An Irish bride has shared how she saved thousands of pounds on her dream wedding simply by cutting out the 'unecessary extras'.
Sarah Hanrahan, 35 from Dublin, 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.
Speaking to luxury diamond jewellers, Austen & Blake , Sarah who has accumulated over 19k followers on TikTok by sharing her favourite spots and experiences that Ireland has to offer, reveals how she planned her dream wedding on a budget.
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Describing her wedding style as “modern city chic”, Sarah wanted to make sure her style was incorporated during the planning process, from start to finish.
“There were no negotiations at all really when it came to the theme. 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 polkadot and oversized dinner bow.”
Born and raised in Dublin, Sarah knew she wanted to keep her wedding close to home, especially after developing a strong passion for exploring the city’s culture - which has been a major driving force for her content creation.
“I grew up in Dublin, we moved a lot so I lived in 7 different houses around the city during my childhood. We loved the idea of a city wedding and also the practicality of allowing people to come into town for a day out and then go home; no added pressure of booking accommodation. Most of our guests were Dublin-based and some travelled for the occasion.”
“I loved the idea of overlooking the ha’penny bride for our wedding; what could be more quintessentially Dublin than that? So we chose the outdoor space above the Woollen Mills (in The Yarn) to allow for that. 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, 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?
"Then The Winding Stair was chosen as they’re a sister restaurant to The Woollen Mills and the food is absolutely beautiful there. Plus the decor was excellent what we wanted for a rustic backdrop with the ha’penny bridge framed through the windows of the restaurant.”
Being able to prioritise whilst 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; 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.
"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.”
“Most of our 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. 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. Plus one of my bridesmaids, Cathal, is a sommelier so he did the wine list which was brilliant.”
Sarah was able to cut down costs by making use of the talented friends and family she had around her for the big day.
“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. 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.
“I honestly never imagined my wedding until the day we got engaged; we had been together 14 years and of course the idea of marriage had come up but it was not something that either of us really pushed for. Over time Sean talked about wanting to get married but I just didn’t think we’d ever bite the bullet, until he got down on one knee!
"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. 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.”
So what is Sarah's key piece of advice for future brides? She said it's simply, “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. 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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