A THRIFTY bride has revealed how she saved thousands on her wedding day by cutting out “unnecessary extras.”
Sarah Hanrahan, a 35-year-old content creator and experience planner from Dublin, made her dream modern chic wedding come to life by prioritising on a budget.
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Speaking to luxury jewellery retailer Austen & Blake, the talented creator has shared her valuable tips to having a beautiful wedding on the cheap.
Sarah, who has accumulated over 19,000 followers on TikTok, got engaged to her husband Sean in December 2020, and knew straight away exactly how she wanted her dream wedding – but knew there were ways she could achieve it without the hefty price tag.
“There were no negotiations at all really when it came to the theme,” says Sarah.
“Sean and I were both on the same page around what we wanted, a modern city wedding with a focus on good food and good fun.”
“I really knew I didn’t want a big fussy ball gown style dress and I also knew I wanted subtle 80s elements so I kept the dress simple, adding a nod to the 80s with the puff shoulder, subtle polka-dot and oversized dinner bow.”
Born and raised in Dublin, Sarah knew she wanted to keep her wedding close to home, so she decided to have it above the Woollen Mills (in The Yarn) overlooking the ha’penny bridge.
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“For the reception, I had it in my head that I really wanted to do toasties and pints instead of the more traditional drinks and canapés, so The Whiskey Palace was the perfect backdrop for that,” she continues.
“It’s a great size for a small wedding reception and it meant people could order what they want/get fresh pints…plus, who doesn’t love a toastie?”
Sarah also recommends choosing a venue that’s in keeping with your theme – to keep costs down on decoration.
“The Winding Stair was chosen as they’re a sister restaurant to The Woollen Mills and the food is absolutely beautiful there,” she explains.
“Plus the decor was excellent and what we wanted for a rustic backdrop with the ha’penny bridge framed through the windows of the restaurant.”
And being able to prioritise while on a budget meant that Sarah was able to have everything she loved and cherished on her special day.
“We thought about what really mattered to us and what didn’t,” she says. “We decided that transport and a cake weren’t important to us so we cut them out completely – we had dessert with dinner and got taxis to the venue instead.”
“I didn’t feel that things like designer shoes (for the sake of having designer shoes) or fancy embroidered robes for the morning were important so I didn’t do them either.”
“Lots of little extras that have become the norm that I just don’t place any value in myself…so I didn’t include them.”
We decided that transport and a cake weren’t important to us so we cut them out completely – we had dessert with dinner and got taxis to the venue instead
Sarah Hanrahan
“Ultimately what saved us money was simply saying no to what we didn’t actually want ourselves rather than feeling like we should include all the unnecessary extras ‘just because other people do it.’”
Sarah goes on to reveal that most of the couple’s budget went on great food and wine as well as a photographer.
“I had followed our photographer on social media for years and adored her moody take on weddings when a lot of wedding photography I see tends to be quite blown out and ethereal,” she explains.
“I knew if I went with anyone but Ivana I would be disappointed so I was delighted to have her involved in the day.”
“By keeping our numbers small we were able to rent the iconic Winding Stair restaurant for our wedding meaning we had a full menu to offer guests.”
Sarah was also able to cut down costs by making use of the talented friends and family she had around her.
She says: “We are lucky to have a lot of incredibly talented friends so they were involved in our day; our makeup artist, celebrant, sommelier, videographers, singer, DJ, musician were all friends but hired on the basis of the talent rather than as an opportunity to save money.”
For venders, if we needed to cut costs we reduced elements of their service
Sarah Hanrahan
“It felt even more personal to us to have our close friends involved in our day and to have Sean’s uncle as our celebrant.”
“For venders, if we needed to cut costs we reduced elements of their service; for example, we didn’t get a wedding album printed for us by the photographer and we pulled back on some of the gorgeous decor options that our event planner offered.”
Even though Sarah didn’t know what to expect when planning her big day, she was able to create a truly memorable day while keeping true to herself.
“We had a beautiful day and it was very true to us; we wanted to get a small number of loved ones together for a great day out in Dublin and that’s thankfully, exactly what the day was,” she says.
“Something that we did that was very close to our hearts was using dehydrated the roses from my late grandparent’s garden to use as confetti on the day, which was an extremely beautiful touch.”
“We had 38 guests, we chose to keep the guest list small so that everyone would feel comfortable Covid-wise and so that we could have the dinner in a restaurant with full menu offerings which understandably, isn’t generally possible with larger numbers.”
As for Sarah’s biggest piece of advice?
“To not bother with any of the endless extras unless they matter to you: favours, wedding perfume, photo booths…the list is literally endless and it all adds up,” she notes.
“By cutting out what didn’t matter to us we had budget to spend more on what really did matter to us like excellent food and wine as well as my dream photographer.”
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