Learning how to avoid the debt squeeze as a wedding guest

And we are in the most popular wedding season of the year. And while love is in the air, so are some pretty hefty expenses. Between travel, gifts, and add holiday shopping just around the corner, celebrating the happy couple can hit your wallet hard. So how do you toast their big day without starting the new year in debt? We're talking smart spending with financial advisor, Bobbi Rebell. Bobbi, good morning. Thank you for joining us. Good morning. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, let's dive into it here because, you know, weddings can come with a lot of hidden costs, right? So what is the first thing that guests should really do or consider when that invitation arrives to make sure that they can actually afford to attend? Well, I love this question. I'm going to do you one better. They need to start thinking about it when they get that save the date because airfares, transportation, hotels, they're expensive. So you want to get on that ASAP. And I really do urge people to think about getting refundable, maybe just refundable in credits because refundable in dollars can be more expensive. but get those tickets far ahead of time. And think strategically. Your hosts may have booked a block of hotel rooms, but don't assume that is the best price. You may be able to get a better price for your room by going through maybe your employer's discount program, or if you belong to a discount club like Costco, maybe even AAA, things like that. You may be able to get a better price. So shop around far in advance. Do your homework. Yeah, good advice. We're heading into the holidays when many of us already have extra expenses as it is. How can we create a realistic budget for going to a wedding when that still needs to leave room for Thanksgiving, Christmas and anything else that's coming up? There is so much competition for our dollars at this time of year. So it is important to take a holistic approach and really understand what your priorities are for the season. If this is your very closest friend's wedding, well, that may be something that you're going to prioritize. And maybe you're going to scale back on maybe getting that new Halloween costume this year and just pull out something you love from the past. And maybe your Thanksgiving may be a little bit more modest than you would do in other years. So balance things out. Think ahead because we don't want to have a hangover in your budget and your finances come New Year's. Amen. Okay. And we covered a little bit of this ground already, but you know, destination weddings are insanely popular right now. But even if you're just traveling out of town to go to someone's wedding, it can get really expensive really quickly. So what are some other practical ways that we can cut costs there? That's really important. And this is a big trend that we are seeing because so many couples, according to Zola, about 37% of couples are adding events and about 18% are making full two to three day weekends. So you're right on track with that. Be strategic. If you're, for example, single, but you have a bunch of friends that are going, think about sharing a room. Think about maybe you don't need to take an airplane. Maybe you're going to drive. Be strategic, like I said, with the booking and understand, you know, where you have the flexibility in terms of where you're going to stay. You can be a little bit creative, maybe cut out one night of staying and get there early one morning so that you can really enjoy yourself without the overhead of having so much money at stake. And then, you know, I mean, let's face it. There's also then the pressure of getting the perfect gift, having the perfect outfit. How can guests be thoughtful and look great without spending a fortune? We say to shop your closet, we always have some oldies but goodies that we forget about so make sure you understand what you already own before you do that so that is one thing you don't need a new outfit you can of course have a signature outfit for the season um be thoughtful with your gifts i really do emphasize that it's important to get something that the couple likes if you're going to buy a gift stick to that registry and be a leader a lot of people are feeling the pressure so it's really a gesture of kindness to reach out to friends and organize a group gift maybe that's how you get them the fantastic big um big wish item that they want on their registry by bringing other people in. Everyone will thank you for doing the legwork and also giving them a little bit of a break on terms of the cost. That's a fantastic idea. You know, when it comes down to it, a lot of times emotions and money don't mix very well so that, you know, there's an emotional side of not wanting to disappoint your friend or family member on their big day, right? So how do you decline if it's just simply going to be too much for you? Right. If you are going to say no, say no early and say less. You don't need to give them all of your personal information. That is private to you. You can simply say, it's not going to work for me. I'm so sorry. I can't attend, but maybe we can go for coffee and celebrate another way or offer something. You can still, by the way, chip in a group gift, whatever's going to work for you, but saying less, say it kindly and say it early so that they can plan. They may be very tight on their guest list and therefore have room for other people. So be kind when you decline. Yeah. And before I let you go, let's also talk about this temptation to maybe put something on a credit card to make it work? I mean, what are the warning signs? We're starting to spend money we do not have here. And what should we be doing? You hit it on the nail. Absolutely. We do tend to spend money that we don't have because we get caught up in all the joy of the season and we feel like, well, if we're giving people something and it's a gift, that's always something that we don't want to skimp on. But the truth is, if you don't know how much you owe, if you don't know how you're going to pay it off at the end of the month, if you have multiple buy now, pay later plans, that's a time to be intentional and really plan ahead and make sure that you, for example, you might ask your credit card company for a lower rate, or you might, if you do feel like you're not going to be able to pay it off, be proactive and reach out to a company like Accredited Debt Relief and get a plan in place so that you don't have that stress hanging over you. If you know that things are set up for you to get out of debt, you're going to feel a lot better. Your stress levels will go down. You'll be a better friend. You'll be a better guest and you will enjoy the holidays so much more. All fantastic advice. So many people are going to benefit from this, especially heading into this busy wedding season and holiday season. Bobbi, thank you so much for your expertise. We appreciate it. Thank you for having me. And you can get more financial tips from Bobbi on her website. We will link it for you on fox5atlanta.com. Just go to the Good Day tab and click on today's viewer information link.