Speaker 1: Episode to best tips to save on your wedding or elopement.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 1: save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and liver with your life.
Speaker 1: Here your host Jen and Jill m h. Welcome to
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill,
Speaker 1: and today we are doing a much requested episode which
Speaker 1: is a follow up an update to one of the
Speaker 1: first episodes we ever did, like two of the first
Speaker 1: episodes we ever did. Do you remember all the way back?
Speaker 1: It was episode four because I know this because my
Speaker 1: mom was literally talking with me about this yesterday. One
Speaker 1: of her daughter's friends is getting married and she's like,
Speaker 1: so I went back in your archives and it was
Speaker 1: episode four. She's like, you guys improved since then, there's
Speaker 1: still some good tips. And she's like, but maybe you
Speaker 1: should update a wedding episode. And then well she was
Speaker 1: half right. It's episode six. Yea, so close, yes, So
Speaker 1: that was the first episode, Episode six. We did a
Speaker 1: part one of how to Save Money on a Wedding,
Speaker 1: and then episode forty nine we did how to Save
Speaker 1: Money on Weddings Part two Reception and Honeymoon, And there
Speaker 1: are some good tips, and we still think they are
Speaker 1: valid episodes to listen to. We think the wedding landscape
Speaker 1: has changed since and so we want to highlight some
Speaker 1: of those changes and how you can save money in
Speaker 1: this new landscape of weddings. And you know what this
Speaker 1: also highlights, Jen, it's reminding me there was a time
Speaker 1: when you said I will never do another wedding episode.
Speaker 1: This is it. We did part one and we did
Speaker 1: part two, and there's a running joke with Jen that
Speaker 1: anytime she said she's never going to do something, it
Speaker 1: definitely means she will, because well, it's like a secret
Speaker 1: charm over two hundred episodes for us to get to
Speaker 1: another wedding episode. So it may take a really long time,
Speaker 1: but it's never ever, Yeah, it's never. Never. Almost is
Speaker 1: a guarantee that I will. So it's you know, who
Speaker 1: could have saw happening in one? You know, nobody could
Speaker 1: have seen it come in and some of our presodes
Speaker 1: need updates. Yeah, well, you're not disappointing me. But speaking
Speaker 1: of disappointments, that's who our show is brought to us
Speaker 1: by today. Disappointments, not that we need a reminder about them.
Speaker 1: Disappointments happened regularly, but this sponsor has a special message
Speaker 1: today in partnership with our wedding episode, highlighting the fact
Speaker 1: that no matter how you approach your wedding, there will
Speaker 1: be disappointed people, and honestly, you might be one of them,
Speaker 1: even the one getting married, or your aunt or your
Speaker 1: grandma or somebody. There's no pleasing everyone, so tie the
Speaker 1: knot your way. That's that's my advice. Speaking of disappointments,
Speaker 1: hopefully you won't be disappointed to know that we have
Speaker 1: a Patreon, a special place where you can get more
Speaker 1: from us, including a monthly bonus episode and other fun things.
Speaker 1: Of course, we know we have disappointed some people with
Speaker 1: this offering, but if that's not you and you are
Speaker 1: interested in this, head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com
Speaker 1: slash Patreon. We'd love to see you there. If you
Speaker 1: like the show and you want to support us and
Speaker 1: get some goodies, come on over. We're there. The water
Speaker 1: is warm. Yeah. Alright, So let's talk weddings. Uh. This
Speaker 1: is definitely a major one that does get requested, and
Speaker 1: it was requested enough that I went against my no
Speaker 1: more weddings rule. We're talking about weddings again, but we're
Speaker 1: also talking out of lopements, and we're talking about these
Speaker 1: new micro wedding trends that I think are very cool,
Speaker 1: and there's just a lot I mean people, I guess.
Speaker 1: I don't want to say they're less crazy about weddings
Speaker 1: than they were, but I feel like maybe they are.
Speaker 1: But that's probably also because I'm getting older. I don't know, Jill,
Speaker 1: you go to more weddings than I do. I'm just
Speaker 1: shaking my head over here. I feel like the pandemic
Speaker 1: did did us a solid not in many ways, but
Speaker 1: in this way that I think it really did give
Speaker 1: permission for people to get creative with it. We've seen
Speaker 1: some really cool stuff out of weddings and the way
Speaker 1: people are reimagining that. But then I think there's this
Speaker 1: other flip side where it has sparked the people who
Speaker 1: needed to wait for forever to have like the wedding
Speaker 1: that they wanted, and now it's like, we waited two
Speaker 1: years for this, and so forget about our entirement, We're
Speaker 1: going all out. And also, something that has happened in
Speaker 1: the last decade that is definitely not has not died
Speaker 1: off and is still alive and well or becoming more
Speaker 1: and more alive and well is the whole weekend getaway
Speaker 1: bachelor bachelorette that was not a thing when I got married,
Speaker 1: And I am very grateful it wasn't, honestly, because that's
Speaker 1: a whole added cost. That's where I've seen stuff shift.
Speaker 1: And it's so funny because when this comes out, we'll
Speaker 1: actually be going to a wedding, like in four days.
Speaker 1: So this is hilarious and we I can't remember the
Speaker 1: last time we went to a wedding. But I think
Speaker 1: it's for the worst. It's not for a better, it's
Speaker 1: not an improvement, but a lot of costs have shifted
Speaker 1: to friends because these bridal like bachelorette and bachelor parties
Speaker 1: have gotten much more intense. They have gotten like we're
Speaker 1: taking international old trips now I know, I know I
Speaker 1: and so that is and it's like and it's a
Speaker 1: once in a lifetime. So it puts this pressure on,
Speaker 1: like I can't say no to anything because hopefully you
Speaker 1: only get married once. It's not like a birthday that
Speaker 1: happens every year. Yeah, so but we want we're not
Speaker 1: talking about bachelor parties in this episode, but if you're
Speaker 1: getting married, please consider that. Um that No, it's not
Speaker 1: everybody's once in a lifetime. It's your once in a lifetime.
Speaker 1: They will they will go to like twenty bachelorette parties.
Speaker 1: Uh so keep that in mind as you plan yours.
Speaker 1: But we're talking first about elopements versus wedding costs, and
Speaker 1: we're getting really broad in how we talk about elopements now.
Speaker 1: Uh we'll talk more about like the micro wedding in
Speaker 1: the next article, but definitely did want to break down
Speaker 1: the difference in these because I Okay, so when I
Speaker 1: got married, I was like, I'm never gonna elope. I can't.
Speaker 1: I have too many friends. I just want a big party.
Speaker 1: There is a way that you could still have that
Speaker 1: party without the going crazy, and one of those ways
Speaker 1: is through alopement. Uh so, what did you think about
Speaker 1: this one, Jill, It's been a long time since you
Speaker 1: got married. It's been a long time old But I
Speaker 1: thanks Jen with the same age though, was so you
Speaker 1: were married a whole three years before me. So I
Speaker 1: really I love this article. I think it's helpful to
Speaker 1: see the differences and now I'm not I don't think
Speaker 1: that our approach here is to say everyone should elope,
Speaker 1: but just to kind of highlight the differences, maybe get
Speaker 1: the wheels turning on. Oh that's interesting. Maybe I maybe
Speaker 1: that could be an area of savings for me, or
Speaker 1: maybe there's some sort of radical middle combination that I
Speaker 1: could do here. I think what I would love to
Speaker 1: drive home in this episode is that you can get
Speaker 1: married and have it be affordable for you. I know
Speaker 1: that that's going to be different for everybody. I don't
Speaker 1: think you have to sacrifice everything, but I also don't
Speaker 1: think you have to spend tens of thousands of dollars
Speaker 1: just to get married. And I think that this article
Speaker 1: highlights that. And I did find it interesting to look
Speaker 1: at the comparisons of various types of weddings, right an
Speaker 1: elopement is a type of wedding marriage ceremony versus your
Speaker 1: maybe massive traditional wedding, and kind of where the additional
Speaker 1: costs come in and what that could mean for cutting costs.
Speaker 1: I found it so very interesting what they site at
Speaker 1: the very beginning here is according to Bride's dot com,
Speaker 1: the average cost of a wedding was forty four thousand
Speaker 1: dollars in two thousand eighteen. I got to imagine it's
Speaker 1: even higher now for people going traditional wedding, you know,
Speaker 1: with inflation and everything, which is just massive. And then
Speaker 1: they say with the state of Oregon being slightly less
Speaker 1: than about twenty eight thousand, And of course the author,
Speaker 1: the writer of this article is from Oregon. Her a
Speaker 1: little plug to say, organs better when it comes to
Speaker 1: average wedding costs. But forty four thousand dollars is astronomical
Speaker 1: to me. That is, that's more than my student loans
Speaker 1: coming out of undergrad Like this is you're talking about
Speaker 1: taking out student loan debts if you're looking at that
Speaker 1: type of what So it makes sense that so many
Speaker 1: people are asking this question about how do I save
Speaker 1: on a wedding, because yeah, goodness, we shouldn't have to
Speaker 1: spend forty four dollars absolutely, and I don't think a
Speaker 1: lot of our listeners are planning to do that. But
Speaker 1: if you consider yourself a little below average, uh, and
Speaker 1: how much you want to spend for your wedding, A
Speaker 1: budgets for these things always get higher than what you plan,
Speaker 1: so you have to go even lower than what you
Speaker 1: want to spend to get to around where you will
Speaker 1: be where you want to be. Um And it's just
Speaker 1: good to look outside of your comfort zone to get
Speaker 1: creative ideas. Take a little from one, leave what you
Speaker 1: don't like, you know, take what saves you money, and
Speaker 1: then splurge in the in the parts where you really
Speaker 1: feel convicted about. So yeah, well, let's look at the
Speaker 1: first cost that they're comparing in the elope versus wedding
Speaker 1: debate fight sword fight. Yes, okay, here we go. Uh,
Speaker 1: photography and videography, and this is from a photographer and
Speaker 1: videography company. So let's take this one with a grain
Speaker 1: of salt. She says that they're all the same. You
Speaker 1: will pay the same amount whether you are doing a
Speaker 1: wedding or an elopement, which we know to be untrue. Um,
Speaker 1: having lots of photography and videography. Friends, if you want
Speaker 1: to do something that is during the week, then you will,
Speaker 1: you can you can save. If you are taking a
Speaker 1: photographer on a journey into the desert, got to get
Speaker 1: him a hotel or something, you are going to pay
Speaker 1: the same or more for photography and videography. So but
Speaker 1: if you want to do something on a week day,
Speaker 1: maybe in the afternoon, like before this person has to
Speaker 1: pick up their kid from school or before they have
Speaker 1: to make dinner, that that is going to be a
Speaker 1: lower cost than a Saturday where they can charge a premium.
Speaker 1: Uh So it's not across the board, but it can
Speaker 1: be if you are looking to get a very high
Speaker 1: quality photographer videographer. Just asked, are there any days or
Speaker 1: times that you would do a discounted rate and that
Speaker 1: could be could be an option, and you will also
Speaker 1: have them for less time to than a normal wedding
Speaker 1: would cost because elopements are just typically shorter. Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: The next comparison is related to florals. I know a
Speaker 1: lot of people can spend a lot of money on flowers,
Speaker 1: from center pieces to the bride's bouquet, to bride'smaids, to boutineers,
Speaker 1: to the arch way you name it. There's a ton
Speaker 1: of floral costs. And of course this is going to
Speaker 1: vary depending on what type of wedding day you choose,
Speaker 1: but certainly for your more traditional wedding where you've got
Speaker 1: all of those things, you're looking at upwards of twelve
Speaker 1: hundred dollars Versus if you're eloping and you just want
Speaker 1: a bouquet in maybe a few flowers for the background
Speaker 1: of the ceremony, you're looking at more like one seventy
Speaker 1: two hundred dollars, So that's quite a significant difference. Yeah, definitely,
Speaker 1: and you can you can compromise. So maybe you do
Speaker 1: more things like thrifted things or things from like up
Speaker 1: cycled from your house as decor, and you do more
Speaker 1: limited florals if you want to have the bigger wedding
Speaker 1: but you want to save some money on that stuff,
Speaker 1: or maybe you do no no florals, maybe you just
Speaker 1: do a bouquet. So this is something where you can
Speaker 1: still have a larger wedding and you don't have to
Speaker 1: buy all the flowers that normally come with a wedding.
Speaker 1: You could just do just a bouquet and then maybe
Speaker 1: some bridesmaids bouquets if you wanted to. So that's also
Speaker 1: an alternative. Mm hm. Next is the venue, and this
Speaker 1: makes a huge difference. Um and you really can't like
Speaker 1: this is something you can't if you have a big wedding.
Speaker 1: You can't save with the small venue. You're gonna pay
Speaker 1: for the big venue. And this is a big place
Speaker 1: where people sink a lot of their money. This is
Speaker 1: I would say where most money uh for the actual
Speaker 1: ceremony is sunk. If you do the same place for
Speaker 1: the reception, it would be that too. But yeah, venue
Speaker 1: you'll pay this is about five thousand dollars for wedding venue.
Speaker 1: I haven't heard of anyone lately getting out with a
Speaker 1: venue for less than ten thousand. If you also take
Speaker 1: into consideration all of the minimums, all the things they
Speaker 1: make you add to use the venue, so between five
Speaker 1: and ten. Whereas an elopement they put venue in quotations
Speaker 1: is typically about two oh five. So you have to
Speaker 1: pay for me be a permit um they say, the
Speaker 1: a permit from Yosemite. It's about hundred and fifty uh
Speaker 1: two fifty for Rocky Mountain National Park, so that's or
Speaker 1: maybe a parking pass for five bucks. So you really
Speaker 1: can if you don't have set up and you don't
Speaker 1: have things that really need to be set up, um
Speaker 1: like you do at a venue, you can get away
Speaker 1: with a lot with a small venue. Well, and I
Speaker 1: think you know what what the writer is acknowledging and
Speaker 1: kind of pointing towards is that usually with an elopement,
Speaker 1: you'll utilize nature the great outdoors as your venue. So
Speaker 1: if you need to get a permit, sure, but I'm
Speaker 1: sure that if we're not living in Portland, Oregon, then
Speaker 1: maybe we're just going to a park or really anywhere.
Speaker 1: But another thing that's interesting about whether it's a micro
Speaker 1: wedding or an elopement is that I think whether can
Speaker 1: be less of a concern, Like you're not as worried
Speaker 1: about how is this going to impact all of my
Speaker 1: guests and parking and bathrooms and a tent versus you know,
Speaker 1: I was prepared for the like in case of rain,
Speaker 1: I didn't really mind if I would have needed. I
Speaker 1: really wanted an outdoor wedding that didn't end up happening
Speaker 1: for me, ended up being a beautiful day. But there
Speaker 1: was that thought like, but you're going to have to
Speaker 1: have the backup plan that's going to cost money, versus
Speaker 1: you could have an outdoor wedding and just bring an
Speaker 1: umbrella if it's just the two of you or ten
Speaker 1: fifteen people. I think you you worry less about weather,
Speaker 1: which is like another kind of side peripheral thing with venue,
Speaker 1: which also impacts cost. Absolutely that's a great point too. Then,
Speaker 1: of course, you know DJ this has to do with
Speaker 1: venue and reception and all of that. I mean, if
Speaker 1: you're eloping and you want to dance. You again, just
Speaker 1: bring a blue too speaker and play the songs you
Speaker 1: want to play. Versus if you are doing a traditional wedding,
Speaker 1: most likely you're going to at least be hiring a DJ,
Speaker 1: if not a live band. You know, people do that
Speaker 1: for cocktail hour and all sorts of things, so you
Speaker 1: can really rack up the cost. It's so interesting the
Speaker 1: prices that are listed in here a wedding DJ. Again,
Speaker 1: I think they're far more than that. I think you're
Speaker 1: talking at least three thousand dollars now for a DJ. Honestly,
Speaker 1: even this is a place where you can save, even
Speaker 1: if you have a larger wedding, if you can rent
Speaker 1: out like a really good sound system and just have
Speaker 1: a really good continuous I don't know if i'd use Spotify.
Speaker 1: I might try and find an app that is specifically
Speaker 1: for like music play being played at parties where the
Speaker 1: downtime is less. It maybe is like a curated it's
Speaker 1: one playlist with many it's it's almost one song with
Speaker 1: many songs in it, versus just playing like um songs
Speaker 1: with abrupt ends and stuff. So you can find that,
Speaker 1: I mean they have that. They have that for our gym,
Speaker 1: like the gym has that that app for music. Eric
Speaker 1: and I used to be DJ's, so I can affirm
Speaker 1: that there's that there are apps that you can plug
Speaker 1: in your playlist and you can have the one song
Speaker 1: start over top of the other songs. That there's never
Speaker 1: that like awkward laps that I think is pretty much
Speaker 1: the point of having a d J. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: more to it than just that. But if you're not
Speaker 1: that concern, you just want a good playlist, this is
Speaker 1: something you can do ahead of time. Throw all your
Speaker 1: songs into the app, have them set up so that
Speaker 1: the one just plays exactly after the other. You can
Speaker 1: curate it for which songs you want to come next.
Speaker 1: You know you're gonna want like two hours for cocktail
Speaker 1: hour and dinner and then two or three hours of dancing.
Speaker 1: So even when you go to traditional wedding route, like
Speaker 1: you're saying, Jen rent wedding equipment, some of this stuff
Speaker 1: can be or sound equipment and some of the stuff
Speaker 1: can be d I wide. Yeah, and then for the announcing,
Speaker 1: here's here's the thing. Everyone's going to have a friend
Speaker 1: that's going to want to bring a plus one and
Speaker 1: you're like, I, you'll never stay with this person, Please
Speaker 1: don't bring them or you just met this person? Why
Speaker 1: why should I have to pay for their dinner. Here's
Speaker 1: the thing. You find that person and you pay them
Speaker 1: to announce the wedding. They shouldn't be You went from
Speaker 1: why are you here to let me entrust to you
Speaker 1: with announcing. Yeah, they shouldn't be there, but they're gonna
Speaker 1: be there regardless, so you better give them a job.
Speaker 1: I think i'd rather like have them serve the guests
Speaker 1: the cake than give them the microphone. But you do
Speaker 1: you jen, Okay, obviously they have to be qualified. If
Speaker 1: they are unqualified, then you then you get them to
Speaker 1: serve the cake. But um, you can also ask a
Speaker 1: friend who loves to do this stuff if they will
Speaker 1: just do it. But you also don't want to take
Speaker 1: advantage of people who are invited to your wedding as guests.
Speaker 1: But so that's the But if you're gonna take advantage
Speaker 1: of someone, that's who you take advantage of is the
Speaker 1: person that shouldn't be there. It's the plus one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I am all about friends chipping in, chiming
Speaker 1: in given of their skill set, Like, I think that's
Speaker 1: a great alternative to a gift and something I would
Speaker 1: encourage people to ask of their friends, like can you
Speaker 1: do the center pieces? Can you do the music? Even
Speaker 1: if they're not a DJ, but like can you queue
Speaker 1: it all up? Can you do the flowers? That I
Speaker 1: say that already, like give everybody a job and then
Speaker 1: that's their wedding gift. Yeah, it can be. As we
Speaker 1: get older, it becomes harder to ask people to do things.
Speaker 1: So yeah, maybe find somebody who doesn't do a lot
Speaker 1: and ask them to do something. That could also be
Speaker 1: the person that you asked to do. Everybody's got one
Speaker 1: of those family members as well. Think about it. Think
Speaker 1: about it. Yeah, it's hard to ask people to do that.
Speaker 1: But at the same time they are going to be
Speaker 1: coming to your wedding and giving you money. There's essentially
Speaker 1: like the ask for that. If you're doing a wedding,
Speaker 1: that's essentially what you're asking for. So instead of that, hey,
Speaker 1: would you mind doing X, Y Z? Instead? People want
Speaker 1: to help. Oh, and what a great idea if you
Speaker 1: don't want to give somebody like money or a gift,
Speaker 1: to be like, hey, what can I help with at
Speaker 1: your wedding? I don't have the budget for a gift.
Speaker 1: But I would love to do something. Don't ask them
Speaker 1: the day before the wedding, asked them like months before,
Speaker 1: so they don't hire somebody to do that. Yeah, what
Speaker 1: can I do for you at your wedding to save
Speaker 1: you money? Yeah? Deal, that's a great gift. And then finally,
Speaker 1: and of course on my end, that just the food,
Speaker 1: and this is the most important in my opinion, catering, food, alcohol, cake.
Speaker 1: Of course, this is going to be far less expensive
Speaker 1: if you're eloping or doing a smaller wedding. It's the
Speaker 1: cost of you eating whatever it is that you want
Speaker 1: to eat, versus feeding everybody else. They're estimating wedding catering
Speaker 1: being about five thousand dollars. Again, this is going to
Speaker 1: depend on how many people you have, but it could
Speaker 1: be even more than that depending on what kind of
Speaker 1: food you're serving. So between venue and food, I think
Speaker 1: those are going to be your biggest expenses for a
Speaker 1: traditional wedding. And similar to how we approach every other
Speaker 1: aspect of life, you're gonna want to look at the
Speaker 1: heavy hitters. If you're really trying to save or not
Speaker 1: spend a ton of money or cut costs on a wedding,
Speaker 1: those are going to be the areas that do you
Speaker 1: want to look at? How can I get this? Get
Speaker 1: get a version of what I want for the least
Speaker 1: amount of money as possible or whatever your budget is
Speaker 1: that you want to be getting married with. Not to
Speaker 1: go into debt for this. Yeah, I mean, you can
Speaker 1: get a great cake at Publix. I'm just saying for
Speaker 1: thirty bucks. Definitely, don't send Jill to get the cake.
Speaker 1: But you can. Yeah, I will forever be cake. Don't
Speaker 1: send Jill to get the dessert. Dessert. Yeah, that doesn't
Speaker 1: mistake And ultimately you just have to be upset at
Speaker 1: yourself about it. I'm talking to me, but it's fine.
Speaker 1: But I also ordered the turos. You didn't really want
Speaker 1: me to do that. But the Turos were decent. Those
Speaker 1: were de Yeah, those were Those were pretty alright. Next
Speaker 1: on the list is day of Coordination. I didn't realize
Speaker 1: how much I would need this on our at our
Speaker 1: wedding until we had it. Um, this is the person,
Speaker 1: this is the plus one, and this is how I know.
Speaker 1: This was my plus one who was aptlete qualified, but
Speaker 1: I would not she would not have been invited to
Speaker 1: my wedding. She was a plus one, and she wanted
Speaker 1: to start her day of coordination like business. Obviously, probably
Speaker 1: not at that place in our lives anymore, you know,
Speaker 1: in our early twas. But if you are, and if
Speaker 1: you have a friend who's maybe starting to start some
Speaker 1: kind of project management business, this is a great little
Speaker 1: feather in their cap. But I paid her like a
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty bucks and that was so nice, so
Speaker 1: so nice to have well and it was kind to
Speaker 1: her too. Yeah. Yeah, day of coordination. I would say
Speaker 1: this is important, especially for your typical, typical wedding. You
Speaker 1: don't realize how much needs to come together on the
Speaker 1: final day, and if you don't have a point person,
Speaker 1: the bride will be the one and you don't want that. Nope,
Speaker 1: you do not want that. I'm assuming I'm talking to
Speaker 1: the bride right now that you're listening to me. You
Speaker 1: do not want to be the point person day of
Speaker 1: your wedding. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Yeah, you can
Speaker 1: get away with spending less than the twelve hundred that
Speaker 1: it says um by just having one at the reception
Speaker 1: or our friend Jess, you Jill, you were the coordinator,
Speaker 1: you know for that wedding. Just having a friend who
Speaker 1: is skilled do it, but don't skip it unless you're
Speaker 1: having an elopement, in which case you can't skip it. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: save that money. And I doubled as the MC for
Speaker 1: the night too, so the coordinator could also be the
Speaker 1: m C. I mean, just figure out all the ways
Speaker 1: to hack it. I get it if you want your
Speaker 1: friends and family to be there. Like, elopements are really awesome.
Speaker 1: People are doing them in amazing ways. But at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, it's going to be for some
Speaker 1: people and it's not going to be for others. So
Speaker 1: it is worth moving into the next article where we
Speaker 1: talk about how to do just smaller weddings. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: it's also worth noting that the total for the wedding
Speaker 1: that they the conservative wedding that they laid out versus
Speaker 1: the elopement, it's almost twenty eight thousand for the wedding
Speaker 1: and it's just over ten thousand for the elopement, So
Speaker 1: that's like night and day difference. It still is crazy
Speaker 1: to me, though, the ten thousand dollars for an elopement,
Speaker 1: I think it could be right than that. I think
Speaker 1: I spent ten thousand dollars on my wedding with three
Speaker 1: hundred people. So but that was say, you'd like to
Speaker 1: remind me, Yeah, but it was a different time then.
Speaker 1: But we and we but we used a lot of
Speaker 1: the same tips we just gave to people. So that's
Speaker 1: how we save that money. And moving on to our
Speaker 1: what has been a thing but really got popular during
Speaker 1: is micro weddings. Six ways a micro wedding will save
Speaker 1: you money. And this is like the hybrid between an
Speaker 1: elopement and a full wedding. And I kind of love it.
Speaker 1: How do you feel about it, Joe, Oh, I think
Speaker 1: it's so great. It really whittles things down and makes
Speaker 1: it simple. It makes it affordable. I think it can
Speaker 1: help you keep sites on what's important for that day.
Speaker 1: I think it's an especially excellent idea for people who
Speaker 1: really want a beautiful, highly curated wedding day and experience.
Speaker 1: We kind of want all of the things, but don't
Speaker 1: want to pay the ticket price for all of the things.
Speaker 1: Then having a really small wedding is great. At the
Speaker 1: end of the day, I will say I personally loved
Speaker 1: having a massive wedding because it was really important to
Speaker 1: me that all of my people, every single one of
Speaker 1: them could be there, but I sacrificed on the other
Speaker 1: side of it, Like it wasn't your most high end experience.
Speaker 1: It didn't have all of the pomp and circumstance. So
Speaker 1: I think this is where you just have to weigh
Speaker 1: out what's most important to me. Is it that everyone
Speaker 1: is able to be there, or is it that it's
Speaker 1: it's just a really remarkable, memorable, meaningful day with like
Speaker 1: my closest of close people. Either one is great. You're
Speaker 1: just going to have to recognize what the give and
Speaker 1: take is going to be when you're able to kind
Speaker 1: of identify the core items that are most important to you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel the same way. I wanted a big wedding.
Speaker 1: I wanted everyone there that I loved and definitely sacrificed
Speaker 1: on other things. It was and it was an all
Speaker 1: outdoor wedding. The food was made by the best man
Speaker 1: and two people were in charge of supposed to be
Speaker 1: in charge of heating it up. He's a chef and
Speaker 1: he had like made it the previous day. It was
Speaker 1: just like pasta sauce. It was just spahetti and the
Speaker 1: to charge my mom. The two people my mom hired
Speaker 1: to heat it up pretty much failed. So the food
Speaker 1: was kind of gold. There was just a keg of
Speaker 1: beer that was served yourself, and yeah, it was real.
Speaker 1: It was all My in laws own a winery, but
Speaker 1: they were just getting started, so it was all wine
Speaker 1: that they were just testing out. It wasn't the best,
Speaker 1: the best iteration of what they can do now. So
Speaker 1: it was really like it wasn't the best, but we
Speaker 1: had fun like we day and I love that. And
Speaker 1: see I love that to take the air out of
Speaker 1: the room of all the pretension, which I think both
Speaker 1: ways can have that. A smaller wedding can take out pretension,
Speaker 1: a big wedding without all the thrills and thrills, it
Speaker 1: just have fun, enjoy the day. Yeah, how fun there is.
Speaker 1: I mean, there are definitely a few things that I
Speaker 1: wish I could change, mostly the hot food. I did
Speaker 1: love to serve yourself beer. That was fun, but be
Speaker 1: careful and be careful with that, right. There was no
Speaker 1: hard liquor. Uh so, But I think what a Mike,
Speaker 1: what one have done for us have made it acceptable
Speaker 1: to do a micro wedding because before it was you're
Speaker 1: either inviting everyone because your mom says so, or you're
Speaker 1: inviting no one, so nobody gets offended that you invited
Speaker 1: him not her. And so we now have a lot
Speaker 1: of excuses to why now we can choose smaller gatherings.
Speaker 1: It's not like an offensive offensive thing anymore. So that
Speaker 1: is a huge positive. Uh And and that's the first
Speaker 1: thing on this list six of six ways a micro
Speaker 1: wedding can save you money? Is that smaller guest list
Speaker 1: just simply cost less, and you are you can offend
Speaker 1: fewer people today. And I feel like we may be
Speaker 1: moving backwards. I don't know, maybe six months ago, I
Speaker 1: was more confident in saying that, Like, but I think
Speaker 1: I think we are creating just like a foundation of
Speaker 1: boundaries in this field. So I think I think some
Speaker 1: of it will go back to, you know, moms forcing
Speaker 1: you to invite aunt Edna. You can't not invite aunt
Speaker 1: Edna even though you haven't seen her in twenty years
Speaker 1: because she get offended. Um, Like, I think that's going away. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I think we are moving at least away from the binary.
Speaker 1: And there's more of a third, fourth, fifth option here
Speaker 1: with weddings even too. So they described micro weddings as
Speaker 1: usually it's a maximum of fifty guests is what we're
Speaker 1: talking about when we say micro wedding. It's not going
Speaker 1: to be a ton of people in fifty guess. When
Speaker 1: two people are getting married, that's that is enough for
Speaker 1: your close friends and family, Like, that's that's gonna be
Speaker 1: fifty guess. But I've also seen it where people might
Speaker 1: have they're more intimate micro wedding forty to fifty guess,
Speaker 1: and then a few months down the road, do a
Speaker 1: larger but less formal reception, more of a pot luck
Speaker 1: style and kind of get the best of both worlds.
Speaker 1: Like there's just there's so many more options that I'm
Speaker 1: seeing arise, and it's giving space and freedom to be creative,
Speaker 1: to do it your way. But along those lines, you
Speaker 1: can certainly save money on a lower priced venue when
Speaker 1: you are having less people. You just don't have to
Speaker 1: pay for the space to be able to have as
Speaker 1: many people. You don't have to have all those lights on,
Speaker 1: all that heating and cooling, you name it. So you're
Speaker 1: talking your backyard weddings. This could be a beach wedding,
Speaker 1: could be someone's garden. It couldn't even be like someone
Speaker 1: with a large living room could be a micro wedding
Speaker 1: and so depending on Yeah, if you've only got forty
Speaker 1: or fifty guests, you can really choose almost anything, even
Speaker 1: even a restaurant. Running out a room in a restaurant
Speaker 1: you could do. And that is going to significantly cut
Speaker 1: the costs from a place that needs to hold a
Speaker 1: hundred fifty people. Yeah, definitely, I like all these and
Speaker 1: you kind of you kind of covered the lower priced
Speaker 1: venue option the next one on. Here's fewer decorations, so
Speaker 1: you can go more with what you really love if
Speaker 1: you're buying fewer of them. So and yeah, that's just
Speaker 1: fewer decorations means you save money, but you can also
Speaker 1: get better quality, maybe more sustainable. So the options really
Speaker 1: open up to you when you're choosing, Like fifty people
Speaker 1: are less mm hmm. And I think that can connect
Speaker 1: to whatever venue you choose. You can kind of hit
Speaker 1: two things all at once. If you're able to identify
Speaker 1: a place that you find beautiful so that you don't
Speaker 1: have to add a ton of stuff to it in
Speaker 1: order to make it look nice. This of course could
Speaker 1: be an outdoor wedding if you have a park that's
Speaker 1: your favorite. We just had, We've had a couple of
Speaker 1: weddings at the park at the end of our road recently,
Speaker 1: and it's just it was just a reminder to me
Speaker 1: of that is a beautiful park and all they had
Speaker 1: to do is just show up and get married. They
Speaker 1: didn't have to decorate it a ton. Of course, you're
Speaker 1: at the whim of mother nature. But yeah, I think
Speaker 1: you you all so don't have to spend a lot
Speaker 1: on the core if you're getting married in a spot
Speaker 1: that you just think is as good as is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was our our thing as we chose the like
Speaker 1: shuffle board courts from the city, Like it's owned by
Speaker 1: the city, so it's a lower cost and it also
Speaker 1: has all this like vintage charm being from the twenties,
Speaker 1: so we decorated it like not at all. We just
Speaker 1: the charm ven you. I love that as a wedding venue. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so be creative to there. Even if you are going
Speaker 1: for a bit larger of a ceremony hundred fifty to
Speaker 1: two hundred people, there's still could be options. I know
Speaker 1: we we recently made friends with someone in our area
Speaker 1: who there's like a community dance hall that they're renting
Speaker 1: out and I think it's like a hundred fifty dollars
Speaker 1: to rent out this dance hall for the night, and
Speaker 1: it has all the tables and chairs, so it's just like, oh,
Speaker 1: there's still could be options. It might not be, you know,
Speaker 1: the most beautiful spot, but shop around shovelboard courts. Who
Speaker 1: would have thought? Who would have number four on here? Obviously,
Speaker 1: the smaller the wedding, the less food you're paying for,
Speaker 1: and that could even make way for you to have
Speaker 1: some nicer menu items when you're feeding less people. But
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, you're just purchasing less
Speaker 1: food to feed less people, and you can go more
Speaker 1: minimal in that regard to which is going to save
Speaker 1: a ton of money and will inevitably lead to less
Speaker 1: food waste because large catering orders always produced some kind
Speaker 1: of food waste, and you're just one frugal person. You
Speaker 1: may not be able to take all the leftovers, though
Speaker 1: we may try, you know, we try. Have you ever
Speaker 1: taken like to go from a wedding all ways? Jillian,
Speaker 1: I am, I am, I'm always offended that you haven't.
Speaker 1: What if you have? You did you bring your own tupperware?
Speaker 1: Please tell me even for your own plastic? No, they'll
Speaker 1: have them I've never brought my own though. That's a
Speaker 1: good idea. That's a good idea. I'm getting older, I'm
Speaker 1: carrying less. Yep, I'm gonna bring my own do that.
Speaker 1: I might do that at the wedding this weekend. We'll see.
Speaker 1: I'd love, I'd love to watch that happen, but I'd
Speaker 1: also cringe. Should also be cringing the whole time. No,
Speaker 1: but there is so much. Anybody who's worked in catering knows.
Speaker 1: The larger the order, the more the food waste, and
Speaker 1: the employees more or less half more and more are
Speaker 1: being forced to just get rid of it. Some can
Speaker 1: take it home. So you always want to ask, like
Speaker 1: the caterer, hey, with the food that's not used, because
Speaker 1: the brian and groom are not taking it. They're absolutely
Speaker 1: not taking it. They wish they could, they can't. They're
Speaker 1: going on their honeymoon. So you say like, hey, are
Speaker 1: you able to take this food home? The I remember
Speaker 1: for Jess's wedding, we divvied up even the rehearsal dinner food,
Speaker 1: So that's another thing. The parents of the bride and
Speaker 1: groom and the bridal party, they may have already taken
Speaker 1: leftovers from the rehearsal dinner, so they may not want
Speaker 1: to take home those things either, So just check with
Speaker 1: someone to make sure that food has a home and
Speaker 1: that home is not in the trash can. I always
Speaker 1: take the center pieces, that's my stick. Anyone want these
Speaker 1: flowers good, I'll take them. Yeah, I'm always taking alternatively
Speaker 1: because you know I'm loving to give. Also the tips
Speaker 1: for the people who are like I guess why a
Speaker 1: traditional wedding. Okay, we see you. You're good with the
Speaker 1: food thing. Consider an all vegetarian menu. People are going
Speaker 1: to be fine for one day if all they get
Speaker 1: is pasta and salad. Your meats, obviously are going to
Speaker 1: be what's going to cost you a ton of money?
Speaker 1: Or depending on time of day you get married, you
Speaker 1: could do a brunch instead, which is going to cost
Speaker 1: a lot less. You could do a CHARCOUTERI you could
Speaker 1: even do. I know a ton of people that blew
Speaker 1: my mind when I heard this. All they did was dessert.
Speaker 1: They got married later in the day and they had
Speaker 1: a dessert reception. You can do what if this? If
Speaker 1: this is you, you need to hear this message. You
Speaker 1: can do whatever you want to do. It is your wedding.
Speaker 1: You can choose what's going to make the most sense
Speaker 1: for you, that aligns with your values, that's within your budget.
Speaker 1: You can get creative, You could do what you want
Speaker 1: to do. But I will say, have you ever been
Speaker 1: to a dessert wedding? Jill? I believe I have. It's
Speaker 1: a little much like if you're just there for an
Speaker 1: hour and you're only having dessert, cool, But if you're
Speaker 1: there for a ceremony and then a full reception and
Speaker 1: all you have at the reception is dessert, it's too
Speaker 1: much dessert. You need you need actual foods. So dessert
Speaker 1: elopement high five, full on um. If you're doing a
Speaker 1: micro wedding or a wedding, then at least like some
Speaker 1: kind of like tapas or or Derv's sort of thing.
Speaker 1: If you don't want to do a full meal, definitely
Speaker 1: have some savory option for people who are like Jill
Speaker 1: and can I guess I'm thinking dessert. I am thinking
Speaker 1: of your people who might just have a shorter reception,
Speaker 1: which I know plenty of people who that's the case.
Speaker 1: Like I don't want to dance, it's not our thing.
Speaker 1: Why do we have to do that. Let's just hang
Speaker 1: out with people for an hour and get out of there.
Speaker 1: If you're getting people later like eight, you know you
Speaker 1: have a seven or eight pm ceremony, that'd be fun,
Speaker 1: and then you just have dessert together, dessert nightcaps. Okay,
Speaker 1: yes we're there. Yeah. So next number five, you're rentals.
Speaker 1: Fewer rentals. So rentals are a way you can save
Speaker 1: money on a bigger renting. Instead of renting out a DJ,
Speaker 1: you rent out the sound system, get the app. Technology
Speaker 1: is a wonderful thing. But in general, like, in addition
Speaker 1: to saving money by renting items versus services, you can
Speaker 1: also save money by just like needing fewer rentals in general,
Speaker 1: a smaller sound system, fewer tables, fewer chairs, fewer linens, um,
Speaker 1: smaller sizes, stuff like that. So that is another way
Speaker 1: a micro wedding can be saving you money. And you
Speaker 1: just tell mom, like, we can't have aunt Edna there.
Speaker 1: It's more, it's another chair, it's on the table, it's
Speaker 1: more linen's, it's a bigger sound system, it's more all
Speaker 1: of these things. And you just list everything out and
Speaker 1: you tell her and you stand your ground and you
Speaker 1: you decide the things that you will compromise on, and
Speaker 1: the things you will not, although keep in mind, if
Speaker 1: aunt Edna's not there, aunt Edna's probably not going to
Speaker 1: give you a gift. So make sure you're you're thinking
Speaker 1: wisely about whether or not aunt Edna's independently wealth, being
Speaker 1: strategic you want. Yeah, um My, my throwdown with my
Speaker 1: mom was over the veil. I will not wear the veil.
Speaker 1: I don't know what it is about moms and their veils.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, did you cave? No? No, caved, caved.
Speaker 1: My mom would be more happy with you. She's probably
Speaker 1: listening right now, saying, good girl, Jen. You wish my
Speaker 1: daughter were more like you know, my mom holds a
Speaker 1: lot of things over my head. There are a lot
Speaker 1: of things I said no to. The veil was just
Speaker 1: like that last thing where I was like, woman, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll stupid veil if you just shut up about these
Speaker 1: twenty down the eye because I can't see anything. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we were still talking about that veil when I had
Speaker 1: a baby shower four years later. Stop it. Oh gosh,
Speaker 1: I can't even so obviously this wedding. This is why
Speaker 1: we don't do many episodes at all. Come put me
Speaker 1: in a bad place. I will never do another wedding
Speaker 1: episode say it all right? Lastly in number six is
Speaker 1: that a micro wedding can help save in wedding attire.
Speaker 1: You can go more casual if you are doing a
Speaker 1: smaller wedding. I I'm mixed on this. It's it might
Speaker 1: seem more like your guests could go casual. Your maybe
Speaker 1: people who are standing up in support of you could
Speaker 1: go more casual. I feel as though when I see
Speaker 1: people do smaller weddings, what they're spending on then is
Speaker 1: like a really beautiful dress, suit, tux, you name it.
Speaker 1: You don't have to, you could what values based wedding
Speaker 1: spending is what I'm here for. And I think when
Speaker 1: you do cut costs in certain areas, it frees up
Speaker 1: some money to spend in other areas. But also there
Speaker 1: is more permission in a smaller wedding to go more casual,
Speaker 1: which could save you some money. Yeah, I would agree.
Speaker 1: I bought a bridesmaid's dress in white. That was my
Speaker 1: wedding dress. I love it. So they made great bridesmaids dresses,
Speaker 1: so yeah, I'm just get them in white. Well, you
Speaker 1: know what comes in all shape, sizes and colors, not
Speaker 1: just brides and not just white the Bill of the week.
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 paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died,
Speaker 1: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: Bill Bill, this is the bill of the week. Hi,
Speaker 1: this is Ashley from San Diego, California, and I am
Speaker 1: binging your podcast and I'm still so far behind your
Speaker 1: current stuff, so someday hopefully I'll hear this message on
Speaker 1: the Bill of the week. Um, my Bill of the
Speaker 1: week is my son William, whose birthday is tomorrow, so
Speaker 1: this is an honor of him. And he goes by
Speaker 1: one million nicknames, which is the best part of having
Speaker 1: a son named William. He goes by William of course,
Speaker 1: Willem like William to show Bill, will Prince William, William
Speaker 1: the Conqueror, Wild Bill, Willie want a buffalo Bill. There
Speaker 1: you go. It's like Willie Billy the kid. Will I
Speaker 1: am Billiam, which is my person, my favorite, and his
Speaker 1: newest is now Bill of the Week. That's my bill
Speaker 1: of the week. He's the best. Your podcast is the best.
Speaker 1: You guys, have a great week, Ashley. I am you
Speaker 1: beat me to it. I was gonna I was gonna
Speaker 1: try and have to give birth to a William so
Speaker 1: I can call him Bill of the Week, and you
Speaker 1: beat me to it. And I'm so proud. Actually, I'm
Speaker 1: fist bumping over here. I am grinning from ear to ear.
Speaker 1: My face is going to fall off. I'm smiling so
Speaker 1: hard it literally you are not You are making my day,
Speaker 1: my week, my month, even my year. This is amazing
Speaker 1: that your son's name is William. It was his birthday,
Speaker 1: Happy birthday him, all of these things. Bill, Prince William, Buffalo, Bill,
Speaker 1: slick Well, Billy the Kid, Billy Um, Bill of the Week.
Speaker 1: You are the best Bill of the week. I hope
Speaker 1: you had a great birthday. You are the coolest kid
Speaker 1: with a cool mom having a cool day. I love this.
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Speaker 1: I don't know how to contain all of my excitement
Speaker 1: or make you feel like you should. Yeah, still submit,
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Speaker 1: the bill of the week, I will do that thro
Speaker 1: the podcast dot com slash bill. Now it's time for road.
Speaker 1: So we talked about this one throughout the episode, but
Speaker 1: creative ways we specifically used to save on our personal weddings.
Speaker 1: That and maybe something maybe something you did that you
Speaker 1: wouldn't do again, Jill. Maybe that's something that we add
Speaker 1: in since we a lot of these things we already
Speaker 1: talked about. Yeah, so okay, you go first. Okay, the
Speaker 1: food was out of my hands because I thought it
Speaker 1: was taken care of, So sorry to everyone in attendance
Speaker 1: for the cold spaghetti. But maybe hiring somebody more reliable.
Speaker 1: In hindsight, I don't know who could have known, Who
Speaker 1: could have known the reliability of these people. I was
Speaker 1: thinking I would have liked a DJ, because we got uh,
Speaker 1: we got Uncle Anthony to be in charge of the music,
Speaker 1: and I made a playlist, but I didn't make it
Speaker 1: as good as a DJ would have made it, Like
Speaker 1: it's just not my strength, and uh, you know, I
Speaker 1: should have I should have delegated it to a professional
Speaker 1: but that's about it. I and I tried. There are
Speaker 1: other things I tried, Like I tried to get actual wine,
Speaker 1: like white wine, red wine, white z Infidale, And conveniently
Speaker 1: those wines never made it out of the car. It
Speaker 1: was only my in laws wine, unmarked wine, to the
Speaker 1: to the extent that my friend who is allergic to
Speaker 1: strawberries tried it and he's like, what kind of wine
Speaker 1: is this? Because it's unmarked and somebody had to be
Speaker 1: like strawberries and he had to like leave. So there
Speaker 1: were like things out of my control that I wish
Speaker 1: I could have changed. But I think if the money
Speaker 1: wise thing, I think I would have maybe maybe hired
Speaker 1: a DJ, maybe I would have splurged there. Yeah. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of a helpful regret for people,
Speaker 1: uh certainly thinking you've all heard the story, probably, but
Speaker 1: thinking I was going to be able to borrow my
Speaker 1: sister's wedding dress as a backup when the one I
Speaker 1: ordered from China didn't end up being what I wanted.
Speaker 1: And turns out, at the end of the day, when
Speaker 1: I faced my truest of true selves, I did not
Speaker 1: want to borrow my sister's wedding dressed. I wanted my own,
Speaker 1: so that that was an additional cost to get a
Speaker 1: wedding dress and altered last minute. But I loved it,
Speaker 1: so I can't say that I regret it, but I
Speaker 1: think just maybe being honest about what was important and
Speaker 1: where I'm willing to cut and where I wasn't willing
Speaker 1: to cut. I do have, uh an unpopular opinion because
Speaker 1: that's what the lightning round is for here that I
Speaker 1: try and encourage other people with. One of the things
Speaker 1: I am very glad we did is have a short engagement.
Speaker 1: So the unpopular opinion here is that planning a wedding,
Speaker 1: an actual wedding, only needs to take as long as
Speaker 1: it takes to plan a large party, And in no
Speaker 1: other life circumstances do we take a year to two
Speaker 1: years to plan a party, but we do it with engagements.
Speaker 1: I get it that there's maybe like other reasons for that,
Speaker 1: but when it comes to the wedding, I think having
Speaker 1: that shorter amount of time to plan can also save
Speaker 1: money because you're not getting as tripped up with like
Speaker 1: all of the decisions and all of the Instagram scrolling
Speaker 1: and Pinterest scrolling and opinions and asking this and asking
Speaker 1: that you're just pulling together a party, and I think
Speaker 1: when people are able to approach it in that regard,
Speaker 1: it can also cut all of the unnecessary excess that
Speaker 1: I think does eat up a lot of the budgets
Speaker 1: and takes it from uh fifteen thousand dollar ordeal to
Speaker 1: a dollar ordeal, and it just doesn't need to be
Speaker 1: that um and just obviously looking at all the different
Speaker 1: ways that that can be cut, asking friends to do
Speaker 1: various services. I think one of the things that helped
Speaker 1: us too is finding people who are just starting out
Speaker 1: in something like everyone's got a friend who's just starting
Speaker 1: out in photography, get them. And we got two of them,
Speaker 1: So two people who were just starting out in the field,
Speaker 1: so that there were multiple angles, multiple different types of perspective,
Speaker 1: styles of photography. And even with extra photographers, it hardly
Speaker 1: cost us anything because they were new, they had great cameras,
Speaker 1: great equipment, they had practiced some this is one of
Speaker 1: their first weddings. I was willing for that, like, I'll
Speaker 1: take the pictures that they capture. Yeah, we did vegetarian menu,
Speaker 1: so just but for us, the value was I want
Speaker 1: to have a blast and I want everyone to be there.
Speaker 1: I want everyone to come, so I cut crazy in
Speaker 1: all the other areas. This is much more of a
Speaker 1: recommendation for people getting married in their twenties. If you
Speaker 1: are getting married in your thirties or forties, people have
Speaker 1: a different expectation, I think because they've been to so
Speaker 1: many weddings. And this is where I think the elopement
Speaker 1: or the micro wedding comes in so great because I
Speaker 1: barely talked to less than fifty people from our wedding.
Speaker 1: They were there about two hundred to fifty there. A
Speaker 1: lot of them were family, and yeah, we still don't
Speaker 1: talk to maybe fifty of them. So I think you're
Speaker 1: more refined when in the later in your your life
Speaker 1: with your relationships. So I think the types of weddings
Speaker 1: that are appropriate that are most desire aired, you know,
Speaker 1: the bigger weddings that are more d I y in
Speaker 1: your twenties versus the smaller weddings that are more refined
Speaker 1: in your thirties and forties. There is not one type
Speaker 1: for any age, but I do see that being more
Speaker 1: of a of a trend that I mean, you don't
Speaker 1: have to expect if we're saying, you know, like get
Speaker 1: your friends to to do stuff for you when you're
Speaker 1: in your forties and your friends are not about that
Speaker 1: doesn't have to be. You can definitely hire it out,
Speaker 1: but just know where you're you're going to be cutting
Speaker 1: on the guest list to get that price that you're
Speaker 1: looking for, UM with the service that that you want.
Speaker 1: But you could do anything. You just have to get
Speaker 1: creative in one area or another UM to make it
Speaker 1: work for you. And that's where that value is based.
Speaker 1: Approach that we talk about blend's flawlessly here to identify
Speaker 1: what's most important your own personal context and how you
Speaker 1: want to approach this day for yourselves. For are you
Speaker 1: the couple that's getting married, not for anyone else or
Speaker 1: to meet other people's expectations or to make it look
Speaker 1: instagram worthy, like do the thing that you want to do.
Speaker 1: And at the end of the day, it's about getting married,
Speaker 1: not just the wedding. So that's I think super important
Speaker 1: to keep in mind too. Yeah, so thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: I hope this is really helpful for you if you
Speaker 1: are engaged or about to be engaged, UM, if you
Speaker 1: are paying off debt or want to be paying off
Speaker 1: debt once you get married. Then we have a private
Speaker 1: community for people paying off debt where we do monthly
Speaker 1: money challenges and offer accountability groups. And we would like
Speaker 1: to congratulate one of our members in there for a
Speaker 1: big win. And this one's from Vanessa Um and she
Speaker 1: actually learned something outside of the group that she shared
Speaker 1: with everyone and I appreciate it, so I wanted to
Speaker 1: share it with you guys. Um. She says, a lady
Speaker 1: in my buy nothing group is a huge advocate for
Speaker 1: no food way, and she posted some pictures in the
Speaker 1: group that tell the difference between expired food and the
Speaker 1: best before date on the packaging. Uh so she says,
Speaker 1: there's two different dates. And Vanessa said she scored a
Speaker 1: lot of free food from the buy nothing group because
Speaker 1: people were giving away food past their best before dates
Speaker 1: but not past their expired dates. And she has been
Speaker 1: fine and she posted those pictures in our group. So
Speaker 1: thank you, Vanessa, and way to go all your free food,
Speaker 1: you know, and always the next wedding you're at, you
Speaker 1: ask about that catering. You asked where that catering is
Speaker 1: going to? Okay, Oh, this is so great. I love
Speaker 1: reducing food waste and I also love getting free food
Speaker 1: and I love when knowledge can help us to make
Speaker 1: informed decisions. There is a big difference between best before
Speaker 1: and expired. So well done, Vanessa. Yes, do you want
Speaker 1: to check out those picks and our other monthly challenges
Speaker 1: that we've done. Had to Frugal Friends podcast dot com
Speaker 1: slash club. See what challenge we're doing right now and
Speaker 1: what's coming up next? See you next time. Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: is produced by Eric Sirian. Yeah. We're definitely going to
Speaker 1: a wedding this weekend. I totally forgot not this this
Speaker 1: current weekend, but after this comes out. What's your go
Speaker 1: to wedding gift? Cash? Everyone loves cash? Yeah, yeah, um,
Speaker 1: that's it. Everyone loves cash. I love cash, couples love cash.
Speaker 1: I know that's not the answer you're going to give Jill,
Speaker 1: what's your favorite? I'm think I was thinking about it,
Speaker 1: like as I asked the question, the being like, well,
Speaker 1: what would you bring? I will check out their registry
Speaker 1: if there's anything still left on it. I do like
Speaker 1: the practical, like I'll look for something on the registry
Speaker 1: that obviously it was within my price range, And of
Speaker 1: course my mind will usually go to what are they
Speaker 1: gonna engage? With often and maybe they'll think of me
Speaker 1: they use that thing, like I'm going to get them
Speaker 1: their bath towels, and then every time I go over
Speaker 1: to their house, be like, what did you think of
Speaker 1: me when you dried your hands? That's why I can
Speaker 1: be really weird with it. Um. No for the wedding,
Speaker 1: the actual wedding, Yeah, it's it's usually just money. It's
Speaker 1: all I wanted. I never registered for anything. I just
Speaker 1: asked for money. I registered for low cost items because
Speaker 1: there were some people that refused. It's the Aunt Edna's
Speaker 1: they want to get something, they want to wrap it.
Speaker 1: And so I registered for all these things and then
Speaker 1: I returned them all to get the higher priced items
Speaker 1: that I knew Aunt Edna wouldn't buy, so like the
Speaker 1: two hundred dollar things. Um, and that was a great strategy.
Speaker 1: I really hope you don't actually have an Aunt Edna.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't. Poor thing feels really called down.
Speaker 1: But you know what, maybe we'll change our ways.