It’s that time of year and that season of life when it seems like every single person we know is getting married. Truly, there is nothing more fun or exciting than friend and family weddings, but being in the military usually means thousands of miles of travel to attend. Today’s post is all about how we’ve balanced that over the years and what things have made this kind of travel easier (emotionally and financially!)
The original weekend friend wedding rental houses started + the WAF name was born!
Don’t be afraid to say “no”
I specifically chose this as a starting point because the reality of the situation is,
we cannot do it all
. As hard as it is, you have to prioritize and make decisions on what is physically, financially and emotionally doable for you and your family. We usually start by prioritizing weddings we’ve agreed to be in first (you shouldn’t be saying yes to your bestie until you know for sure you can make it work), family weddings and then all other weddings or wedding-related events after (yes…that includes bachelorette parties, bridal showers, etc.)
Decide on who is going
Once you have your priorities set, decide on who will be going. Just because I agree to be in a friend’s wedding, doesn’t mean we can financially justify my husband going with (it also doesn’t mean I’m automatically able to go to their bachelorette party or bridal shower). If I know I won’t be able to spend much time with my spouse and we don’t have a lot of mutual friends attending the wedding, it doesn’t make much sense to pay for another flight to have him spend a weekend in a room full of people he wouldn’t know. That might sound harsh, but with limited leave and limited finances, it truly does become this cut and dry. So far, all of my friends have understood this rationale (and many have made the same tough decision in their own lives).
Rack up points
If you’re an active duty military family and don’t take advantage of the AMEX Platinum waived annual fees, get on it! Once we’ve decided what weddings we’ll be attending, we book all of our travel related items on our AMEX and get killer points. Bonus if you’re able to find a cheap option on the AMEX travel site and get double points. We’ve done this now for over 2 years, and because of it have been able to book several flights this year strictly using points – which is basically allowing us to attend an entire wedding weekend as a family we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to.
Note: there are obviously other point based cards you can use in this same manner, we just love the AMEX because of the perks we also get WHILE we travel. Lounge life is going to be a lifesaver traveling with a newborn!
Rent a house
This is a HUGE plus for so many reasons. First of all, what better way to squeeze out more time with your favorite people than having everyone under the same roof? Secondly, it saves a lot of money if you do it far enough in advance. On meals alone we have saved so much opting out of the hotel option when possible for wedding weekends AND our room/board cost for 3-4 nights usually equals what ONE night in a hotel would cost. I’ll be the first to admit the wedding weekend house rental situation is starting to look a lot different these days than it did when we first started out with friend weddings, because just in our small friend group alone we have 5 kiddos all under one. Doesn’t matter, same thing applies, it’s a lot more manageable for us to split up into small groups and rent houses, that way we can bring the babies, fly in (YAY for grandparents!!) or hire childcare and not feel like we’re holed up in a hotel room all weekend long.
Don’t rely on eating out
Take this and apply it from the start to the very finish of your trip. Hit the grocery store before you leave and pack yourself some snacks so you aren’t forced to pay a disgusting amount for the same thing when you get to the airport. Also, this is where having that AMEX comes in handy because you can swing through a lounge when you do get to the airport and grab something to eat…FOR FREE. Taking it one step further, hit a grocery store when you get to your destination. Whether we’ve stayed in hotels or rental homes I always make sure we have some snacks on hand (I’m scary when I’m hangry), and a lot of times this has saved us the expenses that add up when you rely on hotel food. Now…don’t get me wrong, we go out and indulge, we just make it more of a scheduled fun event with groups versus an act of survival.
Another goodie from our first WAF wedding weekend
Turning down reunion opportunities with your people is the WORST, so if you can take a few of these things, incorporate them and save a few bucks – you might be able to change what would’ve been a “no” to a “yes” – – which is an all around win! If you have some things to add that you’ve done to help make wedding season more doable for your family, toss them into the comments below. I’m always looking for new ways to save, because your girl over here doesn’t like to miss a party!
Xo, Kirst
