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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
May 12 2008, 09:45 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Yesterday my only child, Abby, wed her sweetheart, Tim. Today they are frolicking in Florida. They achieved both happy states without breaking the bank. I recount this to encourage other young couples who wonder if they can "afford" to get married.
Well, of course you can afford it. Marriage licenses are cheap and so are civil ceremonies. If by "afford" you mean "can I go into debt to satisfy other people's expectations" -- well, that's a question that only you can answer.
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Posted
Apr 09 2008, 05:13 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
When we read about Amy's plans for her wedding at My Daily Dollars, we wanted to be invited. This excellent post explains how you can celebrate in an incredible setting with fabulous food for less than $5,000. First of all, decide what your wedding means to you. "When I imagined my wedding day, what always got me the most excited was the fact that it will be one of the few times in my life that many of the people I love will be in one place at the same time," Amy writes. "Once I had that in mind, other things started to fall into place." Base the theme on the location, not the other way around. It takes a lot of money to transform a boring social hall into a special place. Her wedding and a "scrumptious picnic reception" will be at a lodge in the state park where she and her fiance had one of their first dates. She adds, "I'm planning for a hike down to the river in my wedding dress."
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Posted
Apr 02 2008, 04:24 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We'll give you the happy ending first: A funny noise in his pickup was the reality check -- he calls it a "gift from heaven" -- that kept blogger "JB" of Get Rich Or Die Trying from buying a house he couldn't afford. The rationalizations he had used up to that point -- spend the emergency fund, the wedding fund and the tax rebate, and stop contributing to the 401(k) -- to make him think he should buy it may seem sickeningly familiar to many struggling to hang on to their homes or facing foreclosure. It also started when JB and his fiancee found the house of their dreams.
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Posted
Oct 08 2007, 02:37 PM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
That’s Zill as in “Bridezilla.” My daughter, Abby, who’s getting married in May, was raging over a newspaper article about the costs a bridesmaid can reasonably expect.
The thing is, some brides are no longer reasonable -- and they expect way too much.
Veteran bridesmaid (eight times!) Arica Colley, profiled in the article, said a recent wedding cost her $1,300. Yep, thirteen hundred dollars.
But here’s the scary part: “Experts” say that bridesmaids should expect to pony up $1,000 to $1,400 for the privilege of wearing the same dress as a bunch of other women.
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Posted
Jun 12 2008, 05:11 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Flying ants swarmed at Jill's rehearsal dinner, the nearby military range tested its big guns during the wedding, and then cousin Taylor fainted and hit his head on the house, requiring a trip to the hospital. Then, during the reception, the town's power went out. What does this have to do with frugal wedding planning? Well, nothing, really (although Jill's post at Naturally Gluten Free does include some cost-cutting tips). But it's part of the fun reading in what we promise will be the last word on this subject. (OK, we're probably lying.) No fewer than 33 personal-finance bloggers and readers submitted entries to Pinyo's "Best wedding tips and stories giveaway" at Moolanomy.
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Posted
Dec 03 2008, 02:15 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Forest Grey at Forest on Finance wants to propose to his girlfriend. He's a guy with a big romantic streak but a limited budget, and he's asking readers how to go about selecting an engagement ring. (Forest Grey is his pen name so his secret is still safe.) He's asking for help in these specific areas:
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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
Nov 12 2007, 02:05 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Do you really enjoy vacuuming and dusting your McMansion? How many times has your expensive boat left its slip? Was your $40,000 wedding worth every drunken second cousin at the open bar? Come on, 'fess up, people, and save the rest of us from repeating your mistakes. In an animated post, " Un-Joneses of the world, speak up! " blogger Meredith H. Kaiser at SavingAdvice.com urges readers to start a national movement to end the Joneses' influence in our lives by telling the truth about expensive blunders. Highly amusing at times, the post is also seriously on target. Under a section called "Having children -- Think IF not WHEN," she writes that some parents have confessed to Kaiser and her husband, who are childless by choice, that they would not have children if they could go back in time. "Please, if you feel this way, share it," she writes. "Not in front of your children, of course, and not with anyone who would betray your confidence. But, I think many people need to have permission to
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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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