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Archive for the ‘Weddings’ Category
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
I was recently contacted by Ann’s Bridal Bargains, who asked if I would like to receive a $100 gift certificate to review their online boutique, as well as a gift certificate to give away on each one of my blogs. I’m all over anything that can help save money on bridal items, so I took them up on their offer! Using this gift certificate, I was able to get $100 worth of wedding supplies for just the cost of shipping; pretty nice savings. I’m going to share what I got and what frugal strategies I used to make the most of my gift card – and one of you will have the chance to win a $100 gift card of you own! Yay!
Ann’s Bridal Bargains carry a nice selection of bridal supplies, from wedding invitations and save-the-date cards to wedding napkins, decorations and favors. My strategy for using this $100 credit was to buy pricier items that would be difficult to save money on otherwise. Something I’ve noticed during my wedding planning is that a lot of things marketed as bridal products could be sourced at non-wedding shops or made for less money. With that in mind, I looked for items that you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else, and chose a Silver Hearts Handle Knife and Server set and Dove and Bell Design Flutes as my two main items. I think the serving set is really elegant, and I love the “Bride and Groom” champagne flutes. Both of them are personalized with our names, and will be really nice touches at the reception, as well as keepsakes from the big day.
I still had some credit left to spend, so I chose this Elegant Damask Guest Book in Black and White as my third item. I really love the design and the fact that it holds 700 signatures. The inside of the book provides a space for guests to write their names and a short message, and thanks them for joining us on our special day, so I was pleased that the inside of the guestbook looked as nice as the outside.
At this point, my order was not quite $100, so I needed to add one more small item. I chose a Silver Plated Bell for $3.99 as my filler item, bringing my total to $100.05. Shipping was $8.95, so after my gift code I paid just $9.00 total. I got some really cute stuff for my wedding, so I’m happy with this “Bridal Bargain”!
   
My items from Ann’s Bridal Bargains – click on the thumnails to see the photos full size
BONUS GIVEAWAY: I’m running a second giveaway for a $100 gift certificate over at Contest Corner, so click here to enter and double your chances! You can also read more details about the ordering process and see additional photos of what I bought.
Giveaway time!
One lucky Super Coupon Girl reader will win a $100 gift code to Ann’s Bridal Bargains! This code DOES NOT cover shipping, and you must add at least $100 in product to your shopping cart in order to redeem the code. Click here to view their shipping rates. Code will be emailed directly to winner. Here’s how to enter:
1. Leave a comment on this post sharing a frugal wedding tip!
Want extra entries? Do any of the following, and leave a separate comment for each one:
2. Link to this post on your blog, then come back here and leave me the link!
3. Write about this on Twitter, then come back and leave me the link to your tweet! One Twitter entry per person. You can use the button at the bottom of this post to tweet with one click!
4. Post my button on your website – just copy and paste the following code, and let me know where you put it:
Rules, regulations, and other important stuff: Giveaway ends on July 20th at 11:59 PM, PST. Winners will be chosen the following day via Random.org. Giveaway is open to US residents. Ann’s Bridal Bargains provided me with gift certificates for review and giveaway in exchange for this coverage on my site.
Posted in Giveaways, Reviews, Weddings | 71 Comments »
Friday, June 10th, 2011
Amazon is currently offering the ebook Weddings on a Budget: The Video Guide as a free download for Kindle. If you don’t have a Kindle device, you can download a Kindle reader app for your smartphone or PC by clicking here . These free ebooks are only available for a limited amount of time, so as long as the price reads $0.00, that means it’s still available for free. Please note, most of the content of this ebook is videos, and it appears that you can only load them on a iPad/iPhone/iPod. I tried this on both my PC and iPhone, and I could only watch the videos on my iPhone. You can still read the text on your PC, although it’s not very long. This is my first time using a Kindle app, so I’m not sure if the videos are available on other smartphones or not.
Thanks, The Frugal Girls!
Posted in Weddings | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
Today has been filled with wedding planning for me! First, I was putting together a special bridal giveaway – one of my lucky readers will be winning a wedding shopping spree in the near future, so you’ll want to stay tuned for that! After I completed that project, I got an email from Friends and Family Circle, another daily deal site à la Groupon. Their featured deal today is a $50 voucher to >ExclusivelyWeddings.com for $20. Here’s how to get this deal:
1. >Click here to visit Friends and Family Circle and login or register – the ExclusivelyWeddings.com deal should be on the front page under “Featured Deal”.
2. Purchase the deal, and you should receive your voucher via email right away. Vouchers cannot be redeemed until the day after purchasing. This offer excludes kate spade and Martha Stewart products. Offer expires July 1, 2011. I presume this voucher does not cover shipping, although it does not specify.
I purchased a discounted Starbucks gift card from Friends and Family circle a few months back, and was very happy with my purchase. You know I’m all about anything that can help with a frugal wedding, so I snapped this deal up! And, to make it even more frugal, I paid for it with a VISA gift card I received from my Internet provider recently as a promo offer when I bundled services. 😀 I’ll be sure to keep you posted on what I purchase!
Posted in Online deals, Weddings | 4 Comments »
Thursday, December 9th, 2010
As I mentioned earlier, we had our engagement photos taken on Tuesday. Photography can be a big expense during wedding planning, so I wanted to share how we did it frugally!
1. Bartering. In my last “Planning a Frugal Wedding” video, I discussed how product reviews are a great way for me to essentially barter my time promoting a product or service in exchange for something that I want or need. Stephanie Kaloi of White Rabbit Studios asked if I would like to write about her business on Contest Corner in exchange for our engagement photos, so it was a great way to trade services. Click here if you’d like to read my review and see more photos from the shoot!
I also took this same approach when it came time to buy shoes for the photos – I have lots of cute high heels, but unfortunately I can’t wear any of them due to my knee injury. I’m currently hosting a CSN gift card giveaway, and they also sent me a gift card of my own to choose some review items for Contest Corner, so I used this to pick up a cute pair of flats – and used the rest of the gift card to buy a Christmas gift and some rechargeable batteries!
2. Utilize gift cards. I needed a cute outfit to wear in the photos, so I used two Amazon gift cards to buy a dress and a tube of lip gloss – you can read more about that here. I even used a Burger King gift card that I won to pay for our dinner after the photoshoot!
3. Use what you have. Because it turned out to be a cold day, I ended up wearing the suit jacket that I bought at a yard sale for $1.00! Jai’s jacket came from a thrift store – we bought it last year for $5.
We did spend some money on other aspects of the photoshoot. There was the cost of gas, which was less than $30 – we had about a quarter of a tank when we filled up, and that got us to Portland and back as well as covering our drive up to Hammond and Astoria (You can read more about the story and locations here). I also purchased a few supplies beforehand that I needed – I bought a box of hair dye, toner, developer, a tint brush, and applicator bottle ($19.06 – some of which I bought online, so I’ll get a small amount of cashback), a box of pore cleansing facial strips ($4.99), a box of makeup remover ($7.99), 2 tubes of concealer (On sale for “Buy one, get one half off”, for a total of $13.32), a bottle of shave gel ($2.99), two boxes of instant cold packs to keep on my knees during the drive ($6.28), and an issue of InStyle Magazine ($3.99) – they finally had the right one in stock, so I was able to see the Love Story ad! All told, these purchases came to $58.62 – which is a lot of money, but I needed most of these items regardless of the photoshoot and I will get a lot of use out of them. I pay more for makeup removers and shave gel because these are two items which I am “Brand loyal” to, since they work on my sensitive skin without causing an allergic reaction!
Posted in Weddings | 6 Comments »
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
I read a great article on For The Mommas this morning about using stockpile items to make holiday gift baskets. I think this is a wonderful idea – Shannon has some great ideas and photos posted, so you should click here to check it out.
Personally, I’ve been using stockpile items to create gifts for years, so I wanted to add to the discussion with some photos of gift baskets that I have made and given personally. I’ve always been a huge fan of gift baskets, and I made my own long before I used coupons or had a stockpile. Once I began accumulating useful items, it became a natural next step to start incorporating these in goodie bags. For the last three or four weddings that I have been invited to, I made special gift baskets for the couple to use in their new home. Here is an example of one I made last year:
Click on the images to see them full-size
The happy couple’s names are blurred out for privacy! 🙂
To make this gift, I bought a pretty laundry basket and filled it with all the necessities for a new home. Each item had a theme that tied into married life – down to the “His & hers” blue and pink toothbrushes! I made special gift tags for each item, labeling their uses: “For the bath”, “For cleaning your new home”, and “For your first dinner party”. All of the cleaning and home products came straight from my stockpile. For the “Dinner party” theme, I tucked in a place mat set with chopsticks which I had picked up at Poundland (The UK equivalent of Dollar Tree!), rice and green tea from the stockpile, and a printout of a yummy recipe for Cashew Fried Rice.
I had great fun making this gift basket and put a lot of time and love into it. And it was well-received – when I carried it over to the gift table at the wedding, one of the other guests noticed it and exclaimed what a great idea it was! Since then, I’ve made several other stockpile gift baskets for weddings. In one variation, I bought a plastic utility basket and lined it with washcloths that I had bought off the couple’s registry (shopping through Ebates, of course!), and then filled it with similar items.
I’ve used stockpile items in all sorts of gifts, from wedding baskets to care packages to gift bags for holidays and special occasions. It’s a thoughtful gift because of the time and care put into it – these are useful items that you know the recipient needs and will use.
So tell me, readers: Have you ever made a gift basket using stockpile items?
Posted in Articles, Weddings | 11 Comments »
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010
I love it when a deal comes along right when I need it! I’m almost out of stamps, and had planned to stock up at the Post Office so that I’d have plenty for all the holiday cards I’ll be sending soon. Well, tonight I caught wind of a deal where you can get custom photo stamps for only .39 cents each! Zazzle.com are running a sale through the end of tomorrow, November 25th, where you can save $8.80 per sheet of custom stamps. Pair that with 15% cashback from ShopAtHome and free shipping, and you have .39 cent stamps! Here’s how it works:
1. Go to ShopAtHome.com and login or register. New to online rebates? Click here to read my article, “How I Save Money With Online Rebates”, to learn all about it!
2. Once you are logged in to ShopAtHome, do a search for Zazzle. You will then be able to click through to receive 15% cashback.
3. After you reach Zazzle.com, select the Custom Stamps option. Then select the small 1.8″ x 1.3″ 44 cent stamps, and add your photo and text.
4. Use coupon code THANKPOSTAGE or click through (See below) to bring the price down to $9.15 per sheet. Use coupon code FREESHIPFORU to receive free shipping on orders of $50 or higher.
Update: You can also scroll down the list of special offers listed for Zazzle on ShopAtHome and click through the “$8.80 off sheets of 20 custom postage stamps!” to receive the deal without entering the coupon code. The code “THANKPOSTAGE” is listed further down the page but it says it “may or may not” be eligible for cashback – which seems silly, since it’s the same exact deal. I would click through to get the deal just to be safe.
I ordered 6 sheets, a total 120 first-class stamps, and paid $54.90. I will receive $8.23 back in rebates, which is almost enough to buy a whole other book of stamps. This makes my final cost per sheet of stamps $7.78, or .39 cents each. I usually buy Forever stamps, because we know how often postage goes up – but a deal like this is worth stocking up on. Even if the Post Office were to raise their rates tomorrow and I had to buy 1-cent makeup stamps, I would still be ahead. Plus, I got to make super cute stamps for my Christmas cards – I used a photo that we took a few years back of a snowman on the beach, and added a festive greeting. Check it out:
If you’re gearing up to send holiday cards, you’ll want to check this out! This is also a great deal for brides-to-be, since you could order special stamps for your wedding invitations. Hurry, this deal ends at midnight on November 25th!
Thanks for the heads-up, Frugal Living NW!
Posted in Online deals, Weddings | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010
This seems timely to mention, since I was just talking about free wedding magazines yesterday! Get Married magazine recently emailed me to ask if I would like a complimentary issue of their magazine. They also told me that they are offering a free issue to those who click here and then click the pink tab that says “Sign up for your free Get Married magazine”. This offer is not open to those who registered for this offer last year – but I wanted to mention it for my new readers and those who may have missed it last time. I have friends who have gotten engaged recently that are very eager to hear all my frugal wedding tips! 😀
Posted in Weddings | 1 Comment »
Friday, November 20th, 2009
 Jai and I took photos for our Christmas cards yesterday, so I’ve got cards on my mind this week. So I thought I’d share this timely deal, since it would be a great way to cut costs this holiday season. Seehere.com is offering 100 free 4×8 photo Christmas cards, complete with envelopes, free of charge. All you have to do is enter coupon code newbaby at checkout and you will receive 50 cards for free, including shipping. Then you can place a second order for another free set of cards by clicking here and using Freebies 4 Mom’s special coupon code. You can save your design during the first order and have another 50 of the same card printed with Freebies 4 Mom’s code – Money Saving Mom has full details on the promotion here, along with photos of the cards that she ordered, so yes, these really arrive and they are really free! This offer is good through November 30th.
And these aren’t just limited to Christmas cards – there are a bunch of other designs available as well. This also counts as a frugal wedding item, since you could print free save-the-date cards or invitations!
Posted in Online deals, Weddings | No Comments »
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