Since today is Black Friday, we're featuring our first "Surprising Ways You Saved Money" post.  We will periodically be posting stories from actual brides about weird and wonderful ways they found to stretch their dollars a little further without sacrificing their vision for the big day.  Today's bride is Carol!

So tell us some general info about your wedding

"Since this was my second wedding I already knew what things were essential, like a great photographer, and what things I could skimp on, like the big elaborate dress you only wear once."  

Did you try on the fun dresses though?

"Oh yes, I went and had all the fun of trying on the pretty dresses!  If you can have a great experience for free, I say go for it!  Just don't get too caught up and spend money you don't want to spend."

So what was the surprising way you saved money?

"It was all about the food!  My husband loves lasagna, so we knew that's what we wanted for the reception.  We had heard about Servers Only through my daughter and had already decided to hire them to save money."

So that was the surprising way you saved money?

"No actually!  Since we were using Servers Only, we had to decided where we were going to get the food from.  We had picked five different high end restaurants and couldn't decide between them, so we thought of doing a blind taste test.  We called up a friend to be the moderator, and at the last minute decided to add Olive Garden's lasagna as a control.  The friend numbered the different lasagnas and brought them out to us to try and we were unanimous on the one we wanted.  Imagine our surprise when it was revealed that we had chosen the Olive Garden lasagna!  The cheapest one on the table!"

So there you have it!  Don't let the label fool you.  Sometimes the tastiest food is the cheapest, and not just because you know how much you're saving!  Comment you own stories and we may feature you on an upcoming blog post!