Speaker 1: Episode forty nine, Saving Money on Weddings, Part two. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity, and live with your life. Here your host
Speaker 1: Jen and Jill. Yes, Yes, welcome to the second part
Speaker 1: of Saving Money on Weddings, Reception and Honeymoon Edition. It's
Speaker 1: been almost a year since we recorded part one. Hasn't
Speaker 1: really have We been doing this for a year while
Speaker 1: we are on episode forty nine and part one was
Speaker 1: episode six, so it's been quite a long time. And
Speaker 1: we've had several requests uh to complete the weddings um segments.
Speaker 1: So you've been doing this for forty nine weeks. I know.
Speaker 1: Wait until wait until we get to episode fifty two.
Speaker 1: Our one year anniversary special is going to be very special.
Speaker 1: It's going to be a Yes, it's a highly highly
Speaker 1: requested episode that we've had. Uh. So, before we get
Speaker 1: into today's also highly requested episode, we gotta start with
Speaker 1: some sponsors. Gotta do it. So today's episode brought to
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Speaker 1: You can't. You really can't, because I'm I'm not here
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Speaker 1: could argue with your stereo. And today's episodes also brought
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Speaker 1: that things in your home have it. M Oh, that
Speaker 1: was deep. Like that up, it's like a wow at
Speaker 1: the end, it was surprising, kind of like the cream
Speaker 1: in the middle of an OREO. Yeah, everybody's favorite part.
Speaker 1: It doesn't really surprise me. It's just a good part. Yeah. Wow.
Speaker 1: How are you you to follow up on our cleaning episode?
Speaker 1: I think that was it where we talked about changes
Speaker 1: we were going to make. Was this was that the episode?
Speaker 1: I forget which episode, but are you using cloth napkins? Yes?
Speaker 1: That was from our eco friendly frugality episode. I have
Speaker 1: not bought any yet, but it's just been several weeks,
Speaker 1: so I need some time to find them make them out.
Speaker 1: That's the thing. I need to find some old curtains
Speaker 1: from the thrift store and I haven't had time to
Speaker 1: go so but I will. And if anybody has any recommendations,
Speaker 1: like for ones that they use, please let us know
Speaker 1: in the Frugal Friends community on Facebook. You can find
Speaker 1: that at either searching Frugal Friends community or Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast dot com. Slash group because I would really love
Speaker 1: your recommendations on that. She would She's being serious. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what about you, Jill? You said you were going to
Speaker 1: make a change. I can't remember what it was. Listen
Speaker 1: to me. I am never home, okay, since we recorded
Speaker 1: that episode. I don't think I've been home in Jamaica,
Speaker 1: in Vegas. I'm currently in Jersey. So I can't be
Speaker 1: held responsible or accountable for anything I say. Really right,
Speaker 1: that lets me off the hook. I don't have to
Speaker 1: make real life choices when I'm constantly traveling. Nope, I
Speaker 1: don't hold you accountable. Thank you, thank you. I feel
Speaker 1: so validated. But I'm glad our listeners held us accountable
Speaker 1: for part two of the Weddings episode, or we for
Speaker 1: sure would not have done it. We kind of packed
Speaker 1: ourselves into a corner with like calling it part one.
Speaker 1: I mean, and you can't just have a part one
Speaker 1: and then nothing. It's like calling your first party an
Speaker 1: annual party. It's like, well, this is the first one.
Speaker 1: You can't call it annual until you do it again
Speaker 1: next year, exactly. So we started with episode six and
Speaker 1: that was about how to save money on the actual ceremony,
Speaker 1: the wedding dress, the decor stuff like that. So the
Speaker 1: first half of the wedding, So definitely head back into
Speaker 1: the Archives episode six and listen to that if you
Speaker 1: were planning a wedding. This part is specifically going to
Speaker 1: be on mostly the reception and then some about the honeymoon,
Speaker 1: because I mean, with every good party, you need an
Speaker 1: after party, so and and and then an after after
Speaker 1: party and then has a vacation. Yeah, so you you
Speaker 1: need it, but we're gonna show you. We're going to
Speaker 1: tell you how to save on it. And so our
Speaker 1: first article is about the reception and it is from
Speaker 1: Love to Know dot com and it is cheap Wedding
Speaker 1: Reception Ideas. Forgive them for using the word cheap. They
Speaker 1: know not. They threw around the word cheap a lot,
Speaker 1: and I had this like visceral reaction to what it
Speaker 1: was surprising. I actually had a bodily reaction to the
Speaker 1: word cheap. I was like, no, I don't like this.
Speaker 1: This is not how we're describing a wedding. But they
Speaker 1: did have some really good ideas. Jill were what were
Speaker 1: your tops? Yeah, so they went through some ideas for receptions,
Speaker 1: just a location for receptions. I thought that they weren't
Speaker 1: super creative. Probably you've heard of this if you already
Speaker 1: are a frugal person, but it does get the wheel
Speaker 1: spinning that there are other options than just the country club.
Speaker 1: So they mentioned there's three that they mentioned, a religious hall, uh,
Speaker 1: someone's backyard, and a club hall. So with that, they're
Speaker 1: saying that a lot of times at churches or religious
Speaker 1: buildings will have a big kitchen, like a commercial sized kitchen,
Speaker 1: and a large room attached to it that you could
Speaker 1: use and decorate and make it look nice. So if
Speaker 1: you're getting married in a church and they happen to
Speaker 1: have a large room that you could have your reception
Speaker 1: in and you can kind of get a package deal,
Speaker 1: then that's something to consider. Also someone's backyard. If you're
Speaker 1: not super concerned about whether or not it's going to rain,
Speaker 1: or you want to do the whole tent rental, bathroom
Speaker 1: rental deal, you can consider a backyard. I will say
Speaker 1: that I'm not sure that that's always going to be
Speaker 1: the cheapest option. If you do, like I said, rent
Speaker 1: the porter potty, rent the tent, rent the chairs, rent them,
Speaker 1: it really can add up. But if you can use
Speaker 1: the house for facilities and the kitchen to cook in
Speaker 1: and you're not having a lot of people. I almost
Speaker 1: did like a backyard and b y o C like
Speaker 1: bring your own chair. My mom thought it was the
Speaker 1: tackiest thing. She's like, where are people gonna sit? And
Speaker 1: I'm like, or where are they gonna eat? And I
Speaker 1: eat off your labs like it's it's gonna be low key,
Speaker 1: We'll order some pizzas like on our way from the
Speaker 1: church back to the backyard. We didn't end up doing this,
Speaker 1: but in my mind I was fine with that anyhow.
Speaker 1: And then they also mentioned club halls, So these are
Speaker 1: your fire halls, it's your v A facilities, club, scouts, whatever.
Speaker 1: If there's big buildings that are kind of community oriented,
Speaker 1: even community centers, usually that means it's a place where
Speaker 1: elderly gather and play bingo. But there can be some
Speaker 1: really nice community halls that you could rent out for
Speaker 1: way cheaper than an actual venue. So it's worth starting
Speaker 1: to get creative. Jen, I love what you guys did
Speaker 1: for your venue. Yeah, we so I kind of disagree
Speaker 1: with their venue choices, just because I would be willing
Speaker 1: to pay a little bit more for a venue that
Speaker 1: doesn't need any decorating, because decorations really add up. And
Speaker 1: like you said, if you're doing like backyard, the porta potty,
Speaker 1: the tents, those are not cheap and I thought that
Speaker 1: would be a frugal way to go, but when you
Speaker 1: when I started pricing it out like it was super expensive.
Speaker 1: So we did it at a at the shuffle Board
Speaker 1: Courts um, which are like a big thing here in St. Pete,
Speaker 1: and it's owned by the city, so it isn't that expensive.
Speaker 1: But it is from the nineteen twenties and it's white buildings,
Speaker 1: green courts, and so it was it's very vintage looking,
Speaker 1: so it didn't need any the core like it was.
Speaker 1: We just used the space as decorations. So that's also
Speaker 1: something to consider if you're looking at a place that's
Speaker 1: just slightly more expensive, think about something that you won't
Speaker 1: have to decorate and you can use the actual space
Speaker 1: as decor I do like that one. I would also
Speaker 1: add in, at least in our area. This isn't everywhere,
Speaker 1: but there's a ton of barns around our area, so
Speaker 1: there could be people who would be willing to run
Speaker 1: out of barn, so at least that's enclosed. You may
Speaker 1: still have to get a porter potty, but you may
Speaker 1: not have as much decoration to do. You don't have
Speaker 1: to worry about renting a tent. Also, banquet halls in restaurants,
Speaker 1: so this is actually what Eric and I did when
Speaker 1: we got married, so it could see a lot of people.
Speaker 1: We were able to have up to like four hundred
Speaker 1: people in this banquet hall. But it wasn't a country club,
Speaker 1: so it kind of flew under the radar. Off it
Speaker 1: wasn't a super expensive place. We were able to pick
Speaker 1: what kind of food I think we could have even
Speaker 1: brought in in a different cater They ended up giving
Speaker 1: us a great deal. It was only like fourteen dollars
Speaker 1: ahead to do chicken and pasta and salad. It was yeah, fantastic.
Speaker 1: So it was something a little bit different. So just
Speaker 1: think outside the box too. If you know of you
Speaker 1: know restaurants that tend to be the elderly flock there,
Speaker 1: but they've got banquet halls, you never know you might
Speaker 1: be able to work with them a little bit more
Speaker 1: on the catering or bringing in If you choose to
Speaker 1: have a bar, you could bring in your own alcohol
Speaker 1: rather than paying for that at at a venue who
Speaker 1: has it, so thinking outside the box on this can
Speaker 1: really be helpful. We even had friends to who got
Speaker 1: married in a park. Sometimes parks will have buildings on it,
Speaker 1: whether they be a pavilion or even sometimes nicer facilities
Speaker 1: than just a pavilion. And like you said, Jen, you
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about the decorating. It's a beautiful location.
Speaker 1: Maybe there's a pond or a lake or a river
Speaker 1: in the back and you're out in nature, but you've
Speaker 1: got the pavilion you've got, or you've got these structures
Speaker 1: that you just have to rent, like you would rent
Speaker 1: if you were having a family reunion kind of a thing.
Speaker 1: So definitely there's a lot out there, so do some research.
Speaker 1: Look within an hour radius of where you live, where
Speaker 1: other people have gotten married. It does not have to
Speaker 1: be the traditional country club we're out. Yeah, definitely. Another
Speaker 1: one that I wanted to point out that was on
Speaker 1: this list is doing the reception favors. So we personally
Speaker 1: got sunglasses, and while it may not have been the
Speaker 1: cheapest thing we could do, we could have, you know,
Speaker 1: just done some like hers Hershey Kishes or whatever. Um.
Speaker 1: We have used those sunglasses since our wedding and they're
Speaker 1: just cheap sunglasses, and so everybody loved them, everybody used them,
Speaker 1: and we even got a pair. We met you guys
Speaker 1: a year after you got married and snagged a hair
Speaker 1: off of you because we had so many left over
Speaker 1: that whenever we lose some sunglasses or need some cheap
Speaker 1: sunglasses for something, we are able to use our old
Speaker 1: wedding favors. And so they have just come in so handy. Um. So.
Speaker 1: So having reception favors that are useful and still cheap
Speaker 1: like that is a fantastic idea because most people will
Speaker 1: you know, spring for eminem's with their faces on it
Speaker 1: or do little tells. Yeah that's the thing. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: And and so just think you're when your wedding is over,
Speaker 1: you're going to have so many favors left over. Do
Speaker 1: you need like fifty tins of mints? And it's also
Speaker 1: wasteful because like you're just going to throw them away
Speaker 1: and they're gonna end up in a landfill. We don't
Speaker 1: not do favors. Maybe we were awful people, but we
Speaker 1: didn't do We were like, you're welcome, you got to
Speaker 1: celebrate with us, and we fed you. So I know
Speaker 1: that's also an option to this says, so, yeah, I
Speaker 1: know a lot of people in our community group said
Speaker 1: skip the favors, but I just found having those sunglasses
Speaker 1: for some work. That was the gift that kept on giving.
Speaker 1: It was. This article also lists ideas for food, so
Speaker 1: there's tons of options here regarding beverages. Obviously, if you
Speaker 1: go to no alcohol route, then that is less expensive
Speaker 1: than going the alcohol route. Obviously, if you do want
Speaker 1: to have some selection of alcoholic beverages, you can choose
Speaker 1: one thing, just having one type of beer, one type
Speaker 1: of champagne, whatever that is. Just make it a simple selection. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so that that can limit costs. If you find
Speaker 1: a b y O venue, then that's that's fantastic too,
Speaker 1: because then you can purchase the alcohol yourself and you're
Speaker 1: you're getting it at cost and then you know, you
Speaker 1: can have some family member or friends serve it, or
Speaker 1: you could you know, hire somebody whatever. But that that
Speaker 1: can be a less expensive way of doing it. And
Speaker 1: as far as food goes, going simple this does not
Speaker 1: have to be the best meal that your gathers are
Speaker 1: going to get that week. It does not have to
Speaker 1: be a prime reb Nope, you can do simple salads pasta.
Speaker 1: If you want to add meat to it, do chicken.
Speaker 1: But really you could do spaghetti and salad and bread.
Speaker 1: People would be so thrilled and just kill it on
Speaker 1: the dance floor and you're fine. You don't need to
Speaker 1: offer five million different things to your guests. You could
Speaker 1: also do uh, sandwich bar. They mentioned doing finger foods
Speaker 1: dessert bar like cookies. You don't have to get the
Speaker 1: cake if you don't want to. I know some people
Speaker 1: don't even like cakes. So yeah, I've been to a
Speaker 1: wedding that does a dessert bar and a it was
Speaker 1: is delicious because they sprung for the real good desserts
Speaker 1: because they didn't have to pay for like chicken and
Speaker 1: expense other expensive you know foods um and then be
Speaker 1: there was so much left over we got to take
Speaker 1: some home. Yeah, And then and that could be the
Speaker 1: favor if you don't do a wedding cake and you
Speaker 1: could just have little baggies for people to take home
Speaker 1: some cookies or little cheesecake bites or brownies or whatever
Speaker 1: you decide to do. And that's two birds. I also
Speaker 1: know that. And obviously every place is different, and even
Speaker 1: how weddings are traditionally celebrated. So I've heard that in
Speaker 1: the South they will even do just desserts or just
Speaker 1: appetizers and have a shorter reception. I don't know you
Speaker 1: live in the South, but Florida is a different kind
Speaker 1: of South then. I mean, that was how the dessert
Speaker 1: wedding that I went to was. It was just desserts,
Speaker 1: and it was is a little earlier because yeah, by
Speaker 1: the time we were all done, we all kind of
Speaker 1: wanted some real food, and but it was so it
Speaker 1: ended early enough to where a bunch of us could
Speaker 1: go out to eat afterwards. And so with that style,
Speaker 1: you could have a lot more people. And so this
Speaker 1: is where some of the priority could come in of
Speaker 1: do you want to just be able to invite everybody
Speaker 1: and their mom? Fine, then make it clear that come
Speaker 1: celebrate with us. We're gonna have some amazing desserts, and
Speaker 1: then we're going out to this restaurant you can buy
Speaker 1: your own food. The funny thing was is that after
Speaker 1: that wedding, we went to this taco shop to get
Speaker 1: some food and we ran into the groom. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: He was grabbing some tacos. Yes, it was real good.
Speaker 1: Another thing I liked from this list was um what
Speaker 1: we did instead of a DJ, we had a Spotify
Speaker 1: playlist that one of Travis's family members ran. And so
Speaker 1: part of getting a DJ is that they pump the
Speaker 1: crowd up. And so if you're not going to have
Speaker 1: an actual DJ or band, then you just have to
Speaker 1: find an alternative to keep your guests engaged, um and
Speaker 1: get them out onto the dance floor. So we like
Speaker 1: went for the you know whole shipping with the venue. Again,
Speaker 1: we had the shuffle board courts open, so we had
Speaker 1: somebody there from the court um there to hand out
Speaker 1: like the sticks and the pucks and which are actually
Speaker 1: called tangs and biscuits what yeah, I know, and uh
Speaker 1: so he was like kind of monitoring that and teaching
Speaker 1: people how to play and stuff. So that's kind of
Speaker 1: how we kept the adults engaged. And then for kids,
Speaker 1: we just had some like coloring sheets and crayms. Oh
Speaker 1: that's cool. Yeah, so it's you can still make it
Speaker 1: fun without the DJ. Yeah. Friends of mine that got
Speaker 1: got married in a park, they had tons of lawn games.
Speaker 1: So most people were just having a blast, treating it
Speaker 1: like just a really amazing fun backyard party with lawn
Speaker 1: games and there was dancing, but it was kind of
Speaker 1: like you could have fun doing either one of those things, right,
Speaker 1: And that's the thing, like, sometimes you can be too
Speaker 1: frugal with your parties, uh and kind of forget some
Speaker 1: of the components that cutting costs uh inherently eliminate. So
Speaker 1: you just have to be aware of those things. And
Speaker 1: kind of as long as people are engaged in some way,
Speaker 1: they are not going to notice that there's no ten
Speaker 1: thousand dollar DJ right available, right, And some people are
Speaker 1: annoyed by that DJ anyhow so I know some of
Speaker 1: them are bad, some of them are really good. Uh.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately got married at a time where every wedding I
Speaker 1: went to was using like the same DJ, and he
Speaker 1: was just so good, like best wedding DJ to date.
Speaker 1: And I was like, how much is zy? And They're
Speaker 1: like ten thousand dollars and I was like no, and
Speaker 1: not spending that whole kind of money on my entire wedding. No,
Speaker 1: no, No No, thatt of fight is kind of a down
Speaker 1: payment on a house. Right, So yeah, I was a
Speaker 1: little like embarrassed to not use epic DJ. So that's
Speaker 1: why I had to counter it with like coloring and games.
Speaker 1: I would have been embarrassed to pay that amount of
Speaker 1: money for a DJ. I would have to in hindsight,
Speaker 1: if I had, I would have like major regretted it, right.
Speaker 1: I also, of course this is not in the article,
Speaker 1: but it's the frugal way. I mean, I guess it's
Speaker 1: not considered bartering would be just gift giving, but tapping
Speaker 1: in those friendships, and I guess they'd be bartering in
Speaker 1: the sense of, you don't have to get me a
Speaker 1: wedding gift. Can you do my hair? Could you do
Speaker 1: the flowers? Can you DJ? We had, we had friends DJ.
Speaker 1: We used our own sound system. I mean, thankfully my
Speaker 1: husband's a musician, so we had access to that equipment.
Speaker 1: But can you can you rent it at a low
Speaker 1: cost from a local church. Do you have buddies who
Speaker 1: have sound equipment? Even? Do you have a friend who
Speaker 1: will put together a playlist for you on their phone
Speaker 1: and play it and make sure that the flow is good,
Speaker 1: whatever the case is, pull on your friends, say don't
Speaker 1: give me a check, don't get me a gift, like
Speaker 1: could you help me day of? And that's what could
Speaker 1: really pull together a really nice wedding for you. That
Speaker 1: was how we did ours. That's how we pulled ours
Speaker 1: off because so many people rallied around just to give
Speaker 1: of services or time in lieu of a gift, and
Speaker 1: that was so meaning bowl and we had a blast. Yeah,
Speaker 1: don't be afraid to ask for things like that from
Speaker 1: your wedding because people love being able to contribute to
Speaker 1: your special day, especially if it means they won't have
Speaker 1: to get you something off of your registry. Like I
Speaker 1: had a friend that did my makeup, and on the
Speaker 1: other hand, when I was a part of a wedding
Speaker 1: and everybody was paying sixty bucks to get their makeup done,
Speaker 1: I opted to do my own makeup and I mean
Speaker 1: I put on some extra foundation. It looked just like
Speaker 1: the air brushing. So also, don't be afraid to like
Speaker 1: turn down things like that. And as a frugal person myself,
Speaker 1: I love the opportunity to come and help at a wedding,
Speaker 1: give of our sound equipment, come get a free meal,
Speaker 1: and not need to give a gift. That's fantastic for
Speaker 1: me because I've done something for you and it's the
Speaker 1: night didn't cost me anything. So consider that it might
Speaker 1: be a blessing for the person who you're asking for this,
Speaker 1: you know, favor or gift from. Yeah, definitely. The last
Speaker 1: thing I have to say about receptions is about the
Speaker 1: center pieces. So what we did was cheap white candles
Speaker 1: we got off the internet with white hydrangees that you
Speaker 1: could get from Trader Joe's. We had a family friend
Speaker 1: that did our flowers for free. That was her gift,
Speaker 1: again like utilizing your community and your family, um in
Speaker 1: lieu of physical gifts. We had her do our flowers
Speaker 1: and they were beautiful. I was actually prepared for them
Speaker 1: to be just like mediocre, because like sometimes you don't
Speaker 1: know what you're going to get if it's a free
Speaker 1: family gift. But they were absolutely gorgeous. Like I've never
Speaker 1: seen wedding flowers better than what we had. UM. So
Speaker 1: then yeah, so it was just like a I went
Speaker 1: with a nice flower and a cheap candle. That's it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't even remember what we did, but I know
Speaker 1: that they weren't flowers. I think it was some sort
Speaker 1: of we're coming up on seven years now, so it
Speaker 1: was a different time, different styles, even a different time.
Speaker 1: But the olden days, the wedding industry is shifting so
Speaker 1: much so quickly that like what we did is already
Speaker 1: out of style. But yes, we we used reusable things.
Speaker 1: It wasn't perishable, so I was able to prep them
Speaker 1: ahead of time. It was less expensive, and yeah it worked.
Speaker 1: I don't really care, right, I'm seven years out. Who
Speaker 1: cares what my center pieces looked like? I know, I know,
Speaker 1: they don't even talk about center pieces in this I
Speaker 1: just added it in because it was like one thing
Speaker 1: because I actually was very picky. I wanted real flowers,
Speaker 1: um and a lot of people because it's like sometimes
Speaker 1: fake flowers are cheaper, and sometimes real flowers are cheaper.
Speaker 1: But the thing with real flowers or the candles in
Speaker 1: our case, like we were able to resell those candles
Speaker 1: because they were only burning for a few hours and
Speaker 1: they still look great, so we were able to recoup
Speaker 1: some of our costs. Um. Same with flowers. But flowers
Speaker 1: are a little more um like specific, and you know,
Speaker 1: if you get colors that are like your chosen colors,
Speaker 1: so they're a little harder to sell. But think about
Speaker 1: what you can sell afterwards and like recoup your costs on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a smart idea too. I do have friends who
Speaker 1: I don't know if produced junction is a thing everywhere.
Speaker 1: But basically it's inexpensive flowers and produce veggies and fruit.
Speaker 1: And they just had a friend that was the wedding
Speaker 1: gift to them was to buy all the flowers. They
Speaker 1: just went the week of the wedding. So it was
Speaker 1: whatever produced Junction had in stock for flowers was going
Speaker 1: to be what her center pieces were made out of.
Speaker 1: And they just collected bottles throughout the couple of months
Speaker 1: leading up to it and put all these different ended
Speaker 1: up just being all different kinds of like wild flowers
Speaker 1: in these eclectic bottles on the table. It was stunning,
Speaker 1: really really beautiful, and the flowers only cost like a
Speaker 1: hundred fifty dollars. But but then you have to be flexible.
Speaker 1: It was whatever the flower they had in stock, whatever
Speaker 1: types they had, but usually they've got good options. But yeah,
Speaker 1: with whatever you want to do, there is an inexpensive
Speaker 1: way of doing it. You just have to be creative. Yeah,
Speaker 1: frugality comes with flexibility. You have to be flexible to
Speaker 1: be frugal. So we'll leave it with that and we'll
Speaker 1: move on to honeymoons. Yes, everybody favorite. I Actually my
Speaker 1: honeymoon was not the best. I cried several times on
Speaker 1: my head anymoon, I think because I was just so
Speaker 1: stressed from like beforehand, and then I was like married,
Speaker 1: and I didn't know how to process that there's a
Speaker 1: there's a man that I'm married to. Now. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god, this is I'm I'm in,
Speaker 1: I'm in, this is it. And I couldn't took me
Speaker 1: a good week to process it. Yeah. So yeah, your
Speaker 1: honeymoon experiences better than mine. I had a fantastic honeymoon.
Speaker 1: I was just telling a friend today that after my honeymoon,
Speaker 1: I was like, I came home and like, I want
Speaker 1: to go on another honeymoon. That was so fun, Like
Speaker 1: I want to do this again. And my friends were like, um, yeah,
Speaker 1: now they're just called vacations. Jill, Like, there's no like
Speaker 1: having another honeymoon. I felt very specifically that I wanted
Speaker 1: it to be a honeymoon, but whatever, seven years and
Speaker 1: I am, I'm on board with vacation. Now you feel
Speaker 1: like you can splurge a little extra with honeymoon, and
Speaker 1: so that's why it's important to be as frugal as
Speaker 1: possible in your thinking, so that even your splurge is
Speaker 1: a frugal splurge. So that's I like. That sounds sounds
Speaker 1: like those two words don't go together, but you did it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they do. Jill, what were your favorites from? This is
Speaker 1: um from trip savvy dot com and it's called affordable
Speaker 1: honeymoon ideas. What was your favors job? Well, so this
Speaker 1: idea just came up recently because I was talking with
Speaker 1: someone who did this. They suggested, then this It won't
Speaker 1: be for everybody, but combining two things, having your wedding
Speaker 1: and your honeymoon be one and the same. So basically
Speaker 1: we're talking destination weddings. Typically. Obviously you could do it,
Speaker 1: you know, in a place in your area that is
Speaker 1: hotel and wedding venue, but destination weddings. And the reason
Speaker 1: that I do like this concept depends on your situation
Speaker 1: is because it can overall reduce costs. While it sounds like,
Speaker 1: what flying to Jamaica and having my wedding there, that's
Speaker 1: going to be so much money, But at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, if then that reduces your guest list
Speaker 1: to thirty people, that's all you're paying for. And a
Speaker 1: lot of times these places will offer packages, so if
Speaker 1: you're already staying for three plus nights, there can be
Speaker 1: a lot of freebees. Then associated they might do you know,
Speaker 1: their bare minimum wedding package for you then or not.
Speaker 1: Either way it's it still is condensing. It's um, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's packaging. You're both your wedding and your honeymoon. So
Speaker 1: it could be something to consider if you have a
Speaker 1: small party that you want to be there, if you
Speaker 1: want to cut costs, but you also want to really
Speaker 1: kill or honeymoon. I think that it's definitely worth considering. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is a great way. If your spouse has a
Speaker 1: large family and you don't want to invite them all,
Speaker 1: then you just say, oh, we're going to the Bahamas
Speaker 1: to get married. You're all invited and nobody comes, so yeah,
Speaker 1: it's and then it's on them, yeah, or whether or
Speaker 1: not it's a family you don't want to be around.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of people who they have literally hundreds
Speaker 1: of friends who they would love to be able to invite,
Speaker 1: and this kind of puts it back on the people
Speaker 1: so that you don't have to go through and pick
Speaker 1: and choose who's going to be there, who's not going
Speaker 1: to be there. It's okay that this will help to
Speaker 1: weed it out. So again, It's not for everybody, but
Speaker 1: it could be a really good option for some how
Speaker 1: about you, Jen? I love the cruise from home one,
Speaker 1: and that's because I live in Florida and we have
Speaker 1: so many cruise ports um and we actually have one
Speaker 1: that's like twenty minutes away from our home. But um,
Speaker 1: so a you can combine when ing and honeymoon. That
Speaker 1: is one thing you can do with the cruise and
Speaker 1: be you can find really great deals on cruises and
Speaker 1: if you're going to one close to home, then you
Speaker 1: don't have to fly out. Um. I would just find
Speaker 1: a cheaper place than the port for your car. Usually
Speaker 1: there will be um websites for cruise parking um that
Speaker 1: you just you park at like a hotel or something
Speaker 1: and you take a bus down. So yeah, I I
Speaker 1: love that idea because I love cruises. I think they're
Speaker 1: a great frugal vacation. I mean, you can eat twenty
Speaker 1: four hours a day and if everything is included, like
Speaker 1: an ice cream. Good idea for baby moon then too,
Speaker 1: write right, you don't get to sea sick, Well, they
Speaker 1: don't let you cruise after twenty four weeks. Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 1: So I couldn't take a baby moon cruise. But I
Speaker 1: would definitely take a cruise honeymoon if I could do
Speaker 1: it over again, because we found uh, I think one
Speaker 1: of the parts of our honeymoon that was like uncomfortable
Speaker 1: for me was that we that is the first time
Speaker 1: we had traveled together like for that long, and we
Speaker 1: found that we have different traveling styles. But on a
Speaker 1: cruise where everything's included, you can do whatever you want
Speaker 1: like together, separate, and so we cruise really well together. Nice. Yeah, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: because you're not worried about spending. So yeah, for the
Speaker 1: frugal person, all inclusives. This is not on the list,
Speaker 1: but the cruise is all inclusive. But other all inclusives,
Speaker 1: if you can find it through a group on or
Speaker 1: a travel agent or whatever, that can be really fantastic
Speaker 1: because it takes out the guesswork of how much is
Speaker 1: this cost? Thing? But then it also helps with stress,
Speaker 1: like you can just go that's it, you made it.
Speaker 1: There's no needing to figure this out, figure that out,
Speaker 1: carry cash with you, hide your cash. It's just it's done.
Speaker 1: It's already have to figure it out. And after the
Speaker 1: stress of a wedding, that's very nice. You just need
Speaker 1: to be told what to do. You know, don't have
Speaker 1: fun over here, go have fun over here. It's sleep now,
Speaker 1: it's nighttime. You don't have to plan any of it.
Speaker 1: It's already done. I also liked the idea for those
Speaker 1: who are really pinching pennies on their honeymoon that you
Speaker 1: can even do cruises to nowhere where they literally will
Speaker 1: leave the port, go out to sea for two nights
Speaker 1: and bring you right back. It sounds silly, but it
Speaker 1: really can make you feel like you're in a different environment.
Speaker 1: It's still fun. I mean, really, that's the fun of
Speaker 1: a cruise anyway. A lot of people don't even get
Speaker 1: off at the courts. When you do arrive at these
Speaker 1: different destinations, just enjoy the ship, enjoy the food that's
Speaker 1: all inclusive, and then come right back to shore. So
Speaker 1: it would be something to consider. Sometimes the best part
Speaker 1: of the ports is when everybody else gets off and
Speaker 1: you get the pull to yourself. It's true, that's a
Speaker 1: good point, yep. So they also mentioned scoring last minute deals,
Speaker 1: which by its very nature, you're waiting till the last minute,
Speaker 1: so this is obviously not for everyone. And not famine,
Speaker 1: not famine, leaving that very important detail up to chance
Speaker 1: is a risky one, but there's those of you out
Speaker 1: there who are going to do this, So it is
Speaker 1: worth mentioning that, yes, you can get deals last minute.
Speaker 1: You again would have to be flexible. So where these
Speaker 1: last minute deals are too? Who knows? You might be
Speaker 1: going to West Virginia. Sorry, we Scrgina. Actually is it?
Speaker 1: Is it West Virginia's for lovers or is that just Virginia.
Speaker 1: It's just Virginia, West Virginia for lovers, West Virginia's for cousins?
Speaker 1: Oh god, yeah, No. I could not wait until the
Speaker 1: last minute. That is not me. I'm a planner. I
Speaker 1: like to know what's happening, and so waiting to the
Speaker 1: last minute just did not fly right with me. I
Speaker 1: would rather on the other end of the spectrum, if
Speaker 1: you book super early, you can also get crazy good deals,
Speaker 1: So that would be me. I would book crazy early
Speaker 1: so I could get it out of the way. It's
Speaker 1: worth mentioning that waiting until the last minute could mean
Speaker 1: that you then get desperate if you don't, if you
Speaker 1: then realize, you know what, I actually did want a
Speaker 1: really fantastic honeymoon, So now I'm going to splurge on it,
Speaker 1: So just be careful with that. Know yourself, well, are
Speaker 1: you genuinely flexible? You can do whatever in the last minute, fine,
Speaker 1: do it. But if you're just trying to be cheap
Speaker 1: and save some money hoping that you're going to get
Speaker 1: this amazing deal last minute, I just I wouldn't bank
Speaker 1: on that, and you could then end up spending more
Speaker 1: money than you would have if you just had booked
Speaker 1: it a few months earlier. You know, it's like trying
Speaker 1: to buy a wedding dress from China and then it
Speaker 1: turns out to be a potato sack and then you
Speaker 1: have to spend more money on a legit dress. Uh,
Speaker 1: what story are you referencing, Jen, I'm just using a
Speaker 1: hypothetically for those of you who haven't listened to episode six,
Speaker 1: Jenn is referencing my story where I thought I didn't
Speaker 1: care about my wedding dress and I would just get
Speaker 1: one from China, and then it shows up and it's
Speaker 1: not what I wanted, and I realized that I do
Speaker 1: want to look beautiful on my wedding day. What was
Speaker 1: I thinking? So then I had displurage on something off
Speaker 1: the rack and get it Taylor made to fit my body,
Speaker 1: and you know the end of the day, I got married,
Speaker 1: but I learned a valuable lesson. So don't do that
Speaker 1: with your dress or your honeymoon, two very important things. Yes,
Speaker 1: do that with your son. Pieces right. You know what
Speaker 1: else is an important thing? Jill? Is it sub bill?
Speaker 1: That's right? It's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 1: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 1: is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your
Speaker 1: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 1: that bill anymore. That's built buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this
Speaker 1: is the bill of the week. Hey, ladies, great podcast.
Speaker 1: This is Body from Marthy's from Pennsylvania, and I have
Speaker 1: an Austin bill of the week. Seven years ago, we
Speaker 1: adopted our loved a little Henny. Well it's not real,
Speaker 1: little hundred thirty couns of fur. But I love paying
Speaker 1: bills for him. I love buying treats. I love buying toys,
Speaker 1: this food and anything he needs. I hope you enjoy
Speaker 1: your week by a sweet hemmy, a puppy, And yeah,
Speaker 1: sometimes you gotta think they take bills just like abies.
Speaker 1: If that bills, are you sure that hemmy is a puppy.
Speaker 1: I mean a hundred and thirty pounds. It could be
Speaker 1: a really large guinea pig. Girl. You need to think
Speaker 1: that through. I think that one through. That's awesome though,
Speaker 1: And isn't that so true that when we really care
Speaker 1: about something or value it, then like the cost of
Speaker 1: caring for that thing maintaining that living being is a dual.
Speaker 1: That's so fantastic. Thanks for sharing. And yeah, it's worth
Speaker 1: sacrificing other things for so you can better afford those bills.
Speaker 1: I love that. Thank you so so much, Bonnie. And
Speaker 1: we Pennsylvanians need those things to look forward to. Bonnie,
Speaker 1: I'm right there with you. You're not complaining about Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: but listen, there's a ton of snow here. So I'm
Speaker 1: so glad that you have Hanny to keep you company.
Speaker 1: I feel it and warm, warm. Yeah. If you have
Speaker 1: a hemmy or a puppy or any any bill related
Speaker 1: to animals, please submit it to Frugal Friends podcast dot
Speaker 1: com slash bill and we want to hear about it.
Speaker 1: So yeah, we love them, especially like the solidarity found
Speaker 1: in Pennsylvanians. I know, right, if you're from Pennsylvania, needs it,
Speaker 1: needs it. Yeah, I need friends obviously. I started a
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast, I know, and I'm in Florida, so
Speaker 1: I can't. I can't be with torture upon torture. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we have frugal friends in our Facebook community to all over,
Speaker 1: which is so fun. They have provided the fodder for
Speaker 1: today's lightning round. So we have asked the frugal friends
Speaker 1: how they saved on their wedding, and you know what,
Speaker 1: they have better advice than Google does well because they're
Speaker 1: as they always do, because it's real life, not just
Speaker 1: written for search engine optimization. So we're going to share
Speaker 1: it with you. So Rachel from our group says that
Speaker 1: finding a city building is a lot cheaper than a
Speaker 1: private venue when it comes to where you're going to
Speaker 1: have your reception or even get married. So that's a
Speaker 1: fantastic tip if you live near a city, see what
Speaker 1: they've got or just some sort of town building rather
Speaker 1: than yeah, your country club. So thanks Rachel, exactly. That
Speaker 1: was how we got the Sheffle Board Club was so
Speaker 1: inexpensive because it's a city venue. So all right, Christina says,
Speaker 1: sheet cake, cupcakes and doughnuts are cheaper than wedding cakes,
Speaker 1: and I love this idea because you can get like
Speaker 1: a smaller cake and cut it for you know, for
Speaker 1: pictures and show and then just bring out pre cut cake.
Speaker 1: Saves time. It's like so efficient. Everybody gets cake like
Speaker 1: really quickly, and you can get the sheet cakes with
Speaker 1: no decoration that are super cheap, and nobody knows that
Speaker 1: they were cheat cakes and not round at some point,
Speaker 1: like nobody came. It's just it's cake. So yeah, and doughnuts,
Speaker 1: Holy smokes, why not? Doughnuts are so much better than
Speaker 1: cake anyway. I wish I'd done that. I wish I
Speaker 1: just give them donuts. Give the people what they really want,
Speaker 1: donuts right covered in cinnamon and sugar or filled with
Speaker 1: Bavarian cream. It's actually fashion not day as we record this,
Speaker 1: What does that mean? I guess it's a Pennsylvania thing. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's the one thing we have to offer. It's a
Speaker 1: certain type of doughnuts. It's fat Tuesday. It's the day
Speaker 1: before Lent, and so everybody, you know, fills up on
Speaker 1: all their sweets because they're about to like not have
Speaker 1: sweets for forty days. But fashion not. It's like it's
Speaker 1: a type of doughnuts that people will eat on Fat Tuesday. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's today? Cool? Yeah right, just I'm real onto donuts
Speaker 1: right now. Every Tuesday's Fat Tuesday in Florida. Of course
Speaker 1: it is also I like that Christina said skip the
Speaker 1: programs because they just end up in the trash. I
Speaker 1: wish that I had done that. And why did I think?
Speaker 1: Why did I think I needed paper programs? I could
Speaker 1: have written it on a track board and been done
Speaker 1: with it. Yeah, And why people shouldn't be rushing through
Speaker 1: your ceremony anyway? Why are you trying to tell them
Speaker 1: what what to expect next? Let them be surprised wedding?
Speaker 1: Like how much? How much do weddings differ from adding
Speaker 1: to wedding? People know what's coming next, programs, they'll probably
Speaker 1: be because there'll be some those some stupid pastor joke.
Speaker 1: You know, somebody's gonna cry like it it's a wedding.
Speaker 1: Some little kids going to pitch a fit. So you
Speaker 1: don't need the programs, all right, Emma, she did the
Speaker 1: pot luck lunch idea, which, my goodness, I'm so curious
Speaker 1: for more information from you, Emma on that. Who Also,
Speaker 1: how did you know what? Anyhow? I think it's a
Speaker 1: fantastic idea that anybody could run with and make it
Speaker 1: whatever they want it to be. But yeah, pull on
Speaker 1: ten different people to make your food that's fantastic or more.
Speaker 1: And they also borrowed sound equipment from their church. They
Speaker 1: used a clubhouse venue that her in law has got
Speaker 1: a steep discount at. So yeah, use your connections, it's fantastic. Yeah.
Speaker 1: If you see a venue you want and you know
Speaker 1: there's a discount to be had, then find a friend
Speaker 1: or make a friend that can get you that discount. Yeah,
Speaker 1: without you know, compromising your morals right right, right right, um,
Speaker 1: make it in the right way. And then Joscelyn got
Speaker 1: giant ice cream cakes for her reception. This is it.
Speaker 1: If I wasn't going to do donuts for my next wedding,
Speaker 1: I would do ice cream cakes. So yeah, yeah, ice
Speaker 1: cream cake is fantastic because if you're thinking about it,
Speaker 1: think about how much a wedding cake is. Then think
Speaker 1: about how much a few carvel ice cream cakes are. Yes,
Speaker 1: she got hers at at cold Stone, but like, same difference,
Speaker 1: you're expensive. But you just have to consider if you're
Speaker 1: doing like a backyard wedding, then you probably couldn't do
Speaker 1: ice cream cakes. Do you still got options? And then
Speaker 1: many many people in this threat said a lope. That
Speaker 1: was their advice, kind of a similar idea to destination wedding, right,
Speaker 1: just to wherever you want a vacation, find find some
Speaker 1: minister to saw on your papers. Yeah, you know, we
Speaker 1: didn't include that in the main segment because it'd be
Speaker 1: a short segment. But also an option. Yeah, yeah, it
Speaker 1: is an option. I can't tell you how many times
Speaker 1: I considered this in who has getting married? Process? Everybody has,
Speaker 1: But if you can actually pull it off, do it.
Speaker 1: And if you have pulled it off, please tell us
Speaker 1: about it, because we want to live vicariously through you.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I thought my wedding was worth it.
Speaker 1: I liked it, even though it was at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, it was a fantastic day, but great stories.
Speaker 1: I'm so I'm so proud of the people who actually
Speaker 1: do a lope. Proud of you, you a lope. Proud
Speaker 1: of you. You probably not listening to this episode, but
Speaker 1: we want you to know we're proud. You're probably just like,
Speaker 1: what's the big deal? Just get married? Yeah, well that's
Speaker 1: all we have on the subject of weddings. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's not all we have. You know, we could talk
Speaker 1: for forever. We just won't get ready for part three.
Speaker 1: Just kidding that that's not coming. Don't wait for that.
Speaker 1: We're done two parts. That's it. That's all you get.
Speaker 1: The part three would be a lope where it is,
Speaker 1: it would be a episode. We did it. That's next week. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, So guys, it's March. That's still happening, and
Speaker 1: we're finishing up the book Soulful Simplicity by Courtney Carver.
Speaker 1: That's right, we're doing book clubs. We got things happening.
Speaker 1: We're doing parts one and two to weddings. We're here
Speaker 1: every week. It's episode forty nine. This thing just keeps happening.
Speaker 1: Fronks Facebook community group. Man, just get in on this action.
Speaker 1: So so come on in join our book club, talk
Speaker 1: with us to Soulful Simplicity by Courtney Carver. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: if you're still listening to this episode, you want a
Speaker 1: free copy of Soulful Simplicity, leave us a review on
Speaker 1: iTunes or Stitcher. Screenshot the review before you submit it.
Speaker 1: An email that screenshot to Frugal Friends Podcast at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com, and we will select one winner for every
Speaker 1: five reviews, and we had a lot of reviews in February,
Speaker 1: so I would love to see. I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see how March shapes up. I don't I don't check them,
Speaker 1: so I don't know yet, but I will know at
Speaker 1: the end of the month when I select one winner
Speaker 1: for every five reviews. Nice and if you guys want
Speaker 1: to know the types of reviews that we got in
Speaker 1: February that you're like, we're going to do March even better,
Speaker 1: here's one to be This one comes from See You
Speaker 1: to SUSA and they say fun Frugality Podcast five stars
Speaker 1: a V I just recently discovered this podcast and I
Speaker 1: just listen to Mrs frugal Wood's episode. It was such
Speaker 1: an eye opener for me, especially with my second baby.
Speaker 1: Do all congratulations. This podcast has made me want to
Speaker 1: live a more frugal and clutter free life. It is
Speaker 1: so refreshing to hear you ladies, and your conversations are
Speaker 1: so down to earth. I am currently binging all the episodes.
Speaker 1: Thank you for such a great podcast. You are welcome
Speaker 1: See de SUSA. Good luck on your baby. Congratulations on
Speaker 1: your baby. Fantastic about frugality and clutter free merging together
Speaker 1: in your life. Thank you for the five stars. Holy smokes,
Speaker 1: we're on a roll. Yes we are. I feel so
Speaker 1: much of my life in her review. So I am
Speaker 1: glad that our stories can converge at the right place
Speaker 1: at the right time. And that's what I hope for
Speaker 1: the rest of you, is that our other episodes will
Speaker 1: serve you at the right place at the right time
Speaker 1: and help you save money in the areas you might
Speaker 1: be struggling with or just interested in optimizing. So that's
Speaker 1: uh what we have for you this week, and we
Speaker 1: will see you next week. Very excited for next week's episode.
Speaker 1: See you then next week's episode fifty I know, see
Speaker 1: see an episode fifty you guys. Yeah. Frugal Friends is produced, edited,
Speaker 1: and mixed by Eric Syria