Hiya! I’m Amanda, and I believe planning a wedding doesn’t need to be overwhelming. That’s why I share practical and down-to-earth wedding planning support for NZ brides and grooms wanting an amazing wedding day. Think of me as your fairy-god-sister.
Southern Bride is a website, community and email course (all free, because weddings cost enough already). Our main goal here is to empower you to enjoy your wedding planning. There’s an expectation that your wedding day will be the best day of your life – so why don’t we make those months of wedding planning awesome too?!
Weddings (and the planning of them!) shouldn’t be overwhelming or complicated. Less stress sounds lovely right?
Get your wedding planning started
To get started on your stress-free wedding journey, sign up for a wedding planning to-do list here. This wedding planning checklist is a helpful list of tasks, broken down into roughly when they should be completed, so you can prioritise (because you’ve got other things to do right… like hmmm, a job!)
Wedding Planning Support at Southern Bride: How We Help
Step 1: Amazing PRACTICAL Wedding Planning Advice
Nearly 200 articles that tackle a wide range of wedding planning dilemmas are covered off on the Southern Bride website. Check out our archives for advice on bridesmaids, wedding budgets, dealing with guests, planning your ceremony, the logistics around wedding receptions and more.
Step 2: Wedding Planning Support via Top Notch Vendors
I’m not doing this alone. Two heads are better than one, so I have pulled together some awesome wedding professionals to help with their advice and opinions on tough stuff – this team is called Southern Bride Verified.
These guys sponsor the content on the blog (i.e. help pay for it to be created) which is why we can give so much helpful wedding planning support and advice for free.
They are on hand to answer the tough questions and they’re awesome people to hire for your big day. (If you are a wedding professional and you are interested in joining, leave your details here).
Step 3: Practical, Useful Wedding Planning Templates
My favourite part of event planning (back when I worked in the corporate world) was my templates and processes. So I’ve created and curated a selection of awesome wedding planning diaries, budget templates, guest list spreadsheets, checklists and more available for purchase. Get organised for your wedding, without reinventing the wheel.
But wait, there’s more – Enter Stage Left: The Wedding Planning Support Group
Okay, last thing and I’ll let you go!

Dive into our wedding planning advice now – here’s a selection of our most popular posts to get you started:
Christmas is not just creeping up on us, it’s barrelling towards us. So what better to blog about today, than some seriously excellent gift ideas for the newlywed brides and the brides-to-be…
I remember sitting down to write first wedding thank you card full of excitement and old-fashioned glee. And then I wrote a few… after maybe 6, I became so disenchanted by the…
Finding a wedding venue is one of the first things that you need to do when planning your wedding. The wedding ceremony site and reception venue is the foundation for…
I’ve mentioned before that looking for bridesmaid dresses stressed me the hell out. There wasn’t a ton of online shops about when I got hitched, and my attempt at online bridesmaid…
Once your wedding has been and gone, the next milestone to look forward to is your first wedding anniversary! Your wedding anniversary is a great chance to reflect back on how…
Many couples now request money or gift vouchers in lieu of receiving multiple platters, toasters and vases as a wedding gift. More and more couples are already living together, so don’t…
If you don’t wear a lot of makeup – or any at all – the thought of getting dolled up, slapping on a ton of foundation and hiring a makeup…
When I was a bridesmaid earlier last year, I found myself trying to coordinate when a guest with children needed to pass over the traditional horseshoe. I managed to sneak…
More and more people are asking the question – “how do I tell parents that we don’t want their children at our wedding?” The reality is that more and more…
As a guest, when you first receive a wedding invite, as well as “can I actually make it”, the next thing you often wonder is …”what on earth will I…