Weekend of Deliciousness & Happy Birthday J

This past Friday was J's birthday (as well as one of my nieces - love you, Gabriella!) so I cooked up my cast iron fried chicken and gravy, along with spoon rolls and canned green beans simmered in chicken broth, vinegar, black pepper and garlic powder. I found the spoon roll recipe on Southern Living and they turned out alright (I did not measure the salt and probably should have added more than I did). They are cooked in a muffin tin and are super fast to make up - great for a party! The texture is a bit odd when you are mixing up the batter, in case you want to try it out :)

We went up to visit Josiah's brother and his wife where we had some Mexican food for supper - it was surprisingly good for the Northeast. Sunday morning, we had biscuits and sausage gravy, lots of fruit, bacon, eggs, and some potato mixture cooked in bacon grease and onions. Talk about a feast! J definitely loved all the delicious calorie laden food. According to facebook, J had an amazing weekend full of celebrating his 23rd birthday. He lies about his age :)

How Much Does A Wedding Really Cost?

Weddings are expensive! I know this isn't exactly a newsbreaking story, but do you really know how much a wedding will cost? One useful resource, LearnVest Daily, is one of my favorite email subscriptions geared towards providing women with lots of intelligent advice on financial matters, including weddings. LearnVest has helpfully put out an article on the costs of a wedding. According to these ladies, the average engagement lasts 16 months which is probably to save up (or find a buyer for your kidneys) to fund the $30,000 average cost of a wedding (Check out this handy dandy tool. You can enter your zip code and find out the average cost of a wedding in your city.) Yikes!

Now say you aren't planning on having any high ticket items like having a horse and carriage, doves set free as a sign of your love, or filling every available surface with orchids and peonies - have you considered all of the hidden fees or underestimated your costs? For example, say you have 150 guests and you pick out basic cake that can feed that all of your guests. Cake decorators or venues will often charge a cake cutting fee of at least $2 per person. That's an increase of $300! If your cake decorator doesn't charge you a cake cutting fee, they may include a delivery fee that can be expensive.

Florists will also charge you a delivery fee. I have a friend who had both the wedding ceremony and reception at the church. She was quite surprised to receive a final bill that included two delivery charges for one location! Read your contracts, make sure you know what you are signing, and never be afraid to ask questions about what services or products the fees are going towards. Also, make sure to review your final bill and compare it to your contract, luckily for my friend she hadn't agreed to pay for these "two deliveries" and was able to reduce her bill.