Tactful or Tacky? We’re Judging the Wildest Frugal Wedding Fails

📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. Swapping sparklers for potato flakes for a budget-friendly wedding send-off might seem smart—until you end up covered in mashed potato. In this episode, Rachel and George react to real “frugal wedding fails” and share their take on what’s actually worth the money when planning your big day. Next Steps: 🎥 Watch our video Spilling the Financial Tea With Our Better Halves. 🍸 Follow Smart Money Happy Hour on TikTok: @smartmoneyhappyhour 📱 Submit a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George! Send a DM to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! Be sure to type “GUILTY?” at the top of your message so we don’t miss it. 💵 The simplest way to budget. Download the EveryDollar app for free! Connect With Our Sponsors: Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. Get up to 40% off with code SMARTMONEY at Cozy Earth. Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🥃 Aperol Tequila Sour Recipe: @cocktails 1 1/2 ounces tequila 1/2 ounce Aperol 1/2 ounce strawberry syrup 3/4 ounce lemon juice 1 egg white 3 dashes Angostura bitters Instructions: Add all ingredients to a shaker. Shake without ice and then shake again with ice. Double strain over ice and add dashes of bitters. Explore More From Ramsey Network: 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:05George Kamel?

  Taxful or tacky? Today, we're talking about the frugal wedding fails of the century. So to see like an older woman do that, I would feel bad.

• 0:13Rachel Cruze?

  In a gown.

• 0:14George Kamel?

  In a gown.

• 0:14Rachel Cruze?

  That's crazy. That's crazy. We gotta draw the line somewhere.

• 0:18George Kamel?

  We wouldn't have been friends right now.

• 0:19Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 0:19George Kamel?

  This podcast would not exist.

• 0:20Rachel Cruze?

  This would not have existed.

• 0:26Rachel Cruze?

  Hey, guys. I'm Rachel Cruz.

• 0:28George Kamel?

  I'm George Kamel.

• 0:30Rachel Cruze?

  And this is Smart Money Happy Hour.

• 0:38Rachel Cruze?

  Well, this is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about, everything from pop culture, current events, and money.

• 0:45George Kamel?

  And before we get to the frugal wedding fails, let's talk about what we're sipping on, Rachel. It's an Aperol Tequila Sour.

• 0:51Rachel Cruze?

  And you know, I love all three of those words.

• 0:53George Kamel?

  Really good. So stick around till the end. We're gonna give you our rating and reveal the cost per glass. You don't want to miss it.

• 0:59Rachel Cruze?

  That's right.

• 0:59George Kamel?

  Okay. So personal finance, Rachel, looks different for everyone. It's why we call it personal finance. But there's a few major life events that the majority of the population has to navigate financially.

• 1:10Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I think there's a lot of these. You think about, you know, college, maybe renegotiating your salary, buying a home. Like, there's some big purchases or situations in life when it comes to money. And one of the biggest are weddings.

• 1:24George Kamel?

  It's gotten out of control. It's a huge life event.

• 1:27Rachel Cruze?

  Dun, dun, da-da.

• 1:28George Kamel?

  Can come with a high cost, and some people are wiser about this than others.

• 1:32Rachel Cruze?

  That is true, which is so unfortunate. But you guys, you and Whitney had a pretty successful wedding story financially. Actually, it's pretty insane. You've talked about it on this podcast before.

• 1:41George Kamel?

  It's not relatable. So hashtag unrelatable.

• 1:44Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, but responsible.

• 1:45George Kamel?

  Whitney found a local wedding contest. It was a free wedding package worth $28,000, and we won.

• 1:52Rachel Cruze?

  And you were hosting The Ramsey Show at the time and asked all the viewers to vote for you, right?

• 1:56George Kamel?

  Yes. So we had the best video. So aside from that, it was merit-based. We had the best wedding story captured on video and we got the most likes on our video within a week. That was the contest stipulations.

• 2:06Rachel Cruze?

  But $28,000.

• 2:07George Kamel?

  I didn't think it was real. I thought, like, we're gonna get scammed.

• 2:10Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. So what did they pay for in that?

• 2:13George Kamel?

  Everything. But here's the kicker. It only included 50 people, which includes the bride, the groom, the bridal party. So by the time you get to the invites, you can invite 10 people.

• 2:23Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. And then y'all did a big reception after.

• 2:25George Kamel?

  So then we threw a second wedding reception after the first wedding ceremony and reception. And that ended up costing us a lot of money. So.

• 2:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 2:33George Kamel?

  Yeah. Was it a frugal fail?

• 2:34Rachel Cruze?

  More than $28,000?

• 2:35George Kamel?

  No. No. Not near that.

• 2:37Rachel Cruze?

  Came out well, George. And at first I thought, I didn't go to your wedding. And then memory served me correctly and I was there.

• 2:44George Kamel?

  I knew I invited you.

• 2:46Rachel Cruze?

  On the second reception.

• 2:47George Kamel?

  I remember thinking, the cruises will get us a good gift. We should invite them.

• 2:51Rachel Cruze?

  What did I get you?

• 2:51George Kamel?

  I don't remember. Probably Financial Peace, maybe Financial Peace University.

• 2:55Rachel Cruze?

  Stop it. Whatever.

• 2:55George Kamel?

  No, I'm sure it was a wonderful gift.

• 2:57Rachel Cruze?

  Terrible. That's good.

• 2:58George Kamel?

  Do you regret wasting money on anything for your wedding or a frugal fail?

• 3:02Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know. I feel like we were pretty.

• 3:05George Kamel?

  You focused on the stuff that mattered.

• 3:07Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. I mean, I think we did, like, back then you would mail out save the dates.

• 3:12George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 3:13Rachel Cruze?

  I feel like people don't do that as much anymore.

• 3:14George Kamel?

  Yeah, we mailed ours out. I kinda regret.

• 3:16Rachel Cruze?

  I feel like people don't mail out save the dates. I feel like people just are like, or maybe they do. I don't know.

• 3:20George Kamel?

  It feels like one of these old-timey things that you hearken back to. We should send physical save the dates.

• 3:27Rachel Cruze?

  We had very, I like loved like really formal wedding invitations. So I probably could have like chilled out on that.

• 3:34George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 3:34Rachel Cruze?

  Like I had like the tissue thing. Like I was like, I want it like, I wanted my wedding formal. There was something about it. Even my dress where I was like, I don't want this just to be a party. Like this is, like I was like, if I'm walking down the street in my dress, I want people like, that's a bride. Not like, oh, she could be going to the prom. Like, I want it to look like a wedding dress.

• 3:51George Kamel?

  Too trendy and modern.

• 3:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. I wanted it to look like a wedding dress. I wanted it a center aisle. I wanted it in a church. Like I was like, I want very like traditional things with my wedding.

• 3:58George Kamel?

  I love it.

• 3:59Rachel Cruze?

  So because of that, I don't know. I made my bridesmaids wear champagne color in December. So that was real sad.

• 4:05George Kamel?

  Is that a no-no?

• 4:06Rachel Cruze?

  No, they all probably. Sprite tans weren't even like a thing then, you know?

• 4:10George Kamel?

  Oh, so you're saying everyone's pale?

• 4:12Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, a terrible color to pick into.

• 4:14George Kamel?

  I only have tan friends.

• 4:15Rachel Cruze?

  I'm really, really sorry, Sprite's made.

• 4:18George Kamel?

  We had a frugal fail, though, and you were at this reception.

• 4:21Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 4:22George Kamel?

  Instead of doing an open bar, because it was going to be astronomically expensive at like a Marriott to do an open bar, we decided to prepay for a certain number of, you know, bottles of wine, certain number of beers. We thought this will be enough. That's like two drinks per person. We did the math.

• 4:35Rachel Cruze?

  And now we party, George.

• 4:36George Kamel?

  And within 30 minutes, they said they ran out of alcohol. And I was like, are they gyp us? Or did they skimp on us? Because there's no way that two drinks per person, everything's gone in 30 minutes. I just didn't believe that.

• 4:47Rachel Cruze?

  Sure. So what was the truth?

• 4:49George Kamel?

  I don't know, to this day.

• 4:51Rachel Cruze?

  So did you get upcharged then?

• 4:52George Kamel?

  They didn't upcharge. I think it turned into cash bar after that.

• 4:56Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, okay.

• 4:56George Kamel?

  So we were okay with that. Okay, beyond two drinks per person, it's on you.

• 4:59Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's fair.

• 5:00George Kamel?

  We were okay with that, but apparently, that didn't happen.

• 5:03Rachel Cruze?

  Party hearty, man. Oh, gosh. Yeah, well, I think what's hard is, like, in the moment, like, the weddings, especially the mishaps, the things that end up like, oh crap, that didn't go the way we wanted it, feels like a massive deal, right? Because this is like the day, especially for girls.

• 5:18George Kamel?

  You dream about it, your whole childhood.

• 5:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I mean, it's a big, big deal. But then, you know, you look back sometimes and the mistakes and the, and the flops are kind of what makes the memories, you know?

• 5:28George Kamel?

  And it doesn't make the marriage.

• 5:29Rachel Cruze?

  No, it does not. Wow, well said.

• 5:31George Kamel?

  Maybe the, the worse the wedding goes, the better your marriage is going to be. I'd like to see a study on that.

• 5:36Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that's good. You know what I always think about, too? Rings. Like, the bigger the diamond.

• 5:41George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 5:42Rachel Cruze?

  The shakier the marriage. Isn't that terrible to think?

• 5:46George Kamel?

  I guess I'm doing really good, then. Sorry, Whitney. So whether you're wedding planning, maybe you're looking for money-saving hacks, maybe you're 20 years into a marriage and you just want to be entertained, maybe your kids are going to get married one day, today's episode is going to deliver.

• 6:00Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and so we're going to talk about, um, these wedding fails slash trying to be very budget-conscious, maybe a little cheap in some cases.

• 6:10George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 6:10Rachel Cruze?

  So we're going to say, is that tactful or tacky?

• 6:13George Kamel?

  And play along in the comments and stick around later. We're going to share our own list of non-negotiables when it comes to planning a budget-friendly but memorable wedding.

• 6:21Rachel Cruze?

  All right, you ready?

• 6:22George Kamel?

  Let's do this. What's the first frugal wedding fail?

• 6:24Rachel Cruze?

  And did we get these from the internet?

• 6:26George Kamel?

  These are from the internet, if I'm not mistaken. That's where everything, all the good things come from.

• 6:31Rachel Cruze?

  All happens. All right, first up, we have spray painted grass. So this person went to a wedding at an old rustic estate that used to be fancy. When they got home, their feet and shoes were bright green.

• 6:45George Kamel?

  Oh, no.

• 6:46Rachel Cruze?

  Because they had spray painted the grass to make it look better for pictures.

• 6:51George Kamel?

  At least the pictures turned out nice. Is that tactful or tacky?

• 6:57Rachel Cruze?

  I don't think it's tacky.

• 6:58George Kamel?

  I think it's tactful, they just didn't think through

• 7:01Rachel Cruze?

  Through it all.

• 7:01George Kamel?

  what would happen on the other side. But I think it's a good idea, because it's cheap

• 7:05Rachel Cruze?

  What if it rained?

• 7:05George Kamel?

  to get some grass spray paint, you can just make it look nice and lush and green.

• 7:08Rachel Cruze?

  I'm going tactful, why not?

• 7:10George Kamel?

  Or just make your

• 7:11Rachel Cruze?

  Very creative.

• 7:12George Kamel?

  Make your wedding video or photos black and white, no one can tell what color the grass was.

• 7:16Rachel Cruze?

  That's smart, too.

• 7:17George Kamel?

  Life hack.

• 7:18Rachel Cruze?

  There you go, just on black and white photos.

• 7:20George Kamel?

  Okay, next one, mashed potato exit, already love this.

• 7:24Rachel Cruze?

  Wow.

• 7:24George Kamel?

  Leftover rice on the ground is bad for birds and sparklers can get pricey. So a friend of mine had guests toss potato flakes for the send off, thinking it would look like white confetti.

• 7:34Rachel Cruze?

  No, no.

• 7:35George Kamel?

  It had rained all day, so the water mixed with the flakes and mashed potato clumps were everywhere, on the ground, in bridesmaids' hair, etc. Boy, oh, boy, do I want to know what is in the etc. part.

• 7:47Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, that's funny.

• 7:49George Kamel?

  Potato flakes?

• 7:50Rachel Cruze?

  That is funny. I am gonna go tacky, it feels weird throwing food. I guess rice is considered, but people don't do rice anymore.

• 7:58George Kamel?

  Is that a thing? I don't know, is it a cultural thing?

• 8:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I don't think people do rice anymore, I think that would like, people would do rice, but I think it is sparklers. We had stuff thrown, what was that, what did we have thrown?

• 8:09George Kamel?

  I think we did

• 8:09Rachel Cruze?

  Because I did, I wanted tradition, I wanted to like run through a thing falling.

• 8:13George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 8:13Rachel Cruze?

  I love that.

• 8:14George Kamel?

  We did glow sticks.

• 8:15Rachel Cruze?

  Cute.

• 8:16George Kamel?

  So that was fun.

• 8:17Rachel Cruze?

  Cute, I like that, what did we do? Ours may have just been confetti or something.

• 8:21George Kamel?

  That makes sense.

• 8:22Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know, but I, yeah.

• 8:23George Kamel?

  What year were you guys married?

• 8:25Rachel Cruze?

  09.

• 8:25George Kamel?

  Okay, we were 2018, so the times had changed.

• 8:28Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 8:29George Kamel?

  We moved on to glow sticks, apparently.

• 8:30Rachel Cruze?

  I did too.

• 8:31George Kamel?

  From confetti.

• 8:32Rachel Cruze?

  From confetti to glow sticks.

• 8:34George Kamel?

  So that one, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go tacky on that one.

• 8:36Rachel Cruze?

  I will too, the food thing just throws me, but creative still.

• 8:40George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 8:41Rachel Cruze?

  All right, next, no floral waste, I've been to a few weddings where the bridesmaids' bouquets were reused for centerpieces. We just dropped our flowers in the empty vases on the table when people arrived, and we still had the option to keep them afterwards, I thought it was resourceful. And one last thing to keep up with all night, tactful or tacky?

• 8:57George Kamel?

  Love it, I'm going tactful on this one.

• 8:59Rachel Cruze?

  I am too, we did this.

• 9:01George Kamel?

  Good.

• 9:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 9:01George Kamel?

  Because the bridesmaids don't want to carry around this bouquet.

• 9:03Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, no, we like literally use their, we do the exact same thing.

• 9:06George Kamel?

  Pop it in the vase?

• 9:06Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, we did the same thing.

• 9:07George Kamel?

  Centerpiece, done.

• 9:08Rachel Cruze?

  I think it's great.

• 9:09George Kamel?

  Reduce, reuse, recycle.

• 9:10Rachel Cruze?

  I know, man, gosh. Yeah, that was one thing, and I feel like my bouquet, I even put, we put on like the, like our like parties table too, like I think we even used my bouquet too for the center, so I didn't carry it around.

• 9:26Rachel Cruze?

  But yeah, I don't know, I thought it was resourceful and great.

• 9:28George Kamel?

  We should normalize not carrying stuff around. Nobody wants to carry anything around.

• 9:33Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 9:34George Kamel?

  Get rid of the flowers.

• 9:35Rachel Cruze?

  Except for a throw blanket that's so comfortable from Cozy Earth.

• 9:39George Kamel?

  I don't know who's carrying that around.

• 9:41Rachel Cruze?

  All day around my house I am, like a cape.

• 9:43George Kamel?

  Just wearing it?

• 9:44Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 9:44George Kamel?

  Like a superhero?

• 9:45Rachel Cruze?

  The soft fuzzy one, it's like, and it's the lighter, it's not the huge one, it's kind of like the medium size.

• 9:51George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 9:52Rachel Cruze?

  I put that sucker on and I wear that around.

• 9:54George Kamel?

  That is tactful.

• 9:55Rachel Cruze?

  Tactful, the Cozy Earth blankets, y'all, are unbelievable, unbelievable. So soft, my kids are like fighting over it, and I'm like, this is mom's blanket.

• 10:04George Kamel?

  This is mommy's.

• 10:04Rachel Cruze?

  You know, as a mom, you gotta be selfish sometimes, like for yourself, take care of yourself first, so then like your goodness overflows, right? So like, and that's my blanket, don't touch my blanket, kids. Don't touch my blanket.

• 10:15George Kamel?

  And they get grimy.

• 10:15Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 10:16George Kamel?

  Little kid hands, I don't know what they've been touching.

• 10:17Rachel Cruze?

  Hundred percent, George. Yeah, that, now the pajamas, the sheets, like they're, I'm holding them all day, they're in our bed, and the more they come in in the morning, snuggle up, they loves the Cozy Earth sheets, like I'm good, you can be all there. Don't be my blanket, though.

• 10:31George Kamel?

  Don't, don't be like that, and my favorite, this just arrived today, new PJs for my wife.

• 10:36Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, and if they're white, if you're a bride, we're talking about weddings.

• 10:39George Kamel?

  Oh, there we go.

• 10:40Rachel Cruze?

  That would be a really great, like, for your honeymoon.

• 10:42George Kamel?

  I didn't think about that.

• 10:43Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, so smart.

• 10:44George Kamel?

  Okay, this is a genius wedding gift that she will love, and she's not expecting. Go check it out, you get up to 40% off when you use the promo code SMARTMONEY on everything on the site. So go check it out, cozylearth.com/smartmoney, use promo code SMARTMONEY at checkout. Good stuff, we'll drop a link in the description as well.

• 11:01Rachel Cruze?

  Make sure to check it out, amazing stuff.

• 11:03George Kamel?

  All right, next up, on our frugal wedding fails list, return window wedding decor. Let's see what this one is. I'm planning to order my reception decor from Amazon, so I can repackage and return it within 90 days after the wedding. May have to sacrifice a few stained tablecloths here and there, but I bet I'll get most of my money back on the stuff that still looks as good as new.

• 11:24Rachel Cruze?

  That feels wrong to me.

• 11:26George Kamel?

  Oh, this is basically a free rental at that point.

• 11:30Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 11:30George Kamel?

  And as much as I want to say tax full, even I have to go tacky on this one.

• 11:34Rachel Cruze?

  Wow, if George Campbell goes tacky on a money saving idea, we know.

• 11:37George Kamel?

  If we didn't end up using it and we got it and didn't use it, I'll return it.

• 11:40Rachel Cruze?

  It's the same feeling I have with people that wear clothes and leave the tag on. And then go and return it.

• 11:46George Kamel?

  Oh, like for one party, like I'm gonna get this dress, leave the tag.

• 11:49Rachel Cruze?

  I've never liked that tip. People like give that as a tip.

• 11:51George Kamel?

  Well, think about if you're the person now buying that dress that someone else wore and the store doesn't know.

• 11:56Rachel Cruze?

  I know. Yeah, it just feels like, it just feels wrong.

• 11:59George Kamel?

  You have to do a smell test.

• 12:00Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man, that's so unfortunate.

• 12:02George Kamel?

  Yeah, I don't love that one.

• 12:03Rachel Cruze?

  I'm gonna go tacky. Alright, BYO dessert. I once received a wedding invitation on very fancy stationery. Appreciate that. Encouraging guests to contribute to the BYO dessert spread. Um, is this a church potluck? Shoot, yeah, that's the thing. When you're invited places, a wedding, can I say that? Probably over any other event or situation.

• 12:32Rachel Cruze?

  You are inviting people as a guest to celebrate you. They do not need to contribute to the situation.

• 12:37George Kamel?

  Bring a gift, nothing else.

• 12:39Rachel Cruze?

  Friends coming over for dinner.

• 12:42Rachel Cruze?

  I was gonna say even birthday party, but that even feels a little odd. Like, yeah, I don't know, a wedding, having people help.

• 12:48George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 12:49Rachel Cruze?

  Contribute to the wedding. It does not feel like they're a guest at that point.

• 12:52George Kamel?

  And I don't trust desserts. Like, if you bring a congealed salad to my wedding, it's over. You've ruined the entire party.

• 12:59Rachel Cruze?

  What's a congealed? What is it?

• 13:01George Kamel?

  Where they put like the green Jell-O and stuff with cottage cheese.

• 13:05Rachel Cruze?

  Gross, who makes that?

• 13:08George Kamel?

  Southern women. It's a delicacy in the South, apparently.

• 13:11Rachel Cruze?

  Stop.

• 13:12George Kamel?

  The word congealed is enough, like bad branding. They need new PR. If you're gonna put cottage cheese in a dessert.

• 13:17Rachel Cruze?

  Gross.

• 13:18George Kamel?

  With Jell-O, it's disgusting.

• 13:19Rachel Cruze?

  Hey, it's good protein. Um, no, but I agree with you.

• 13:22George Kamel?

  What would you bring to a wedding? Let's say you're coming to my wedding and I said, Rachel, you have to bring a dessert. What are you bringing?

• 13:27Rachel Cruze?

  I'm going to, uh...

• 13:30Rachel Cruze?

  Aldi and picking up some pre-made cookies.

• 13:32George Kamel?

  Smart.

• 13:33Rachel Cruze?

  Bringing them to, bringing them to the, I'm not making anything.

• 13:37George Kamel?

  Would you act like you made it? Would you put it on a nice platter?

• 13:40Rachel Cruze?

  Let me say this, if I was invited to your wedding and it was just like your family and Whitney's family and like three best friends, I would make you a cake.

• 13:50George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 13:50Rachel Cruze?

  From a box, but I would make a cake.

• 13:52George Kamel?

  That's so kind.

• 13:53Rachel Cruze?

  But if it's like a massive wedding, I ain't baking for that.

• 13:56George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 13:57Rachel Cruze?

  No one knows what it is either, right? It's not saying my name on it.

• 13:59George Kamel?

  I have to bring like-

• 14:00Rachel Cruze?

  So the performer in me doesn't need to perform because I won't get credit.

• 14:03George Kamel?

  Yeah, you need signage. I gotta know what's in that thing, when it was made. Just skip dessert if that's gonna be you. All right, next up on the frugal wedding fail, wedding fund arrow down payment. Here we go. When I got engaged, my parents told me they had $40,000 saved in a wedding fund for me to put toward this season. They said I could use it on anything, wedding, honeymoon, housing, et cetera. We used $20,000 for the wedding, plus cash flowed a few expenses ourselves, and put $20,000 toward a down payment on a house.

• 14:32Rachel Cruze?

  So smart.

• 14:33George Kamel?

  Tactful.

• 14:35Rachel Cruze?

  Very tactful.

• 14:36George Kamel?

  Would you do that as a parent? I'm thinking through that now. I have a daughter. I'm like, one day I'm gonna pay for a wedding.

• 14:41Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 14:41George Kamel?

  Do I wanna say, here's a pile of money?

• 14:43Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 14:43George Kamel?

  Use as much of it to the wedding as you want, use as much of it towards something else if you want.

• 14:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 14:47George Kamel?

  Is that a-

• 14:47Rachel Cruze?

  I think that's great. Mom and dad did that for us.

• 14:49George Kamel?

  Oh, nice.

• 14:50Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 14:51George Kamel?

  And then you got to choose.

• 14:51Rachel Cruze?

  I didn't save any of it.

• 14:53George Kamel?

  All to the wedding.

• 14:54Rachel Cruze?

  The wedding.

• 14:54George Kamel?

  Used every penny and more.

• 14:57Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. And I remember Winston being like, babe, you know, it would be nice, like, you know, have some money set aside for like life, you know, furniture, like just the simple things in life.

• 15:08George Kamel?

  And you said, no.

• 15:10Rachel Cruze?

  I wasn't like, no, but I was like, yeah, we can see what happens at the end of this.

• 15:15George Kamel?

  I don't know. Part of me goes like, do I wanna just say this is for the wedding? Because otherwise, if it's me, I'd go, how do we have the cheapest wedding possible so we can have the most money for a bigger financial goal?

• 15:24Rachel Cruze?

  What is gonna be a longer term happiness, joy, et cetera? And I think it-

• 15:29George Kamel?

  It's putting it toward the further financial goals.

• 15:31Rachel Cruze?

  I think it is too.

• 15:34Rachel Cruze?

  I wonder if Mom and Dad cringed when I chose to spend it all.

• 15:38George Kamel?

  I think they assumed that would happen with you in particular. You're known as the spender in the Ramsey family.

• 15:43Rachel Cruze?

  I actually think Daniel may have saved some. I'm not kidding.

• 15:45George Kamel?

  Which makes a lot more sense. He's the kind of guy who's going, "We're spending how much on that? No, let's skip that."

• 15:50Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 15:51George Kamel?

  He's very reasonable.

• 15:52Rachel Cruze?

  But I think that I like that, um, I like that approach if you're able to do that. I don't know. I think that's kind of cool.

• 15:59George Kamel?

  Say, "Here's a pile of money. Use it however you wish." But I would say the caveat is you cannot go into debt.

• 16:05Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, so you got a little strings attached, Georgie.

• 16:08George Kamel?

  Yeah, I would have some strings. We're gonna do this wedding debt-free. You can use this money how you wish, but you gotta cover it.

• 16:14Rachel Cruze?

  Even if, even if, um, Mia is 28 years old.

• 16:19George Kamel?

  Even if.

• 16:21Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, so you got...

• 16:21George Kamel?

  No debt for little Mia.

• 16:22Rachel Cruze?

  All right, you're a little strings attached gifter.

• 16:24George Kamel?

  I'll make sure of that. I'm gonna freeze her credit. She couldn't if she wanted to. But she's gonna be smart enough that she's gonna avoid that.

• 16:32Rachel Cruze?

  She'll avoid. She'll, she'll learn from her dad mistakes.

• 16:34George Kamel?

  And knowing me, I'll probably throw in a pony and just say, "Get the wedding in your dreams. You're my little princess."

• 16:38Rachel Cruze?

  Sweet little thing.

• 16:39George Kamel?

  Although we had a camel at our wedding, so to have a pony is actually not that far-fetched.

• 16:42Rachel Cruze?

  Not that crazy. Not that crazy.

• 16:44George Kamel?

  I love it.

• 16:44Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, and what is wild, that is so different from when I got married, is so much of the planning you do is online.

• 16:50George Kamel?

  Yes. Everything's online.

• 16:51Rachel Cruze?

  And everything's online. And so when you put your information online for wedding planning or anything else...

• 16:56George Kamel?

  Invitations, checking out on any website.

• 16:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, that data brokers can come in, get your information, and sell it to other companies. And you get scams and spams and all the things. And that's why Delete Me is one of the best services, because they go in and do that. They delete you from the internet. And that is what we want.

• 17:14George Kamel?

  It's the best. And they search thousands and thousands of these data broker sites. They've removed me from already over 250 of these sites. They've saved me over 86 hours of time it would have taken me to find it. Fill out all the forms, check up on it, make sure it got removed and they've saved me a lot of time and they've given me a lot of peace.

• 17:31Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 17:32George Kamel?

  If you want to get away from the tacky data brokers, go for the tactful service provided by Delete Me. We'll drop a link in the description or go to joindelete.me/smartmoney and you'll get 20% off any of their annual plans.

• 17:45Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, you're at 66. I'm at 66 hours that they've saved me.

• 17:48George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 17:48Rachel Cruze?

  I know. I'm up there, I'm up there, but it is wild to see the information they remove. It's like my kids' names and stuff.

• 17:54George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 17:55Rachel Cruze?

  It's wild, it's wild what's out there.

• 17:57George Kamel?

  And I added my parents to it. I got them on Delete Me now.

• 17:59Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, good.

• 17:59George Kamel?

  So if you're worried about the boomers in your life, get them the gift that keeps on giving.

• 18:04Rachel Cruze?

  So good.

• 18:04George Kamel?

  So that you don't have to do tech support one day when they go, "I got scammed."

• 18:07Rachel Cruze?

  "I got scammed, unbelievable, Georgie, help me."

• 18:10George Kamel?

  I love where that accent took me. What a journey that accent was.

• 18:14Rachel Cruze?

  All right, next, asking reception guests to fund honeymoon.

• 18:18George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 18:19Rachel Cruze?

  I went to a wedding at a very fancy music hall and museum downtown. The groom's father, a wealthy business owner, said it was a tradition in their family to ask everyone at the reception to fill a beach hat with honeymoon cash. They passed it around and asked us all to contribute. Tactful or tacky?

• 18:37George Kamel?

  It depends, was this the gift or was this on top of the gift they brought? It was then like a love offering?

• 18:42Rachel Cruze?

  I'm gonna say on top of the gift. Okay, can I, okay, I'm so fickle on this. Like that, when I first read it, I thought, mm. And then as it was going down, I was like, aww. It's like a tradi, it's a tradition. Because I do think especially different cultures and stuff, people do that. They give cash and like, it's like a thing. So for me, I would caveat it. If it's like a tradition, like a thing that you just do and it's fun and it's not serious, like, you know what I mean? Like, it's out of just like the fun spirited of it all, this doesn't bother me. Can I say this? And I hope I don't step on anyone's toes in here that's gotten married recently. I don't know, I was gonna say it. But like a QR code for a GoFundMe or something feels different.

• 19:25George Kamel?

  Hmm.

• 19:25Rachel Cruze?

  I don't like that. Like, that feels tacky to me.

• 19:27George Kamel?

  But cash is fine.

• 19:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, with like, uh, we're gonna do a song and like, we've done it for five generations.

• 19:33George Kamel?

  Oh, now there's songs involved?

• 19:34Rachel Cruze?

  Music and like, do you know what I'm saying? Like, there's like a fun spirit about it versus like, you need to go fund my honeymoon for me.

• 19:42George Kamel?

  Okay. Now we know. Rachel loves a physical love offering. Pass around the bucket.

• 19:47Rachel Cruze?

  Do you feel that at all? Or are you good with it all?

• 19:49George Kamel?

  I do think there's a level of QR code that feels a little less personal.

• 19:53Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 19:53George Kamel?

  You know, no one's like, it's been a tradition for 50 years that we pass around the QR code. Versus, there's a beach hat, it's a fun thing.

• 20:00Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 20:00George Kamel?

  I think the honeymoon's gonna happen with or without this beach hat getting funded.

• 20:04Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, that's a good way of putting it.

• 20:06George Kamel?

  So it's more of just like a, hey, have fun on the honeymoon, little send off.

• 20:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 20:09George Kamel?

  But I can tell this person is a little bit miffed that this is clearly a wealthy family. Asking for more money.

• 20:15Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 20:16George Kamel?

  She keeps saying, very fancy, wealthy business owner. And so I don't know why I'm assuming it's a she. But this feels like something a woman would have umbrage with.

• 20:25Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh.

• 20:25George Kamel?

  Would take umbrage.

• 20:26Rachel Cruze?

  What do you think? Tacky or tactful?

• 20:27George Kamel?

  Ah, if it, if they already brought a gift, I would, I'm gonna say this is tacky.

• 20:32Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 20:35George Kamel?

  Plus, I don't carry cash, so I would feel uncomfortable being like, ah, sorry, man. Like, don't have any on me.

• 20:40Rachel Cruze?

  Don't have it, yeah.

• 20:41George Kamel?

  And then it feels weird to like, do the Venmo. You've seen the cars that drive around like Nashville? And there's a Venmo code?

• 20:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, what's that for?

• 20:48George Kamel?

  And it's like, give to the bride. It's the bachelorette party.

• 20:51Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yes.

• 20:52George Kamel?

  And it's like, buy the bride a drink, woo!

• 20:54Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's kinda fun.

• 20:56George Kamel?

  Have you ever done it?

• 20:57Rachel Cruze?

  Um, no, but I have Venmoed people in life for things.

• 21:03George Kamel?

  Okay, that's very specific. I appreciate that.

• 21:06Rachel Cruze?

  No, I don't wanna, I don't wanna be like bragging, but I've run into situations at airports, or even in the lobby here at Ramsey's. Like, people are here for special occasions and I, if the spirit leads, I will randomly.

• 21:16George Kamel?

  How do you find out their Venmo?

• 21:17Rachel Cruze?

  I go and ask them. I'm like, do you have a Venmo? They're like, yeah. I'm like, alright. A dinner's on.

• 21:21George Kamel?

  That's so fun.

• 21:23Rachel Cruze?

  Ken, oh yeah, Ken and I just did that last week. There was a girl in for her birthday with her husband in Nashville.

• 21:27George Kamel?

  That is so thoughtful. And it's from your personal Venmo.

• 21:29Rachel Cruze?

  That kinda stuff that you're like, I'll give you a little. That's fun.

• 21:32George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 21:33Rachel Cruze?

  I think that's fun.

• 21:33George Kamel?

  And you're okay giving out your Venmo handle? Cause then people can request money from you.

• 21:38Rachel Cruze?

  Well.

• 21:39George Kamel?

  That's what I would be doing if I knew your Venmo handle.

• 21:42Rachel Cruze?

  Well, not you, it's not like they can go into my bank account.

• 21:44George Kamel?

  No, but they can just request a million dollars from you. You can decline it, but you might accidentally fat finger it and say, yes. That's my strategy, is I just randomly find people on Venmo and request money.

• 21:54Rachel Cruze?

  Stop, George. Have you ever Venmoed someone for something, like a drink or a...

• 21:58George Kamel?

  Yeah, I have.

• 21:59Rachel Cruze?

  Or food, or like, or like, um, like fun, like not...

• 22:02George Kamel?

  If it's like, um, someone's birthday and I can't make it, I'll Venmo them for their drink, like, hey...

• 22:06Rachel Cruze?

  That's fun.

• 22:06George Kamel?

  Yeah. I did accidentally Venmo the wrong person for something off Facebook Marketplace once. And I had to beg them for the money back.

• 22:14Rachel Cruze?

  Was it like hundreds of dollars?

• 22:15George Kamel?

  It was probably a hundred fifty bucks or something.

• 22:16Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, no.

• 22:17George Kamel?

  And I Venmoed to the wrong, you know, you're typing fast, the person's at your front door, getting it. And so I Venmoed real quick and it was to the wrong person and I had to message them and say, "I'm so sorry. I know you have, you could keep the money if you wanted to, but please, "give me this money back."

• 22:30Rachel Cruze?

  And they did.

• 22:31George Kamel?

  And they did. It restored my faith in humanity.

• 22:34Rachel Cruze?

  And it's great.

• 22:36George Kamel?

  Next up, tactful or tacky, family photographer. To save on photography, "My friend's mother, a retired photographer, took the pictures. "She walked down the aisle in her fancy mother of the groom gown and corsage, "and then scooted out on the front row and started crouching in the aisle with a cannon. "It was distracting and honestly, at her age, I felt bad for her joints." Oh, no.

• 22:58Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that's kind of tacky. You kind of just, oh, no, you do feel bad for her.

• 23:02George Kamel?

  Now, did they pay her anything, or did she volunteer?

• 23:04Rachel Cruze?

  I don't care. I don't care. I don't care.

• 23:07George Kamel?

  Was it an elderly woman?

• 23:08Rachel Cruze?

  The mother of...

• 23:11George Kamel?

  Retired. Let's say she's in, like, she's in her sixties or beyond. If she's a retired photographer.

• 23:15Rachel Cruze?

  You can't enjoy the moment of a wedding that is your son or daughter.

• 23:19George Kamel?

  Yeah, it says "my friend's mother," so that's all we know. But I think it is distracting.

• 23:24Rachel Cruze?

  But she's in, like, her, like, gown.

• 23:26George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 23:27Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, no, that's tacky.

• 23:28George Kamel?

  And you've seen a photographer with a wedding, they'll do anything to get the shot. So they're crawling on the ground, they're leaning over, so to see, like, an older woman do that, I would feel bad.

• 23:36Rachel Cruze?

  In a gown.

• 23:37George Kamel?

  In a gown, especially if you know, like, we didn't pay her very much or at all to do this.

• 23:41Rachel Cruze?

  It's her mother, though. Like, you know what I mean? It's the, it's, this is the groom or bride's mother doing it.

• 23:46George Kamel?

  Well, it said my friend's mother.

• 23:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, exactly. This person went to their friend's wedding. It'd be like me going to your wedding, like, I went to a friend's wedding and say, your mom ended up being the photographer of your wedding.

• 23:55George Kamel?

  Got it. Yeah, because it says mother of the groom gown.

• 23:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. What if your mom?

• 24:00George Kamel?

  No.

• 24:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I know.

• 24:03George Kamel?

  I wouldn't let her do it.

• 24:04Rachel Cruze?

  I know. I'm gonna say tacky.

• 24:05George Kamel?

  First of all, you want them to enjoy the wedding. Second of all, I'm not making my mom do jack squat on my wedding day.

• 24:10Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I know. Yep. All right. Next, Trader Joe's flowers. So there was a wedding where Costco never delivered the flowers on the wedding day.

• 24:19George Kamel?

  Oh, no.

• 24:20Rachel Cruze?

  So all the bridesmaids drove around to every Trader Joe's in Nashville and bought all the white flowers, making the table arrangements, the bouquets, all of that. Costco gave a refund and the floral budget ended up costing just over a couple of hundred bucks.

• 24:34George Kamel?

  This is tactful, 100%.

• 24:35Rachel Cruze?

  Tactful, 100%.

• 24:36George Kamel?

  It can't be tacky.

• 24:37Rachel Cruze?

  Trader Joe's has great flowers. Amen. Hallelujah. That's awesome.

• 24:40George Kamel?

  And they are very inexpensive comparatively, too. You know, and I get it. Support your local florist. Don't come at me, florist. You know they're gonna come at us, Rachel.

• 24:48Rachel Cruze?

  They're gonna get mad.

• 24:48George Kamel?

  We provide a service. Okay, we get it. You're great at what you do. No shade to florists, but this is a good way-

• 24:55Rachel Cruze?

  Trader Joe's has some cheap flowers.

• 24:56George Kamel?

  -in a bind to make it happen.

• 24:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 24:58George Kamel?

  All right, next up on the frugal wedding fails, wedding attendance fee. I already don't like where this one's going. I heard about a family friend who charged an attendance fee at their wedding, 150 bucks per person and $50 for kids under 10.

• 25:11Rachel Cruze?

  Stop it.

• 25:12George Kamel?

  Tactful or tacky? I don't know how you could say tactful.

• 25:15Rachel Cruze?

  You charge people to come to your wedding?

• 25:18George Kamel?

  That's crazy.

• 25:19Rachel Cruze?

  That's crazy. That's crazy. We gotta draw the line somewhere.

• 25:22George Kamel?

  Can I tell you the part that I do? I get why people do it. I would never do it. I think it's tacky.

• 25:26Rachel Cruze?

  What?

• 25:26George Kamel?

  But if people don't show up after they RSVP yes, I've heard of people sending a bill.

• 25:31Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that's tacky.

• 25:33George Kamel?

  Which is so tacky, but also I love the pettiness of it.

• 25:37Rachel Cruze?

  You would love it.

• 25:37George Kamel?

  Because this happened at our wedding. I know, because I marked down who didn't show up.

• 25:41Rachel Cruze?

  George, George.

• 25:43George Kamel?

  Listen, you know how, like, you're getting charged per plate, per seat. Yeah, agreed. We wouldn't have been friends right now. This podcast would not exist.

• 25:52Rachel Cruze?

  This would not have existed.

• 25:53George Kamel?

  Like, let them know if you can't make it. I think it's super rude to RSVP yes to a wedding where you know it's costing them 100 plus per person.

• 26:02Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man.

• 26:03George Kamel?

  So it hurts my soul. I just have a list in my phone and I'm not over it. But I did not send them a bill. If it makes you feel better. But doing the math-

• 26:12Rachel Cruze?

  I think I've done this, y'all.

• 26:14George Kamel?

  You've ditched on weddings you said yes to?

• 26:16Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 26:17George Kamel?

  Wow. Were they close friends, or like, eh?

• 26:19Rachel Cruze?

  No, not necessarily.

• 26:21George Kamel?

  You get invited to like, random people's weddings. Like, fans of this show have invited you to their wedding.

• 26:26Rachel Cruze?

  Well, yeah, but I don't RSVP yes to those.

• 26:28George Kamel?

  Have you thought about it, though?

• 26:29Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 26:29George Kamel?

  Do you ever send like, a gift?

• 26:32Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, oh, oh, I see what you're saying. Um...

• 26:34George Kamel?

  I've done that. I've sent them like, Financial Peace University on... Don't start DMing me with that. I will not. Now I know.

• 26:40Rachel Cruze?

  George!

• 26:41George Kamel?

  If it happens in the future, I'm not falling for it.

• 26:43Rachel Cruze?

  Tacky. Unbelievable.

• 26:45George Kamel?

  But I think they invite us because they're like, maybe they'll send us something.

• 26:48Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, yeah.

• 26:49George Kamel?

  Have you heard about this? People, now, we're not celebrities by any stretch.

• 26:52Rachel Cruze?

  But they do like invite celeb-, yeah.

• 26:53George Kamel?

  People invite celebrities. They find their address, the PR person, and they'll send wedding invites. And they end up getting some nice gifts out of it.

• 26:59Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, you know, not bad. I like the effort. I like the effort.

• 27:02George Kamel?

  I respect the hustle on that one.

• 27:04Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh, y'all, that is-

• 27:06George Kamel?

  I'm like, sweating thinking about all this.

• 27:08Rachel Cruze?

  That is so funny. Oh, man.

• 27:10George Kamel?

  Let's talk about non-negotiables.

• 27:13Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm.

• 27:13George Kamel?

  So what are things that you were like, if you're going to plan a wedding, you gotta have these things? And if you were gonna skip some things, I would skip these.

• 27:21Rachel Cruze?

  Um, I would go, I would want a great photographer. I would, but not the most expensive, because there's some great ones, photographers, that are like, up and coming. You know what I mean?

• 27:33George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 27:33Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know. Um, okay, I want good music at the reception. A live band would be like, ideal.

• 27:38George Kamel?

  Oh, you want a live band?

• 27:39Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, I'd love it, yes. So fun. So fun. A DJ would be next for me.

• 27:44George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 27:45Rachel Cruze?

  Um, but I think, yeah, good, good music, dancing, I want the party aspect, if you will. Um, I would have a day of coordinator. I think that's always really helpful. To have someone that's like, doing, helping you on it. I think it's worth the money. Yeah, how about you?

• 28:00George Kamel?

  Uh, definitely a good photographer. I would say, as much as I love video, and we did have a videographer, it was a friend of ours, so it wasn't super expensive. But video is one that I find myself not going back to watch the wedding tape.

• 28:12Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 28:13George Kamel?

  And I don't know that your grandkids want it. Like, they'll see the photos, that's enough. If you wanted to save on something, again, no shade to videographers, you're doing great work. Uh, the other one would be a DJ. I could skip the live band, only because when I, when live bands are there, I feel like it's always so loud.

• 28:30Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, okay.

• 28:31George Kamel?

  That it's, I like, I wanna escape. Like, I wanna go to the lobby or something and it's just sensory overload.

• 28:36Rachel Cruze?

  Too much, okay.

• 28:37George Kamel?

  But I think a good DJ or the minimum, a really good playlist will hit.

• 28:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 28:42George Kamel?

  And then good food. It doesn't have to be a sit-down dinner. I'm good with like a really good buffet.

• 28:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 28:48George Kamel?

  It could be tacos, I don't care.

• 28:49Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, but just have some great food.

• 28:50George Kamel?

  Some sustenance and drinks are a plus.

• 28:53Rachel Cruze?

  Drinks are a plus.

• 28:53George Kamel?

  I've been to some dry weddings. They are less exciting. You're not gonna get as many people on the dance floor. The party will end about two hours earlier than you want it to. Just know that.

• 29:01Rachel Cruze?

  That's probably true.

• 29:01George Kamel?

  Ahead of time. And then I would say a planner, for sure. Like, day coordinator, minimum, but a planner will save your life.

• 29:09Rachel Cruze?

  You can't care about what people think in life, but I do think there is a... Is quorum the right word? There is a...

• 29:15George Kamel?

  Decorum.

• 29:16Rachel Cruze?

  Decorum of humanity, of manners and, you know, etiquette, like, to be a human.

• 29:24George Kamel?

  Keep it classy.

• 29:24Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, do you know what I'm saying? Like, there's like, I don't know, a level there, but I guess still do, you do you.

• 29:29George Kamel?

  You do you.

• 29:30Rachel Cruze?

  And people will think...

• 29:31George Kamel?

  Regardless of how it affects your personal brand.

• 29:32Rachel Cruze?

  That's right, but it will, it can affect it. But also, honestly, if you are planning a wedding, like, do it on a budget, because this is one event that gets so out of control so quickly. The expenses are insane. So if you need every dollar, do the, use an every dollar budget for your wedding planning.

• 29:49George Kamel?

  Yeah, create like an extra free account that's just for the wedding.

• 29:51Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, so smart.

• 29:52George Kamel?

  I had a Google Sheet that was very complicated. But I had to keep track of everything. I needed the link to where I bought it from, what the estimated versus what the actual. So I nerded out too hard, but it did keep us under budget.

• 30:04Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, so great. And remember, you know, the wedding's one day. Your marriage is a lifetime. So take some of that money, if you get some, and pay for therapy.

• 30:15George Kamel?

  That's a great idea.

• 30:16Rachel Cruze?

  Maybe that's even better than a down payment.

• 30:18George Kamel?

  Can you imagine if you said, hey, therapy for a couple, let's call it 250 bucks?

• 30:22Rachel Cruze?

  Like a year in.

• 30:23George Kamel?

  Get a year's worth of therapy.

• 30:24Rachel Cruze?

  Pre-marital sometimes is like, eh, get a year in.

• 30:27George Kamel?

  You're gonna need it.

• 30:28Rachel Cruze?

  You're gonna need that $200 an hour therapist.

• 30:31George Kamel?

  And I would say, like, have your priorities and then say no to the rest.

• 30:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 30:35George Kamel?

  Like, maybe you don't need the donut wall, maybe you don't need the party favors.

• 30:39Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 30:40George Kamel?

  Focus on the stuff that really matters, and then also, call your list down. That was the most stressful part, was having boundaries. Because my mom wanted to invite her friend that she hasn't seen in seven years. And I was like, "Mom, we can't just have this open invite to everyone who wants to go."

• 30:55Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 30:55George Kamel?

  So we really had to scale it down.

• 30:56Rachel Cruze?

  And that's hard if they are paying for the wedding, too.

• 30:58George Kamel?

  That's the other thing. If you're not paying for it, there are strings attached.

• 31:01Rachel Cruze?

  It's tricky.

• 31:01George Kamel?

  So be careful who you accept the help from.

• 31:04Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, so good. Weddings. We're out of that season, though. We don't get invited to many weddings these days.

• 31:09George Kamel?

  I can't remember the last time I got invited.

• 31:11Rachel Cruze?

  I know. We should go to one, George. Let's find someone. Well, I've had someone here at Ramsey's getting married soon.

• 31:16George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 31:17Rachel Cruze?

  Let's ask them to invite us.

• 31:19George Kamel?

  Maybe they're in the room. We don't know.

• 31:20Rachel Cruze?

  We'll go, uh, party the night away.

• 31:23George Kamel?

  I don't know. I don't know.

• 31:26Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man. All right, before we spill the tea in our guiltiest charge segments, uh, let's share what we're drinking, George.

• 31:33George Kamel?

  This is a Aperol Tequila Sour. And based on how much you had, you liked a little more than me, which is great. The cost breakdown is $2.82 per glass. Here's what's in it, for curious minds. Tequila, Aperol, you guessed those two, strawberry syrup, lemon juice, egg white, and some Angostura bitters.

• 31:55Rachel Cruze?

  There was an egg white in here?

• 31:56George Kamel?

  That's what's causing the, uh, the foaminess.

• 31:59Rachel Cruze?

  Because I'm not usually an egg white person.

• 32:00George Kamel?

  Have you had, like, a good whiskey sour? They'll do an egg white in there if it's made properly.

• 32:03Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I guess that's true, yes.

• 32:04George Kamel?

  So that part, uh, you gotta be into that.

• 32:06Rachel Cruze?

  This feels like summer to me.

• 32:08George Kamel?

  Yeah, it is a very summery drink. It's very light and smooth, while having a complexity that I really enjoy. So I'm gonna go 8 out of 10 on this one.

• 32:17Rachel Cruze?

  I'm going, uh, I may go 10 out of 10. Mm-hmm.

• 32:22George Kamel?

  That's a big win.

• 32:23Rachel Cruze?

  I would order this. This would be a great lunch cocktail. Like, if you're out with friends on a patio, getting some lunch. It feels like a day drink.

• 32:32George Kamel?

  Is it a taco situation?

• 32:33Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 32:34George Kamel?

  No. What are you eating with this?

• 32:36Rachel Cruze?

  Mm.

• 32:38George Kamel?

  I feel like this is a patio at Bar Taco in Nashville situation.

• 32:41Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, yeah, you're right.

• 32:42George Kamel?

  That's where I go with it.

• 32:42Rachel Cruze?

  You're right. Yeah.

• 32:44George Kamel?

  Maybe it's just me.

• 32:45Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I'm going a little chips and guac. A lot of apps. I'm feeling apps.

• 32:49George Kamel?

  Oh, tapas.

• 32:50Rachel Cruze?

  Tapas.

• 32:51George Kamel?

  Small plates.

• 32:51Rachel Cruze?

  Tapas lunch with this cocktail. 10 out of 10.

• 32:54George Kamel?

  Tapas the morning to you.

• 32:55Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, I'm gonna be very specific.

• 32:58George Kamel?

  Get the recipe in the show notes. Give it a try this weekend and see if it is really a 10 out of 10.

• 33:04Rachel Cruze?

  All right, now it's time for Guilty as charged. And this is where we ask each other a new guilty as charged question every week. And if we're guilty, we take a sip.

• 33:12George Kamel?

  Here it is. It's wedding related. Have you ever re-gifted or returned a wedding gift and it backfired?

• 33:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 33:21George Kamel?

  Yeah, cheers to that.

• 33:23Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 33:23George Kamel?

  Cheers to backfiring.

• 33:24Rachel Cruze?

  I think I've said this on the show. I've told this story on the show before. But we got a wedding gift and it was, it was a great gift. We just would never use it. And we ended up, I ended up re-gifting it to a friend six months later for her wedding. And I left the part of the original wrapping paper at the bottom of it. And I put it in a gift bag and when she took it out, she was like, here's some other wrapping paper.

• 33:49George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 33:50Rachel Cruze?

  Straight up past me.

• 33:51George Kamel?

  Hey, did you re-gift this?

• 33:52Rachel Cruze?

  And I was like, oh, man.

• 33:55George Kamel?

  You got it. So you need to do a full 360 view at the gift. Oh, gosh. We had one.

• 34:01Rachel Cruze?

  I was, you know, I was broke. I spent all my money on my wedding. Six cents later.

• 34:05George Kamel?

  And if it's a good gift, who cares? You know what I mean?

• 34:08Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 34:08George Kamel?

  If it's something they would want and they would use.

• 34:10Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 34:11George Kamel?

  I don't care if you re-gifted me something.

• 34:12Rachel Cruze?

  Thanks. How about you?

• 34:14George Kamel?

  We got some silverware for our wedding, as one does. And we got, it was gold. And we decided, you know what we want with the silver? It's a little cheaper. We can get more of it. So we went to return it. They couldn't do it. This place, this fancy place could not do a return. They're like, we just don't do that. So I had to meet them at the old Ramsey building to do this exchange to return it. And when they returned it, they sent the new one for an exchange to the people who bought it for us. So then we had to contact them, like, hey, you're gonna get a package. It's nothing malign. We just accidentally, it was just.

• 34:50Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, you did a return and they sent the.

• 34:52George Kamel?

  They sent it to the person who bought it for us, which they obviously found out at that point that we did not want what they gave us.

• 34:58Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, no.

• 34:59George Kamel?

  So it just created a really awkward situation. The whole thing was just a cluster.

• 35:02Rachel Cruze?

  Do you still see those people today?

• 35:04George Kamel?

  I think I've seen them one time since that happened.

• 35:06Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, that's good.

• 35:06George Kamel?

  And they're very nice. They're very nice.

• 35:07Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that makes it feel better, yeah.

• 35:09George Kamel?

  But just be careful out there, guys. It's a dark world.

• 35:12Rachel Cruze?

  It's a wild world out there. Get your foundations, you know? Control what you can control, you know? Stick to the...

• 35:18George Kamel?

  Great advice. Just keep it.

• 35:21Rachel Cruze?

  It's just a lot.

• 35:22George Kamel?

  Just keep it.

• 35:23Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's a lot.

• 35:23George Kamel?

  You know what's fun? Amazon stuff, you see the little QR code that comes with it? And it's like, let them know what you think. Well, if someone sends you something anonymously and you scan that code, it'll have their name on the like, "Thank you."

• 35:37Rachel Cruze?

  Who sends you stuff anonymously?

• 35:38George Kamel?

  It happened one time and it was really awkward. I got a vinyl record sent to the office and I was like, "Who sent this? I'll never know."

• 35:45Rachel Cruze?

  But you scanned the QR code?

• 35:46George Kamel?

  And I scanned the QR code and it's had their name. And I reached out to them and confronted them.

• 35:51Rachel Cruze?

  Do you know the person?

• 35:51George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 35:52Rachel Cruze?

  And what'd they say?

• 35:52George Kamel?

  And they were like, "What? No, I didn't." I was like, "It had your name." And they're like, "Oh, gosh." And they were really embarrassed.

• 35:57Rachel Cruze?

  Why are they embarrassed? I'm so confused.

• 35:59George Kamel?

  I don't know. To this day, the whole thing was very strange.

• 36:04Rachel Cruze?

  So weird. You get so many fun awkward moments in your life, George.

• 36:08George Kamel?

  Thank you for saying they're fun.

• 36:09Rachel Cruze?

  I want some.

• 36:10George Kamel?

  I find them pain-inducing.

• 36:11Rachel Cruze?

  I want some.

• 36:11George Kamel?

  But I'm glad my trauma is your joy. It's a true friend.

• 36:15Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man, you guys. Well, if you enjoyed this episode, make sure to leave a review. Make sure to subscribe. And also, you'll love the next episode coming up. Spilling the financial tea with our better halves because weddings mean love. And George and I have loves of our own. I have Winston.

• 36:35George Kamel?

  And they love being on the show. It was one of our top performing episodes.

• 36:38Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it was great.

• 36:39George Kamel?

  You guys, you wanted the juice and you got it.

• 36:41Rachel Cruze?

  You did, yep. You'll enjoy it. You'll enjoy it. But we'll see you guys next Thursday on our own new episode of

• 36:45George Kamel?

  Smart Money Happy Hour.