Personal Finance

How to cut down your wedding guest list to save money

Published

4 months ago

August 3, 2024

Business Finance News

Victor Dyomin | Moment | Getty Images

Many wedding costs, such as meals, invitations and favors, are based on your headcount.

The average cost of a wedding ceremony and reception in 2023 was $35,000, according to The Knot 2023 Real Weddings Study. The total cost is a $5,000 increase from 2022.

“The No. 1 way to save money on your wedding is to cut the guest count,” Shane McMurray, CEO and co-founder of The Wedding Report, recently told CNBC.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, engaged couples pivoted from large-scale events to smaller, intimate weddings, said Lauren Miller, owner of Tiny Wedding Collective, a wedding planning agency in Washington, D.C., and in Baltimore, Maryland.

While the average guest count at weddings has been declining since 2006 — when the average was about 184 people — the lowest average count was in 2020, when it hovered at 107 people due to pandemic restrictions, according to The Wedding Report.

Miller noted a surprising upside to the pandemic.

“What we saw was that the pandemic gave people permission to have a tiny wedding,” Miller said. “Now, you don’t need a pandemic to have a tiny wedding.”

In 2023, the average guest list was 134, The Wedding Report found.

Narrowing down the guest list can be difficult.

“Planning a wedding with your partner is the first big group project the two of you tackle together,” said Jessica Bishop, founder and CEO of The Budget Savvy Bride.

“The key to not hurt people’s feelings is creating a rule and sticking with it for every guest that’s invited,” said Miller.

Here are ways experts suggest reducing your wedding guest list without cutting ties with family and friends in the process:

1. Create a guest-list hierarchy

“You have to start thinking, ‘Would you buy that person a $200 dinner?’ Because that’s what you’re doing at your wedding,” said Shannon Tarrant, co-founder of the Wedding Venue Map, an online marketplace of wedding venues across central Florida.

Experts recommend engaged couples to categorize their guests into two to three lists in order of priority:

A-List: These “are people who you would actually notice on your wedding day if they aren’t there,” said Tarrant. “That’s like your most important, VIP people.”
B-List: The people you would love to come, but you would be fine if they declined the RSVP, said Tarrant. Miller added that the B-List could consist of “co-workers that are close to you or maybe some extended family members.”
List C: Think of this as an extension of the B list, said Bishop. Ask yourself when the last time was that you saw a person “and had meaningful one-on-one time with them,” she said.

A lot of the etiquette rules have gone out the window.

Shannon Tarrant

co-founder of the Wedding Venue Map in Orlando, Florida

Being on a lower-priority list “doesn’t mean we’re not inviting them at this point,” said Tarrant. “We’re just starting to organize the people with a different mindset.”

“Once you figure out the list, you can really build a budget,” she said.

Sometimes your parents will have their own guest lists in mind. “If your parents are paying and contributing, you might need to allow them to have a certain number of guests,” said Bishop.

But “a lot of it is case by case,” added Bishop. If the parents are contributing financially, it is important to discuss what kind of wedding the bridal couple wants and what will be realistic.

2. Set plus-one rules

“Old-school etiquette says that if someone is married or has been in a long-term relationship more than a year … they should be invited,” said Tarrant.

“But in the world we’re living in, a lot of the etiquette rules have gone out the window,” she said.

One approach is to completely forgo plus-ones and group those individual guests in a singles table so they don’t feel alone or left out, said Shannon Underwood, vice president and conference director of Wedding Merchants Business Academy, a conference for wedding professionals.

“That’s the thing with the plus-ones — you never want to feel like you’re the only one that wasn’t allowed to bring a date and everyone else was,” said Underwood. “Consistency is key.”

Here's why these millennial brides say a wedding isn't worth the money

Set parameters with your partner and there might be special cases, said Bishop. It is helpful to have guidelines.

It is okay to have a frank conversation with solo guests, said Tarrant. If that person does not know anyone else or have a connection to anybody else attending your wedding, you may decide it is OK for that person to bring a plus-one, she said.

Bishop noted that it is important to remember that each wedding is unique. “There are probably going to be special cases,” she said.

3. Pick a smaller venue

If you are exploring the idea of hosting a smaller wedding, keep the venue in mind, experts say.

“Sometimes when people want to plan smaller weddings, they don’t choose smaller venues. They’ll pick a venue that seats 200 and say, ‘I’m only budgeting and I only want to have 50 people,'” said Tarrant.

Choosing a more intimate venue with a smaller capacity can help you maintain a solid guest list limit, experts say.

Plus, smaller venues can also bring down the overall spending.

“The savings is not just in the food and beverage,” said Miller. “It really does trickle down overall from all of the things that you might need to rent or buy for the wedding.”

4. Avoid save-the-date invitations

Another way to wrangle the guest count is by not sending save-the-date invitations. “That also can help control the numbers,” said Tarrant, as your closest family and friends are likely to have already etched the date in their calendars.

“It’s a little sneaky,” said Tarrant, but it can help couples whose lists have run out of control, she said.

5. Have a separate, low-cost celebration

Another solution couples could consider is keeping the wedding itself small and later hosting a separate, low-cost ceremony or celebration where you invite more people, experts suggested.

“It does give you the best of both worlds,” said Bishop.

If the budget is very small, consider having a one-year anniversary party that is low cost at an affordable venue, said Underwood. “It doesn’t include all the extras and intricacies of a wedding.”

“At the end of the day, it’s just about preserving relationships and considering people’s feelings,” she said.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

Personal Finance

How remote work can help you travel this holiday season

Published

22 hours ago

November 17, 2024

Business Finance News

Baona | E+ | Getty Images

Americans are determined to travel this holiday season — and certain workarounds are helping them take those trips.

The ability to work remotely is a major leg up when planning out itineraries.

About 49% of employed travelers are “laptop luggers” — those who plan to work at some point on their holiday vacation — up from 34% last year, according to the Deloitte holiday travel survey.

This flexibility allows workers to take trips they might not otherwise, or stretch their trips for longer, according to the survey.

While there are more laptop luggers across most age groups and income levels, Gen Zers, which Deloitte defines as those born between 1997 and 2012, and high earners make up the highest shares, at 58% and 52%, respectively, according to the survey.

Deloitte polled 4,074 American adults in September. Of that group, 2,005 were identified as holiday travelers.

The change in laptop luggers is “a pretty high jump. It’s almost across all income levels and age groups,” said Eileen Crowley, vice chair and U.S. transportation, hospitality and services attest leader at Deloitte.

Since the pandemic, remote work has become a priority for job seekers, said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter.

In the third quarter, 51% of surveyed job seekers said the ability to work from wherever they want is a top reason for remote jobs, up from 40.8% in the first quarter of 2022, according to ZipRecruiter data.

“The value to U.S. workers of being able to work from anywhere has clearly grown over the course of the great remote work experiment,” she said.

In addition to working during their trip, travelers are coming up with other workarounds such as driving instead of flying or cutting back on other expenses, experts said.

“People are willing to cut corners to save money, but they don’t want to skip the trip entirely,” said Ted Rossman, an industry analyst at Bankrate.

Who’s spending on holiday travel this year

High earners are driving holiday travel and spending trends this year, according to experts.

When it comes to holiday travel, 52% of shoppers with incomes of $100,000 or more said they can “easily afford” that expense, according to Morning Consult, a survey research firm. That is the highest share compared with mid- to low-income groups.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

“Higher-income consumers are not nearly as price sensitive,” Stacy Francis, president and CEO of Francis Financial, a wealth management, financial planning and divorce financial planning firm in New York City, recently told CNBC.

“They’re not nearly as budget conscious as people in lower-wage-earning brackets,” said Francis, a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.

Among generational groups, millennials, or those born between 1980 and 1996, have the highest budgets and longest travel planned. According to the report, millennials plan to take about 2.6 trips over the course of the holiday season and spend on average $3,927, per the Deloitte survey.

What’s making holiday travel possible this year

More than 4 in 5 holiday travelers, 83%, are finding ways to save money this holiday season, such as driving instead of flying, according to Bankrate.

“Most of these people are still traveling, they’re just doing so differently to cut some costs,” Rossman said.

Separately, about 50% of respondents are cutting back on other expenses and 49% are picking up discounts and deals, according to the 2024 Holiday Travel Outlook by Hopper, a travel site.

Among other strategies, 22% plan to travel on off-peak days and 21% are using credit card points or miles to cover some of the cost, the Hopper report found.

If you do plan to pull out your laptop and work during a holiday vacation, make sure to review your company’s rules around remote work, said Pollak. Some companies require employees to work from their home, from within the company’s home state or within the U.S. unless otherwise authorized.

“You risk getting your access shut off, being punished or even having your employment terminated if you try to work from elsewhere,” Pollak said.

Touch base with your manager or director about the idea as well, she said: “Some managers just care that you’re getting the job done and aren’t concerned how.”

Finally, you want to make sure the location you plan to work from has a strong electric grid or service and Wi-Fi is reliable.

“If you’re on the hook for work, make sure you are somewhere where you can get it done,” Pollak said.

Spending on experiences such as travel and concerts spiked after pandemic-era lockdowns and restrictions because of pent-up demand from Americans, experts say.

Yet even after several years, travel “seems to be something that’s sticking,” said Deloitte’s Crowley: “People are placing value and making room in their budgets for travel.”

Personal Finance

Why many young adults in the U.S. are still living with their parents

Published

23 hours ago

November 17, 2024

Business Finance News

Approximately 1 in 3 U.S. adults ages 18 to 34 live in their parents’ home, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

The pandemic caused more young adults to return home or remain living with their parents into their late 20s and 30s, but aside from that spike, the numbers have remained fairly consistent in recent years.

Pre-pandemic, the most recent surge in the share of 18- to 34-year-olds living with their parents occurred between 2005 and 2015, according to data from the Census Bureau.

“Those were the times coming [during] the Great Recession and coming out of the Great Recession, and there were a lot of media narratives at the time about millennials eating too much avocado toast to live on their own,” said Joanne Hsu, a research associate professor at the University of Michigan who co-authored a 2015 study on “boomerang” kids for the Federal Reserve.

“What we found was that part of the reason we see this escalation of young adults not leaving the nest or returning to the nest is this idea that it was harder and harder for them to weather shocks,” Hsu said.

Economic shocks are significant and unexpected events that disrupt financial stability and markets, which then affect households’ income, employment and debt levels. The 2008 financial crisis, the Great Recession and the pandemic are all examples of economic shocks.

More than half of Gen Z adults say they don’t make enough money to live the life they want due to the high cost of living, according to a 2024 survey from Bank of America. A significant number of millennials and Gen Z adults lack emergency savings.

‘Why rent and give my money to someone else?’

Victoria Franklin, left, has lived with her mother, Terilyn Franklin, right, in Oceanport, New Jersey, since she graduated from college in 2019.

Natalie Rice | CNBC

Victoria Franklin, 27, moved back to her mom’s house in the summer of 2019 after graduating from college to search for a job in business administration.

“I ended up bartending and waitressing until October [of 2019], where I got my first offer,” Franklin said. “So it did take a little bit longer than I expected.”

She found a job in her field in New York City, which required a two-hour commute from her mother’s home on the Jersey Shore.

“I thought, you know, in six months or so, I’ll move into the city, be closer to the job,” Franklin said. “And the pandemic threw a wrench in those plans.”

Franklin decided to continue living at her mom’s house after switching to a fully remote job in fall 2023.

“My mentality is why rent and give my money to someone else when I can start to own?” Franklin said.

Franklin said she’s saving between 40% and 50% of her income, with “a big chunk” allocated toward a down payment on a house.

While living with parents can provide personal financial benefits, experts say this trend can negatively affect the economy.

“We do also have a situation that what is really good for an individual person or an individual family is not necessarily good for the entire macro economy,” Hsu said. “One of the big boosts to consumer spending is when people form households.”

The Federal Reserve estimated in a 2019 paper that young adults who move out of their parents’ home would spend about $13,000 more per year on things such as housing, food and transportation.

Watch the video above to learn more about why the trend of young adults living with their parents is continuing and what it means for the economy.

Personal Finance

Black Friday deals and discounts to expect this season

Published

2 days ago

November 16, 2024

Business Finance News

A customer visits Macy’s Herald Square store in New York City during early morning Black Friday sales, Nov. 24, 2023.

Kena Betancur | Getty Images

Typically, the five days beginning Thanksgiving Day and ending Cyber Monday are some of the busiest shopping days of the year.

This year, the number of people shopping in stores and online during that period could hit a new record, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey.

But consumers trying to make the most of the Black Friday sales may not be getting the best prices of the season.

According to WalletHub’s 2023 Best Things to Buy on Black Friday report, 35% of items at major retailers offered no savings compared with their pre-Black Friday prices. The site compared Black Friday advertisements against prices on Amazon earlier that fall.

“Some Black Friday deals are misleading as retailers may inflate original prices to make a deal look like a better value,” said consumer savings expert Andrea Woroch.

This year, in particular, some of the deals are already as good as they are going to get.

“Those holidays have gotten a little watered down because retailers want to maximize the selling days,” said Adam Davis, managing director at Wells Fargo Retail Finance.

“Compounding the importance of stretching the holiday season, retailers are facing a shorter selling season between Thanksgiving and Christmas — almost a week shorter in 2024,” he said. “That will force the retailer’s hand to be pretty promotional in November.”

Concerns about shipping

There’s another good reason to shop early.

Consumers are increasingly concerned that their online orders may not arrive in time for the holiday — and rightfully so.

DHL Supply Chain’s new CEO for North America, Patrick Kelleher, recently told CNBC that items may arrive later than in years past, especially those ordered around big dates such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Retailers plan to deliver your holiday deals a little slower this year

In a period of such high volume, third-party shippers are particularly strained, according to Lauren Beitelspacher, a professor of marketing at Babson College. An ongoing labor shortage also means that some companies simply cannot hire enough workers to sort, transport and deliver packages on time.

“We are very spoiled; we got to the point where we think of something we want and it magically appears,” Beitelspacher said. But at the same time, “we’ve learned how fragile the supply chain is.”

When there are more packages to ship, shipping times increase, which can also boost the chance they may get damaged, lost or stolen en route — not to mention the risk of “porch piracy” once an item is delivered.

What discounts to expect on Black Friday

“You are easily going to see 20% to 30% off,” Davis said — but “not necessarily storewide.”

Depending on the retailer, some markdowns could be up to 50%, according to Beitelspacher. However, premium brands — including high-end activewear companies such as Nike, Alo or Lululemon — likely will not discount more than 20% or 30%, she said. “It’s a fine balance with maintaining the premium brand integrity and offering promotions.”

As in previous years, these companies are aware of how price sensitive consumers have become.

“The holidays are a time people want to treat themselves, but they also want to make their dollar last longer,” Beitelspacher said.

To that end, retailers will also try to lure shoppers to spend with incentives, such as a free gift card with a minimum purchase, Woroch said. “Many stores will also offer bonus rewards when you spend a certain amount on Black Friday.”

What not to buy on Black Friday

Typically, Black Friday is a great time to find rock-bottom prices on fall clothing — including flannels, denim, coats and accessories — as well as televisions and consumer electronics.

But hold off on beauty and footwear, which are typically better buys on Cyber Monday, Woroch said.

For those planning a trip, “Travel Tuesday” is a good time to snag discounts on airfares, cruises and tour packages, with many hotels offering 20% to 30% off best available rates. Travelers can check out Travel Tuesday deals from 2023 to get an idea of what to expect this year.

With toys, it could pay to hold out until the last two weeks of December, and holiday decorations are cheaper the last few days before Christmas or right after, according to Woroch.

Exercise equipment, linens and bedding tend to be marked down more during January’s “white sales,” she said, and furniture and mattress deals are often better over other holiday weekends throughout the year, such as Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.

How to get even lower prices

Woroch recommends using a price-tracking browser extension such as Honey or Camelizer to keep an eye on price changes and alert you when a price drops. Honey will also scan for applicable coupon codes.

If you are shopping in person, try the ShopSavvy app for price comparisons. If an item costs less at another store or popular site, often the retailer will match the price, Woroch said.

Further, stack discounts: Combining credit card rewards with coupon codes and a cash-back site such as CouponCabin.com will earn money back on those purchases. Then, take pictures of your receipts using the Fetch app and get points that can be redeemed for gift cards at retailers such as Walmart, Target and Amazon.

Finally, pay attention to price adjustment policies. “If an item you buy over Black Friday goes on sale for less shortly after, you may be able to request a price adjustment,” Woroch said. Some retailers such as Target have season-long policies that may apply to purchases made up until Dec. 25.