It's Just Money

I went and got married!

Well folks, we finally did it!  Just a few short months after I started this little blog in early 2006, I bought an engagement ring, popped the question, and got engaged.  Months and months of planning, picking photographers, florists, and fighting over the guest list, we finally did it!

I am now Mr. LA MoneyGuy.  Oh, wait a minute.

Well, nothing I hate more than, "sorry I haven't posted much lately" posts.  They're just so arrogant.  It presumes that everyone is sitting in front of their computers waiting for your next words of inspiration.  So, I'm not going to apologize, but just say that the wedding was awesome, and our honeymoon absolutely incredible.  We returned a couple of weeks ago from a two week trip to the Mediterranean, and moved in to a new apartment last week.  Busy times, indeed.

I may write more about both later, as there is definitely a personal finance angle to both.

I know, I know... you all want to know where to send the gifts.  Tell you what, in lieu of gifts, please pay off your credit cards!  And if you don't have any credit card debt, take an old friend out to dinner.

Planning our Honeymoon

So, we're getting married next May.  Despite small setbacks such as our florist dropping us, the plans are coming along well.  By the way, we reached out to some friends and were referred to a florist who is going to be fabulous, and within budget.

The next thing on my list is planning the Honeymoon.  We're going big on this.  We are planning to spend two weeks in Italy and Greece.  Neither of us have ever been to Europe, so we didn't want to overwhelm ourselves with hopping around to Spain, France, etc.  We picked the two countries that we wanted to see the most.

Thanks to my massive accumulation of Hilton Honors points, we will have our hotel stays almost entirely covered.  We're actually up to about 330,000 points.  The gorgeous four star quality hotels in Italy and Greece go for either 35,000 or 40,000 points per night.  I'm going to continue to use my Hilton Honors American Express card for most of our wedding expenses, so that total should get close to 400,000 points by the time the wedding rolls around.

Our problem is the flights.  I did a cursory search for airline prices for that time of year, and it looks like about $1,100 per person on the lower end.  Ouch!  Unfortunately, unlike Hilton points, I do not have any significant accumulation of any major airline miles.

If anyone has any tips or advice to help us keep our honeymoon costs down, it would be much appreciated.  I know the obvious answer is to scale our plans down.  Fewer nights, cheaper location.  especially with the current Dollar/Euro rate, it's going to get costly.

Our Florist Dropped Us!

Oh the Horror!  Our florist, whom we know through a mutual friend, have seen her work and is very inexpensive (insofar as wedding flowers can be inexpensive) has dropped us!  She has gone from doing occasional events from her home to opening a full blown store.  At this point her work load is too high and unpredictable for her to commit to our wedding.

So, one thing that we thought was checked off our list of Wedding To-Dos has reappeared.  Frustrating, but keeping things in perspective, at least she dropped us seven months before the big day, and not one month.

The problem is that she really was inexpensive.  So, we're probably going to have to add more to the flowers budget.  And now the search begins anew.

The Wedding Photographer Search

A little while back, I asked for advice in the hunt for a good wedding photographer.  Well, a month an a half and about a dozen photographer interviews later, and I think we have made our decision.  Having endured the endless parade of, "Yes, I carry back-up equipment, and update my cameras every two years," and "I think the 'fairy tale' package would be a great fit for what you're looking for," I think I am now prepared to give out some advice of my own.

Let me lay out our game plan, and let you know how it unfolded.  First, we began with as comprehensive a list as we could amass.  We pulled names from two bridal shows that we attended, the internet, and of course, referrals from friends.  We created a spreadsheet with all of their names and contact info.  We created a scoring system which included Photo Quality, Pricing, Personality, Experience, and Familiarity (with our venues).  A score was assigned to each category and a weighted average, with the most weight given to Photo Quality and less with each successive category.

We decided that we would see 10 photographers.  A lot, I know.  But that's just the type of people we are.  As organized as we felt, we kept having a difficult time comparing the different photographers.  We realized that the problem was that each had their own customized package.  Some included 6 hours, others unlimited.  Some included 100 prints, others none.  Some included "mom albums" others did not.  It was all jumbled up too.  It was not like one or two offered a bunch of stuff others did not.  One would offer the unlimited time, but a crappy little album.  Another would offer a great album and an engagement session, but only 4 hours of coverage, and charge $200 per hour after that.

So, we sat down and really asked ourselves what we wanted.  Ultimately, our list included must haves:  8 hours of coverage (or unlimited), 12x12 leather album, 16x20 framed photo, all digital files on a high resolution disk; and would like to have:  engagement session, 100 prints or "mom albums", 2nd photographer or assistant.

Armed with our own list, we were able to piece apart each photographer's package to determine if it had everything we wanted, and how much it would cost to add things on, if necessary.  Also, a key question to ask the photographers has been, "if your package includes something we don't want, can we have the dollar value of that as credit towards something we do want?"  If the answer is "no," the interview is over in my mind.  Almost always, they claim that they will be flexible.  However, how flexible differs enormously.  For example, at one place, every time we said, "you know, we don't really need thank you photos, can use the credit towards our engagement session?"  They would respond with, "well, in lieu of that, we can give you a photo montage CD!"  Okay, but that's not what I asked for.  On the other hand, another photographer would respond, "sure, that's worth $100, you can apply that anywhere you would like."  Bingo.  That's the kind of response I'm looking for.

Once you figure out what you want, you really have the ability to look at their fluffed up packages and piece them apart in your mind.  Initially, we would look at a substantial package, and kind of work down.  Like, "okay, what if we don't need this, or that."  We figured out that we were being stupid.  We started to look at it from the bottom up.  We looked at the lower packages, and asked them the cost to add the things we wanted.  We found that we were able to customize things to our liking, and it was generally cheaper than using their expensive package with all the extras.

Ultimately, we found that quality sorted itself out.  The mediocre photographers never really made out list.  Personality was huge, but couldn't overcome quality.  We were turned off by photographers trying to be salespeople.  Yes, it's a business (and one heck of a business at that), but let your work speak volumes, and be cool.

As far as the cost goes?  Well, when we laid out our budget, we put down $3,000 for photographers.  I protested, and thought that my Fiancee was nuts.  However, It has been a struggle at times to get it down to that, but I think we'll be just under.  I realize that we could pay less if we forgo the 12x12 leather album for a smaller, simpler 8x10 album, and don't worry about "mom albums," or engagement sessions.  It's all about choosing, right?  I think we're going to save some money on the tuxes and even her dress.  Perhaps instead of redirected any money saved, we should actually save that money.  Hmmm... novel idea.

I need a place to live

Circumstances with our current living situation have suddenly required my Fiancee and me to find a place to live.  We continue to scour the for sale listings, but LA remains over priced.  Besides, if we are going to buy a place, I don't want to be rushed into the decision due to circumstances.  I want to take our time and really find a place that we like and is a good deal.

For now, we are looking for rentals.  We have decided that we will be satisfied with a small rental in order to keep our expenses small.  We are looking at one bedroom and even studio apartments in the areas of Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, and West LA.  I have been searching on Craigslist.  I'm planning on signing up for westsiderentals.com.  Any other suggestions?

Recycling Loot

In a very appropriate coincidence, we brought our recycling load in last weekend.  Why the coincidence?  Sunday was Earth Day!  Admittedly, we're in it for the cash, but if we're doing something good for the environment at the same time, all the better.  After all, "green" is trendy now, isn't it?

Our last load of glass bottles, aluminum cans, and plastic was in early March.  This time is had been only about six or seven weeks since our last load.  We were pretty thrilled with our loot.  We cashed in $61.42!

Wow!  We really had some help this time.  We are collected bottles from several neighbors, both of our families, co-workers and friends.  Once again, the key is just to put it out there to people.  Let them know that you are recycling, and they will bring you their stuff.  Most people want do it for the environment, but are too lazy.  If you'll take it off of your hands and make a couple of bucks while you're at it, everyone wins.  Also, if you have a purpose, such as the wedding fund, as in our case, it's even more compelling.

I don't have the exact total, but that brings us over $200 from recycling!

Free Wedding Web Sites

Well, we have our church and reception site booked, and are in the midst of interviewing photographers.  The next thing on our list is setting up a web site for friends and family to read about our plans, view some of our pictures, and find out where we are registered.  The problem is, we don't know which one to use.

Interviewed a Wedding Photographer. Any tips?

With the wedding date still more than a year away, we're well ahead of schedule on our planning.  I know, I know, time is going to fly and there are a ton of things that are going to sneak up on us.  But for now, we feel good that we have our church and reception location reserved.  So, with that done, we are on to photographers.

We met with one tonight at a local Starbucks.  He's an experienced photographer.  He has been published in travel magazines, and has been shooting weddings full time for more than six years.  From a personality perspective, we got a good vibe, and his photos were all good quality.

His prices were what I would consider moderate to pricey.  His lowest package starts at $800, but it is very limited.  It includes up to 4 hours of shooting, and $100 towards prints.  It does not come with an album, prints, engagement photos, or really much else.  The next package is $1,450 and also includes only 4 hours of shooting, but comes with engagement photos, a small album (8"x8"), and $225 credit toward prints.

The problem that we have is with the 4 hours.  Our ceremony will begin at 3:00pm, with the reception (at a different location) beginning at 5:30pm.  The reception is scheduled to go until 11:30pm.  Even if we assume that he doesn't need to stay to the very end of the reception, he will still be needed for a minimum of 7 or 8 hours.  Each hour after the initial four runs $150 per hour.  In addition, we would really like some of the "prep time" photos.  Pictures of my Fiancee's mom helping her get ready, my brother helping me straighten my tie.  You know, that's all part of the big day.

I have been told that the photographer is not something that we want to skimp on.  However, I also don't think that advice should be taken to mean that we should go ahead and splurge.

I'm just not sure I'll know how to distinguish one from the other.  Any tips?

Our Best Recycling Haul Yet!

The wedding fund continues to grow!  We brought our latest haul of bottles and cans into the recycling center and had our best haul to date.  This is our fourth trip to the recycling center and have earned $18.41, $26.17, and $43.22 respectively.  We are happy that it has been increasing each time.  The time in between trips has not been the same, so that's also a factor.  But we have continued to collect from a broader range of places.  The office, basketball with the guys, my family, her family, and even some neighbors.

It's not easy, but I see it as part of my workout.  I crush all cans and plastic bottles before we bring them in.  I open up dirty, sticky bags, and rinse, crush and sort cans, clear plastic, white plastic, brown glass, clear glass and green glass.  I have learned that they don't pay you for steel cans (like soup cans or other canned goods), but will recycle them anyway.  I'm totally okay with that.  We bring them in because it's the right thing to do.  Also, they don't pay for wine or liquor bottles.  We still bring those also.

So, how much did we make this time?  $58.55!  Sweet!  That makes a grand total of $146.35 just for collecting bottles and cans.  We have decided that the total amount that we collect will go towards the bar tab.  Sharing this with my buddies will give them some small incentive to remember to bring me their empties.

Guys, don't go out to dinner tonight!

For crying out loud people, don't go out to dinner tonight!  Don't buy an eighty dollar bouquet of roses!  Don't buy a fifty dollar box of Godiva chocolates.  According to the National Retail Federation, the average individual will spend $119.67 on Valentine's Day.  Not couple, individual.  Men, of course, spend more on this day, an average of $156.22, versus an average of $85.08 for women.  That's $241.30 per couple!  Oh the madness.  Look, you can still be romantic without blowing your budget.  Guys, if you want to give your ladies a romantic meal, flowers and candies, I'll show you how to do it for under fifty bucks.