PERSONAL FINANCE:A pig on a spit is the new chocolate fountain, and hired photo booths and chipper vans are making an appearance. Brides are cutting back on some wedding extras – but new, recession-defying trends are emerging

WEDDING planner Judy Mullins has seen it all. Back in the flathulach days, one of her clients sent their helicopter to pick her up so that they could go and view wedding venues around the country. The sight of a potential customer alighting from a chopper had hotel managers rubbing their hands in delight, but in the end, the couple plumped for a marquee in their not inconsiderable garden. Before dropping Judy home in the helicopter, naturally.

Times have changed and so too have weddings. Extravagances such as fireworks, chocolate fountains, thousands of euro worth of “favours” for guests and, of course, the ultimate testament to undying love, the release of white doves, are becoming as outré as a disgraced banker partying with politicians at the 19th hole.

Mullins, who runs idoweddingsireland.com, says “I think commonsense has now prevailed.There aren’t as many chocolate fountains to be seen in [hotel] foyers”. Expensive favours have also fallen by the wayside.

However brides (and it is almost always the brides) are not cutting back on expenses such as photographers, a “nice bouquet” and a good band, she says. “They still want to have a good party and a good dance afterwards.”

The good news is that hotels are offering a lot more value for money. “It gives couples a little bit extra to work with,” she says. Some venues will now provide a canapé and sparkling wine reception free of charge, which would never have happened before. Others are throwing in live background music and chair covers at no extra cost.

Ian McGuinness, managing director of Roganstown Golf Country Club, in north Co Dublin says that although brides-to-be “look everywhere” and shop around for venues, as consumers they are not “very educated”.

By this he means that they are swayed by the cheapest price, without taking into account the extra services that might be provided by other venues.

The harsh reality is that many viable businesses like Roganstown are being undercut by hotels that have ended up in the control of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) and are being kept on life-support even though they are not profitable.

McGuinness says that one particular Nama hotel has been offering rooms at €49 per person for bed and breakfast, a rate he describes as a “serious loss maker”. “I price everything to make a profit. Yes, you can make a gross profit on that but you cannot possibly pay staff, food, interest, rates . . .”

Roganstown has tailored its wedding packages to peoples’ budgets, and offers good value in a family-run venue with countryside charm – but there is only so low they can go. “We have said no to some weddings because we couldn’t afford to do them,” he says.

David Fitzgerald, general manager of Fitzgerald’s Woodland House Hotel in Adare, Co Limerick, has found that couples are not cutting back on what are seen as the “essentials” of a wedding. For instance, while they might not spend as much on wine, drinks and decoration, the meal remains “sacrosanct”.

However, couples can save a huge amount of money by simply getting married on an off-peak day of the week or time of the year. The average cost of a meal at Fitzgerald’s at the weekend in the summer is €50-€60 per person, but the same package could cost €40-€45 per head for those prepared to brave the brisk January weather. The hotel also offers a 10 per cent discount for Thursday weddings, rising to 20 per cent off on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Couples may be able to pocket some savings on the reception, but this part of the wedding typically represents just 25 per cent of the total cost of their wedding (unless it’s an all-inclusive package), and any such savings tend to get splashed on other aspects of the celebration. The result is that people are still spending between €15,000 and €20,000 on the traditional church-followed-by-reception event.

This is significantly less than the average pre-recession spend of about €30,000, but it shows that most couples are not prepared to forego the big Irish wedding despite the current grim economic circumstances. And while they may be cutting back here and there on extravagant extras, new trends are emerging just as fast – it seems a pig on a spit is the new chocolate fountain. For a decent-sized hog you’re looking at about €600. Other trends emerging in the last 12 months include such recession-defying extras as hired photo booths, chipper vans and candy bar buffets.

Nonetheless, Terry Burns of Wedding Exhibitions Dublin, which is organising the Bride of the Year Show at the RDS this weekend, has found that couples are going back to basics and have “become more realistic”. The trend is to cut back on the number of bridesmaids from four to just one, thereby slashing the dress, shoes, etc bill by 75 per cent. Burns has also noticed that fewer people are inviting friends to the “afters” of weddings, while costly wedding cars are less popular, with couples instead calling in favours from anyone they know “with a posh car”.

Some brides are now happy to make do with the flowers already in the church, rather than spending hundreds on their own. Others are getting into the DIY swing of things, making their own invitations and in some cases wedding favours.

Meanwhile Karen Birney, editor of weddingsonline.ie, has noticed that brides-to-be are saving money by “going high street” for their accessories, for example picking up their shoes in Topshop or River Island. People are no longer simply “throwing a lot of money” at their wedding day, she says. Instead they are spending time really thinking about, researching and planning their nuptial celebration to see “what they can do that’s a little bit different”. She also makes the point that hiring a wedding planner can actually save money because they can access discounts and negotiate better rates through their contacts.

Rosemarie Meleady of weddingplanner.ie provides all-inclusive wedding packages that represent good value for something slightly off the beaten track. For instance, she will organise a wedding for 100 guests on the Aran Islands for €8,000. “It’s like a destination wedding without going too far,” she says. People are starting to move towards more traditional Irish themes, she says.

This doesn’t mean hiring troupes of Irish dancers, or renting Irish wolfhounds in an attempt at landed gentry-chic, but rather opting for something more along the lines of what their parents might have done. And if that means an end to hired Ferraris, Harry Potter-themed weddings and bridezillas, it can’t be a bad thing.