Peek into the wedding planning + details of other couples
Me, thoroughly reading through all the survey responses to bring you this blog (via Alchemy Brand Studio)
If you’re a regular blog reader and you’ve been here for a while, you may remember I ran a WA Wedding Survey in September last year - and today I’m here to give you a breakdown of some key stats from it!
Today’s stats include most popular venues, guest and wedding party numbers, the best and worst things about wedding planning and all the advice about planning a wedding in COVID - from couples that have been there and done it!
So if you’re looking for a little inspo and insight into how others have planned their wedding and decisions they made - keep reading!
NB: All statistics come from weddings held in WA between 1 September 2019 and 1 September 2021
THEIR DREAM WEDDING DAY
✨ Perth peeps love a Brookleigh Estate wedding!
✨ Brookleigh was our top venue choice with 14% of survey respondents saying they got married there
✨ 14% married at a private venue or property
✨ 22% got married in the South West
The most popular months for weddings of those surveyed were
💫 December 2020
💫 March 2021
💫 August 2021
The most popular wedding style and themes were
🌹 Rustic
🌹 Romantic
🌹 Modern
🌹 Simple
🌴 One couple even channelled Euro Beach Club vibes for their wedding day, and I need to see photos of this wedding ASAP please!
(Seriously, if you know who this was, or you’re a vendor that worked on this wedding, can I please see and feature this gallery on the blog?!)
💛 The average number of wedding guests was 74
💛 18% of couples had over 100 guests in attendance
💛 155 guests was the highest number of guests at one wedding
💛 3 guests was the lowest
🔹 The average wedding party size was 7 people
🔹 26% of respondents had over 10 members in their wedding party
🔹 The largest wedding party was 14 people
🔹 4 couples had no wedding party at all (it was just them, the happy couple ❤️)
Note: total wedding party numbers included the couple (bride + groom, bride + bride, groom + groom etc)
Planning a wedding can be very stressful, and certain elements and parts are definitely harder than others! Given the times we are living in (and have been living in for the last 2 years) it’s no surprise that COVID delays and uncertainty contributed to a lot of this stress for our surveyed couples. Other stress factors included
😣 Dealing with family and other’s unwanted opinions
😣 Sticking to a budget
😣 Deciding on a guest list
But, on the flip side, the best parts of planning a wedding were
😁 Coming up with the styling + decor themes
😁 Picking out wedding attire and formalwear
😁 Planning their dream day with their partner 😍
COVID + IT’S EFFECTS ON WEDDINGS IN WA
‼️ 33% of weddings during our surveyed date range were unaffected by COVID, meaning a huge 77% WERE affected in some way. These included
⚡️ One wedding that took place the day after restrictions from the first lockdown were lifted
⚡️ A hen’s day being rescheduled, and having less interstate guests
⚡️ One couple’s photographer from Victoria couldn’t make it
⚡️ A smaller wedding party due to interstate guests being unable to fly over
⚡️ A couple who lived in Melbourne, who ended up having 2 weddings (one in Melbourne, one in Perth)
⚡️ One wedding that took place right as COVID hit Perth for the first time in March 2020, - only a few days before the fist lockdown. This couple lost 20 guests and a vendor on the morning of their wedding
✨ 51% of couples considered eloping due to COVID and it’s uncertainty
✨ 22% of couples did have to postpone from their original date
✨ One couple postponed a total of 4 times
GUEST LISTS BEING AFFECTED (FROM COUPLES):
🔺 “We had family that couldn't attend from overseas and we were meant to have 150 people attend. Some pulled out the week of due to sickness or feeling unsafe due to COVID and the recent lockdown.”
🔺 “Our family and friends were stuck over east.”
🔺 “We were restricted to 30 people at the time, but it all got too political with family so we pretended it was still 10 person restrictions.”
🔺 “We had no friends or family from interstate, which was sad.”
🔺 “We had 1 interstate guest come because of COVID. About 12 were invited but they didn't feel safe to come.”
🔺 “We had fewer family attend due to border restrictions.”
🔺 “We postponed and ended up having more people as we were able to budget for extra guests with extra months of saving.”
🔺 “We originally wanted a wedding with 150 people in Melbourne. We ended up changing our wedding date 4 times due to restrictions, then just had a small wedding with 10 people in Melbourne (the maximum we were allowed), and another small wedding with 40 people in Perth. It was absolutely not what we wanted but it felt like all we could do because there were so many sudden lockdowns in WA and Victoria.”
🔺 “We lost 20 guests through their own choice.”
But this is what you really want to be reading - couples surveyed shared their best advice for navigating this uncertain and crazy time. You can read all their advice and tips below -
💕 “Mentally make a list of people you would cut if you absolutely had to - work colleagues, partners and plus ones, friends that aren't as close.”
💕 “Be flexible - stressing won't change the outcome, it will just ruin your experience! It's about you and your partner.”
💕 “Fall in love with your plan B.”
💕 “If you have family interstate or internationally, just elope. Wedding planning is such a stressful ordeal to begin with. It’s like having a second job.”
💕 “Have a good back up plan or prepare yourself to reschedule.”
💕 “Streaming was worth it. In the end, I regretted not just eloping given we couldn’t have any of my husband’s family there or our closest friends.”
💕 “Keep it simple, and just remember it's not about everyone else.. just do what you want to do!!”
💕 “Go with the flow and do the best thing for yourself and your partner. Don’t worry about others’ expectations. My now husband and I spent a whole year worrying our day would be postponed. We had to make sacrifices, but in the end we were lucky enough to get married on our original date. It was the best decision we could’ve made, for us.”
💕 “Make sure that you read terms and conditions regarding COVID. Obviously it was unprecedented so we were lucky with all our vendors basically saying we would get a refund if they weren’t available on the new date, but now I think vendors are adding it to their T+Cs [terms and conditions] which may mean no refunds.”
💕 “Be bendy like bamboo (it never snaps). Know the worst that could happen is postpone / cancel, but the best part is being alive and happy.”
💕 “Take time to grieve. That might sound a bit dramatic, but when you've been planning a wedding for years and years, it's so disappointing having to scratch something together that wasn't even close to what you envisioned. For me, the biggest heartbreak was that my dad couldn’t fly over to walk me down the aisle.”
💕 “Try to have no expectations and the day will go better than you thought.”
There’s plenty more juicy details to dive into from our survey results - including budget spends and vendor decisions and options. I’ll be collating the rest of the survey answers over the next few weeks so keep an eye on our upcoming blog posts!