Stylist reveals how to make a wedding look amazing on a budget and why it’s ok not to do favours

A wedding stylist has revealed her top tips for making any event look luxurious on a budget, the craziest ceremony she’s planned and the one thing couple’s should never spend their money on.  

After 10 years in the job, Sydneysider Kimberley Burrell has seen it all – from events getting rained out, to re-planning an entire reception after all the venue staff contracted Covid and even putting together an elopement ceremony in less than 24 hours thanks to an impending lockdown hours later. 

She founded her own event styling business The Marmalade Sky in 2015 and creates dozens of ‘badass’, one-of-a-kind weddings across Sydney and NSW each year. 

Kimberley has an eye for making affordable buys from Kmart, Bunnings and IKEA look high-end but said splashing out on favours for guests is most often than not a waste of money. 

The savvy stylist’s keen eye was of great use last year when she had just hours to pull together couple Sarah and Jacob’s ceremony before a lockdown was enforced at 6pm.

‘It was the 26th June 2021 – the day before Sydney went back into a snap lockdown including the CBD… exactly where my couple were supposed to get married,’ she told FEMAIL. 

‘This was their third attempt at getting married due to Covid, and when the news broke their response was “F**k it! We’re getting married even if its just the two of us!”

Kimberley and the couple’s photographer raced around Sydney to find a park for the couple to have their ceremony and found an ideal spot in Balmain with views of the Harbour Bridge.

Kimberley bought tables, serving ware, a cake stand, throw pillows and a champagne bucket from Kmart, a Turkish style rug from IKEA and decked the site out with red and white roses and lush foliage. 

‘I pulled apart flower arrangements and re-did them into a luxe ceremony set up, grabbed last minute goodies from the shops before we got locked down, and whipped up an intimate elopement for this incredible couple,’ Kimberley recalled.  

The pair acted as witnesses and the only other attendees were the couple’s celebrant and their dog. 

‘After inhaling a wedding cake (designed for 120 guests) and a bunch of champagne between the seven of us, we were all home just before the 6pm lockdown officially started. No laws were broken in the making of this wedding!’ she said. 

‘At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what styling you do, so long as you get to marry your person, nothing else matters.’ 

Kimberley said Sarah and Jacob’s nuptials were one of many to be affected by Covid with one cancelled the day before after all the venue staff contracted the virus. 

‘After a crazy 24 hours coming up with plan b, the couple ended up having a mini elopement style ceremony with their immediate family at their celebrant’s office, while our team headed down the road to a local brewery who thankfully were able to accommodate 120 guests,’ Kimberley said. 

‘We re-worked their entire ceremony and reception into an outdoor tepee so the couple could at least have a massive party with all their mates and family. It actually worked out perfect and totally suited the couple.’ 

Styling a wedding doesn’t have to be as costly as many think as Kimberley buys many of her accessories from wholesalers, Bunnings, IKEA and Kmart and said there’s one thing brides and grooms shouldn’t bother spending their money on – bonbonnieres. 

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‘Those little gifts couples put on every place setting at a wedding: aka landfill. When I come back at the end of the night to pack down a wedding, the bonbonnieres are always sitting on the table completely discarded,’ she told FEMAIL. 

‘Most people don’t want another piece of $2 junk or a generic love heart bottle stopper with inedible Jordan almonds attached.’ 

She said if a couple is set on giving guests a present, she recommends letting people take home some flowers or food.

‘We set up a ‘wrap station’ for guests to take home all the flowers at the end of the night (there’s tissues paper and nice ribbons so guests can make their own little posy), which can act as your bonbonnieres,’ she said. 

‘Food is always a good option too. Provide little boxes so guests can make up a takeaway pack of wedding cake or a dessert buffet.. nothing better than a few snacks to smash in the taxi on the way home!’ 

Kimberley recommends putting money saved on bonbonnieres towards fresh flowers which she said are a simple way to take the styling to the next level and make the space feel ‘luxe and special’.

‘Flowers don’t have to be just for the one day, your guests can enjoy them for days later,’ she said. 

‘If you don’t have the budget to have flowers dripping off every surface at your wedding, then pick a key focal area where the majority of your photos will be taken (usually at the ceremony) and splurge there. That way you’ll have photos of the incredible flowers to look back on forever.’  

Kimberley said another mistake wedding-planning couples make is to try to recreate everything they see trending on Pinterest, and suggested picking a venue to match the intended style and look. 

‘It’s your day so it should be a reflection of your love story, not a copy of someone else’s,’ she said. 

‘This can also cause problems, because if you’re trying to copy a style off Pinterest and it doesn’t gel with your venue, then you’re going to have to spend more money and waste more resources trying to bring the venue into your style.’

She said picking a venue that matches your desired aesthetic can save big bucks in the long run and won’t need as much styling. 

‘I once had a couple who hired an incredible venue just because they liked the view but the walls in the space were royal blue and they only wanted whites and creams in their styling,’ she said. 

‘So they wanted to built a fake wall to cover the blue!! And then they were shocked to find out that their budget blew way over their initial request.’