Wedding Blog
Early on, we decided to split the cost of our wedding down the middle. How my parents contributed would be handled between yours truly and Papa/Mama Piglet, and the same went for him and his parents. For the most part, we’re trying to cover the Hawaii wedding ourselves, which means controlling our spending these days. We love eating out, Piggy loves shopping, and we both love snowboarding! For the past four years, we’ve gone on an annual trip with our friends to resorts all over the country. Mr. P is a-w-e-s-o-m-e and often claims he is X-Games material. I’d hate to total the amount we’ve spent over the years, because it would likely be enough to pay for 10 Ben Chrismans. I have so many fond and not-so-fond memories from each trip, but we’ve decided to forgo our annual trip this year and save the Benjis for Hawaii.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane…
Lake Tahoe, 2005. I actually have no pictures from this trip because I came down with the flu the day before we left. What luck! I bucket this trip into the ‘not-so-fond’ memories. I slept in the master bedroom, humidifier on full blast, while everyone hit up the mountain. Tahoe was dumped on that year. So much so, that the road was blocked off on their way back from boarding, and also, with my food in hand. Mr. Pig got out of the car and trekked it back to our cabin to deliver my food as quickly as possible. How sweet is that?! It was the wrong order.
Whistler, 2005. Whistler is gorgeous! I was too much of a beginner to appreciate what this resort had to offer. This is where the Mr and I had our first big argument. I was upset he left me to board alone while he went off to the bowls and the blacks (for the entire weekend). In hindsight, I can understand how he felt the need to take advantage of the amazing terrain. Kidding. I was P’d off! I fell off the lift every single time, while kids with the porcupine looking hats rode off kicking snow in my face. Heh, it wasn’t that bad (yes it was). What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! I took lessons, and now I wear the porcupine hat (kidding again).
Sugarbush, Vermont, 2007. Our friends below got engaged during this trip. CS coordinated the trip and let everyone in on his master plan. Mr Pigs left me in the dark, because admittedly, I have a small problem with being able to keep secrets. 
He told his now wife he had cramps, and headed to the lodge where he planned to sing their song to an instrumental version over the speaker system. It was SO cute!
Park City, 2008: Awesome trip! I brought my VW bridesmaid (she’s built nice and sturdy) with me, and we had a blast. Mr P, on the other hand, made friends with Mr. Tree. My poor baby!
For now, my Burton Feelgood will have to hibernate through this season.
Did any of you pass up on hobbies in order to save for the wedding?
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Share this post: Passing On Our Favorite Pastime
I haven’t snowboarded once this year… though I’m usually a 60+ day a year girl. It’s been hard on me, but it’s for a good cause! And I’m thinking the girls are going to surprise me with some snowboarding this weekend. I’m gonna be so sore!
Try Big White in Kelowna, BC next hehe! After you’re married of course ;).
We seriously curbed our eating out habit. We also bought a house and moved to a quieter neighborhood, so that helped not eat out so much, although a mortgage certainly didn’t help w/ wedding savings.
Ouch (Mr. Piggy)! As pretentious and ridic as it sounds, we’ve had to hold off on buying more art!
Mr. MagPie and I — bigtime foodies — have tried to curb our eating out tendencies (just a BIT). We’ve also found http://www.restaurant.com to be BIG help in continuing to have the moola for our (admittedly, still pretty regular) date nights.
We are complete foodies and eat out a LOT. So, we’ve been trying to cut back on that. It’s hard, though! Kudos to you for making the sacrifice!
@Miss Perfume: It doesn’t sound ridiculous at all! It is hard to hold off doing/buying something that you love
We’ve cut back on eating out and going to the movies. We used to go to “double-features” of seemingly mis-matched movies (i.e., No Country for Old Men and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, or The Dark Knight and Get Smart) semi-regularly. We’d have dinner in between and dessert afterwards. But no more. Sigh.
we stopped our yearly trips to vegas, refrained from major purchases, and only eat out once a month (instead of every week). it’s a bit of a lifestyle change, but worth it. and we can return to going out/shopping after the wedding.
Love love love snowboarding and while we’re not hitting Tahoe or Mammoth this year we’re leaving this Friday for an overnight at Big Bear Mtn. but yep shopping is at a standstill and watching the funds!
Btw always wanted to get to Whistler! Also, not gonna hit any jumps this trip for fear of Casts on my wedding day! Broken ribs, dislocated a thumb and a concussion on previous snowboard trips…
Eating out! I don’t know if that’s a hobby.. but that def is one of our favorite things.. but we have been cutting back =( It’s all worth it!
I love that this board is full of foodies! Mr Techie and I also had to throttle back our restaurant budget. We try to keep it to once a week (which may still seem like a lot, but for us this equaled a big savings in the budget).
Something that’s really helped to offset this change is our monthly ‘Chef’s Night In’. Both of us are good at cooking, so together we plan a restaurant-quality menu, then go shopping in our local market district for the ingredients (cheaper than the supermarket, and much more fun), and cook the whole meal together, start to finish. We even plate them restaurant-style, right down to garnishes. It’s been a wonderfully fun experience and I highly recommend it to any couple who loves food! We’ll probably continue this activity even after we’re married.
sigh you are making me want to cry. i’m addicted to snowboarding too! i went on a jay peak trip for new years but the conditions were so bad (which is unheard of over there) that we barely got to board. its been snowing a lot too here on the east coast, and i feel soooo sad i can’t board. after the wedding though (end of march) we’re going to get in as MUCH spring boarding as possible. can’t wait!
Yeah, we usually go away to the Caribbean - BVI or Playa del Carmen - during Memorial Day weekend. Not this year. On top of the cost, we also don’t have the vacation time since we are off for two weeks for the Honeymoon.
Nonetheless, we are going to Stratton this weekend for what will probably be our only ski trip this year.
We’re cutting back on eating out, as well. So instead, we’re trying out new recipes and learnig new dishes. Next on the list? Traditional cullen skink from Scotland! Can’t wait!
My fiance has been going to the NCAA Final Four tournament every year since 2001. He’s skipping this year to save for the wedding…what a guy!!!
My fiance has been going to the NCAA Final Four tournament every year since 2002. He’s skipping this year to save for the wedding…what a guy!!!
Yep, all Tahoe trips are on hold this year. That and my friend who lives up there is pregnant and not skiing- bummer. And this is going to sound totally selfish, but I don’t blame Mr. P for exploring Whistler. It is my favorite mountain ever! I don’t think I could take Mr. Peep until he could totally appreciate the mountain too.
Great memories! And hey - Mr. P should have spent at least one day with you in Whistler! We recently came back from Banff and the Mr. had only 2 of 4 days to hit the slopes - hey, it was my vacation too!
We’ve cut back big time on our weekly sushi habbit to once every 3 or 4 weeks. And the biggest sacrifice - moving into the future-in-laws basement… though we both hate our current abode, so it’s not that huge a sacrifice.
We’ve had to cut back on eating out and vacations, too. We used to eat out 5 - 6 times a week, and now we’re down to once every other week. We also canceled our cable and DVR, so now we’re stuck at home wondering what to cook and what to do with our time. Instead of going on the mini-vacations we used to enjoy, we go camping when we get time off to save money.
Fiance popped the question in November, so our Whistler trip in December was already planned and paid for. Otherwise we probably wouldn’t have been able to go, as we’re now in saving mode too! I have fond memories of all our snowboarding trips too… I think we’re going to try and name each of our tables at the reception after a different resort we’ve been to (hopefully there won’t be TOO many tables!)
@MagPie518 & @Miss Quiche: Also big foodies here! We have had to cut back on eating out A LOT!
I’d rather have a lifetime of vacations than one wedding, but I’d certainly give up a vacation for a DW.
You have no idea….we won’t have done anything beyond camping, and the ocaisional date night away for over two years by the time we go on our honeymoon in September. West Coast Groom has very itchy feet about it!
FI taught me to snowboard and we’ve been every year since we started dating… but we’re skipping it this year too. Aside from the cost, I’m afraid to break something - last season his brother broke his femur, and my brother broke his collarbone.
I’m so jealous you got to go to Whistler! That’s definitely on my list of places to go once the wedding is over.
Big holidays have gone from our list of indulgences as well. We’ll still have weekends away locally probably but next week is our last big holiday for 2 years. We did it between ‘05 and ‘08 as well so it shouldn’t be too hard to stick to.
Funnily enough, we’re off snowboarding at the weekend. A week in Northern Finland where the slopes are good (and quiet!) for beginners like us and there’s plenty of things to do apres ski!
i told myself we’d eat out less when saving for the wedding but i don’t think i made any real effort, haha. though in the end we were fine budget wise anyway. good for you for being strong enough to make a real sacrifice!
Ok, Vail MUST be your next stop. I mean it! Vail and Park City are my 2 all time favorites!!! My family does a big ski trip every year too, so I’ve been to most of the places you have listed.
We’re definitely cutting back. And also returning soda bottles for the deposit money and looking for change underneath the couch cushions.
We haven’t donated plasma yet for money, but that might be next. 
the mister and I will be seriously scaling back - no week long vacations, but weekend trips. Hope Mr. P beat that tree up and is healing nicely!
Ditto, Piggy. No boarding for me this winter. In addition to the $ factor, I also don’t want to risk breaking my leg!
We skipped travel last year (although we did a lot of travel back to MN for showers and what not) but Mr. Peng really wants to do some sort of international travel (the cultural kind, not the beach honeymoon kind) so that’s something he missed out on. My kind of vacation is honeymoon kind, so I missed out on nothing. Due to our poor budgeting skills (by our I mean my), we actually didn’t “do without” the engagement year… but boy oh boy when the wedding was over and the credit card statement came in… we buckled down to get those suckers paid off quickly. It took a lot of not shopping for a long time. That was a bummer. But we did it, whew!
Mr. G and I learned to snowboard in Steamboat Springs, CO. Definitely a fun place for you guys to check out (after the strain of wedding expenses dies down!)
We haven’t gone on vacation for over a year. We’ve been doing mini-breaks and weekend trips here and there, but nothing major due to the economy and the wedding. It makes me a little sad, but then I’d rather save moolah right now!
We haven’t passed up any big trips (because there wern’t any planned), but we’ve cut back on going out and eating out.
Poor Mr. P, looks like the tree won.
@El Capataz: we’re stratton people too! but alas due to the wedding we aren’t going up this year. or if we do, it will be to just relax and not ski/board unfortunately. We often laugh at the fact that we decided to get married during the worst economic climate of our lives. Oops.
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Mrs. Piglet, Virginia/Oahu
Age and Occupation: 28, Consultant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Entrepreneur/Fashion Apparel Wholesale Importer
Engagement Date: June 22, 2008
Wedding Date: August 2009
Venue: Ceremony at the Lanikuhonua Phase II private estate, reception at a historic hotel in Waikiki
About Me: I'm an East Coast gal with intense road rage and an addiction to romantic comedies, fast food, gadgets, Korean BBQ, and my wiener dog George aka Georgia May. I carry mustard packets in my purse and I love perusing the aisles at discount stores. A self proclaimed shopaholic, I impulsively buy electronics, software, and craft tools; none of which I know how to use. I'm excited to dust
these babies off and immerse myself in DIY projects galore in
preparation for our DW in paradise!
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