Wedding season. Happy times.

We just got back from attending our third in three months.  Not a single one was in the state we lived in.  Two were in California and one was in Alaska.  Yes Alaska and no they didn't live there and in fact never been their before. 

Being a guest at a wedding can be great.  Free food, free drinks, and good times. If you are not careful they can be expensive.  It is important to look for alternative ways to save money or their happy times equal our sad pockets. 

First off is the gift. Traditionally the guests of the wedding and reception give the newlyweds a gift as thanks and best wishes.  There are a couple of way to hack this.

• Offer the wedding party something you can help them make like the invitations
• Offer to help setup the reception
• Look on their registry and set alerts on amazon for flash deals
• We provide toasting glasses that we get a great deal from a vendor

Second is getting to the wedding and sleeping.  We had 3 remote wedding from us and all required us to fly.  Since these three wedding were close friends or family we felt like we had to go.  

1. The first wedding was in California for family.  We used miles to book our flight for all four of use and we stayed with family to not have hotel cost.  So the only cost of this trip was our gift.
2. The second wedding was in Alaska.  We used this trip as a vacation for the wife and I.  We flew into California with all four of use and dropped off the kids with my wife's family.  We stayed there an extra day to get a better rates on our flight.  We were able to use point to fly out to Alaska with a 5 hour layover in SFO.  We didn't have enough points to fly home, but we found a great deal with Alaska airline on the way back. We stayed in a hotel for 3 nights using points and 3 nights in an Airbnb for 1/3 the cost of the restore were the wedding was at.
3. The third wedding was also in California, but not close to family.  We had my family come into town to watch the kids. We left on a Saturday and return on Monday to maximize using the miles points.  We stayed a hotel two nights using points to cover the cost.  We were going to do one night and stay with a friend, but decided getting up at 4am to get the airport was not worth it.  

The third major expense is food.  When you are on travel eating out can really kill the pockets.  

You will get a free meal from the wedding and since they usually have lots of food I would only have a light breakfast and fast until the event.  

• First off if you get a free breakfast for lounge access through your hotel use them
• Second go to a local store and stock up on yogurt and supplies for dinner 
• Store these in refrigerator in your room. You can request one from the front desk
• Third when you go out going out for lunch is much cheaper way to dine.  The wife and I went out for one meal while we were in Alaska.  Mostly lunch and a couple of dinners.  A great way to cut cost is to order appetizers we usually buy three.  You get almost as much food and you get to try a ton of different things.  

The fourth is cloths.  Don't buy anything new just use what you already have.  I know this is hard so look in your closet find something nice.  Put it on and smile big.  

Activity wise he spend a lot of time just walking around and going on long hikes.  The only activity we paid for was a day cruse to see glaciers.  We pre-book this activity to get an early bird discount. 

Have fun for enjoy.