Deals around Town

Publishing FAIL! I had this post all lined up and didn't remember to hit "publish post" last night!


This week's a simple rundown on the deals around town for those of you planning an event--

* $300 gets you Four Hours + Attendant + Prints from a Photo Booth through a LivingSocial Deal for Picture Perfect Announcements! This would be a great deal for a wedding, anniversary party, retirement party, or even a milestone birthday. Who doesn't love a Photo Booth?!

(Photo By Meg Clark)

* $70 gets you a LivingSocial package for a birthday party for up to 8 kids at MightyJumps over on Collier-- this place is a bit hellish from an adult's perspective (think weird carpet design and Kidz Bop), but we were here for my goddaughter's birthday this weekend and the kids loved it! With the amount of money people are dropping on kids' parties these days, a deal like this might be worth it for the kiddos in your life. (Alternatively, they also have a deal for bouncy houses if you have a warm-weather birthday coming up-- Groupon also has a similar deal)

* Looking for a baby shower gift for the crunchy mom in your circle? $10 gets you a free Mom & Baby or Prenatal class at Oh Baby! Fitness thanks to LS. I've gathered from friends of mine that these are things they wanted to try while pregnant, but couldn't "justify" spending the money, so this would be a welcome gift!

If you're not in Atlanta, be sure to check out your local versions of these sites-- after the initial boom, they're focusing less on restaurant deals and more on "escapes" "adventures" and "goods" for your convenience!

My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend...

(via)

I know I've probably mentioned this before, but when you're trying to get venue, food, and beverages settled for your party (whether it's a wedding, birthday, or other celebration) the people you know are going to be key to your ability to afford the things you really want!

We got a good deal on our rehearsal dinner because I sweet talked my old boss in to giving us a portion of it as a wedding present, my friend Iggy got a good deal on the wine for her sister's wedding (which was her wedding gift to the couple) by spending a lot of time with the employees of the liquor store and being patient and gracious, and another friend got a deal on a baby shower because her brother-in-law rents office space out of a building with a rockin' community room.

Whether you're the closest friend ever with someone or not doesn't matter-- people love to help other people out, and especially in this economy the word of mouth recommendations of customers is worth its weight in gold. When you go to a liquor store for anything, get to know the employees and get business cards if they're available-- when you go back, ask for them by name. Same at restaurants and venues if you attend a party somewhere else. Ask your friends if they have ideas about venues since they have a vested interest in your happiness; if they have an in somewhere they'll be happy to help you out!

Once you've completed your event, be sure to send a thank you card or stop by and thank the individual in person. If appropriate, get them a little gift or make them something small-- nothing extravagant, just a little trinket to say thank you for helping out! Just like you get your wedding party small gifts, the same applies for anyone who helps you out with your event. You never know when you'll need their help again, or if you can return the favor!

(If you can finish the quote from the title, you get a treat!)

Dessy's Next Trick

Dessy 1019

Dessy Dresses are a tricky business-- a lot of times you can find a similar look for a little less elsewhere, and my final verdict on their LBD experiment stands: you have to be careful or you're not really getting a deal! They have a new program called Sample on Loan which boasts one upside for the busy bride on the go; they will send you a sample to try on at home! 

There are a few ways this could be a total rip off, so let's check out the details.

The Premise: You pay Dessy $35 to ship you a sample that may or may not be the proper size so that you can hang on to it for 2 days, try it on, wear it around the house, take it to dance lessons, what have you. 

The Ins and Outs: You get the dress (from the After Six Collection) and a pre-paid adhesive shipping label in the mail, you keep the dress for 48hrs. If you haven't returned it in time you are charged an extra $20/day. Dessy MAY be able to send you more than one dress at a time, for another $35. Your size may also not be available, so they will send you the "closest" size possible-- no word on whether that's one size up or one size down, but I would assume one size up.

The Ups and Downs: If you're planning on a budget, $35 to rent a dress for two days may not be the best investment. If you're not planning on a budget, and you're a busy gal, it might be worth it to you to not have to find your nearest Dessy (which for me is anywhere from roughly 8-20mi, ranging 30-120 minutes in travel time one way) and go in to the store, deal with people, etc. If you're going to be wearing a dress from Dessy's After Six collection and you have it in hand and you'd like to do a bridal shoot before the big day, you could always rent a sample to do the shoot in. Though I'm sure major damages would result in an extra fee, it would be a safe way to do your shoot and not worry about getting dust on the hem.

As with the NewlyMaid program, I would suggest really looking around and checking your budget to see if this is the right program for you. You should also contact the Dessy Customer Service BY PHONE to ask if there are any partial refunds available, and what happens if you rip the hem while seeing if your heels work with the gown. I emphasize BY PHONE because I e-mailed them and got a form response which was copy and paste from the website. No extra information, no effort put in to the response at all.

Markdown Mondays

We're bringing it back for Markdown Mondays here with a re-visit to the Dessy "NewlyMaid" program, which has just had a few dresses added from the original set I blogged about a while back.

They e-mailed me over the weekend to say that they've added 7 new dresses to the lineup!

Some of them seem like they're trying hard to be trendy:

Diana

And others fit right in with a stylish and simple LBD concept:

Tina

I still think it depends on how ridiculous your dress is as to whether or not you think it's a deal, but it's worth a look in to it if you're like me and you lack a little black dress to round out your closet!

This one's for the girls!

After all my crazy wedding shennanigans were over, I neglected to unenroll myself from all the e-mail lists. Sometimes, it's annoying, but sometimes I find a little gem like this one from Dessy-- they've decided to go whole hog in to the "nobody ever wears that dress again" sentiment and have started a program called "Newly Maid" for the bridesmaid in need of a LBD.

Now, you're probably thinking to yourself that it sounds too good to be true, and it sort of is-- when you start looking in to the details, you realize that you don't actually get to swap out dresses, but that Dessy has six styles of dresses that range in price from $165-200 before your Newly Maid discount and are dropped in price from $90-115.

Now, I'm not the kind of gal that's going to spend $90 on a dress, especially if I've already spent the money in the first place, but if you have a particularly hideous dress that you couldn't think about wearing again to save your life then maybe this is the deal for you!

Designing Women

Cherry Bomb Atlanta

WOW! Let's be honest, I would probably never wear these shoes, but I know a bunch of folks who would and they would TOTALLY glam up a wedding! Best part? They're on a big discount because you have the Scoutmob coupon for Cherry Bomb! One of the great things about Scoutmob, Groupon, and Half Off Depot is that they offer services outside of restaurants and health/beauty-- namely, boutiques. 

Many boutiques in the Decatur area especially carry jewelry, trinkets, hair bows, and gifts for all-- all things that can be used in the overall planning and execution of a wedding! You could buy for you or a particularly amazing member of your wedding party, even for mothers of brides and grooms! Keep an eye out for these deals, they're going to be a huge help!

My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend...

(via)

I know I've probably mentioned this before, but when you're trying to get venue, food, and beverages settled for your party (whether it's a wedding, birthday, or other celebration) the people you know are going to be key to your ability to afford the things you really want!

We got a good deal on our rehearsal dinner because I sweet talked my old boss in to giving us a portion of it as a wedding present, my friend Iggy got a good deal on the wine for her sister's wedding (which was her wedding gift to the couple) by spending a lot of time with the employees of the liquor store and being patient and gracious, and another friend got a deal on a baby shower because her brother-in-law rents office space out of a building with a rockin' community room.

Whether you're the closest friend ever with someone or not doesn't matter-- people love to help other people out, and especially in this economy the word of mouth recommendations of customers is worth its weight in gold. When you go to a liquor store for anything, get to know the employees and get business cards if they're available-- when you go back, ask for them by name. Same at restaurants and venues if you attend a party somewhere else. Ask your friends if they have ideas about venues since they have a vested interest in your happiness; if they have an in somewhere they'll be happy to help you out!

Once you've completed your event, be sure to send a thank you card or stop by and thank the individual in person. If appropriate, get them a little gift or make them something small-- nothing extravagant, just a little trinket to say thank you for helping out! Just like you get your wedding party small gifts, the same applies for anyone who helps you out with your event. You never know when you'll need their help again, or if you can return the favor!

(If you can finish the quote from the title, you get a treat!)