As the bride planted a kiss on her new husband’s lips, her wedding guests erupted in applause, holding up their champagne glasses in celebration.
Queensland newlywed Melanie Doyle glanced around the room and smiled at her friends and family, contentedly hiding a clever secret.
Each glass of the celebratory bubbles was free.
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In fact, the entire bar tab was free, her makeup cost her nothing and she was not even out of pocket for her bouquet of flowers.
She had slashed thousands off her wedding bill — just by using loyalty cards.
“It was 365 days of doing nothing special which made our day perfect,” Melanie tells 7Life of how she saved upwards of $5,000 on her big day.
“Flybuys saved the day.”
Melanie has been a devoted consumer of the loyalty program Flybuys almost since its launch in 1994.
The program is partnered with stores such as Coles, Kmart and Target, where each dollar spent earns the user points.
The points can then be attributed to different rewards, with the consumer able to trade them in for cash at selected stores, get flights on partnered airlines or even purchase items direct through their online shop.
Melanie loved storing her points and trading them in for cash, allowing her to buy some luxuries she couldn’t normally afford.
But it was at her favourite restaurant, where her now husband, Clay, proposed, that Melanie realised just how valuable Flybuys could be.
“He (Clay) handed me a birthday card with two tickets to Antarctica,” she smiles at her 50th birthday present.
“And then another card, which was a wedding card that asked me to marry him.”
Tears filled her eyes and the loved-up couple began to plan their big day.
They picked their dream venue just three weeks after the proposal, and everything began to fall into place.
But they were shocked at how quickly costs began to accumulate.
The venue allowed the couple to build their own package, meaning they could supply many of their own items, such as alcohol.
With thousands of Flybuys points in her “bank”, Melanie realised they could actually have an open bar — for free.
Heading to their local bottle shop, they filled trolleys full of alcohol, champagne and soft drink.
“Every time I was buying my groceries at Coles, I was paying for the wedding,” Melanie explains about how easily she earned her loyalty points.
“I am not doing anything different or anything special, I am just scanning my card like you do with your credit card to pay.”
As Melanie piled her car boot full of their favourite drinks, she pondered how much more she could pay for using the Flybuys points she had amassed.
With the wedding booked out of town, she was so grateful for her friends and family who were making the trip.
To ease the burden of their financial costs, she organised breakfast hampers to the hotels where her guests were staying.
So the morning after the big day, each happy guest received a food hamper to help fill their stomachs after a big night celebrating.
Comprising an assortment of juice, eggs, cereals and breads, Melanie stocked each hamper herself and didn’t pay a cent.
“(It was) all from Coles and all using my Flybuys points,” she says.
Her Flybuys card was nicknamed her ‘wedding fund’ as she traded in points for her makeup, which she purchased from Kmart, and even her bouquet, which came from Coles.
For the 12 months leading up to the wedding, anywhere she could scan her Flybuys card, she could.
And anywhere she could use Flybuys points towards the big day, she did.
When it came time to say ‘I do’, Melanie says the day was everything she could have wished for.
With savings of at least $5,000, she is stoked — and she still can’t believe people don’t know how to use loyalty cards.
“It is not hard, even if you think you don’t use the shops that much,” she says, adding that everyone could be saving.
“Look into things like your health insurance and what providers are connected to that loyalty card.
“Telecommunications, all of your life expenses — you should be rewarded for everywhere you spend.”
Melanie’s top Flybuy tips
- Download the Flybuys app on your smartphone
- Connect all your life expenses to your loyalty cards
- Maximise your points (look out for double points offers)
- Don’t forget to cash in your points
You can join the Flybuys rewards system by visiting the website.