No-frills nuptials for global financial crisis brides

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Australian brides are seeing red spot specials over the effect the global financial crisis is having on their wedding plans. Forced to cut corners when they should be cutting the cake, many brides' dream days are fast turning into nightmares.

Tina Shepherd of Werribee, an impending bride and mother is devastated at the compromises she has had to make due to the current economic situation. "I was pretty annoyed when the venue wanted me to pay for an extra place setting for baby. How would I know I was seven months pregnant?" the distraught seventeen-year-old told The Truffe.

On the wedding cake front, Shepherd initially considered a croquembouche-style tower of white chocolate Streets Mini Magnum ice creams in lieu of profiteroles, but deemed the 80-cent-per-head investment quoted her by NQR Supermarket, Footscray, "too bloody expensive". Instead, she opted for a cheese cake – a five-tiered wedding cake comprised of different wheels of cheese, which would be served to guests on expired Captain's Table water biscuits and Sakata rice snacks. "Why doesn't the GFC know I'm eating for two now? It's ruined everything. I don't even know if I want to get married anymore."

Shepherd's fiancé, Shane Gregory, a twenty-four-year-old fitter and turner also from Werribee is equally as dismayed at how the crisis will affect what will be his second marriage. "I got busted by Centrelink for cashing me [sic] ex-wife's disability cheques, so we can't afford to hire a celebrant. So, me [sic] dad has become a minister on the internet so he'll be [conducting the ceremony] in the backyard. I just hope he doesn't get too pissed before."

The consequences of the GFC to the wedding industry are widespread, with local florists noting a decline in sales of exotic flowers such as gerberas (gerbera lanuginose) for table centrepieces and bouquets, with couples returning to more traditional and economical options such as carnations (dianthus caryophyllus), freesias (freesia alba) and baby's breath (gypsophila paniculata). "It's a trend we've noticed ever since A Current Affair did a special on the GFC," says florist Maureen Kennedy, of Irish extraction. "I did have a young lass in asking for silk flowers the other day though."

Financial experts blame the Reserve Bank of Australia for the discrepancy. Tim McCullough of Ernst & Young comments, "The RBA currently doesn't factor Streets Mini Magnums and baby's breath into the basket when calculating the CPI. Unfortunately, brides must pick up the shortfall in the already over-inflated bridal industry."

However, experts remain hopeful for a change. "There's been talk in our circles of a reform of the consumer price index to include bridal consumables," McCullough confirms, a move which is also supported by the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA). "Why should guests be served KFC because of the GFC?"