Tip from a Bride - Keep your receipts!

I’m getting married in about 2 weeks, and one of the biggest tips I can offer at this point is keep your receipts. Every single one.

Of course, this is sage advice in nearly any heavy-consumption situation (i.e., when you shop for birthdays, holidays, big get-togethers), but with weddings, it’s imperative.

Why?

1. Buy and returning is just part of wedding planning. Not everyone can go wedding shopping at the same time. It’s just not possible. (Even if it were, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea.) But ideas need to be shared, and it’s often easier to show than to tell. Therefore, a lot of items are being purchased solely for the purpose of display. Needless to say, many of these “example” items end up being vetoed. (”Here, honey, what do you think about this Star Trek-themed cake topper?”) And these rejected ideas must then go back to where they came from (…promptly, if you want to avoid amassing a collection of useless items).
2. Things you buy for a wedding can usually not be re-purposed. They have specialized uses that do not have equivalent uses in daily life, or they come in specific colors that just don’t work with your everyday decor or wardrobe. If you need napkin rings for a big dinner party, for instance, you can use those again. But if you need 20 decorative vases as centerpieces, it’ll be hard to make use of (all) of those again. Most will end up sitting in your basement for the next 20-odd years.
3. You’ll need to track little expenses somehow, and what better way than the receipts themselves? Just train yourself to throw the receipts into a shoebox as soon as you walk in the door, and you’ll have the exact amounts at your fingertips whenever you need them. This will also help you tell if you’re over budget. For instance, if you budgeted $1 per favor, and you decide you need Jordan almonds, tulle and ribbon to hold them, then little woven baskets to hold each bundle… well, that could put you at $3 per favor (or more, depending on the specifics). Receipts will help you track these expenses as you go.