Groupons For Weddings? Woman Saves Nearly $3,500

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Extreme couponing, meet the daily deal craze. A mother-of-the-groom in the Washington, D.C., suburbs wedded these two hot money-saving trends by using a total of two dozen daily-deal site coupons to save $3,434 on her son and daughter-in-law’s rehearsal dinner. Diane Paul tells Washingtonian.com, “At the rehearsal dinner, I greeted everybody and said, ‘And now, a word from our sponsors,’” as she explained to guests her unusual strategy. A year before the wedding, Paul began scanning numerous daily deal sites and snapping up coupons for anything wedding-related. (A word to anyone who wants to try this: check the expiration dates before stockpiling deals.)

(MORE: There’s a Groupon for Everything, Including … College?)

Paul’s bargain-hunting let her whittle down a $5,195 price tag to $1,761 — still a decent chunk of change, but a huge discount. She purchased everything from clothing and accessories for the rehearsal dinner to wine and food for the bridal shower. She also cashed in a cache of coupons for a manicure, hair-styling, a spray tan and other beauty services in preparation for the big day.

For the newlyweds, Paul scored everything from hot-stone massages to picture frames and other mementos. Her extreme couponing even goes beyond the wedding itself: she bought the couple a stay at a romantic inn for them to use on their first anniversary.

(MORE: Wedding Registries: Why Do Couples Ask for Gifts They’ll Never Use?)

Given that the average wedding costs $27,800, according to TheKnot.com, it’s no wonder that people are embracing extreme tactics to shave a few dollars off that total. Maybe the bridal market could be a profitable niche for Groupon and its ilk; after all, it’s unlikely anyone thought to use coupons for things like plastic surgery and college tuition until daily deal sites started hawking them.