Debted Wedding Guest Survival Stategies
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| Sat, 03-19-2005 - 7:29am |
Wedding season is coming up....here come the showers, the parties, the wedding.....How are you going to work it all out with your existing debt situation? Do you have any tips or tricks you can share regarding keeping your expenses as a guest low? How many events are you attending? What do you think is a reasonable amount to spend on a good friend's wedding? Are you budgeting for each event? Are you just going to add to your debt load because you think you have to buy a certain gift? Are you wearing the same outfit to all the events? Do you have to figure in travel and lodging expenses to go to some of the events? Do you have a cheap source for gifts? Are you declining invitations? How are you going to survive wedding season?
Thank you for sharing!
Littlesbigs

So far I've not been invited to any weddings this season, hurray! But I do have a cool tip for close friends of brides and grooms-to-be. I read this in the Tightwad Gazette. If she has roses in her bouquet, arrange to take the roses home afterward. When the flowers begin to droop (or sooner if you choose), clip them off (Morticia style, lol). Make a clean cut on the bottom of the roses, then dip them in rooting hormone. Plant in potting or starting soil mix. In a few weeks when the roses are well-rooted, you can transplant them to large pots and bury them in a shady location in your garden. In a year, you can dig up the pots, and have a lovely anniversary gift--rose bushes from the bride's bouquet. And it's almost free (rooting hormone is available at garden shops, and you can use salvage pots and inexpensive potting soil).
I've not tried this tip, but I do know that roses are easily rooted from cuttings, so it seems like it should work.
Heather
I am invited to a fancy backyard wedding this spring, and I have no idea what I am going to do yet. I am going to try to figure out after talking to the bride what I should wear, and I am going to make every effort to wear something I already own. I really want the only expenses to be the gift and travel there. I could offer to do some picture taking or videoing, but that could become a real chore, and I was hoping to actually enjoy myself that day. BUT< I know pictures are a one-chance opportunity, so I may decide to do that for them. I am sure she will have a photographer, but sometimes those casual pictures are priceless. I also have her registry of gifts, but .... I don't know yet. She didn't ask for anything too extravagant, but......
I would like to stick to a budget of not more than $150 for everything for that day.
I do not want to add to my debt load for this. I'll have to save for this....so I may buy the gifts later.
I'll shop around to see if I can find fun things that are inexpensive, but taking pictures may not be such a bad idea. And I can decorate a photo album.
Littlesbigs
I had four weddings in one summer once when we were really broke, so I hear you loud and clear!
We only have one friend who is getting married, and the wedding is cross-country from us (it's in California, and we're in Georgia), and it's a no-children wedding, so that leaves us out since our son is homeschooled, and the wedding is during the school year (late April).
But...we had a good idea for the wedding gift! They had "mentioned in passing" that they would be registering at certain stores, and this was probably in October that they mentioned it. Well, we kept watching those online registry sites until theirs appeared, and then we purchased a nice gift (linen set $85) before anyone else could buy anything off the registry. LOL!! Reason being that the majority of the items they registered for were very pricey ($150 and up), and we didn't want to wait until the last minute and get stuck having to buy one of those expensive gifts. So we got in early, got our gift for them, and it fit into our budget just fine. :-D
Pat