Hello, my lovely readers. Sorry I’ve been away for a bit- my work had three back to back events at the end of this week, so I was super busy preparing and executing every little detail!
On a positive note, B’s assignment tonight got canceled, so we went out to try and use our Christmas gift cards. We got some awesome stuff (like a new knife set and block) but the best purchase was at a discount Christmas decor warehouse by our apartment.
We know we want to do a lot of Italian cafe lights for our backyard wedding (which you can read more about here and here) but the $768 price tag that our wedding tent company quoted us was a bit scary! Especially because I did my research and know that they have the best prices around. So, determined DIY-ers that we are, we headed over to the store to see what they had left after the holiday rush.
At first, we were sorely disappointed. We only saw ONE box of 100 clear Italian bulbs. Not even enough for a tree, let alone a 30 x 75 foot tent. But then I looked up, and saw Christmas light heaven! There were at least 10 cases of lights up there, with each case holding six-100 light boxes!
So, we bought five cases, or 30 boxes, or a whopping 3,000 lights! Even though we don’t even have a wedding date yet, we know that tent will be well lit!
And that isn’t even the best part. The lights were regularly priced at $19.99 per box, which would have been a mind-numbing $599.70 for 30 boxes BEFORE tax! But, since the holidays are over and this store turns into a pool/patio/summer warehouse pretty soon, they were 50% off. And of course, being the deal hunter I am, I asked if we could get an additional discount at the register since we were purchasing so many. The cashier said she could go ask her manager, so I told her to mention that they are for our wedding which we are paying for ourselves. For those of you that don’t personally know me- I am ruthless when it comes to getting a good deal!
Guess what? It worked! The cashier came back and said she could knock an additional 20% each box, making them around $7.99 a box. In the end, we paid $257.08 for the whole lot, including tax. Even though spending that much on lights seems insane, that’s a heck of a lot cheaper than the $768 quoted by the tent company for renting them! Although now B is joking that our Christmas tree this year will be a bit too bright, considering we’ll have 3,000 lights left over after the big day. Oh well, I’m still super excited that we got such a great deal.
Only downside? Now I can’t get Kasey Cisyk’s You Light Up My Life out of my head!
Great deal! Plus it sounds like it's going to be an awesome party. Can't wait to see the pictures!
Sounds like your decor will be gorgeous! And, I will happily buy some lights off you post-wedding if you can part with some. Seriously! Love those lights!
You better get the electricity company put in a bigger supply to your apartment when you plug them all in next Christmas… oh and have your sunglasses at the ready! Great bargain, hope they all work on your big day
@Kanalt- Thanks! We're pretty excited about it! And you know there will be pictures!
@Sandra- Awesome! Brian is pretty happy about that! We will be sure to let you know how many we have left over and will have to set something up!
@Steve- Haha! Yeah, I doubt we can fit that many into the apartment anyway! We're making sure to have a back up generator for the wedding day so we don't lose any lights, music, or heated food!