How to Save Money on Weddings - Part 2: Reception & Honeymoon

episode six, so it's been quite a long time. And we've had several requests uh to complete the weddings um segments. So you've been doing this for forty nine weeks. I know. Wait until wait until we get to episode fifty two. Our one year anniversary special is going to be very special. It's going to be a Yes, it's a highly highly requested episode that we've had. Uh. So, before we get into today's also highly requested episode, we gotta start with

some sponsors. Gotta do it. So today's episode brought to you by Modern Frugality dot Com, the Modern Frugality blog and shop. It's Jen's Let's be clear, but it has three and low cost printables resources, e books, all these really cool things to help you reduce your spending, minimize your stuff, organize your life. Tell me that doesn't sound good, So head on over to shop dot modern frugality dot com and you can see all the free bees. Yes I said free bees. Not everything is going to align

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that things in your home have it. M Oh, that was deep. Like that up, it's like a wow at the end, it was surprising, kind of like the cream in the middle of an OREO. Yeah, everybody's favorite part. It doesn't really surprise me. It's just a good part. Yeah. Wow. How are you you to follow up on our cleaning episode? I think that was it where we talked about changes we were going to make. Was this was that the episode? I forget which episode, but are you using cloth napkins? Yes?

That was from our eco friendly frugality episode. I have not bought any yet, but it's just been several weeks, so I need some time to find them make them out. That's the thing. I need to find some old curtains from the thrift store and I haven't had time to go so but I will. And if anybody has any recommendations, like for ones that they use, please let us know in the Frugal Friends community on Facebook. You can find that at either searching Frugal Friends community or Frugal Friends

podcast dot com. Slash group because I would really love your recommendations on that. She would She's being serious. Yeah, what about you, Jill? You said you were going to make a change. I can't remember what it was. Listen to me. I am never home, okay, since we recorded that episode. I don't think I've been home in Jamaica, in Vegas. I'm currently in Jersey. So I can't be held responsible or accountable for anything I say. Really right, that lets me off the hook. I don't have to

make real life choices when I'm constantly traveling. Nope, I don't hold you accountable. Thank you, thank you. I feel so validated. But I'm glad our listeners held us accountable for part two of the Weddings episode, or we for sure would not have done it. We kind of packed ourselves into a corner with like calling it part one. I mean, and you can't just have a part one and then nothing. It's like calling your first party an annual party. It's like, well, this is the first one.

You can't call it annual until you do it again next year, exactly. So we started with episode six and that was about how to save money on the actual ceremony, the wedding dress, the decor stuff like that. So the first half of the wedding, So definitely head back into the Archives episode six and listen to that if you

were planning a wedding. This part is specifically going to be on mostly the reception and then some about the honeymoon, because I mean, with every good party, you need an after party, so and and and then an after after party and then has a vacation. Yeah, so you you need it, but we're gonna show you. We're going to tell you how to save on it. And so our first article is about the reception and it is from Love to Know dot com and it is cheap Wedding

Reception Ideas. Forgive them for using the word cheap. They know not. They threw around the word cheap a lot, and I had this like visceral reaction to what it was surprising. I actually had a bodily reaction to the word cheap. I was like, no, I don't like this. This is not how we're describing a wedding. But they did have some really good ideas. Jill were what were your tops? Yeah, so they went through some ideas for receptions, just a location for receptions. I thought that they weren't

super creative. Probably you've heard of this if you already are a frugal person, but it does get the wheel spinning that there are other options than just the country club. So they mentioned there's three that they mentioned, a religious hall, uh, someone's backyard, and a club hall. So with that, they're saying that a lot of times at churches or religious buildings will have a big kitchen, like a commercial sized kitchen, and a large room attached to it that you could

use and decorate and make it look nice. So if you're getting married in a church and they happen to have a large room that you could have your reception in and you can kind of get a package deal, then that's something to consider. Also someone's backyard. If you're not super concerned about whether or not it's going to rain, or you want to do the whole tent rental, bathroom rental deal, you can consider a backyard. I will say that I'm not sure that that's always going to be

the cheapest option. If you do, like I said, rent the porter potty, rent the tent, rent the chairs, rent them, it really can add up. But if you can use the house for facilities and the kitchen to cook in and you're not having a lot of people. I almost did like a backyard and b y o C like bring your own chair. My mom thought it was the tackiest thing. She's like, where are people gonna sit? And

I'm like, or where are they gonna eat? And I eat off your labs like it's it's gonna be low key, We'll order some pizzas like on our way from the church back to the backyard. We didn't end up doing this, but in my mind I was fine with that anyhow. And then they also mentioned club halls, So these are your fire halls, it's your v A facilities, club, scouts, whatever. If there's big buildings that are kind of community oriented, even community centers, usually that means it's a place where

elderly gather and play bingo. But there can be some really nice community halls that you could rent out for way cheaper than an actual venue. So it's worth starting to get creative. Jen, I love what you guys did for your venue. Yeah, we so I kind of disagree with their venue choices, just because I would be willing to pay a little bit more for a venue that

doesn't need any decorating, because decorations really add up. And like you said, if you're doing like backyard, the porta potty, the tents, those are not cheap and I thought that would be a frugal way to go, but when you when I started pricing it out like it was super expensive. So we did it at a at the shuffle Board Courts um, which are like a big thing here in St. Pete, and it's owned by the city, so it isn't that expensive.

But it is from the nineteen twenties and it's white buildings, green courts, and so it was it's very vintage looking, so it didn't need any the core like it was. We just used the space as decorations. So that's also something to consider if you're looking at a place that's just slightly more expensive, think about something that you won't have to decorate and you can use the actual space as decor I do like that one. I would also

add in, at least in our area. This isn't everywhere, but there's a ton of barns around our area, so there could be people who would be willing to run out of barn, so at least that's enclosed. You may still have to get a porter potty, but you may not have as much decoration to do. You don't have to worry about renting a tent. Also, banquet halls in restaurants, so this is actually what Eric and I did when we got married, so it could see a lot of people.

We were able to have up to like four hundred people in this banquet hall. But it wasn't a country club, so it kind of flew under the radar. Off it wasn't a super expensive place. We were able to pick what kind of food I think we could have even brought in in a different cater They ended up giving us a great deal. It was only like fourteen dollars ahead to do chicken and pasta and salad. It was yeah, fantastic. So it was something a little bit different. So just

think outside the box too. If you know of you know restaurants that tend to be the elderly flock there, but they've got banquet halls, you never know you might be able to work with them a little bit more on the catering or bringing in If you choose to have a bar, you could bring in your own alcohol rather than paying for that at at a venue who has it, so thinking outside the box on this can really be helpful. We even had friends to who got

married in a park. Sometimes parks will have buildings on it, whether they be a pavilion or even sometimes nicer facilities than just a pavilion. And like you said, Jen, you don't have to worry about the decorating. It's a beautiful location. Maybe there's a pond or a lake or a river in the back and you're out in nature, but you've got the pavilion you've got, or you've got these structures that you just have to rent, like you would rent if you were having a family reunion kind of a thing.

So definitely there's a lot out there, so do some research. Look within an hour radius of where you live, where other people have gotten married. It does not have to be the traditional country club we're out. Yeah, definitely. Another one that I wanted to point out that was on this list is doing the reception favors. So we personally got sunglasses, and while it may not have been the cheapest thing we could do, we could have, you know,

just done some like hers Hershey Kishes or whatever. Um. We have used those sunglasses since our wedding and they're just cheap sunglasses, and so everybody loved them, everybody used them, and we even got a pair. We met you guys a year after you got married and snagged a hair off of you because we had so many left over that whenever we lose some sunglasses or need some cheap sunglasses for something, we are able to use our old

wedding favors. And so they have just come in so handy. Um. So. So having reception favors that are useful and still cheap like that is a fantastic idea because most people will you know, spring for eminem's with their faces on it or do little tells. Yeah that's the thing. Yeah, yeah, And and so just think you're when your wedding is over, you're going to have so many favors left over. Do you need like fifty tins of mints? And it's also wasteful because like you're just going to throw them away

and they're gonna end up in a landfill. We don't not do favors. Maybe we were awful people, but we didn't do We were like, you're welcome, you got to celebrate with us, and we fed you. So I know that's also an option to this says, so, yeah, I know a lot of people in our community group said skip the favors, but I just found having those sunglasses for some work. That was the gift that kept on giving. It was. This article also lists ideas for food, so

there's tons of options here regarding beverages. Obviously, if you go to no alcohol route, then that is less expensive than going the alcohol route. Obviously, if you do want to have some selection of alcoholic beverages, you can choose one thing, just having one type of beer, one type of champagne, whatever that is. Just make it a simple selection. Yeah,

and so that that can limit costs. If you find a b y O venue, then that's that's fantastic too, because then you can purchase the alcohol yourself and you're you're getting it at cost and then you know, you can have some family member or friends serve it, or you could you know, hire somebody whatever. But that that can be a less expensive way of doing it. And as far as food goes, going simple this does not have to be the best meal that your gathers are

going to get that week. It does not have to be a prime reb Nope, you can do simple salads pasta. If you want to add meat to it, do chicken. But really you could do spaghetti and salad and bread. People would be so thrilled and just kill it on the dance floor and you're fine. You don't need to offer five million different things to your guests. You could also do uh, sandwich bar. They mentioned doing finger foods dessert bar like cookies. You don't have to get the

cake if you don't want to. I know some people don't even like cakes. So yeah, I've been to a wedding that does a dessert bar and a it was is delicious because they sprung for the real good desserts because they didn't have to pay for like chicken and expense other expensive you know foods um and then be there was so much left over we got to take

some home. Yeah, And then and that could be the favor if you don't do a wedding cake and you could just have little baggies for people to take home some cookies or little cheesecake bites or brownies or whatever you decide to do. And that's two birds. I also know that. And obviously every place is different, and even how weddings are traditionally celebrated. So I've heard that in the South they will even do just desserts or just

appetizers and have a shorter reception. I don't know you live in the South, but Florida is a different kind of South then. I mean, that was how the dessert wedding that I went to was. It was just desserts, and it was is a little earlier because yeah, by the time we were all done, we all kind of wanted some real food, and but it was so it ended early enough to where a bunch of us could go out to eat afterwards. And so with that style,

you could have a lot more people. And so this is where some of the priority could come in of do you want to just be able to invite everybody and their mom? Fine, then make it clear that come celebrate with us. We're gonna have some amazing desserts, and then we're going out to this restaurant you can buy your own food. The funny thing was is that after that wedding, we went to this taco shop to get some food and we ran into the groom. That's awesome.

He was grabbing some tacos. Yes, it was real good. Another thing I liked from this list was um what we did instead of a DJ, we had a Spotify playlist that one of Travis's family members ran. And so part of getting a DJ is that they pump the crowd up. And so if you're not going to have an actual DJ or band, then you just have to find an alternative to keep your guests engaged, um and get them out onto the dance floor. So we like

went for the you know whole shipping with the venue. Again, we had the shuffle board courts open, so we had somebody there from the court um there to hand out like the sticks and the pucks and which are actually called tangs and biscuits what yeah, I know, and uh so he was like kind of monitoring that and teaching people how to play and stuff. So that's kind of how we kept the adults engaged. And then for kids, we just had some like coloring sheets and crayms. Oh

that's cool. Yeah, so it's you can still make it fun without the DJ. Yeah. Friends of mine that got got married in a park, they had tons of lawn games. So most people were just having a blast, treating it like just a really amazing fun backyard party with lawn games and there was dancing, but it was kind of like you could have fun doing either one of those things, right, And that's the thing, like, sometimes you can be too frugal with your parties, uh and kind of forget some

of the components that cutting costs uh inherently eliminate. So you just have to be aware of those things. And kind of as long as people are engaged in some way, they are not going to notice that there's no ten thousand dollar DJ right available, right, And some people are annoyed by that DJ anyhow so I know some of

them are bad, some of them are really good. Uh. Unfortunately got married at a time where every wedding I went to was using like the same DJ, and he was just so good, like best wedding DJ to date. And I was like, how much is zy? And They're like ten thousand dollars and I was like no, and not spending that whole kind of money on my entire wedding. No, no, No No, thatt of fight is kind of a down payment on a house. Right, So yeah, I was a

little like embarrassed to not use epic DJ. So that's why I had to counter it with like coloring and games. I would have been embarrassed to pay that amount of money for a DJ. I would have to in hindsight, if I had, I would have like major regretted it, right. I also, of course this is not in the article,

but it's the frugal way. I mean, I guess it's not considered bartering would be just gift giving, but tapping in those friendships, and I guess they'd be bartering in the sense of, you don't have to get me a wedding gift. Can you do my hair? Could you do the flowers? Can you DJ? We had, we had friends DJ. We used our own sound system. I mean, thankfully my husband's a musician, so we had access to that equipment. But can you can you rent it at a low

cost from a local church. Do you have buddies who have sound equipment? Even? Do you have a friend who will put together a playlist for you on their phone and play it and make sure that the flow is good, whatever the case is, pull on your friends, say don't give me a check, don't get me a gift, like could you help me day of? And that's what could really pull together a really nice wedding for you. That

was how we did ours. That's how we pulled ours off because so many people rallied around just to give of services or time in lieu of a gift, and that was so meaning bowl and we had a blast. Yeah, don't be afraid to ask for things like that from your wedding because people love being able to contribute to your special day, especially if it means they won't have

to get you something off of your registry. Like I had a friend that did my makeup, and on the other hand, when I was a part of a wedding and everybody was paying sixty bucks to get their makeup done, I opted to do my own makeup and I mean I put on some extra foundation. It looked just like the air brushing. So also, don't be afraid to like

turn down things like that. And as a frugal person myself, I love the opportunity to come and help at a wedding, give of our sound equipment, come get a free meal, and not need to give a gift. That's fantastic for me because I've done something for you and it's the night didn't cost me anything. So consider that it might be a blessing for the person who you're asking for this, you know, favor or gift from. Yeah, definitely. The last thing I have to say about receptions is about the

center pieces. So what we did was cheap white candles we got off the internet with white hydrangees that you could get from Trader Joe's. We had a family friend that did our flowers for free. That was her gift, again like utilizing your community and your family, um in lieu of physical gifts. We had her do our flowers and they were beautiful. I was actually prepared for them to be just like mediocre, because like sometimes you don't know what you're going to get if it's a free

family gift. But they were absolutely gorgeous. Like I've never seen wedding flowers better than what we had. UM. So then yeah, so it was just like a I went with a nice flower and a cheap candle. That's it. Yeah. I don't even remember what we did, but I know that they weren't flowers. I think it was some sort of we're coming up on seven years now, so it was a different time, different styles, even a different time.

But the olden days, the wedding industry is shifting so much so quickly that like what we did is already out of style. But yes, we we used reusable things. It wasn't perishable, so I was able to prep them ahead of time. It was less expensive, and yeah it worked. I don't really care, right, I'm seven years out. Who cares what my center pieces looked like? I know, I know, they don't even talk about center pieces in this I just added it in because it was like one thing

because I actually was very picky. I wanted real flowers, um and a lot of people because it's like sometimes fake flowers are cheaper, and sometimes real flowers are cheaper. But the thing with real flowers or the candles in our case, like we were able to resell those candles because they were only burning for a few hours and they still look great, so we were able to recoup

some of our costs. Um. Same with flowers. But flowers are a little more um like specific, and you know, if you get colors that are like your chosen colors, so they're a little harder to sell. But think about what you can sell afterwards and like recoup your costs on. Yeah, that's a smart idea too. I do have friends who I don't know if produced junction is a thing everywhere. But basically it's inexpensive flowers and produce veggies and fruit. And they just had a friend that was the wedding

gift to them was to buy all the flowers. They just went the week of the wedding. So it was whatever produced Junction had in stock for flowers was going to be what her center pieces were made out of. And they just collected bottles throughout the couple of months leading up to it and put all these different ended up just being all different kinds of like wild flowers in these eclectic bottles on the table. It was stunning, really really beautiful, and the flowers only cost like a

hundred fifty dollars. But but then you have to be flexible. It was whatever the flower they had in stock, whatever types they had, but usually they've got good options. But yeah, with whatever you want to do, there is an inexpensive way of doing it. You just have to be creative. Yeah, frugality comes with flexibility. You have to be flexible to be frugal. So we'll leave it with that and we'll move on to honeymoons. Yes, everybody favorite. I Actually my

honeymoon was not the best. I cried several times on my head anymoon, I think because I was just so stressed from like beforehand, and then I was like married, and I didn't know how to process that there's a there's a man that I'm married to. Now. Yeah, I was like, oh my god, this is I'm I'm in, I'm in, this is it. And I couldn't took me a good week to process it. Yeah. So yeah, your honeymoon experiences better than mine. I had a fantastic honeymoon.

I was just telling a friend today that after my honeymoon, I was like, I came home and like, I want to go on another honeymoon. That was so fun, Like I want to do this again. And my friends were like, um, yeah, now they're just called vacations. Jill, Like, there's no like having another honeymoon. I felt very specifically that I wanted it to be a honeymoon, but whatever, seven years and

I am, I'm on board with vacation. Now you feel like you can splurge a little extra with honeymoon, and so that's why it's important to be as frugal as possible in your thinking, so that even your splurge is a frugal splurge. So that's I like. That sounds sounds like those two words don't go together, but you did it. Yeah, they do. Jill, what were your favorites from? This is um from trip savvy dot com and it's called affordable

honeymoon ideas. What was your favors job? Well, so this idea just came up recently because I was talking with someone who did this. They suggested, then this It won't be for everybody, but combining two things, having your wedding and your honeymoon be one and the same. So basically we're talking destination weddings. Typically. Obviously you could do it, you know, in a place in your area that is

hotel and wedding venue, but destination weddings. And the reason that I do like this concept depends on your situation is because it can overall reduce costs. While it sounds like, what flying to Jamaica and having my wedding there, that's going to be so much money, But at the end of the day, if then that reduces your guest list to thirty people, that's all you're paying for. And a lot of times these places will offer packages, so if you're already staying for three plus nights, there can be

a lot of freebees. Then associated they might do you know, their bare minimum wedding package for you then or not. Either way it's it still is condensing. It's um, yeah, it's packaging. You're both your wedding and your honeymoon. So it could be something to consider if you have a small party that you want to be there, if you want to cut costs, but you also want to really kill or honeymoon. I think that it's definitely worth considering. Yeah,

this is a great way. If your spouse has a large family and you don't want to invite them all, then you just say, oh, we're going to the Bahamas to get married. You're all invited and nobody comes, so yeah, it's and then it's on them, yeah, or whether or not it's a family you don't want to be around.

There's a lot of people who they have literally hundreds of friends who they would love to be able to invite, and this kind of puts it back on the people so that you don't have to go through and pick and choose who's going to be there, who's not going to be there. It's okay that this will help to weed it out. So again, It's not for everybody, but it could be a really good option for some how

about you, Jen? I love the cruise from home one, and that's because I live in Florida and we have so many cruise ports um and we actually have one that's like twenty minutes away from our home. But um, so a you can combine when ing and honeymoon. That is one thing you can do with the cruise and be you can find really great deals on cruises and if you're going to one close to home, then you don't have to fly out. Um. I would just find

a cheaper place than the port for your car. Usually there will be um websites for cruise parking um that you just you park at like a hotel or something and you take a bus down. So yeah, I I love that idea because I love cruises. I think they're a great frugal vacation. I mean, you can eat twenty four hours a day and if everything is included, like an ice cream. Good idea for baby moon then too, write right, you don't get to sea sick, Well, they

don't let you cruise after twenty four weeks. Isn't that crazy? So I couldn't take a baby moon cruise. But I would definitely take a cruise honeymoon if I could do it over again, because we found uh, I think one of the parts of our honeymoon that was like uncomfortable for me was that we that is the first time we had traveled together like for that long, and we found that we have different traveling styles. But on a cruise where everything's included, you can do whatever you want

like together, separate, and so we cruise really well together. Nice. Yeah, well, yeah, because you're not worried about spending. So yeah, for the frugal person, all inclusives. This is not on the list, but the cruise is all inclusive. But other all inclusives, if you can find it through a group on or a travel agent or whatever, that can be really fantastic because it takes out the guesswork of how much is

this cost? Thing? But then it also helps with stress, like you can just go that's it, you made it. There's no needing to figure this out, figure that out, carry cash with you, hide your cash. It's just it's done. It's already have to figure it out. And after the stress of a wedding, that's very nice. You just need to be told what to do. You know, don't have fun over here, go have fun over here. It's sleep now, it's nighttime. You don't have to plan any of it.

It's already done. I also liked the idea for those who are really pinching pennies on their honeymoon that you can even do cruises to nowhere where they literally will leave the port, go out to sea for two nights and bring you right back. It sounds silly, but it really can make you feel like you're in a different environment. It's still fun. I mean, really, that's the fun of a cruise anyway. A lot of people don't even get

off at the courts. When you do arrive at these different destinations, just enjoy the ship, enjoy the food that's all inclusive, and then come right back to shore. So it would be something to consider. Sometimes the best part of the ports is when everybody else gets off and you get the pull to yourself. It's true, that's a good point, yep. So they also mentioned scoring last minute deals, which by its very nature, you're waiting till the last minute,

so this is obviously not for everyone. And not famine, not famine, leaving that very important detail up to chance is a risky one, but there's those of you out there who are going to do this, So it is worth mentioning that, yes, you can get deals last minute. You again would have to be flexible. So where these last minute deals are too? Who knows? You might be going to West Virginia. Sorry, we Scrgina. Actually is it? Is it West Virginia's for lovers or is that just Virginia.

It's just Virginia, West Virginia for lovers, West Virginia's for cousins? Oh god, yeah, No. I could not wait until the last minute. That is not me. I'm a planner. I like to know what's happening, and so waiting to the last minute just did not fly right with me. I would rather on the other end of the spectrum, if you book super early, you can also get crazy good deals, So that would be me. I would book crazy early

so I could get it out of the way. It's worth mentioning that waiting until the last minute could mean that you then get desperate if you don't, if you then realize, you know what, I actually did want a really fantastic honeymoon, So now I'm going to splurge on it, So just be careful with that. Know yourself, well, are you genuinely flexible? You can do whatever in the last minute, fine,

do it. But if you're just trying to be cheap and save some money hoping that you're going to get this amazing deal last minute, I just I wouldn't bank on that, and you could then end up spending more money than you would have if you just had booked it a few months earlier. You know, it's like trying to buy a wedding dress from China and then it turns out to be a potato sack and then you

have to spend more money on a legit dress. Uh, what story are you referencing, Jen, I'm just using a hypothetically for those of you who haven't listened to episode six, Jenn is referencing my story where I thought I didn't care about my wedding dress and I would just get one from China, and then it shows up and it's not what I wanted, and I realized that I do want to look beautiful on my wedding day. What was

I thinking? So then I had displurage on something off the rack and get it Taylor made to fit my body, and you know the end of the day, I got married, but I learned a valuable lesson. So don't do that with your dress or your honeymoon, two very important things. Yes, do that with your son. Pieces right. You know what else is an important thing? Jill? Is it sub bill? That's right? It's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name

is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. That's built buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the week. Hey, ladies, great podcast. This is Body from Marthy's from Pennsylvania, and I have an Austin bill of the week. Seven years ago, we adopted our loved a little Henny. Well it's not real, little hundred thirty couns of fur. But I love paying bills for him. I love buying treats. I love buying toys,

this food and anything he needs. I hope you enjoy your week by a sweet hemmy, a puppy, And yeah, sometimes you gotta think they take bills just like abies. If that bills, are you sure that hemmy is a puppy. I mean a hundred and thirty pounds. It could be a really large guinea pig. Girl. You need to think

that through. I think that one through. That's awesome though, And isn't that so true that when we really care about something or value it, then like the cost of caring for that thing maintaining that living being is a dual. That's so fantastic. Thanks for sharing. And yeah, it's worth sacrificing other things for so you can better afford those bills. I love that. Thank you so so much, Bonnie. And we Pennsylvanians need those things to look forward to. Bonnie,

I'm right there with you. You're not complaining about Pennsylvania, but listen, there's a ton of snow here. So I'm so glad that you have Hanny to keep you company. I feel it and warm, warm. Yeah. If you have a hemmy or a puppy or any any bill related to animals, please submit it to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill and we want to hear about it. So yeah, we love them, especially like the solidarity found in Pennsylvanians. I know, right, if you're from Pennsylvania, needs it,

needs it. Yeah, I need friends obviously. I started a Frugal Friends podcast, I know, and I'm in Florida, so I can't. I can't be with torture upon torture. Yeah, we have frugal friends in our Facebook community to all over, which is so fun. They have provided the fodder for

today's lightning round. So we have asked the frugal friends how they saved on their wedding, and you know what, they have better advice than Google does well because they're as they always do, because it's real life, not just written for search engine optimization. So we're going to share it with you. So Rachel from our group says that finding a city building is a lot cheaper than a private venue when it comes to where you're going to

have your reception or even get married. So that's a fantastic tip if you live near a city, see what they've got or just some sort of town building rather than yeah, your country club. So thanks Rachel, exactly. That was how we got the Sheffle Board Club was so

inexpensive because it's a city venue. So all right, Christina says, sheet cake, cupcakes and doughnuts are cheaper than wedding cakes, and I love this idea because you can get like a smaller cake and cut it for you know, for pictures and show and then just bring out pre cut cake.

Saves time. It's like so efficient. Everybody gets cake like really quickly, and you can get the sheet cakes with no decoration that are super cheap, and nobody knows that they were cheat cakes and not round at some point, like nobody came. It's just it's cake. So yeah, and doughnuts, Holy smokes, why not? Doughnuts are so much better than cake anyway. I wish I'd done that. I wish I

just give them donuts. Give the people what they really want, donuts right covered in cinnamon and sugar or filled with Bavarian cream. It's actually fashion not day as we record this, What does that mean? I guess it's a Pennsylvania thing. Okay, it's the one thing we have to offer. It's a certain type of doughnuts. It's fat Tuesday. It's the day before Lent, and so everybody, you know, fills up on all their sweets because they're about to like not have

sweets for forty days. But fashion not. It's like it's a type of doughnuts that people will eat on Fat Tuesday. Okay, that's today? Cool? Yeah right, just I'm real onto donuts right now. Every Tuesday's Fat Tuesday in Florida. Of course it is also I like that Christina said skip the programs because they just end up in the trash. I wish that I had done that. And why did I think? Why did I think I needed paper programs? I could have written it on a track board and been done

with it. Yeah, And why people shouldn't be rushing through your ceremony anyway? Why are you trying to tell them what what to expect next? Let them be surprised wedding? Like how much? How much do weddings differ from adding to wedding? People know what's coming next, programs, they'll probably be because there'll be some those some stupid pastor joke. You know, somebody's gonna cry like it it's a wedding.

Some little kids going to pitch a fit. So you don't need the programs, all right, Emma, she did the pot luck lunch idea, which, my goodness, I'm so curious for more information from you, Emma on that. Who Also, how did you know what? Anyhow? I think it's a fantastic idea that anybody could run with and make it whatever they want it to be. But yeah, pull on ten different people to make your food that's fantastic or more.

And they also borrowed sound equipment from their church. They used a clubhouse venue that her in law has got a steep discount at. So yeah, use your connections, it's fantastic. Yeah. If you see a venue you want and you know there's a discount to be had, then find a friend or make a friend that can get you that discount. Yeah, without you know, compromising your morals right right, right right, um, make it in the right way. And then Joscelyn got

giant ice cream cakes for her reception. This is it. If I wasn't going to do donuts for my next wedding, I would do ice cream cakes. So yeah, yeah, ice cream cake is fantastic because if you're thinking about it, think about how much a wedding cake is. Then think about how much a few carvel ice cream cakes are. Yes, she got hers at at cold Stone, but like, same difference, you're expensive. But you just have to consider if you're doing like a backyard wedding, then you probably couldn't do

ice cream cakes. Do you still got options? And then many many people in this threat said a lope. That was their advice, kind of a similar idea to destination wedding, right, just to wherever you want a vacation, find find some minister to saw on your papers. Yeah, you know, we didn't include that in the main segment because it'd be a short segment. But also an option. Yeah, yeah, it is an option. I can't tell you how many times

I considered this in who has getting married? Process? Everybody has, But if you can actually pull it off, do it. And if you have pulled it off, please tell us about it, because we want to live vicariously through you. I don't know. I thought my wedding was worth it. I liked it, even though it was at the end of the day, it was a fantastic day, but great stories. I'm so I'm so proud of the people who actually do a lope. Proud of you, you a lope. Proud

of you. You probably not listening to this episode, but we want you to know we're proud. You're probably just like, what's the big deal? Just get married? Yeah, well that's all we have on the subject of weddings. I mean, that's not all we have. You know, we could talk for forever. We just won't get ready for part three. Just kidding that that's not coming. Don't wait for that. We're done two parts. That's it. That's all you get. The part three would be a lope where it is,

it would be a episode. We did it. That's next week. Yeah. Oh yeah, So guys, it's March. That's still happening, and we're finishing up the book Soulful Simplicity by Courtney Carver. That's right, we're doing book clubs. We got things happening. We're doing parts one and two to weddings. We're here every week. It's episode forty nine. This thing just keeps happening. Fronks Facebook community group. Man, just get in on this action. So so come on in join our book club, talk

with us to Soulful Simplicity by Courtney Carver. Yeah. And if you're still listening to this episode, you want a free copy of Soulful Simplicity, leave us a review on iTunes or Stitcher. Screenshot the review before you submit it. An email that screenshot to Frugal Friends Podcast at gmail dot com, and we will select one winner for every five reviews, and we had a lot of reviews in February, so I would love to see. I can't wait to

see how March shapes up. I don't I don't check them, so I don't know yet, but I will know at the end of the month when I select one winner for every five reviews. Nice and if you guys want to know the types of reviews that we got in February that you're like, we're going to do March even better, here's one to be This one comes from See You to SUSA and they say fun Frugality Podcast five stars a V I just recently discovered this podcast and I

just listen to Mrs frugal Wood's episode. It was such an eye opener for me, especially with my second baby. Do all congratulations. This podcast has made me want to live a more frugal and clutter free life. It is so refreshing to hear you ladies, and your conversations are so down to earth. I am currently binging all the episodes. Thank you for such a great podcast. You are welcome See de SUSA. Good luck on your baby. Congratulations on

your baby. Fantastic about frugality and clutter free merging together in your life. Thank you for the five stars. Holy smokes, we're on a roll. Yes we are. I feel so much of my life in her review. So I am glad that our stories can converge at the right place at the right time. And that's what I hope for the rest of you, is that our other episodes will serve you at the right place at the right time and help you save money in the areas you might

be struggling with or just interested in optimizing. So that's uh what we have for you this week, and we will see you next week. Very excited for next week's episode. See you then next week's episode fifty I know, see see an episode fifty you guys. Yeah. Frugal Friends is produced, edited, and mixed by Eric Syria