Really want to save the date? Savvy brides are turning to professionals. Sarah Harris discovers the latest in aisle style.
ACROSS the midsummer lawn a party troops delightedly following the prompts to the Mansion Hotel and Spa pavilion, where an enchanted vision unfolds.
Elegant white candlesticks, flanked by flowers in hollowed birch logs intermingled with moss and organic twists of grapevine, evoke a Puckish playfulness as the light flickers invitingly in vintage etched-pink votive glasses.
The atmosphere is one of warm, relaxed celebration without ostentation and, as they take their seats, guests agree it’s entirely in keeping with the personalities of the bridal couple.
Indeed, it’s exactly as lawyer Clare Neal might have arranged her wedding . . . if only she had the time.
It was not long after Clare and husband-to-be, finance analyst James Samson, set the date for their Werribee Park nuptials that they decided to enlist the services of a wedding planner.
“It was a time-management thing,” Clare says, “not that I didn’t want to do it.”
“I work full-time and my hours are incredibly unpredictable. There just wasn’t the time to look at three different florists, design how I wanted the ceremony to look, co-ordinate all the vendors.”
Clare’s search for a solution led her to Joanie Lim of One Wedding Wish.
“One of the key reasons I picked her was I had an idea of her style and aesthetic from the website. She’s very, very particular and that’s what I really liked. From the initial meeting and the questions she asked she was able to pick the kind of things I would pick.”
Having Joanie and her team on board meant Clare was able to work right up to the wedding on January 19 without stress and distraction.
“It’s such a big, big day and to have someone care about it as much as you really helps.
“Going in I was thinking, oh, a wedding planner – that’s a bit extravagant, but it hasn’t been at all and the time-value, quality and peace of mind you get is a major asset.”
Even if Marina Morkos was not working interstate and her fiance Brad Burns on secondment overseas, she would still want a planner for her February 23 wedding — also at Werribee Park.
“I wouldn’t be able to do it by myself even if I was in Melbourne,” Marina says.
“How am I going to go about hiring certain things from certain companies? I would not have a clue where I should begin, and being such a big day I want it to be perfect. I chose Joanie because this is her profession.
“She is very good at what she does and that’s what I wanted.
“I’m in real estate sales and people look at me to do basically the same thing — that’s taking care of their most expensive asset.
“And, for my wedding what I’m asking is pretty much the same.”
In contrast to their great-grandparents’ generation, today’s bride and groom are older, more style-conscious and cashed up when they marry.
Accordingly, weddings are becoming more expensive and elaborate as, irrespective of the prevailing economic climate, couples continue to funnel cash towards the big event.
With the average Australian wedding last year costing just over $36,000, there’s a lot more than romantic expectations riding on the day. According to the market research firm Ibisworld, the 19,000 Australian couples expected to walk down the aisle in 2012-13 represent $4.3 billion in revenue for the wedding industry.
With a bachelor of commerce degree and a masters of marketing behind her, Joanie Lim brings some vital hard skills to the bride and groom’s table as well as an undisputed sense of style. Her business acumen, event planning experience — which includes once setting up an ice bar in the desert for a corporate client — and eye for creative detail came together when she started One Wedding Wish after her own 2009 nuptials.
“I engaged a wedding stylist for my own wedding,” Joanie says. “It was a case of knowing what I wanted, but understanding there was no way I could be the bride, be having my make-up done and all the preparations in the morning and still be there to get it all set up.”
Couples can choose between a stand-alone styling service or the end-to-end package including styling, planning and co-ordinating.
“As soon as they sign on we sit down and I have a spreadsheet that I put together myself and we do a line to line costing, covering every component from her wedding dress, their rings, what budget is allocated for the honeymoon, catering costs, venue hire, bridal cars, flowers, celebrant, church fees.”
Seeing their dream expectations translated into real dollars for the first time can sometimes come as a shock to couples. “It is quite difficult for a couple without a planner to know how much things are going to cost,” Joanie says.
“A lot of the stress is taken away through organisation and pre-planning.
“For the bride and groom it’s all about that peace of mind. It is knowing someone is there that they can trust.”
