Also pay for a professional DVD. A friend of mine who worked in Hollywood for a while put ours together. Incredible. He even make a music video from snippets of the big day. Let me know if you want his contact info. He teaches high school in Wisconsin now.

I too have been thinking more about how my family fits into my financial life.

One catalyst for this is Kim and my wedding. My parents are divorced, with one better off financially than the other. It’s interesting working out how things will be taken care of between us (and Kim’s parents too). I’m an independent person, and my initial reaction is to want to pay for everything myself. But it is a large expense, and our parents would be hurt if we didn’t take their help. The trick is how do we take their help without making them feel like they are carrying too much of the burden or embarrassed that they are not contributing as much as other parents?

Another thing that has happened recently is that my older brother asked me for a small loan. It wasn’t much money, but I’ve seen how he has “borrowed” money from my parents in the past. He’s has a great job with the military, and there is no reason he shouldn’t have enough credit to make the purchase he wanted to lend money from me for. I’m visiting the bro in a couple weeks and plan to take advantage of our time to knock some fiscal responsibility into him.