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Posted
Sep 14 2009, 02:38 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
How tacky is this -- or is it? You're invited to a wedding and reception, and you're expected to pay for your meal.
We've never encountered this, and neither has Mike at Clever Dude, although he considered it briefly before he got hitched. However, a friend of his was invited to a wedding for which she was asked to pay for the meal and also bring a gift.
Not cool, Mike said: "The wedding is for YOU (bride and groom). The reception is for US (friends and family)."
He added, "If I'm going to plop down $50 to $150 on a present, the least I should expect in return is a decent meal."
It's tradition, sure enough. But in these economic times, can't we all tweak our expectations a bit?
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Posted
Aug 05 2009, 03:58 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
"Miss M" got a last-minute wedding invitation and doesn't have time to shop for a gift.
So, she asked loyal readers of M is for Money, should she do something she has never done before in her life: Put cash in a gift envelope and call it good? Is that tacky -- or not?
She's obviously worried about breaking a rule. "I was raised to think that cash makes a tacky gift, though looking back on some of the crystal monstrosities my mother gave, perhaps money would have been kinder," she wrote.
What do you think? Is cash -- like that late wedding invitation -- an indication that you don't care very much for the recipients? Or is it the best gift you could possibly give?
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Posted
Jul 29 2009, 05:26 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Lynn Truong at partner blog Wise Bread.
I got married in May and I couldn't have been happier with how the day went. At first, there were things I really wanted (or thought I really wanted, based on what I knew weddings were supposed to be like) that would have cost us much more money. But we decided on some frugal alternatives that ended up making the day better than I could have imagined.
Yes, those other things would have been nice, too, but considering that neither of us is made of money, the alternatives made me just as happy and made the day just as perfect, without spending a fortune.
Here's how we saved loads of money by opting for alternatives to tradition.
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Posted
Jul 22 2009, 04:42 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
It's difficult to plan or prepare too much for your wedding, wrote Kyle O'Connor, as if to explain why his list of "69 amazing resources to help you plan your dream wedding" at Love Hacks is so long.
No apologies or explanations are necessary, Kyle. It's difficult to imagine an aspect of wedding planning that isn't covered in his post, whether you're the DIY kind or you need to ride herd on a professional planner. For instance, one of his picks is Easy Weddings' "Top 50 first dance songs." "Sweet Baby" by Macy Gray is No. 1. (Our favorite, Luther Vandross' "Here and Now," didn't make the Top 50. What's up with that?)
Other examples:
Invitations. Topics include making your own and keeping costs down, and the proper way to word invitations depending on who is paying, who is hosting, and if parents are divorced. Another post is dedicated to "wedding invitation wording that won't make you barf."
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Posted
Jul 02 2009, 06:46 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
"MoneyMate Kate" is thoroughly impressed by the frugality employed by her sister as she plans her upcoming wedding. Then why does Kate call her "Bridezilla"? That doesn't seem fair.
So far, Kate estimates that Bridezilla's clever planning has saved $8,300, compared with the average wedding expenses in the New Jersey suburbs where they grew up. If she had compared her sister's spending with the cost of weddings in Aspen, Colo., where the wedding will take place, the savings would be in the stratosphere.
To make her cost comparisons, Kate used the Cost of Wedding Web site provided by The Wedding Report, which tells you what weddings and their various components cost broken down by ZIP code.
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Posted
Jun 18 2009, 06:05 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
I recently received an interesting e-mail from a person I vaguely knew from college. This person "rediscovered" me via The Simple Dollar, befriended me on Facebook, and sent me one or two e-mails.
Out of nowhere, the person, who is engaged, e-mailed me a link to the couple's wedding registry. It had been e-mailed to a lot of people -- apparently everyone in their e-mail address book. The e-mail included a generic invitation to pick out one of the hundreds of items they had selected.
I deleted the e-mail. This was greed, pure and simple.
After I received it, the issue of gift registries stuck in my mind. What exactly is tasteful behavior for a gift registry? Also, what kind of items should one put on such a registry?
Here are some of my thoughts on the matter.
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Posted
Apr 08 2009, 08:23 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
This is the third entry in a five-part series on the stages of a relationship and how you can make financially sound choices throughout. Other entries include courtships, engagements, honeymoons and marriages.
Weddings are a traditional sinkhole of a new couple's money. I've written about it before, offering 18 tips for a frugal wedding. In fact, entire blogs are devoted to the topic of frugal weddings. One of the best is A Practical Wedding.
So what do I have to add on the topic? It's easy to get bogged down in the specifics of wedding planning -- and when you start racking up the costs on those little details, before you know it, the entire wedding is out of control and you're starting married life in a financial (and emotional) hole.
Here are 10 big-picture tactics to apply when planning for a wedding that won't break your bank -- or your future.
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Posted
Mar 11 2009, 02:50 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
It took the very observant British blogger "Miss Thrifty" to alert us to a new U.S. trend: the fake wedding cake.
Real frosting covers inedible foam to make this extravagant display, she says. When the time comes to cut the cake, the bride and groom remove a slice of real cake that had been cleverly inserted into the fake one. The cake is taken away, and guests are served pieces of real cake (perhaps purchased at the grocery store).
What do you think? Frugal or cheap? We say cheap, and we're not alone in our opinion. "Whatever next? Hire a dress for your photos but get married in a different and cheaper one? Serve cheap fizz in Krug bottles (although I'm sure it's been done)?" a Miss Thrifty reader named Holly opined.
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Posted
Dec 22 2008, 11:00 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Personal finance blogger "Jennifer" at Becoming the Marshmallow could have spent thousands of dollars -- or tens of thousands -- to marry her sweetheart, Tim. But neither of them were all that interested in a conventional nuptials and reception.
Instead, they went to the Pinellas County (Fla.) Courthouse and got married. And they have the "commemorative paper framed portrait with the county logo" to prove it.
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Posted
Dec 16 2008, 02:00 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
"J. Money" at Budgets are Sexy used every way he could think of to get his wedding photos from a prepaid photographer who left town without handing them over. He even threatened to sue. After almost a year, still no luck. What's a blogger to do? He created a new blog about the wedding photo fiasco, naming names and dates. Two days and more than 300 hits later, the photographs were e-mailed to him. Less than two weeks after that, the photos were in his hands. "So for a measly $9.99 (for the domain name) and a few hours of hard work, Operation Wedding Pictures was a success!" J. Money wrote.
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