Hey Ariel,
So I know you have to get like a ton of messages a day telling you how awesome your book is (and it is) but I have to tell you that I am impressed with something else all together. The thing I am impressed with is you give great economic planning advice (other books do not honestly address this issue). It is so on the money its crazy.

I work as a financial consultant/stockbroker and you have no idea how many times I see parents tapping into the retirement money to pay for an over the top wedding. They not only usually have to take a tax penalty, but they do themselves a great disservice in the end or the couple themselves goes into major debt. You give brides something to think about by encouraging them to not have this fake dream day. Finances are the number 1 reason for divorce is the US so why start that problem. Student loans are bad enough. Anywho, I just wanted to thank you for getting people to think about the cost. -Zan

Aww, Zan — thank you so much! I’m not the biggest money whizz by a long shot (you should have seen the hole of consumer debt I dug for myself in my early 20s — ouch.), but it seems like common sense to me that it’s a bad idea to put yourself into debt for an afternoon party. Yes, its a wedding. Yes, it’s exciting. Yes, you want to make it awesome. But the thousands and thousands of dollars you could spend on favors, decorations, ring pillows, etc, could be put towards a down payment on a house … you get one afternoon party OR you get a place to live.

I know which I chose. And I know which way I encourage others!

Thanks again for the sweet words — and offbeat brides, what’s the ONE smartest thing you’ve done to keep your expenses down?

In this episode of Mailbag, a reader explores the rip-off of wedding limos.

Hi, Ariel. I’m a bride from Southern Maine and while researching Limo companies in my area I came across Mr. Limo in Scarborough, who advertises 10-passenger limos. His “basic rate” is $45 an hour. His “wedding rate” is $250 for three hours including “complimentary red carpet service and champagne.” So that’s $115 MORE for the same thing only with “complimentary service”? Not too complimentary. I emailed him on this and here’s his response:

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m introducing a new offbeat feature here on the website — Mailbag! I get so many great emails from readers and someone of them are just meant to be shared with the world. In this first installment of Mailbag, we hear from Siouxzi, who had a nightmare dress shopping experience

Hey Ariel,
I wanted to say thanks I bought your book when we first got engaged. I really appreciated the anecdotes and advice. I thought I’d share what I’m going through right now with you.

My mother has stage IV lung cancer and also cancer in her pelvic bone. I don’t say that for pity. It’s just the situation we’re in. My fiance and I never really did the whole on the knee surprise engagement. We’d decided drunkenly on night ages ago (I think this new year’s maybe?) that we wanted to get married. My mother asked if we’d set a date, and the answer was no. We didn’t even have an engagement ring. We saw it mostly as a thing for her to look forward to, maybe in Spring 2009.

Tuesday I got the call from my mom. The tumors are growing again, her lung was filled with fluid, they were going to drain it and start chemo on Friday. After a lot of crying and thinking and talking we decided to push up the wedding. To
November 2007.

Read the rest of this entry »