Instead of filling his shopping cart with name brands, he substitutes them with store brands. He tells anyone within earshot that, “He wasn’t paying five bucks for Cap’n Crunch, when the store brand Admiral Munch served his country just as well…and for only two dollars!”
He hits up as many happy hour buffets as possible and faithfully returns every recyclable can because, “Ten cents per can adds up quickly.”
He has a drawer in the kitchen full of ketchup, hot sauce, and soy sauce packets “for emergencies.”
You get the picture. Yes, he is cheap. 🤣
So, when Emily emailed him the price of the first wedding venue she loved, he nearly choked on his morning coffee.
“There has to be a decimal point missing,” he muttered.
He refreshed the page.
Nothing changed.
Dave stared at the price again for a few minutes.
“For that kind of money, I could buy a used bass fishing boat…and still have enough left over for a year’s worth of bait.”
He had to think of a way to make Emily happy, while spending about 10% of what this venue would cost.
This is when he came up with a brilliant idea. (His first of many, stay tuned.)
The next morning was Saturday, and after finishing his bowl of “Hellos” (he wasn’t dumb enough to pay three dollars more for “Cheerios”), he proudly announced to Emily that she was marrying a genius – and that he had solved their wedding venue problem.
Emily looked up from her laptop.
“You found a less expensive venue?”
“Even better,” Dave said proudly. “We’ll get married in my parents’ backyard.”
Emily stared at him.
“Your parents’ backyard?”
“Yep!”
“The one with the rusty barbecue grill, your dad’s collection of garden gnomes, and the lawn chairs held together by duct tape?”
Dave shrugged.
“We’ll call it “Rustic Chic.” People pay extra for rustic, it says so in that venue brochure you showed me.”
Emily laughed so hard she almost snorted her coffee.
“You are adorable. Now let’s get serious.”
Over the next few days, reality continued its assault on Dave’s wallet.
Flowers…thousands.
Photography…thousands.
Catering…well, you get the picture.
The cake? Apparently flour, sugar, and frosting became luxury items the moment they’re stacked into three tiers.
Dave leaned back in his chair.
“So, let me get this straight. When I buy you roses, they are twenty dollars a dozen…but if I call them wedding flowers, they are suddenly worth the price of a used car?”
Emily smiled.
“Congratulations babe. You are officially engaged.”
Before Dave could respond, both their phones exploded.
“When’s the wedding?”
“Can I bring the kids?”
“Where should we stay?”
“What time does everything start?”
“What’s the dress code?”
Dave looked at Emily.
“Didn’t we just get engaged? How are we going to keep all this organized? I hate excel spreadsheets.”
Emily opened her laptop and showed Dave LinkMy.Wedding.
Within minutes, they had one place to share their wedding date, hotel information, schedules, FAQs, directions, and updates. Instead of answering the same questions twenty different times, they could simply tell everyone, “Check our LinkMy.Wedding page.”
Dave finally smiled. “Now that’s the smartest investment we have made so far.”
Emily smiled…and then her phone rang.
It was her mother.
“Hi sweetheart! I’ve been working on the wedding guest list all morning.”
Emily’s smile faded.
Dave sighed and closed his eyes.
Something told him this wasn’t going to be a pleasant conversation.
Next week on “The Ring, The Stress and The Dress” …
Emily’s mom…Linda… insists she has “just a few” people she’d like to invite. Unfortunately, her definition of “a few” includes second cousins, neighbors, former coworkers, her hairdresser…and that nice checkout girl at the grocery store, who is always so friendly.
Will Dave survive Guest List Wars, or will he start pricing football stadiums as wedding venues? Stay tuned!
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💍 Fill out our contact form https://www.linkmy.wedding/contact.html
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