A Dream Wedding Without the Debt
“The [wedding] industry is kind of designed to confuse you and make you spend more money,” banquet hall operator Brad Schreiber told the Houston Chronicle.
So true!
Will your guests’ experience be enhanced by a $100 centerpiece over a $10 one? Will they notice the fine details? Some will. Others will enjoy themselves to the fullest as long as the food as good.
The advice Sajan and I got during our wedding planning was to negotiate, negotiate, negotiate. Not necessarily to get the cheapest price, but to get the most value out of what you’re paying for. Rather than picking and choosing from packages offered to you, work with your vendor to create a custom package with an adjusted price. Our photos were slightly less expensive because we made the package fit our needs.
One newlywed in the Chron article said, “If you spend less money, it’s less stress. When you’re in the mind-set already and you’re counting gas and everything, you just realize how everything adds up. You kind of realize well, if we don’t have 100 bouquets of flowers it will be fine. It just puts it in perspective.”
The more money left over for the mortgage, the better.
Living (It Up) On a Budget
So how are your finances?
If your answer is “fairly shaky” or “very shaky,” you’re like two out of every five people, a recent study showed.
Everyone’s worried about money. Before Sajan and I married, we had to sit and talk about our views on spending. We try to merge our good habits and get rid of the bad ones.
The other day, we bought one of those pokey receipt spikes to help track our spending. Until then, we threw receipts on a designated spot on the floor. (Not something I would recommend.) At least once a week I review the receipts and enter the numbers into a spreadsheet with different categories. Read the rest of this entry »
