CVHS graduate writes book on budget weddings

If you're getting married, you could spend a lot of money on a cake.

Or you could have two cakes: an elaborate but fake prop with just enough real cake for the wedding party, and regular old pan cake for everyone else.

Kristin Meador said no one will really know the difference.

The 1998 Crescent Valley High School graduate has lots of ideas on how to save money on weddings. She's written a book on the subject.

For example, if you're looking for ways to pay for your wedding, here's a tip: Write a book.

That's what Meador did. "My original goal for my book was to pay for my own wedding," she said.

First, she needs a groom. It's true. The author of "How to Have a Wedding Without Spending a Dime (Or at Least Very Little)" remains unmarried.

However, she said marriage is "probably" in her foreseeable future. In the meantime, she sees the contradiction of an unmarried writer telling people how to organize their weddings.

"It's very ironic," she said. "I write this book, and I've never been married."

Meador's interest in saving money on weddings began when she helped her older sister and a friend plan theirs. Meador did all the invitations for her friend and the party favors for her sister. As she worked on the weddings, she wrote down ideas.

Originally, it was going to be a craft book.

"I just started writing, and it got too big," she said.

It took her two to three weeks to write the book while the she was teaching in the toddler program at Linn-Benton Community College.

"When someone tells me they've been working on a book for 20 years, I find it hard to believe." she said.

Her 155-page book was printed by Publish America in 2005. The company prints the books on demand, meaning people can order copies through Borders, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com and other websites. The publisher prints books as required.

Meador started writing books and stories when she was 5. "My original passion was to write children's books," she said.

She hopes her book proves helpful, especially for people who wait a few years before getting married.

"If you go the traditional route, your family pays for everything," she said. But a lot of people wait until their late 20s or beyond to tie the knot. Those people are self-sufficient and don't want parents footing the bill.

One of the ways people can cut corners is by making their own thank-you cards. For her sister's wedding in 2004, Meador posed the couple with giant signs before the ceremony with the words "thank you." That saved money on cards later on.

Couples can also skimp on passing out favors or other small gifts to guests.

"They're really cool, but probably not worth it unless they're cost-effective," she said. "People will throw them away."

Meador is more than a wedding expert. She works as a real estate broker in the Eugene-Springfield area and is also a job developer for Goodwill Industries.

Waiting to get married herself has been helpful, she said."I know what I do and do not want," she said.