Wedding Costs: Part 1

Yeah, I've been putting up a few posts today... trying to give my new readers enough to keep them busy while I'm of town this weekend, so hopefully they will want to keep reading next week when I'm back!

I'm now in the 7th inning of planning my best friend's bachelorette party and bridal shower, with my other best friend who is co-Maid of Honor. Luckily all of the girls coming to the bachelorette party are participating with the assumption that they will be paying their own way, and co-MOH and I have done a good job at finding a cheap hotel, nice-but-inexpensive restaurant, and VIP limo deal in the DC area.

Bridal shower planning has not gone as smoothly. Co-MOH and I had initially expected to pay for the shower ourselves, but we asked some former bridesmaid friends and consulted some etiquette websites, all of which suggested that bridesmaids help the hostess in splitting the cost of the shower. We sent a friendly email to the bridesmaids attending the shower about splitting the costs, and we received a less-than-friendly reply. (The other two are throwing a separate "stock the bar" party, so we did not expect them to contribute to this one) The bridesmaids we emailed happen to be the bride's sisters, and they responded that they will not be contributing, as it's inappropriate for siblings to throw the bride a shower. Um, you're a bridesmaid, and just happen to be her sister. Plus, as a sister, shouldn't you be more inclined to contribute?? Co-MOH and I were stunned at the response, and sent back a polite response explaining why we asked (etiquette appeared to indicate that bridesmaids split the cost) but said that we will ultimately respect their deicision. I am hoping that we can guilt them into contributing something, anything.

Otherwise, Co-MOH are using our bargain-hunting skills, yet again! We purchased all of the champagne using a coupon to a new liquor store, and when we were checking out of the craft store with her memory book supplies, they gave us a coupon for 25% starting that Sunday... so guess what we did? We politely put all of our items back on the shelf and returned Sunday! Haha... Now that we're on our own financing this shower, we'll be looking for even more money-saving ideas. We're cooking all of the food ourselves... coupon clipping, anyone?