#buildingthebasics

I will admit that I was one of those girls that thought about her future wedding dress from the age of 16. I used to sketch long, white, lace-covered gowns, I watched 'Say yes to the dress' and I was well versed in the lingo (pronovias, fit and flare, boat neck anyone)? And then I met a Punjabi boy, the option of a lehenga became available to me and my teenage doodles went out the window. A lehenga was where it was at. As such Part 1 of this guide will focus on the type of shopping I did, and a shorter part 2 will outline some of what I know about white dresses.

Part 1: Indian wedding outfits

Top tips

Money stuff: Confirm taxes and any transaction fees as well as payment processes (one vendor I worked with offered us the option of a bank transfer, western union transfer or bitcoin transfer (!))

Part 2: White wedding gowns

White wedding dresses are more expensive than you expect (especially for a self-proclaimed bargain clothes shopper). The average spend on a single wedding dress in NSW is $2.5 - $3K. Designer dresses can be much more expensive.

A few options to save money:

Second hand: With https://www.stillwhite.com.au/ being the most prominent vendor

Once you have an idea of where, how many and how much you can get started with the next level of wedding planning detail.

Step 1: The Plan - I got a lot of peace of mind after setting up a list of jobs to do by month until the big day. I highly recommend setting up a plan, sticking to it and updating it as you remember things to be done

Step 2: THE DRESS - All caps because here's where the fun starts. Depending on the type of wedding you're having, this can be a straightforward simple, white dress from your neighbourhood shop or 6 different outfits from halfway around the world. I had the latter option so will go into more detail on that.