn has since dedicated her time to her daughter’s brand to help her expand by creating the Plus Size Perfection Collection. The Plus Size Perfection Collection, designed for sizes above 16, boasts both international and national recognition and is constantly growing. (TEN new dresses are added each season!)

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Wedding dresses featured

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Little Lovelies wedding Accessories

What a day we had photographing our latest Little Lovelies jewellery collection. Photographing jewellery is a much more relaxed shoot, no worrying about models, makeup and hair choices and the much more reasonable 10am start time feels good.

Lee Bird Studios in Keysborough designed a custom light box to get the upmost sparkle from each piece of Jewellery whilst highlighting the intricate work and letting each individual crystal shimmer.

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Leah S Designs on Wedded wonderland

Leah S Designs sister brand Plus size perfections latest photo shoot. “Its a love story” has been picked up by Australia’s top blogger and Instagram king pin Wedded wonderland. Leah S Designs on wedded wonderland. To be featured in a pictorial. Exciting stuff as I have been a lover of the wonderland site for many years, so a big hip hip hooray for Perfection Bridal. Im loving the fact that this is one of the first blog featuring plus size fashion. So we are a bit of a revolution in the fashion world (for a little while at least).

Just a word of warning if you check out the wedded wonderland site it will suck you in for hours in to the dazzling wedding world! have fun.

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