Irish Independent TabloidFriday, 30 May 2014Page: 42,43

Circulation: 117361Area of Clip: 112900mm²Page 1 of 2

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How to have a celebrity wedding Kimye splashed the cash, but, with our tips, you can have seriously stylish nuptials for a fraction of the price and even recreate Kims dress. By Gillian Fitzpatrick

When money

is no object it’s easy to get carried away. Fivestar

facials, Indian Ocean resorts, champagne on Tuesdays, weekends that begin on Thursdays...

And when you’re Kim Kardashian and Kanye West — a power-couple of rather spectacular proportions — you’re not just wealthy, you’re positively loaded. So loaded, in fact, that not even a drawnout

wedding extravaganza spanning two countries can dent your combined fortune of €100m plus.

They splashed considerable cash on a giant seven-tier cake, a lengthy fireworks display and a €300,000-anight

venue, as well as personal security, private jet transfers and five-star accommodation.

But far from being aspirational, completely blowing the budget on a single event is fast falling out of fashion. Indeed, being budget conscious is de rigueur.

Tara Fay is one of Ireland’s best-known wedding planners. Boasting a long list of high profile clients, she nevertheless confirms that all but a handful expect good value.

“With pretty much everything wedding-related on offer online now, there is a lot of scope for shopping around and finding the best value,” she says.

“But, first and foremost, I always tell the couples I meet to prioritise those few things that are really important to them. There’s no point in spending a fortune on a wedding band if neither is into music and dancing into the wee hours.”

Tara adds: “Most couples are willing to be flexible too — they’ll skip traditional elements that end up costing a fortune. Increasingly, no one feels obliged to tick boxes just to please a greataunt

or the parents.” Certainly, that flexibility

is increasingly popular among younger brides and grooms-to-be.

Thirty-year-old Sarah Reid lives in Harold’s Cross in Dublin with her husband of three years, Conor, also 30. They married at the five-star Village at Lyons in June 2011. And while their chic ceremony couldn’t be

wealth of talent — often in exchange for a reference or the opportunity to bulk up an inaugural portfolio.

“The culinary arts programme at DIT attracts the very best students and I contacted one cake-specialist who was eager to promote her website.

“We did tastings, I showed her what I wanted and saw previous examples of her work — all the usual stuff. But it cost a fraction of the normal price and there wasn’t a crumb left on the day.”

She also recommends wholesale markets open to the public. “Because I spend time in the Four Courts for work, I went in to the flower market around there once and was overwhelmed by the quality and variety. So the day before my wedding, I went down really early and, incredibly, for less than €50,1 was able to pick up all the bouquets.”

Sarah’s experiences mirror that of another savvy bride, Sorcha Nic Mhathuna, a communications officer living in the Dublin 8 area with her husband, Eoghan Rice.

Again, while Sorcha and Eoghan, who married at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in mid-March, were willing to splash out on a few key elements that mattered to them, they were eager to rein in costs in other areas. “We cut out the band and just got a really good DJ instead — it went down a treat,” says the 31-year-old.

Sorcha went online to keep costs down: “We used a website called MyWedding.com to send out the invites.

“We hired a great photographer — Claire Wilson of Gingerpixel.ie — but opted for a cost-efficient photos-only package. We will

put the album together ourselves using a website like Blurb.com, and combine those photographs with those taken by guests and caption them.”

Finally, Sorcha bought a stash of IKEA

candle lanterns for the table-centre pieces. One area that

traditionally brides have always been reluctant to compromise on is their dress.

But designer-of-themoment Dawn Fitzgerald,

who created the dress for newlywed Rosanna Davison’s

Savings: Sarah Reid described as “budget”, like many modern brides, Sarah was eager to get good value for money.

“When I saw the Village at Lyons in Celbridge, I knew it was ‘the one’,” Sarah says. “But while my heart was set on it,

it was also one of the more expensive locations we viewed.

However, Sarah, who is a successful practising barrister, picked up some

impressive money-saving tips over the course of her 16month

engagement. “We served our wedding

cake as dessert, rather than paying another €12-a-head for an additional course that in reality not everyone wants.”

She also says that final-year college students can provide a

‘I always tell the couples I meet to prioritise those few things that are realty important to them’

Sorcha Nic Mhathuna and Eoghan Rice on their wedding day

I Kiss the bride: Kim

» and Kanye ... at their i« wedding in

Florence Photo by E! News/PA

Tara Fay’s top five tips: 1. Ask for favours — people are happy to oblige. Just give plenty of notice for your request.

2. Hire a karaoke machine in lieu of a band; guests will love getting involved.

3. If you can't afford a dream wedding and a dream

honeymoon, split up the cost by delaying the latter.

4. Bridesmaids in the US buy their own dresses — Irish brides can request the same.

5. Buy vintage wedding bands: second-hand jewellery is always cheaper.

nuptials, insists that an amazing, one-off gown can still be incorporated into a budget-friendly day.

“Irish brides are quite inthe-know when it comes to

identifying good value, highquality pieces,” says Dawn,

who counts Amy Huberman among her clients.

“A wedding dress is the most important dress a woman will ever wear; it is the most important part of the wedding in my eyes. I have lots of women coming in to my store who will happily cut back on the number of guests and all the extras — but they absolutely won’t compromise on having the dress of a lifetime.”

Still, Anne L’Henoret, shop manager at Oxfam Bridal on

South Great George’s Street in Dublin, believes that she can offer spectacular attire to brides on shoestring budgets. It may not be couture or oneoff,

but the quality and selection on offer is certainly impressive.

“We’re always looking for new ways to raise funds for the work we do around the world and offering a place where boutiques could donate their brand-new unsold stock seemed like an obvious gap,” she says.

“Sometimes a bride will have bought her dress somewhere else, but will come into us for accessories like veils or shoes — those things seem small but the cost can add up quickly.”

Anne adds that the most

expensive dress she currently stocks is €400, while the cheapest will set back a savvy bride just €50. About 90pc of the range is new and sizes range from 6 to 22. “No one should have to spend a fortune to look a million dollars,” says Anne. “Not every woman wants to part with thousands of euro for their wedding gown and a lot more people are price-conscious these days — which is only good news for Oxfam Bridal.”

While Kim and Kanye might embrace a spectacle costing millions, it seems Irish brides- and grooms-tobe

are breaking away from tradition and creating their own unique day — with one keen eye firmly on their bank balances.

Irish Independent TabloidFriday, 30 May 2014Page: 42,43

Circulation: 117361Area of Clip: 112900mm²Page 2 of 2

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for less It’s curtains for big spending: Gillian Fitzpatrick a recreation of Kim's Givenchy dress Photo: Ronan Lang

We recreate Kims (surprisingly) understated dress for just €120 The Givenchy wedding dress Kim Kardashian wore for her nuptials to Kanye West seems to have taken fashion observers by surprise. Because those expecting a gaudy, outlandish number were sorely disappointed by the classic, rather understated style embraced by the reality TV star.

Designed by Riccardo Tisci, it is said to have cost some €365,000, but here, we recreate the look for less: a lot less. Just €120, in fact.

Using an €8 lace, long-sleeved top from Dublin’s Soho Market, a €4 belt from Dunnes and a silk jersey top, €18 and also Dunnes, the upper part of the dress is completed reasonably

convincingly. For the lower segment, gen-

erous layers of white lace — the material was a net-curtain

in a previous life — cost just €3 from a branch of

St Vincent de Paul. A dramatic

cathedral-length white veil on sale for €85 in the

> Oxfam bridal ,, .boutique

1 completes the Jm look for less than €120. What a saving.

Mind you, it’s not entirely

BBT straightforward ^~i> , to move ^54, * wrapped in a

net-curtain — certainly the bride would have to take it easy on the dance-floor — and up close the creation’s, ahem,

budget-friendly price-tag is wholly

apparent. So while yes, Mr

Tisci would surely be proud, we recommend

those hrides-in-waiting with just €120 in their pockets stick to the Oxfam Bridal boutique instead.

GILLIAN FITZPATRICK