A young couple revealed the biggest accomplishment they gave up so they could spend all their money on their first home.
When Annabelle, 32, and Hayden, 32, got engaged in 2023, the couple expected they’d have a traditional wedding until they realized it would cost $100,000.
Annabelle said couples are often “surprised” by how expensive a wedding is and how expensive some things are.
“On average, the venue and food costs we looked at ranged from $35,000 to $45,000. Then we had to factor in drinks, accommodations, photography, flowers, decorations, and wedding favors, to name a few,” she said. Shells.
“We don’t think for the 110 guests planned for our wedding, we would have gotten much change out of the $100,000.”
On TikTok, Annabelle described the cost of living in Australia as “crazy,” and a $100,000 wedding didn’t seem possible.
Suddenly the couple felt financially stuck.
They wanted to get married, but they also wanted to focus on their goal of investing as much money as possible into their property.
The couple were already living with Annabelle’s parents to maximise their savings after buying their first home together, off-plan, in 2021.
When the couple bought, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) official interest rate was 2.19 per cent in November 2021. Now, it has risen to 4.35 per cent.
By the time they got engaged in 2023, the couple was already seeing interest rates rise, and spending $100,000 on a wedding wasn’t appealing.
Annabelle told news.com.au that even with “decent wages” and careers established, they were still feeling the pinch of living costs.
The couple decided to focus their savings on buying a house and eloped abroad to Mo’Wera, French Polynesia, in 2023.
It seems that elopement is becoming more and more popular; according to the jeweler ShellsOnline searches for “how much does it cost to elope” have increased by 40 percent in the past year.
“Weddings in Australia, like everything else, have gone through the roof and this is not something we wanted to spend our money on,” Annabelle said.
The couple was able to afford their small wedding abroad and a month-long honeymoon in Europe.
“I think we saved $40,000 and had two celebrations and a honeymoon. We were able to stay at some great places, eat and drink as much as we wanted and get each other a little wedding gift,” Anna Bell said.
Not having a big wedding meant they were able to prepare themselves for the rest of their lives together.
“Our savings were used directly as part of the deposit and mortgage on our first home. We were able to make our money go much further and in a way that aligned with our personal financial goals,” she said.
This decision was beneficial to the couple, as they continued to live with Annabelle’s parents while their home was being built.
“Until that happens, we’re trying to save. Everyone feels the pressure of cost of living whether you have a mortgage or not,” she said.
“Everyone I know has had to make some sacrifice, whether it’s canceling subscriptions, cutting back on cosmetic treatments, buying cheaper cuts of meat, or not going out as often. Our goal is to live within our means now to be financially successful in the long run.”
Annabelle has no regrets about running away. “It made sense for the kind of people we were,” she said.
This allowed them to use the rest of their savings to pay off their mortgage, which would ultimately help them lower their payments once they moved into their homes.
“Buying on plan was beneficial here as we were able to pay the deposit when we bought in 2021 and then continue saving over the last three years without the stress of paying a mortgage,” she said.
