Speaker 1: Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're discussing planning a wedding without going broke.
Speaker 1: Today we are talking about weddings, everything from venues and
Speaker 1: the number of guests that are gonna be at your
Speaker 1: wedding all the way down to things like flowers. And you,
Speaker 1: my friend, have been to more weddings than anybody else.
Speaker 1: I know. I know weddings, that's for sure, being a
Speaker 1: wedding photographer. But how long have you and Emily been
Speaker 1: married now? Man? Yeah, so we've been married just over
Speaker 1: eight years. And you guys double digits right, Yeah, Oh, dude,
Speaker 1: more than double digits. We're hitting twelve this year. Twelve
Speaker 1: years man, that's that's amazing. Yeah, that's pretty crazy, right, congrats,
Speaker 1: what's up? Yeah, if only we knew some of what
Speaker 1: we know now about wedding and ways to save money.
Speaker 1: We definitely did our wedding on a budget. But there's
Speaker 1: certainly some of these tips here that we didn't take
Speaker 1: advantage of back when I was a youngster. But yeah,
Speaker 1: we're looking forward to sharing these with our listeners today. Well,
Speaker 1: one quick money saving tip, Matt, before we get straight
Speaker 1: into the weddings. I wanted to let people know that
Speaker 1: the Sift app that we mentioned in our lesser known
Speaker 1: credit card benefits episode, just saving another ten bucks. I
Speaker 1: love how this app working in the background. It's just
Speaker 1: kind of lurking trying to save you some money. And
Speaker 1: so I have a particular card that has price protection
Speaker 1: on it, and I know a lot of credit card
Speaker 1: issuers have recently dropped price protection. So you might have
Speaker 1: had a card that used to have price protection, and
Speaker 1: you know what, as of the first of the year
Speaker 1: or last summer, it might not have that anymore. So
Speaker 1: you'll want to double check and see which credit cards
Speaker 1: you have in your wallet actually have price protection. Which
Speaker 1: one is that, by the way, the City Costco card. Yep,
Speaker 1: that's the one I use. So I still can't get
Speaker 1: on board with joining Costco. Man, it's just so far away.
Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna have to do a whole episode.
Speaker 1: I think about Big Box. Do you want to do it,
Speaker 1: Let's do it. Let's do it soon, all right. But
Speaker 1: to anybody that doesn't have the Sift app, will with
Speaker 1: a link to it in the show notes. It's really
Speaker 1: nice how it just works in the background, and it's
Speaker 1: something that I would have never thought to even look
Speaker 1: at it. There. It was these gutter guards that I
Speaker 1: bought from Costco, and I saved an additional ten bucks
Speaker 1: just because Sift was looking for me. I never would
Speaker 1: have looked for myself. So yeah, just an awesome money
Speaker 1: saving win right there. Okay, so you're talking about gutter guards,
Speaker 1: like the things that go on top of your gutter
Speaker 1: to keep the leaf the leaves out right exactly. Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't want to be cleaning the leaves out all
Speaker 1: the time. No, that's fine. It took me you said
Speaker 1: gutter guards, and I was like, what is he talking about? Context?
Speaker 1: I need some context. That's all. Sorry about that. I'll
Speaker 1: go ahead and introduce our beer for today. Man. It
Speaker 1: is called Juice Back and it is a double dry
Speaker 1: hot pale ale and this is out of Texas from
Speaker 1: TUPS Brewery. This is another beer from Jake and Jake,
Speaker 1: we want to thank you so much for sending us
Speaker 1: a couple of delicious beers that we're having back to back.
Speaker 1: We had that first one on Monday's episode, and yeah,
Speaker 1: looking forward to this one today and we'll let you
Speaker 1: know what we think about this spear at the end
Speaker 1: of the episode. But for now, on to the topic
Speaker 1: at hand. Weddings are expensive and weddings are super personal.
Speaker 1: Nobody wants to be told how to do their wedding. Yeah,
Speaker 1: sort of like that episode we just did on teaching
Speaker 1: your children about money. Nobody wants us telling them how
Speaker 1: to raise their kids, but hopefully we did cover some
Speaker 1: tips that were helpful. We're gonna step in again, and
Speaker 1: it's weddings this time, because no one wants to be
Speaker 1: told how to wedding either, right uh. And and some
Speaker 1: girls and and some boys too have dreamed about their
Speaker 1: weddings since they were little kids, and it can be
Speaker 1: hard to kind of part with those years of dreams
Speaker 1: that you've had growing up into a reality that includes
Speaker 1: a strict budget. But just like everything in life, you know, Matt,
Speaker 1: I think we think there is a sweet spot. And
Speaker 1: studies reveal the same thing that the happiest couples don't
Speaker 1: spend more than on their wedding. And that's at the
Speaker 1: same time where the average price of a wedding costs
Speaker 1: over thirty thou dollars. So it just sounds like the
Speaker 1: happiest couple is just like getting a discount exactly. They're
Speaker 1: a little bit frugal, right, Yeah, they want to live
Speaker 1: like a little differently off of anything. You're pretty happy, right,
Speaker 1: And it's almost like the same studies to talk about
Speaker 1: what average income in the United States equates to happiness,
Speaker 1: and typically most studies say that it's right around seventy
Speaker 1: thou dollars and if you earn much more than that
Speaker 1: that it doesn't really make you appreciably more happy. Well,
Speaker 1: the same thing when it comes to weddings, actually spending
Speaker 1: more than on your wedding will in all likelihood make
Speaker 1: you less happy if you put too much pressure on
Speaker 1: the day and spend too much money on this one
Speaker 1: special day trying to blow it out. Sadly, the chances
Speaker 1: of divorce go up in tandem with how much more
Speaker 1: you spend over that amount. So luckily for us today, Jill,
Speaker 1: I have a good amount of experience when it comes
Speaker 1: to weddings. I've shot weddings for over ten years now,
Speaker 1: over three d weddings. Can you believe that that's incredible? Dude,
Speaker 1: that's a lot um and everything from like smaller backyard
Speaker 1: brunch weddings too, like super high end weddings that costs
Speaker 1: like two to three thousand dollars. You ever shot one
Speaker 1: on like a yacht? No, I've never shot a wedding
Speaker 1: on a yacht, but I have a shot before on
Speaker 1: acadam Ran. They had a happy hour at sunset on
Speaker 1: a giant catamar Ran. That's pretty cool, too, pretty dope, right,
Speaker 1: But honestly, I love weddings. Like people talk about how
Speaker 1: it's something that like, oh, you get tired of them.
Speaker 1: I don't really get tired of him. I think they're
Speaker 1: a ton of fun and honestly, the ones I enjoyed
Speaker 1: the most though as a photographer are the weddings where
Speaker 1: they tend to be relaxed and you know they're having
Speaker 1: a good time. And that's honestly when they're not overspending
Speaker 1: and instead they're focusing on putting their money towards the
Speaker 1: things that matter to them, to the things that they
Speaker 1: actually value, because deep down, I think they truly know
Speaker 1: that there money is being well spent. They thought it
Speaker 1: through and they know that, Okay, this is awesome, this
Speaker 1: is awesome, this is awesome, and they're not getting sucked
Speaker 1: into the overspending and feeling like that they have to
Speaker 1: do things just because somebody mentioned it in some wedding magazine. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so if you've listened to our show for very long,
Speaker 1: you know probably that we're not going to recommend getting
Speaker 1: married on a yacht or necessarily even a catamar ran. Right,
Speaker 1: but I don't know. Happy our on academ ran sounds
Speaker 1: awesome and does that does sound pretty nice? If you
Speaker 1: were there, you would have liked it, I'm sure, I'm sure.
Speaker 1: And we're also going to recommend that you don't completely
Speaker 1: cheap out, because if you go that route, you could
Speaker 1: have major regrets. Because a wedding is a really special day, right.
Speaker 1: It is a fun party. It's a chance to celebrate
Speaker 1: one of the most meaningful events you'll ever celebrate in
Speaker 1: your entire life. And so you don't want to look
Speaker 1: back and have regrets that you didn't spend enough. So
Speaker 1: finding that balance is key, and we'll dive into the
Speaker 1: specific ways that you can save some money on your
Speaker 1: wedding without having regrets right after the break all right, soul,
Speaker 1: The first thing that we need to focus on if
Speaker 1: you are planning a wedding is to consider what is
Speaker 1: most important to you. You know, before you even start
Speaker 1: planning a wedding, you want to consider what it is
Speaker 1: that is most important to you and your fiance. You
Speaker 1: need to ask yourself, how do I want to experience
Speaker 1: this day, or like, what do I want my guests
Speaker 1: to experience? Those are sort of the big why questions
Speaker 1: that once you answer those, the rest of the money
Speaker 1: questions that pop up inevitably when it comes to planning
Speaker 1: a wedding will become much much easier. I say this
Speaker 1: to my couples all the time. If there are aspects
Speaker 1: and parts of a wedding that you just don't care
Speaker 1: about and that are not meaningful to you, just skip
Speaker 1: those right. So, if you don't like cake, well there's
Speaker 1: no reason for you to have a wedding cake. Instead,
Speaker 1: maybe food trucks are or what you're all about. Let's
Speaker 1: say that you're not into big bands or like that
Speaker 1: kind of music. Well, maybe instead you're really into karaoke,
Speaker 1: and instead you can have some awesome karaoke at your reception. Like,
Speaker 1: the idea is to make sure that it's reflective of
Speaker 1: you and your personality as a couple. You would infuse
Speaker 1: as much of that into the wedding as possible, and
Speaker 1: again hopefully that will direct your decisions when it comes
Speaker 1: to making purchases for your wedding. Yes, So of course
Speaker 1: the cheapest way to get married would be to a lope.
Speaker 1: Just get married at the courthouse, fly to Vegas right,
Speaker 1: and go to one of the wedding chapels on the strip.
Speaker 1: We're talking about sixty bucks, maybe many hundreds of dollars
Speaker 1: if you're buying a flight, right, that's that's pretty inexpensive.
Speaker 1: But in all likelihood, for most people, that's not going
Speaker 1: to meet the requirement of having party with friends and
Speaker 1: family that they care about, of bringing in people that
Speaker 1: they haven't seen in years, and just making it a
Speaker 1: grand old time. So while eloping might work for some people,
Speaker 1: and more power to you if if that is the
Speaker 1: kind of wedding that you want, you're gonna say a
Speaker 1: lot of money. But this episode is geared towards people
Speaker 1: trying to throw a wedding with with a guest list,
Speaker 1: and so Matt, let's get to the main ways that
Speaker 1: you can save while doing that, all right, man, Let's
Speaker 1: talk first about location. So where you get married will
Speaker 1: likely have the largest impact on your overall budget, not
Speaker 1: only because of the actual cost of the venue, but
Speaker 1: there's the secondary costs associated with it. As well. We
Speaker 1: didn't an entire episode on secondary costs and and why
Speaker 1: things end up costing more than you think. Well, on
Speaker 1: that note, it's tougher to have an affordable wedding at
Speaker 1: a really, really fancy venue, right Like, if you're getting
Speaker 1: married in Atlanta at the Swan House, it's the super
Speaker 1: high end, historical fancy place, sounds like it. It's where
Speaker 1: a president snows mansion was in the Hunger Games. That house,
Speaker 1: it is extremely expensive, and they've probably got a smaller
Speaker 1: list of caterers that you can go with, right and exactly,
Speaker 1: everything just gets more expensive based on that initial decision. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's tough to have an affordable wedding at the Swan House. However,
Speaker 1: on the opposite end of spectrum, if you're gonna get married,
Speaker 1: say out a brewery, it's becoming more and more popular
Speaker 1: to get married out a brewery. They're affordable, there's great
Speaker 1: beer there obviously, but that would also allow you to
Speaker 1: not include certain vendors that might be a lot more expensive.
Speaker 1: Speaking of breweries and alcohol, Matt, it's worth asking a
Speaker 1: potential venue that you're looking at getting married in to
Speaker 1: see if they allow you to bring your own booze,
Speaker 1: because there's a huge markup when it comes to beer,
Speaker 1: wine and spirits from a food vendor for a wedding,
Speaker 1: and so if you can bring your own in and
Speaker 1: have your buddy manning the keg, I mean, that can
Speaker 1: be a major savings for you. I know, my wife
Speaker 1: and I we got a couple of pony kegs of
Speaker 1: some cheap beer that was before I was like madly
Speaker 1: into craft beer and uh, and we saved a lot
Speaker 1: of money by bringing our own beer in and also
Speaker 1: having two buck chuck, Like that's literally the only things
Speaker 1: that people could drink besides water at our wedding, and
Speaker 1: we saved a lot of money doing it that way.
Speaker 1: Another tip, when you are bringing in your own alcohol,
Speaker 1: you want to make sure that you buy it from
Speaker 1: someplace that will allow you to return unopened bottles, because
Speaker 1: obviously you want to have enough on hand for the party,
Speaker 1: but at the same time, you don't want to get
Speaker 1: stuck with a bunch of unopened cases of bourbon if
Speaker 1: that's what you happen to have on hand. The same
Speaker 1: thing with keg's. Obviously you can't return to keg So
Speaker 1: keep that in mind as well, because well you're just
Speaker 1: gonna have to drink it before it goes bad. That's
Speaker 1: the wedding after party right there. Right. Another important thing
Speaker 1: when it comes to location, Matt is that a lot
Speaker 1: of venues will offer better rates during less popular seasons.
Speaker 1: So for instance, January and February, those are not popular
Speaker 1: months to get married in, right, and you know that
Speaker 1: because you have very few requests for your services during
Speaker 1: those months. So considering getting married then, or also on
Speaker 1: alternative days of the week. So everyone gets married on
Speaker 1: a Saturday pretty much, so if you're willing to get
Speaker 1: married on a Sunday instead of a Saturday, well you
Speaker 1: could probably save some substantial money on your venue if
Speaker 1: you do that too. Also, if you get married outdoors,
Speaker 1: say just out in nature in the park or maybe
Speaker 1: at a private residence at a house, that can be
Speaker 1: a more affordable way to book a venue, but it's
Speaker 1: not always the case. You know, you need to take
Speaker 1: weather into account. If you're willing to risk it, then sure,
Speaker 1: you know you can save a ton of money. But
Speaker 1: if you're looking at getting a tint, maybe you need
Speaker 1: to bring in the dance floor. If the backyards are
Speaker 1: not perfectly even, you can easily fork out several thousand
Speaker 1: dollars to kind of get a backyard up to snuff.
Speaker 1: But I love the idea of just kind of alpening
Speaker 1: and being out in nature. I've done that a couple
Speaker 1: of times, and do that's just like the best because
Speaker 1: I love hiking and being out in nature, and I
Speaker 1: love taking pictures, and I also love making a living,
Speaker 1: and so when I can combine all three of those
Speaker 1: things together, that's the best. Yeah, And the pictures when
Speaker 1: you're out in nature are amazing through the best, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, Emily and I we got married at the
Speaker 1: Memphis Zoo because so she's from Memphis and we decided
Speaker 1: to get married at the zoo there, and so we
Speaker 1: get this kind of mix of indoor and outdoor shots,
Speaker 1: photos of us in front of like the lions and
Speaker 1: the flamingos and stuff like that. So just kind of
Speaker 1: really fun memories to think back at those pictures. At
Speaker 1: the same time, if we had to choose something else,
Speaker 1: I think we probably totally would have gotten married somewhere
Speaker 1: in nature, just with some kind of crazy cliff overlooks
Speaker 1: or something, I don't know, something interesting like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: those pictures are super popular these days. You just get
Speaker 1: like a hundred dollar permit and boom, you're shooting in
Speaker 1: Yosemite and you're getting married at the same time. That
Speaker 1: sounds awesome. Well, you mentioned Tennessee as well, and that's
Speaker 1: something else to consider, is that geographically, you know, on average,
Speaker 1: it's more expensive to have a wedding in some cities
Speaker 1: and states versus others. So, for instance, on average, a
Speaker 1: wedding in Long Island, New York, it's about sixty dollars
Speaker 1: versus Texas, where these beers were sent to us from,
Speaker 1: it's about thirty thousand dollars, so half as much. So
Speaker 1: you know, if it's a toss up between a couple
Speaker 1: of different states, maybe your home state versus your fiance's
Speaker 1: home state, it's worth, you know, considering what the actual
Speaker 1: costs are in the state or the city that you're
Speaker 1: considering getting married in. All right, now we're gonna tackle matth,
Speaker 1: the all important issue of guest count. And this one
Speaker 1: gets touchy because the future in laws and your own
Speaker 1: parents have their ideas of who they want at this wedding,
Speaker 1: and to a certain extent, depending on your relationship with
Speaker 1: your parents or your in laws, you probably need to
Speaker 1: respect some of their wishes, But it's really important for
Speaker 1: you as the couple to invite the folks that really
Speaker 1: matter to you, and to not just invite folks purely
Speaker 1: out of obligation, especially because that ramps up the cost. Well, yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I mean the guests count directly impacts your catering costs.
Speaker 1: You know, if you can cut back from say a
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty guests, cut that in half down to
Speaker 1: seventy five guests, that could save you five thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: Over five thousand dollars if you're looking at seventy dollars
Speaker 1: ahead for catering, and you know, if food isn't really
Speaker 1: that much of a priority for you. Again, this kind
Speaker 1: of goes back to the initial question, like the big
Speaker 1: overall what are our priorities going to be? If food
Speaker 1: isn't a priority for you, Instead, maybe you can look
Speaker 1: at some local barbecue or let's say there's some awesome
Speaker 1: food trucks in your city, and honestly, those are gonna
Speaker 1: be much much more affordable as well. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: think when it comes to food, Matt to going with
Speaker 1: a daytime wedding is going to be much more cost effective.
Speaker 1: When you're talking about providing food for however many guests
Speaker 1: you have, Right, the per head cost is just gonna
Speaker 1: go way down if you're providing lunch as opposed to dinner.
Speaker 1: And folks don't have to drink quite as much wine
Speaker 1: at lunch either, you know, exactly. And the expectations honestly
Speaker 1: are just overall lower for a lunch get together than
Speaker 1: they are for a special, fancy sit down dinner wedding. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: that's so true. That's a good tip. But we should
Speaker 1: have mentioned that in sort of when we're talking about
Speaker 1: the venue. But the venue you choose will also indicate
Speaker 1: sort of the level of fanciness, right, And so you
Speaker 1: choose a brewery, folks are gonna maybe expect the barbecue
Speaker 1: option and maybe a food truck, versus if you've got
Speaker 1: one of the nicest hotels or one of the nicest
Speaker 1: ballrooms in the city. Yeah, that the bar is raised.
Speaker 1: They're they're expecting to pull out the tuxedo that they
Speaker 1: haven't worn in a couple of years. And if you
Speaker 1: even want a scale back even more. You know you
Speaker 1: mentioned eloping, Well you can elope and then throw a
Speaker 1: party after the fact, and even calling it a party
Speaker 1: versus a wedding, you get to save on that wedding markup.
Speaker 1: Just because wedding or a reception is in the name,
Speaker 1: it's automatically kind of gets fancier. And yeah, like you said,
Speaker 1: there's a higher bar of what people expect, and it
Speaker 1: just affects the entire vibe of the wedding day as well.
Speaker 1: So the time of day and certainly where you have
Speaker 1: the wedding has a huge impact on the overall cost.
Speaker 1: All right, Matt, Let's get into the rings. And I
Speaker 1: know that wedding rings kind of have a traditional element
Speaker 1: and not everyone kind of goes with the traditional flare
Speaker 1: these days. So for instance, I'm wearing a rubber ring.
Speaker 1: I got three for ninety nine cents on eBay, different colors.
Speaker 1: Is it because you crossed fit bro? No, trust me,
Speaker 1: If if I crossed it, all the listeners would have
Speaker 1: known that on about twenty episodes so far. Right, anybody
Speaker 1: that crossed its you hear about it pretty quickly. But
Speaker 1: if you don't want to go like the nontraditional route
Speaker 1: like me and have literally a thirty three cent a
Speaker 1: silicone ring, well we think you can find a really
Speaker 1: awesome diamond ring for between two and four thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: and the traditional rule of thumb has always been that
Speaker 1: you should spend three months of your salary on an
Speaker 1: engagement ring. Honestly, to me, Matt, that feels kind of preposterous,
Speaker 1: that that sounds ludicrous. I never would have done that,
Speaker 1: and I'm so glad that I had some people talking
Speaker 1: sense into me that I didn't have to mortgage my
Speaker 1: future to buy a ring for my wife. And now,
Speaker 1: with the advent of lab grown diamonds, which are completely
Speaker 1: indistinguishable from diamonds that you dig up out of the ground,
Speaker 1: you can save a huge amount of money. And light
Speaker 1: box and Brilliant Earth are both great websites to shop
Speaker 1: four But if you're looking for diamonds that were dug
Speaker 1: out of the earth, Rare Carrot is the best comparison
Speaker 1: shopping site for regular diamonds on the internet right now.
Speaker 1: And so we'll post links to all those in our
Speaker 1: show notes. Yeah, what's awesome about lab grown diamonds, man,
Speaker 1: is that you know there's a savings there of at
Speaker 1: least thirty percent in these days because the technology is
Speaker 1: getting better when it comes to growing these diamonds and
Speaker 1: labs because it's I mean it's it's real work. It
Speaker 1: takes work. It's not like they can just like run
Speaker 1: it through a machine real quick. But the technology is
Speaker 1: getting better, and what that means is that the supply
Speaker 1: is increasing, which obviously means it's making it more affordable.
Speaker 1: And so you know, to you as a consumer, that
Speaker 1: is only good news. But also consider going vintage and
Speaker 1: see if there's a family ring or a family stone
Speaker 1: that's actually the kind of ring I have, which means
Speaker 1: obviously that it was free my favorite price tag. But
Speaker 1: then in addition to that, obviously it has much more
Speaker 1: meaning than say a ring that you know, Kate were
Speaker 1: to have purchased, you know, online or somewhere else. I
Speaker 1: see you staring at my thirty three cent ring saying
Speaker 1: it doesn't have any meaning. Man, if it has a
Speaker 1: meaning to you, that's that's all the meaning you need.
Speaker 1: And so how much you spend on a ring, and
Speaker 1: I think this is so important, but keep in mind, right,
Speaker 1: how much Joel, you spend on a ring isn't representative
Speaker 1: how much you love someone. But the type of ring
Speaker 1: you have should be a reflection, you know, of your
Speaker 1: values and of your interest. We have some friends who
Speaker 1: they value local artists and the type of ring that
Speaker 1: they chose doesn't even look like a traditional engagement ring,
Speaker 1: but to them it's super special. It means so much
Speaker 1: to them and it's a unique work of art and
Speaker 1: there's just really no other ring like that. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: were just talking about vin to Drinks, Matt, And that's
Speaker 1: what I went on the hunt for for for Emily.
Speaker 1: For my wife. It was kind of a fun shopping process,
Speaker 1: and when I handed her that ring, I just, I mean,
Speaker 1: I knew that it was the perfect thing for her.
Speaker 1: And also it was one of the kind I feel
Speaker 1: like I kind of hit the trifect though, where I
Speaker 1: saved some money, I gave her something incredibly unique and
Speaker 1: something that was meaningful as well. So just know that
Speaker 1: there are multiple ways to go about ring shopping and
Speaker 1: maybe you know, one of those Cheapo silicone rings is
Speaker 1: completely fine for you, that's great, Or maybe a lab
Speaker 1: grown diamond or a vintage ring. There are all these options.
Speaker 1: Just make sure you're not bound by convention when you're
Speaker 1: choosing what sort of ring to get. Joel, speaking of rings,
Speaker 1: have I already told you the story about Kate's engagement
Speaker 1: ring having to get cut off before the wedding. No,
Speaker 1: that sounds terrible. Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's a long story.
Speaker 1: Well I'll save it for some other time, but remind
Speaker 1: me next time we talk about personal articles insurance. I
Speaker 1: sure will. That's a common thing too for people with
Speaker 1: metal rings. My dad literally just had to get his
Speaker 1: cut off a couple of weeks ago to save his
Speaker 1: finger from falling off. No joke, Oh my gosh. Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: on that note, let's talk now about wedding bands, and
Speaker 1: not the kind that you wear on your finger, but
Speaker 1: a musical wedding band. And so a question you need
Speaker 1: to ask yourself do you even want a full wedding band?
Speaker 1: And if so, then great, that's awesome. But if not,
Speaker 1: that's an average right there of four thousand dollars that
Speaker 1: you can save. Yes, So if you're googling wedding band
Speaker 1: and then your city, you're probably gonna pay too much
Speaker 1: because you're gonna find the bands that specialize at playing
Speaker 1: at weddings. But if you can keep an eye off
Speaker 1: for folks who aren't in traditional wedding bands serving the
Speaker 1: wedding industry, because, like Matt mentioned earlier, everything costs more
Speaker 1: money when it has the world wedding attached. Maybe you
Speaker 1: could scout out events at local breweries and festivals and
Speaker 1: find bands that are in your area that don't cater
Speaker 1: specifically to playing at weddings. And if that's the case,
Speaker 1: if you can find a local band that's pretty solid
Speaker 1: that's willing to play some of the tunes that you
Speaker 1: want played at your wedding, you can save a lot
Speaker 1: of money on a band that way. Yeah. Man, that's
Speaker 1: exactly what what Kate and I did. We got this
Speaker 1: band and they weren't technically a wedding band, but they
Speaker 1: were sort of this jazzy, kind of nice cocktail all
Speaker 1: our like band and we were able to request a
Speaker 1: few songs that we definitely wanted and man, we loved it.
Speaker 1: We were able to get the vibe that we're looking
Speaker 1: for and have the band aspect of it, but without
Speaker 1: paying that big price tag. However, if you're not into
Speaker 1: a full band, you can get a good DJ, and
Speaker 1: they are typically you're going to be more affordable. You
Speaker 1: can spend arounds for them, and you know, you might
Speaker 1: be tempted to have a friend run it kind of
Speaker 1: do the old school iPod thing where they're you know,
Speaker 1: playing music off their phone, and that can throw a
Speaker 1: whole wrenching things, right. Yeah, I would only recommend this
Speaker 1: if they know their way around a sound system and
Speaker 1: if they feel comfortable running the show at the reception,
Speaker 1: because honestly, everything kind of falls to the DJ or
Speaker 1: the band because there's a microphone and people are going
Speaker 1: to listen to over has the microphone. Um, so that
Speaker 1: might be one area that if you're really focused on
Speaker 1: having just an awesome party. If that's the case, then
Speaker 1: you definitely want to either spend that money on that
Speaker 1: DJ or the band. Yeah, your friend might know how
Speaker 1: to pull up the right playlist from Spotify, but are
Speaker 1: they a decent m C. And a decent MC goes
Speaker 1: a long way in getting people out on the dance
Speaker 1: floor and just making sure things go smoothly. All right,
Speaker 1: Jielso next we're gonna talk about photography. It me, but
Speaker 1: for it we'll give our thoughts on wedding photography, flowers
Speaker 1: and some other things right after the break all right, Matt,
Speaker 1: So I know you're gonna say that we should pay
Speaker 1: our wedding photographers twenty grand of pop right at the
Speaker 1: typical going rate. That's like the starting price, right, twenty
Speaker 1: k I mean, obviously I'm biased, right, this is what
Speaker 1: I do. But honestly, man, other professionals that I've talked
Speaker 1: to in other wedding planners, they all say to wedding
Speaker 1: photography may not be something you want to cut corners on.
Speaker 1: I will say, the only real wedding horror stories I've
Speaker 1: heard from people are from people who did skimp on
Speaker 1: a wedding photographer. That's what I'm saying, man. And I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to get people to pay you more money
Speaker 1: for weddings. That's definitely not what I'm going for, thank
Speaker 1: you very much. But people that don't have good pictures
Speaker 1: or sometimes any pictures to show from their wedding after
Speaker 1: the fact, that's devastating. Man. Like, we're talking about this
Speaker 1: all important day and ways that you can save money
Speaker 1: on it. And I think that there are ways that
Speaker 1: you can save money on photography, and we'll talk about that,
Speaker 1: but ultimately going as cheap as possible in this one area,
Speaker 1: you know what you're gonna regret more than that extra
Speaker 1: thousand or two thousand dollars you spent on a wedding photographer.
Speaker 1: You're gonna regret not having any pictures or having really crummy,
Speaker 1: grainy pictures, because those are pictures that you're gonna want
Speaker 1: to look back on for years and years and decades
Speaker 1: to come. Yeah. Man, there are ways, though, to save
Speaker 1: on wedding photography. Oftentimes I'm contacted by a couple that
Speaker 1: may not have it in their budget to spend as
Speaker 1: much on wedding photography, and they asked me, like, how
Speaker 1: can I still get good photos? And I try to
Speaker 1: point them in the direction of new and up and
Speaker 1: coming photographers because the fact is they haven't established their
Speaker 1: business yet. They might have a fantastic eye and really
Speaker 1: are going to be amazing in a couple of years,
Speaker 1: but they just haven't established themselves. And a couple that's
Speaker 1: looking to get married can lock in those early rates,
Speaker 1: and as that photograph for gets the experience, they're going
Speaker 1: to continue to raise their rates. Man. That's exactly what
Speaker 1: we did. We had a lot of folks that locked
Speaker 1: us in when we first started, and man, we were
Speaker 1: raising our rates three or four times a year. And
Speaker 1: there are some weddings where we're shooting a year later
Speaker 1: and a couple of had booked us super early, and
Speaker 1: you know what, they were getting a heck of a
Speaker 1: deal because we were charging more than double what we're
Speaker 1: charging at the time when they booked. So catch them
Speaker 1: on the ground floor, that's what you're saying. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: buying low and sell high. Right. It's hard to know
Speaker 1: exactly what the trajectory is going to be for a
Speaker 1: photographer in their career, but look at the work, meet
Speaker 1: with them. If you connect on a personal level and
Speaker 1: if you like the images, you just gotta go with
Speaker 1: your gut. Another main consideration for folks is flowers, and
Speaker 1: it's definitely worth considering a local flower shop to kind
Speaker 1: of help d i y your flower situation at your wedding.
Speaker 1: You can also consider going to Trader Joe's or Kroger
Speaker 1: even and loading up on some flowers from the flower
Speaker 1: section and creating your own flower arrangements. One thing that
Speaker 1: Emily and I did when we got married was we
Speaker 1: created paper flowers crafty. Yes, so it's kind of crafty.
Speaker 1: It was unique, it was different, and it was cheap,
Speaker 1: and so that was kind of a nice fun way
Speaker 1: to do our center pieces. It created the effect we
Speaker 1: were going for, and you know, we saved a lot
Speaker 1: of money in the process. You know, what, do you
Speaker 1: guys still have those around. I remember when we first
Speaker 1: met you guys, y'all had some of those around your house.
Speaker 1: You use them to decorate your place? Yeah, no, they're
Speaker 1: all gone out. Our kids probably ate them smashed up.
Speaker 1: But but yeah, I think for a while it was
Speaker 1: kind of fun to decorate with some of our wedding stuff.
Speaker 1: But at this point, man, I don't know where any
Speaker 1: of that stuff is. And so, yeah, a local flower
Speaker 1: shop is is going to be awesome for the personal flowers,
Speaker 1: so like mutineers and bouquet's and even flower arrangements on
Speaker 1: on tables and whatnot. However, you're not going to be
Speaker 1: able to use them though for like large flower installations
Speaker 1: um or you know, like the arches that go across
Speaker 1: at the front of the ceremony site, that that sort
Speaker 1: of thing. If that's the case, you're gonna want to
Speaker 1: find an affordable local florists who specializes in weddings. Matt
Speaker 1: Phillis him on whether you need like a day of
Speaker 1: coordinator person for your wedding too. Yeah, you may not need,
Speaker 1: you know, an actual full wedding planner if it's a
Speaker 1: really small wedding or if it's really simple. You know,
Speaker 1: if you've got say around fifty guests, and the ceremony
Speaker 1: and reception are going to be all on the same location.
Speaker 1: You may not need a full wedding planner, however, I
Speaker 1: think almost all weddings should have a day of coordinator.
Speaker 1: This is the person that's on site making the last
Speaker 1: minute decisions. They're the person that's normally like being loaded
Speaker 1: up with all the stress from the day. It's essentially
Speaker 1: a way to pay somebody for you to be able
Speaker 1: to enjoy your wedding even more so than you'd be
Speaker 1: able to. And if you were the one being asked,
Speaker 1: you know, where do I go? Or how is this
Speaker 1: supposed to be set up? These are a lot of questions, uh,
Speaker 1: and there's just always these last minute things that arise. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't want to be working on your wedding day.
Speaker 1: That sucks. So that's definitely something worth outsourcing. And whether
Speaker 1: that means paying for like a big time wedding planner
Speaker 1: or just kind of finding someone that can be the
Speaker 1: point of contact and the decision maker on the day
Speaker 1: of at a more reasonable price point, or even just
Speaker 1: a type a friend that can handle some of those
Speaker 1: basic responsibilities. That's definitely not something you want on your
Speaker 1: plate on your wedding day, and it's almost worth equating
Speaker 1: a full wedding planner to someone that's doing your taxes right.
Speaker 1: Like we've talked before about how you know, the cost
Speaker 1: of a c p A might be worth it because
Speaker 1: the savings that they would be able to bring you
Speaker 1: and your taxes would more than cover their fee. The
Speaker 1: same thing applies for some planners. I mean, they're pros.
Speaker 1: They know are questions to ask, they know how things run,
Speaker 1: and they know how to get the deals, and so
Speaker 1: a good planner is well worth it. Matt. Another way
Speaker 1: that you can plan a wedding without going broke is
Speaker 1: by communicating well with your partner. And this is honestly
Speaker 1: probably the most difficult thing to continue to do along
Speaker 1: the way. You're starting life together and you've each got
Speaker 1: ideas of wedding grandeur in your head, and as you
Speaker 1: move along, you forget to keep those lines of communication open,
Speaker 1: and so more fights kind of pop up sometimes during
Speaker 1: wedding planning. For for couples, if you are the one
Speaker 1: who tends to be more frugal in the relationship, you
Speaker 1: might need to compromise just a little bit, because this
Speaker 1: is a special day, but at the same time, if
Speaker 1: you want to make sure that you're starting off your
Speaker 1: life together on the right financial foot, communicating ahead of
Speaker 1: time before you spend gobs of money on your wedding day,
Speaker 1: it's a really important conversation to have, not just once,
Speaker 1: but continue to have as you plan your wedding out.
Speaker 1: Another thing to consider is to give yourself actually less
Speaker 1: time to plan. That might sound weird, but typically the
Speaker 1: further away you set your wedding date, the longer you
Speaker 1: have to fret about the details, and the easier it
Speaker 1: is to spend more money on your wedding. So if
Speaker 1: you create a shorter window of wedding planning, the likelihood
Speaker 1: is you're gonna spend less money overall too. And one
Speaker 1: more thing we would recommend you to consider buying your
Speaker 1: wedding decor and other items used. You can buy wedding dresses,
Speaker 1: decre backdrops, just all sorts of wedding related things that
Speaker 1: someone else has already paid full price on. So there's
Speaker 1: different sites like wedding recycle dot Com or Bravo bride
Speaker 1: Trades as well. You can buy a lot of wedding
Speaker 1: to core up there, but let somebody else take that hit, right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's gotta be like the equivalent of buying a new car, right, Matt,
Speaker 1: where you take that huge hit driving off the lot.
Speaker 1: Same thing with wedding items. Yeah, there's a certain amount
Speaker 1: of depreciation that happens immediately upon use. Yeah. And if
Speaker 1: you don't want to wear a used wedding dress, there
Speaker 1: are so many more affordable ways to get a wedding
Speaker 1: dress these days than there used to be. And the
Speaker 1: same thing with men's apparel. Oftentimes, lots of guys are
Speaker 1: wearing suits these days, so their groomsmen can wear those
Speaker 1: suits again, as opposed to paying a one time kind
Speaker 1: of exorbitant rental feef for a tuxedo. Yeah, and for
Speaker 1: a tuxedo that doesn't fit you well at all. I
Speaker 1: really dislike the tux rentals. I mean, it's a part
Speaker 1: of the industry, but it doesn't have to be. And
Speaker 1: that's what's so good about I think the way that
Speaker 1: we're approaching weddings is that focus on what's important to you.
Speaker 1: If say you're really into fashion, man, maybe splurge and
Speaker 1: get that nicer dress or get that nicer suit, But
Speaker 1: that might mean that you're spending less money on some
Speaker 1: of the other aspects of the wedding that aren't important
Speaker 1: to you, make it your own. Yeah, I think it's important,
Speaker 1: Matt for folks not too cheap out, but also not
Speaker 1: to blow it out either. This is an important day,
Speaker 1: but it's also not a day worth going into dead
Speaker 1: over or completely stressing out yourself and your entire family over.
Speaker 1: That's right, man, you wanna take us back of the beer.
Speaker 1: So today we drank juice pack double dry hopped pale
Speaker 1: Ale by Toughs Brewery. They're out of Texas, and this
Speaker 1: beer had some nice citrus and fruity notes. It was
Speaker 1: pretty much exactly as advertised, kind of tasted like hoppy
Speaker 1: juice pack. Yeah, man, it's been a minute since we've
Speaker 1: had a pale ale on, especially something double dry hopped. Right.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've ever had a double dry
Speaker 1: hopped pale ale on the show, but easy drinking for
Speaker 1: me this is it gets me kind of fired up
Speaker 1: and ramped up for some warmer weather here soon. It
Speaker 1: certainly had some of that hot presence in that hot punch,
Speaker 1: but yeah, enough fruit to make it easy drinking. So
Speaker 1: if you know you like pale ales, maybe it's time
Speaker 1: to graduate to some double dry hopped pale ales. Yes,
Speaker 1: So for folks who don't know what dry hopping is,
Speaker 1: usually that means that the brewer adds a secondary round
Speaker 1: of hops later on in the brewing process, and that
Speaker 1: actually kind of creates a little bit more more than
Speaker 1: anything of that aroma that comes off the beer. And
Speaker 1: so yeah, this beer definitely when we opened it and
Speaker 1: when we poured it in the glass, it kind of
Speaker 1: hit us in the nose. And I think that's why
Speaker 1: it truly felt like a pack. Right, Like the beer
Speaker 1: commercials where they've got the brewers with their hands and
Speaker 1: the hops and they're burying their face in it sniffing it,
Speaker 1: that's kind of how this beer drinks. And I love that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So thanks to our listener Jake in Texas for sending
Speaker 1: us this beer as well. All right, Joel, it is
Speaker 1: time now for our final thoughts. And you know, there
Speaker 1: are so many things that we did not discuss, Like
Speaker 1: there are just lots of ways, lots of small ways
Speaker 1: that really add up where you can save money. But
Speaker 1: we're kind of focusing today on the big things, right,
Speaker 1: just like in our monthly budgets, we tend to focus
Speaker 1: on the big things like housing, transportation, food like those
Speaker 1: are the things that have the largest impact on our budget.
Speaker 1: And when it comes to budgeting for a wedding, there's
Speaker 1: just a few big things that have the largest impact
Speaker 1: on your wedding budgets, and that's what we talked about
Speaker 1: on this episode. But before we get to those sort
Speaker 1: of big ticket items, you need to prioritize with your
Speaker 1: partner and decide what it is that you want your
Speaker 1: day to feel like and what you want it to
Speaker 1: look like. And please keep in mind that you can
Speaker 1: skip tradition. You need to focus on the aspects of
Speaker 1: the wedding that are going to be most important to you.
Speaker 1: One of the biggest line atoms where that wedding budget
Speaker 1: is typically going to go is for the location of
Speaker 1: the wedding. You can make a massive dent in the
Speaker 1: overall cost of your wedding by picking a more affordable
Speaker 1: location and also by having the ceremony and the reception
Speaker 1: in the same event space and don't forget to venue
Speaker 1: that it will allow you to b y O B
Speaker 1: as well, and also man guest counts. Keep in mind
Speaker 1: that every single person you invite to your wedding you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to pay for and if you're looking at
Speaker 1: prices anywhere between fifty and seventy dollars ahead, that really
Speaker 1: adds up. So make sure that every person who you
Speaker 1: are actually inviting to your wedding that you actually want
Speaker 1: them to be there, and that you're not just inviting
Speaker 1: them they're out of obligation. Sorry, and you just didn't
Speaker 1: make the cut. Ultimately, though, your wedding is an incredibly
Speaker 1: special day and you want to make it feel special,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't take necessarily a ton of money in
Speaker 1: order to make that happen. Like we said earlier, don't
Speaker 1: cheap out, but don't blow it out either. You're gonna
Speaker 1: look back on this day with fondness byron membering it
Speaker 1: with your partner and the other people that you enjoyed
Speaker 1: it with. It's not worth going into debt even for
Speaker 1: a day as special as a wedding. And just like
Speaker 1: we do with our finances every single day, we focus
Speaker 1: on the aspects that are important to us, the things
Speaker 1: that we actually care about, and then we find ways
Speaker 1: to cut back on the areas that we don't care about,
Speaker 1: the things that don't matter. In the same way, you
Speaker 1: want your wedding to be a reflection of you and
Speaker 1: your personality as a couple, and so make sure the
Speaker 1: money that you spend reflects that. And before our wrap up, man,
Speaker 1: I want to do a quick thanks to Bree Owens
Speaker 1: of chaincy Charm Atlanta. She helped us out with this
Speaker 1: episode and gave us some great tips. So Brie, thank
Speaker 1: you so much. And as always, you can find show
Speaker 1: notes at how to money dot com. For this episode
Speaker 1: will have links to all those important websites that we
Speaker 1: mentioned during the show. And if you've been listening to
Speaker 1: this podcast and have enjoyed it and have found it helpful,
Speaker 1: we would be happy for you to leave a review
Speaker 1: up on Apple Podcasts, you know. But if you feel
Speaker 1: like we've got some room for improvement, we also want
Speaker 1: to hear from you, and we want to hear that feedback.
Speaker 1: You can hit us up at how to money dot
Speaker 1: com slash do Better. Yeah, constructive criticism is so helpful,
Speaker 1: all right, Joel? Until next time, Best Friends Out, Best
Speaker 1: Friends Out.