Your wedding guests will travel great distances and bestow you with lavish gifts, so a wedding favor is a great way to show your gratitude on the day of your nuptials. The best favors are representative of the newlyweds' personalities, but you can quickly find your wedding budget dwindling like a bowl of jordan almonds thanks to expensive favor options. Before you abandon the idea altogether, follow our tips for savvy wedding favor savings.

• Shop online marketplaces. Search for items on sites like eBay, Etsy, and Amazon, and compare those prices with local vendors to find the best deals.
• Buy in bulk. Look for bulk or wholesale deals, which will trim your per-favor cost. Candy, soaps, and packaging are excellent candidates to find at low prices in large quantities.
• Search beyond wedding vendors. Wedding sites may have items tailored to favor-giving, but they sometimes come with a markup. Browse sites and stores that specialize in the item you're looking for, and try to think outside the box when it comes to potential deals. For example, search framing wholesalers for deep discounts on picture frames or chocolatiers for high-quality truffles or chocolate bars. Hopefully, you'll have money left over to pay for engraving or custom packaging!

Save with eight more tips when you read on.

In college, figuring out music for your party was as easy as picking a playlist on your MP3 player. But when you're planning your wedding, it can be more complicated than choosing a menu. Between string quartets, cover bands, and DJs, determining the entertainment appropriate for your event — and how to pay for it — is sometimes like muddling through a Chopin mazurka in your first piano lesson. But have no fear — the band will play on if you follow our seven tips for saving on your wedding music!

• Be your own DJ. You'll be busy with many other details on your big day, but if you know the tunes that can cause your guests to cut a rug, then grab an iPod and create your own playlists beforehand. For the ceremony, choose songs for the processional, recessional, and the bride's big entrance. For the reception, you'll need a song or two for the bridal party introductions, then some mellow tunes to dine by, the first-dance music, and a long playlist to keep your guests dancing into the night. Have a friend be responsible for DJ and emcee duties while you enjoy the evening with your sweetie!
• Hire a limited engagement. If you simply can't do without your town's cover band of the moment but an entire night of live music won't jive with your budget, then see if they are willing to play just one set during your reception. You can bookend their appearance with a DJ or a playlist on your MP3 player, and you can advertise the evening's headliner to your guests ahead of time.
• Seek a friendly tune. If the phrase "I'm with the band" has become your weekend mantra, then you might have cheaper wedding music at your fingertips. Ask your cousin at Juilliard to help you down the aisle at the ceremony and your pal on the nightclub circuit to make an appearance at your reception. At my wedding, my brother's band played a set after dinner, and the final song featured a guest drummer: my dashing groom! Your guests will love the live music, and you'll always remember rocking out to your friend's melodies on your big day.

Keep reading for four more tips.

Whether you're considering a casual brunch buffet or a formal table service dinner, the meal you serve at your wedding can set the tone for your reception festivities, but the prices your caterer presents can sure be daunting! Before you give your guest list the axe, follow our 10 tips on how to trim the fat from your wedding food budget.

• Think outside of the plate. A meat-and-starch may be the traditional wedding meal route, but if you think about your and your partner's personalities, you might be able to come up with a more creative — and cheaper — alternative. If you're movie buffs, what about pizza? If together you've tried every burger west of the Mississippi, assemble a choose-your-own toppings burger bar. If you throw the best cocktail parties in town, combine cocktail hour with dinner and serve a heavy hors d'oeuvres buffet.
• Truck it in. These days, you can find just about any food in the form of a food truck. Most are available to rent for private events, so call up your favorite taco or crepe truck to check out their prices which are usually much lower than the per-head cost of a catered meal.
• Serve yourself. A sit-down dinner may seem like the only option for an elegant evening, but a buffet can still be formal. Buffets cut down on the amount of staff needed to serve dishes, and your caterer can add fun frills like made-to-order omelettes and meat slicing.

For seven more tips, just keep reading.

Friday, Nov. 23, marks the date many retailers have been planning for all year: Black Friday. While the day of in-store super savings may not get you a steep discount on everything you need for the holiday season, the day after Thanksgiving certainly provides amazing prices on a select number of enticing products.

That is, of course, if you're one of the first customers through the door, and many people take that status very seriously, lining up hours or even days in advance in order to snag that cheap flat screen TV or video game console. Whether you plan to join them or to take your chances and show up when the store opens its doors, check out our list of major retailers and their store opening times. Happy shopping!

Best Buy: Nov. 23, 12 a.m.

Target: Nov. 23, 12 a.m.

Macy's: Nov. 23, 12 a.m.

Walmart: Nov. 22, 8 p.m.

Kohl's: Nov. 23, 12 a.m.

Toys "R" Us: Nov. 22, 9 p.m.

For more store opening hours, just keep reading.

Even capable, career-driven people need a leg up from time to time. Whether it's job advice from a former manager, a couple of industry tips from a colleague, or a pep talk from a friend, feedback and encouragement are crucial stepping stones to navigating to where you want to be in your career. There are a couple of tricks to asking for guidance, though, to ensure that you obtain the information you need and that you still come across as the polished and poised person that you are.

Provide some concise context.

Being asked for advice in a vacuum can be a frustrating experience for any adviser. Sure, she might know your current company and job title, but you shouldn't assume that she knows much more than that. Take a moment to frame up your situation and the problem you face. Briefly state your goal and the ways in which you have tried to achieve it. Providing a little context will help to steer her toward the subject matter you wish to cover and will guarantee that the conversation won't take more valuable time than it needs to.

Ask specific questions.

Even if you set up a contextual framework for your conundrum, the flow of the advice won't begin until you ask a question. Instead of posing a sweeping query like, "What advice do you have for me?" drill down to questions that get at the particulars of your circumstance such as, "What facets of my career should I work on to make myself more appealing for a promotion?" or, "How did you overcome setbacks to your career advancement?" Crafting questions specific to your situation will get you the guidance you need by providing your adviser direction on where you need help most.

Get two more tips when you keep reading.

I'm expecting my first child in just a matter of weeks, and while I'm basking in the midst of baby showers and nursery color schemes, there are some much more serious issues that we will need to tackle as we move beyond her birth. Of course there's health insurance for her, life insurance for us, and a will, but a little planning now will also help us afford things like child care and college. Fortunately, Uncle Sam has put a few programs in place that allow parents to save for these major expenditures . . . and provide a nice tax break to boot!

Dependent Day Care FSA Account

Check with your employer to see if they offer a dependent day care flexible spending account, because you could be eligible to sock away up to $5,000 a year from your paycheck into a pre-tax account to be used for child-care expenses until your child turns 14. For families in the 25 percent federal tax bracket, this type of account allows you to save about $1,250 per year at the maximum contribution plus additional savings by avoiding Social Security and Medicare taxes.

There are a few important things to note about this program. First, both parents (or the parent in a single-parent household) must work. Second, if your spouse's company also offers a dependent care FSA, you are still capped at $5,000 in total family annual contributions. You also don't want to overestimate your expenses, since the money in the account won't roll over into the next year (and should you leave your job, you forfeit any unused contributions). Finally, the child-care expenses that you pay for through this spending account must be those that allow you and your spouse to work. So paying a babysitter while you spend a night at the movies doesn't count!

Keep reading for three more ways to save.

When you're wading through the job market, asking a friend or colleague to make a personal referral on your behalf requires delicate handling if you want to make a good impression and increase your chances of landing an interview. Likewise, if you're on the receiving end of such a request, you will want to consider a number of things before agreeing to pass along that résumé. Before you click the Forward button, follow these six tips to gracefully navigate a job referral.

Remember that an endorsement also reflects upon you.
Even if your company's referral bonus would really help with this month's rent, don't provide a referral for anyone who asks for it. If you enthusiastically endorse a vague acquaintance, and the hiring manager is less than impressed, your own judgement of character may be called into question. Of course, this works both ways: if you genuinely provide a stamp of approval and your applicant gets hired, you'll receive kudos for bringing her in.

Take time to consider the request before you act.
Sometimes the decision is a no-brainer: you've worked personally with the applicant, know that the position in question is the perfect fit, and can provide a glowing endorsement. Other times, you don't feel so confident. Hopefully the applicant will contact you via email so you can respond when you're ready, but if you're cornered on a surprise phone call, don't be afraid to ask for some time. Tell the caller that you would like to read the job listing and think about how comfortable you are making a referral for that position.

Collect all pertinent information.
If you agree to provide a referral, make sure you understand your colleague's aims before passing along her résumé. Ask her to tell you about her relevant experience and skills, why she thinks she's an ideal candidate, and why she wants to work in this position and for this company. It helps to share this information at the time you make the referral so the hiring manager understands it's a genuine endorsement.

Read on for more.