My Wedding in a Week: The Decorations & Food

January 3, 2018November 2, 2018Leave a comment

Welcome back to our Wedding in a Week series! This is the second part of the series, so if you missed the first one, check out how we decided to get married and found a venue, then meet back here.

Today we’re tackling how we decorated the venue and fed our guests, all accompanied by photos by our friend, the amazing Adam Patterson.

The Decorations

My in-laws had been amazingly kind to offer their home as the venue for our wedding, but we were still going to need to make it look like a wedding, rather than a dinner party. I hadn’t really thought too much about that sort of thing before, so when my mother-in-law asked what colors I wanted, I panicked for a second before thinking “Duh, it’s Thanksgiving, go with harvest colors.” Burgundy wine became the base color, and we added blues, oranges, yellows, greens, whites, and reds to the mix. They all screamed Autumn to me and I knew they’d probably look pretty good. From there, my in-laws worked magic.

To start, they ordered some long green garland from Costco. It arrived in a couple of days and they draped it around the living room/party room and on the decks outside. It already looked amazing and I started getting really excited.

The flowers were a worry until we remembered a neighbor of my in-laws, who happens to know my mother, is a florist. She leapt at the chance to do the arrangements, so we gave her the color list and let her do her thing. I didn’t see any flowers until the wedding day, which might sound crazy to anyone who’s spent hours agonizing over bouquets for events. Remember, though, that I didn’t have much time to be picky, and I trusted that any bouquets a professional could come up with would look beautiful. Flowers tend to do that no matter what. Check them out:

One of the altar bouquets with the garland

A closeup of my bridal bouquet

Since we were using the same space for the ceremony and reception, we had to make sure the furniture set-up could be clean and simple. My in-laws found a place that would rent us several round tables, a bunch of nice chairs, and the linens to go with. We’d put some tea lights and mini-bouquets on the tables and call it a day.

The reception set-up

Simple but pretty centerpieces

And that was basically it for decorations, although a few extras got added as people decided to chip in. My mother-in-law drew a beautiful welcome sign on a chalk-board, my husband’s aunts made us ADORABLE favors from chocolate-dipped pretzel rods, and my sister-in-law made us a cute, stenciled sign that reads “The Adventure Begins”. Even without those, the wedding would have been beautiful, but those personal touches really made it perfect.

Our handmade favors!

The Food

Since our venue wasn’t a restaurant, we had to come up with food for our guests. I knew I wanted it to be buffet style because it would be easier for everyone involved and I just plain love buffets anyway.

When Joe’s mother asked what I wanted, the first thing that came to mind was barbecue. It’s a favorite of my family and it generally works well as a buffet meal. As it happens, Joe’s parents live close to a new, highly rated BBQ joint. Awesome. Decision made.

When we called them up, the restaurant was swamped with pre-Thanksgiving orders, so they asked us to get back to them on Friday, which we did, and it all worked out great. Brisket, pulled pork, beans, coleslaw, cornbread — we had the works. I shied away from ribs because I tend to get a little too messy with those, and with my white dress and all…yeah, not a good idea.

One of my favorite little additions we had was a hot cider bar that we put outside on a little deck. There were toppings and rum available, and the chill was kept at bay by a standing heater that we rented and a basket of cozy wraps for cold partiers.

A cozy hot cider bar!

We did have to provide the dishes, candles, silverware, glasses, and drinks for the wedding. Everything came from Ikea with the exception of the drinks, which came from Costco. My MIL picked up dishes, water glasses, and wine glasses for 20 people and champagne and silverware for 40. We also picked up a few throws to put in a basket outside next to the hot cider bar.

I’ve known for a long time that I wanted to have a bundt cake as my wedding cake. Normal wedding cakes almost never taste as good as they look, but bundt cakes are the sleepers of the cake world: they look simple and taste amazing. My mum makes an amazing Black Russian bundt, so I asked if she’d make one for wedding. We stuffed a handful of flowers in the middle and it looked adorable while also being super delicious.

So pretty and so delicious

The Cost

The decorations were the most expensive part of the wedding, even with a “friends and family” discount from our florist. However, I am so happy we allowed a professional to work her magic. It freed us up to worry about other, more personal, aspects of the wedding and people still got to add their own DIY flavor without the pressure of providing the only decorations. Cost: $950

The garland from Costco was gorgeous and really tied the room together. Even before the flowers arrived, it all felt very bridal. If we hadn’t had a florist contact who could do the arrangements at short notice, I definitely would have considered buying the flowers at Costco, too. Cost: $424

Renting furniture was a must. Bonus points for linens being included! Cost: $511

Silverware, glasses, plates, and throws from Ikea made everything uniform and professional-looking. A few unused ones were returned afterwards, so I subtracted the return amount from the total. Cost: $504

The food was another fairly high expense, but we got it fresh, hot, and as-advertised. Everyone thought it was delicious and we didn’t have to worry about cooking anything. Cost: $720

Champagne turned out to be the only wedding-focused booze expense. Most of the other purchases were simply refreshing bottles that were open or almost empty. Cost: $96

My mother making my cake lent a personal touch to it while also making it cost nothing for us. Since she already had the ingredients, it didn’t cost her much more than a little time, which she was happy to give free of charge. Cost: $0

Overall food/decoration cost: $3,205

Total cost so far: $3,205

Wrap Up

Whew! Well, it definitely wasn’t a free wedding anymore! All of the big-ticket items were out of the way, though. We had a gorgeously decorated venue, seats for our guests, and food and drink galore.

Up Next: The Bride and Groom — the dress, rings, suit, and more!

How to start getting your finances together

October 16, 2017November 2, 2018Leave a comment

Does the topic of money make you feel like this? You’re not alone.

Probably the most daunting hurdle in your quest to get smart about your money and build wealth is the very first step: getting started.

Dealing with money can seem scary and feels like a huge chore, so it gets treated like the laundry you don’t really want to do — left in a dark corner until it starts to smell a little.

Ew.

The trouble is that time is one of the most important parts of the wealth equation. Given enough time, even a small amount of money can grow into a tidy sum.

So how do you get started building that little nest egg of yours when you are young, inexperienced, and probably not rolling in cash?

The trick is to keep it simple to start. By taking advantage of 4 types of accounts, you can build yourself a great financial foundation.

The Basic Accounts

Checking

Checking accounts are one of the basic bank account everyone needs. They are usually where your paychecks get deposited and where the payments for credit cards, checks, and even PayPal, Venmo, and other online payment systems come from.

Quick Tip: Look for checking accounts that allow you to pull money from any ATM with no fees or will refund your ATM charges. It’s a nice little perk that you’ll appreciate when you don’t have to hunt down the “right” ATM in a hurry.

Most checking accounts don’t pay interest; you may find one that has an interest rate, but it’ll be really low, so don’t count on your checking account to make you any money. It also shouldn’t be the place you stash your cash for the long term. Keep a comfortable amount in it to pay your bills, but your savings belong somewhere else.

Saving

As boring as it sounds, the best place for your emergency fund or savings you might need soon is in a savings account. Savings accounts can do a lot of what checking accounts can, but, with higher interest rates and no checks or debit cards attached to them, they are designed to be better places for money to sit than checking accounts are.

Not every checking or savings account is alike, however, and I would suggest using a tool like Magnify Money to shop around and find accounts with a decent interest rate and no weird hoops to jump through. Remember, there’s no rule that says your checking and savings accounts have to be with the same bank. Mine aren’t.

Many of the savings accounts with the best interest rates are online-only banks, which means you’ll have to have a checking account to connect to the savings account in order to add or remove money.

Personally, I like the idea that I have to wait a couple days for access to my online savings. The delay makes it really hard to spend that money. However, if you want or need access to your money more immediately, you might want to stick to a checking account or a savings account with a big-name bank that has physical locations. Just know you will be sacrificing interest rate for convenience.

As you get further along in your financial journey, you’ll be able to move some of that cash around and maybe make some more advanced decisions on how to save or invest it, but for your initial emergency fund, I think a savings account is the way to go. Hop over to our post on choosing the right savings account for more help with getting yours set up.

Investing Accounts

Investing is where you can really kick up your wealth-building game. Once you’ve gotten the hang of using your checking and savings accounts, investing is the next step. Without investing, anyone with an average salary is just not going to be ready for retirement.

If you’re a little lost when I say “investing” take a look at our What is investing? article, then pop back!

Retirement Accounts

Everyone needs some kind of retirement account. If you’re lucky enough to have a job that offers a 401(k), that should be your primary retirement account while you’re in that job. Other people might have IRAs, 403(b)s, or another type of account. Many have some combination of these.

Why open a retirement-specific account? Unlike standard savings accounts, these accounts are designed to be ideal places for your retirement savings. By investing your money in a retirement account, you’re likely to see much greater returns than in even the highest-yielding savings account.

Also, if you get on board with a retirement account offered by your employer, you’ll probably also have the opportunity to get some free matching money from that employer.

Even better, contributing to your retirement account often comes with immediate tax benefits, so you could be doing yourself a double favor by saving for your future and getting a tax break. Even those accounts that don’t give you a break on the money you put in usually make up for it with a tax break on the money once you begin to pull it out of the account in retirement.

Every type of retirement account allows you to invest the money you put into it. Some accounts offer more limited options than others, but there’s always a way to help your money grow while you’re just going about your everyday life.

Brokerage Accounts

If you’ve got a full, safely stashed emergency fund AND you’re maxing out your retirement accounts, the next easiest way to invest is through a brokerage account.

Brokerage accounts allow you to buy and sell stocks and bonds. These are TAXABLE accounts, so any gains you get when you sell what’s in them will be taxed as income that year, so be careful. For those of you with money nerves, a couple of low-cost funds and maybe a bond or two are the easiest and least dangerous ways to invest a brokerage account’s money.

The advantages of a brokerage account include the fact that the money in them is pretty liquid, which means you can take it out of the account at any time without penalty, unlike a retirement account. You could think of a brokerage account as like a checking account, except you invest the money instead of keeping it in cash. The danger, of course, is that your investments could lose value and you could end up with less money than you started with. A good rule is to not invest any money that you think you will need in the next couple of years.

I strongly encourage you to learn all you can about how stocks and bonds work before jumping into this pool. It can be rewarding, but it can also be dangerous for anyone who thinks they can game the system and make tons of money on trading. The market doesn’t work that way.

Wrap Up

And there you have it: a basic, 4-account map of how to get started with money.

Can be money be way more complicated? Heck, yes.

Does it have to be? Not if you don’t want it to be.

By keeping things simple with your everyday money in checking and savings, you’ll minimize the effort it takes to track your income and expenses. Taking advantage of your retirement and brokerage investing options guarantees that your future self will have money when he or she needs it.

Quick Tip: Using a platform like Mint or Personal Capital can take the effort out of checking on your finances. After linking all your accounts to the program, you just need to open the app to see how much money you have in each account.

How do you keep your money simple? Share your methods!

Disclaimer: None of the companies, apps, or websites mentioned in this article paid me to mention them. I just like ’em!

How to write a check (and other check-related stuff)

January 23, 2017November 2, 20182 Comments

When you open a checking account, you’ll usually be given or sent a box with a bunch of checks in it. Even though they are much less popular than cards or cash for everyday spending, checks are still a viable way to pay for stuff, and sometimes they are the best or only way.

They also come in handy when you need to pay someone but don’t have the money right away. You can write the check and tell whomever you’re paying to wait until a certain date (when you know you’ll have the money) to cash it.

If you’ve never had to use or write a check, however, they can be a little scary. The first time I wrote a check I messed it up majorly. So get psyched, because today we’re going to go over everything you need to know about checks!

This is a check:

Some will look a little different, but the basic layout of a check is always the same.

In the top left will be the information of the person or company who is writing the check. On your checks, your name and address will be here.

In the top right corner will be a number, which represents the number of the check. The first one in your pack should be something like 001.

On the bottom of the check should be a bunch of numbers in three groups. The group on the left is the routing number for your bank account. The middle group is the account number itself, and the last group is the check number again. When you pay for things online using your account or set up direct deposit payments, you’ll be asked to provide the routing and account numbers.

Then there are a lot of blank lines for you to fill out. Let’s look at how to do that.

How to write a check:

Use a pen, never a pencil. You don’t want anyone being able to change the info on the check after you’ve written it. Also, as much as I love colored or sparkly pens, stick to blue or black ink for checks.
Write the date.
On the line next to PAY TO THE ORDER OF, write to whom the check is addressed. For example, pretend Pinocchio is paying Jiminy Cricket for being his conscience. He’s going to write “Jiminy Cricket”. If you’re writing the check to a person, make sure you write the name that appears on that person’s bank account. In other words, don’t make it out to Bobby if his legal name is Robert.
Next, on the big line under the PAY TO THE ORDER OF line, write the dollar amount you are paying in words and the cents as a number over 100. For example, Jiminy Cricket might charge $106 for his services, so Pinocchio writes “One hundred six dollars and 00/100”.
In the box or on the line that has a $ in front of it, write the amount you are paying in numbers. Don’t forget the decimal! This is $106.00 in Pinocchio’s case.
At the bottom of the check are two lines. The left one should say FOR. This is where you can write a note about what the money is being given for. You can write stuff like “Birthday gift” or “Gas money” here to help you keep track of where your money’s going or to remind the person you’re giving it to what it’s for, but this line is technically optional.
Lastly, sign the line on the bottom right of the check. Hooray! You’re done.

Pinocchio’s finished check would look like this:

How to deposit a check:

Double check that all of the information on the check is correct, including who is giving it to you and how much it’s made out to. Fixing errors after the money has been deposited may be difficult or impossible.
Sign the back of the check on the line that says ENDORSE HERE. By endorsing the check, you are saying you have received it and the information on it is correct. Some banks have added a box on the back of their checks that needs to be marked if you plan to deposit your check through a mobile app.
Take your check to the bank, or use your bank’s app to deposit the check.
NOTE: If you use an app to photograph and deposit a check, make sure you hang on to the check until it clears and the money appears in your account. If something goes wrong, you don’t want to have to go back to the check writer and ask for another check. After the money is in your account, destroy the check by shredding it before trashing it.

I’m sure Jiminy Cricket needs his money for…top-hat maintenance? Whatever. He’d endorse his check like this:

What to do if you make a mistake:

If you’re anything like me, you’re going to make at least one mistake on a check. Since checks are always written in pen, correcting errors has to be done carefully. Never use white-out on a check.

If you make a mistake, correct it neatly and with as little scribbling as possible; then write your initials next to the correction. This proves that you made the change, not the person you’re paying.

What to watch out for with checks:

This may seem obvious, but make sure there’s enough money in your account to pay the full amount of the check. Checks act like debit cards in that they take the money from your account as soon as they are cashed. If you don’t have enough money to back it up, a check will “bounce”. A friend might just be annoyed by this, but businesses often charge fees of around $25 if a check you give them bounces.
NEVER give anyone your blank checkbook, and especially don’t pre-sign a check for them. Once a check is authorized with your signature, someone could write any number they wanted in the money box and clean out your account.
It’s also not a great idea to walk around with checks in your wallet or purse. If you lose your checkbook, it’s basically like losing a debit card. You’ll have to call your bank to freeze your account so no one can access your money, including you. Then you’ll have to go through the process of closing your account and opening a new one with a new number since checks have both the account and routing numbers on them. It’s a whole messy thing, so leave the checkbook safely tucked away at home unless there’s a very specific reason for taking it with you.

Whether or not you use checks regularly, knowing how to write them is an important skill. Now, when you go to pay your first month’s rent, split bills with your roomies, or pay your parents back for a loan they gave you, you can fill out your check with confidence and sign it with a flourish.

Learn, $ave, Grow

Where money newbies become money nerds.

Category: How to

My Wedding in a Week: The Decorations & Food

The Decorations

The Food

The Cost

Wrap Up

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How to start getting your finances together