We all paid approximately $20,000 too much for our weddings.

I’m not planning to be a Bridezilla one day, but with the sheer amount of people I want at my wedding, I know it’s going to incur a pretty big fee.

An average Australian wedding costs around $36,000. (Did your jaw just fall to the floor? Mine too.)

And as much as most of us say that we would NEVER spend that kind of money on a wedding, the reality is that we’re all partial to a fairy light and a three-tier cake and well, it all adds up.

So, what if I told you that you could have the $30,000 dream wedding but only spend $100 to make it happen?

And before you say, “that’s impossible!” hear me out.

Have you ever heard of crowd funding? It’s usually done from online platforms, and is a way to collect money from people to fund an initiative (usually a web business).

But apparently, more and more people are turning to crowd funding as a way to pay for their weddings. Yes, couples from around the world are actually asking family, friends and strangers to help them pay for their big day.

Take Noah Breeze and Janica Smith as an example.

The young couple from North Country in the US recently turned to crowd funding to help pay for their wedding.

The couple told America’s ABC they’d decided to have a low budget wedding, costing them about $13,000.

But even taking a low budget approach, the duo needed financial support, so they took to the net. They found a crowd funding website called GoFundMe and set-up an account asking for financial support.

“The GoFundMe has been huge,” Breeze told ABC in America, “We were not expecting anything close to what we were asking.”

“Being able to see such generosity from complete strangers, it just gives me faith that there are still a lot of really good people out there, that they want to see people be happy,” Breeze told the online American site.

And with the average cost for a wedding in Australia even higher, it’s safe to say that it won’t take long for the trend to catch on here.

And doing it could be the smartest thing a couple ever does.

If you’re asking wedding guests to bring gifts worth around $100 each, or for guests to pitch in on your long awaited honeymoon – would it really be that strange to ask them to pay for the actual day instead?

Is it really any different to pitching in for a honeymoon, or for that Vitamix or Dinosaur Designs bowl?

Personally, I think it’s a little weird. I would never invite a crowd over for dinner and ask them to provide all food and drinks, while I just host. So I wouldn’t do the same for my wedding.

That is, if I was getting married….

Here’s some DIY wedding ideas to help cut the costs of your special day…

Would you ask friends or strangers to help pay for your wedding?