Some Tricks And Tips for Those of You Tying the Knot.

IMPORTANT: If you remember nothing else: "the quality of the marriage is inversely proportional to the money spent on the wedding"

• Do some cocktail napkin math before you decide to go all in on a wedding, a quick ceremony, a trip to the bar with friends, and then an amazing vacation might be more of what you want to do.

• For the invitee list: Make sure that you get a couple of people that ignite parties on there… A wedding is a ritualized party. Some people are better at partying than others. People that make for a good time ARE MORE IMPORTANT to your event (the thing your will remember for the rest of your lives) than relatives you see once a year or less.

• Buy her white canvas all-stars for the reception. Whatever $1000 dollar shoes she’s wearing will more than likely not be broken in yet.

• The table settings are literally the least important thing you will ever spend time on in your life.

• Take a second for just the two of you in between the ceremony and the reception if you can (schedule this). Do whatever you want with that time ;)

• Craigslist has a whole sub culture of cheap 2nd hand stuff you can get for your wedding.

• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

• Practice over-smiling cause the day of you will smile more than you ever have in your life, which will literally hurt the next day if you don’t actively practice smiling a lot (not joking).

• Be prepared to answer these questions frequently in an interesting or different manner:

  • “Are you excited?”
  • “so when are you going to have kids?”
  • “so whats next”

  … you will be asked them a lot, and if you don’t have fun answers, the questions will actually start to annoy you which can create a small amount of tension with loved ones.

• The cheapest flasks are Coleman, and can be found at target for $7. Buy at least 3-5 of these and fill them up with things you can drink straight. Assign a flask to each of your wedding party, and make them responsible for having the liquid disappear.

• For the Photographer + band etc… Use Escrow.com. Otherwise they might ruin your night by making you run all over asking people for checks or to go find your checkbook. Or even have to worry about it on your honeymoon. As long as the money is there its easy.

• Plan your activities on the honey moon. This falls on the husband.

• On your gift registry: good set of knives, good set of pots and pans. If you have friends that you know don’t have a lot of money, assign special gifts to them that take a lot of time, but not a lot of money. IE. Taking funny photos with disposable cameras printing them and get the prints, etc

• Budget out and contract specific times to socialize with your friends. This is a really big deal. Try and knock out family stuff before your friends show up.

• Do your thank you cards when you send out your invitations… makes your life soooo much easier. Yes this is less personal, and you’ll have to make adjustments, but life quality goes up so do it anyway.