While your wedding is right up there with one of the best days of your life, let’s be serious: they can cost a pretty penny. This is especially true if you’re also planning your wedding alongside buying a house or renovating your BTO, which involves paying off various fees and loans. Not everyone has the means to stomach the costs of both a wedding and a new home, while still having enough set aside for a rainy day.
Many couples in a similar situation find themselves weighing their financial priorities. For one couple, who go by Frog & Duck on Lemon8, the priority was clear: they’d have a small, intimate solemnisation ceremony in place of a big conventional wedding. They ultimately spent just $600 for a home solemnisation and shared how they managed to celebrate their union on a budget.
According to their Lemon8 post, Frog & Duck purchased a resale flat and spent “a lot” on their renovation and flat. They mention being grateful that their families were both very supportive of a smaller-scale solemnisation, and were happy to just “turn up, do the witnessing, and have a good meal”.
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Frog & Duck then break down the areas they spent on, and the areas they saved on.
Their biggest spend was $300+, treating their family of 10 to a nice meal at a Chinese restaurant at a nearby mall. The couple shared that they considered catering, but ultimately decided against it because they didn’t want to deal with the clean-up after.
Following that, they paid $42 for a marriage license, $10 for simple decorations from Shopee, and $88 on an ang pow for the solemniser. They also reused some decor from Chinese New Year, since they got married very shortly after the festive season.
They also splurged a little on items that were “not compulsory”. This included a $48 money bouquet, which they now use as a home decor item, a $50 donation to the solemniser’s charity of choice, and $10 on drinks and snacks for their guests, which they bought from a nearby Sheng Siong.
Frog & Duck did away with a lot of the bells and whistles expected of a wedding ceremony. They decided not to splurge on backdrops and decorations, saying they were too tired after renovations to be dealing with more fuss.
“Besides, we had a newly renovated home, and that was the most beautiful thing for us,” they joked.
The couple wore clothes they already had and didn’t bother with fancy footwear since they were barefoot at home anyway. The bride did her own hair and makeup because she didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a look for a short ceremony.
Capturing your special day over photo and video is important for many couples, and this was a priority for the couple too. Luckily, they managed to get this for free, as they had friends visiting Singapore. In exchange for free accommodation, said friend was their photographer for the ceremony.
In the spirit of keeping things pared back, they also printed their wedding certificate at home and signed their license with a simple $1 pen. No fountain pen or fancy stationery required.
Frog & Duck showed how a meaningful and intimate solemnisation ceremony doesn’t have to come with an extravagant price tag. At the end of the day, they zoned in on their essentials: sharing the moment with loved ones without straining their finances.
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All images courtesy of Frog & Duck.
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