A lot of people have heard my moped story but I don’t think I’ve ever told the story of my extremely cheap wedding lol 😂

I got married in 2016, at the time I was aggressively stacking sats and trying to be as frugal as possible.

So I convinced my fiancée to have the wedding in our backyard to save money.

Total cost was under $5,000 which included the dress and her ring (seriously). So how did I pull that off when weddings in America routinely cost 30-50k?

Here’s how…

1. Ring: Her ring is fake. More specifically it’s a moissanite which is a lab grown gemstone that looks like a diamond but isn’t a diamond. My wife was on board with this because it allowed her to get a much bigger stone than she otherwise would have and no one can tell the difference. Total cost: $1,200

2. Dress: When it came time to pick out the dress I didn’t want to interfere, so I just let her mom and sister go pick one out with her. She didn’t have a budget, but she was fully bought into my crazy money saving plan and found a dress she loved that only cost $500. That’s how you know you’re marrying the right girl. Total cost: $500

3. Venue: Free obviously because we did it in our backyard, but I did spend a little buying gifts for the neighbors because we were going to be making a lot of noise. Total cost: $200

4. Tables & chairs: We rented these, something to understand when it comes to rentals. When I called vendors for this wedding I didn’t tell any of them it was a wedding. I used the word “event” on the phone. This makes everything 30% cheaper. Total cost: $600

5. Decorations: we bought a nice metal arch to get married under for $300 and then we spent an additional $500 on lanterns, tablecloths, candles, fake flowers etc… I put them all up myself. Total cost: $800

6. Drinks: Instead of having a fancy bar with a bartender or whatever I went to Costco bought a bunch of wine and beer, threw it in a cooler and called it a day. Total cost: $500

7. Music: at this point in the thread you really think I’m hiring a fancy DJ for this shit? lol no we had a Bluetooth speaker. Total cost: $200

8. Food: instead of doing some BS catering company we got a taco cart guy. Taco cart guy is the shit, you should really have one of these at every event. Everyone loved this dude and said they were some of the best tacos they’ve ever had. Total cost: $500

9. Photo/video: Even though I was running a production company at this time we decided to skip the video altogether. Why? Because nobody ever watches it. Plus my business partner and crew members were going to be attending the wedding. The only thing you want is that one photo of you walking down the aisle that you’re going to hang in the house. So I hired a good photographer I knew in town to show up for 20 mins and take a few shots of the ceremony. Total cost: $400

Bringing the grand total for the backyard wedding to $4,900

The wedding was so out of the norm by modern standards, that my new father in law pulled me aside and suggested I was being too frugal and needed to loosen up a bit. I smiled and nodded politely and then continued right along my path. My wife was on board, I was on board. We had a vision for our future. No one was going to stop me, no matter how “well intentioned” A vision I’m happy to report we are living today.

You want different results than others? You gotta do different shit than they do. Be weird. People will judge you for it, but it won’t matter, because in the end you’ll win.

Today we look back fondly on our cheap wedding. 10/10 would recommend.

this quote reminds me of chess and is one of the reasons chess is such a beautiful game.

in chess, when you move a piece, you’re attacking new squares but also losing influence over the squares you were attacking before. you see?

chess is the art of seeing yourself forward. the calculation muscle that’s constantly evaluating the gain and loss to every move.

in life we’re constantly doing this by the way. taking risk, all day every day. more than you think.

you need to go to a higher up floor. do you want to take the elevator or the stairs? the stairs are probably safer but you lose time and energy. the elevator is easier but is a man made machine with potential dangerous risks. ok well are we going to floor 2 or floor 100? am i healthy or do i have health issues? you evaluate; you choose.

there are no moves in both chess and life with only gain and no loss. for this reason, both chess and life are nothing you can master or finish. it’s an art you develop as the artist

Bitcoin halving is the only global phenomenon that people around the world celebrate at exactly the same moment.

We can sell shoutouts on Fountain. I guess if someone wants to do one on Geyser, I"ll read it on the next podcast.

I'm kind of afraid of people trying to write us books.

First post in the fediverse! 👋

This is an attack.

GOOD MORNING NOSTR, YOU DO NOT NEED TWITTER OR OTHER SLAVE TECH TO LIVE A FULFILLED LIFE.

OPT OUT. 🫡

Got about 75k in my hot wallet, everyone will get 5,000 sats who replies till I run out. 😎

#Plebchain #Introductions #Zap #Nostr.

Took a while, but I now have alby connected, so I can zap to my heart's content. Let's do a contest. I'll give a prompt, funny responses get zaps.

Reasons the mainstream media will give for why you shouldn't own Bitcoin.

Me gusta, sugiero integrar Nip57 en Geyeser para zap ⚡ desde la página

ZAP THE TOP

Opinión impopular: Nostr es más Práctico de Geyeser para donar ⚡

Finally back to normal, if there even is such a thing. The last couple of weeks were a whirlwind, as is to be expected if a lot of bitcoiners are at the same place at the same time.

Bitcoin Atlantis was a fantastic event, as many others have mentioned before me. It was so good to see everyone. New friends, old friends, brothers and sisters, even classmates and family. Yes, family.

To me, the gathering that happened on this strange island in the middle of the Atlantic felt more like an extended family gathering than a conference, which is what made it so beautiful. Exhausting? Yes. Strange? Definitely. But also full of love, tears of joy, and a deep sense of "togetherness" that only families can provide. Strange uncles and all.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: cherish these times. We're still in the early days, and as bitcoin marches on and grows, and as bitcoinization proceeds, what is strange and extraordinary now will soon be normal and ordinary.

The internet is magic, as are mobile phones. Yet we don't have any "internet people" anymore, not in the "bitcoiner" sense, to bridge the analogy. In certain places and for certain people bitcoin is already normalized, and what used to be mind-blowing just 12 months ago simply isn't anymore. We get used to things too quickly, even magic. We adjust, we get bored, and we fail to appreciate how far we have come.

I'm writing this as a sip my morning coffee, a coffee that I will pay in sats outright, with zaps I've received on nostr. Isn't that magical? Yet it's very normal to me. I have to pinch myself every day to make sure it is real.

It's hard to comprehend how much sweat, blood, tears, and pain were necessary to make all of this work. Bitcoin. Lightning. Nostr. The myriad of tools, libraries, capital, and infrastructure required so that you can zap me and I can pay for this coffee. Instantly. Global. Without anyone's permission. We say that Bitcoin is magic internet money for a reason, so please take a step back and appreciate the magic. Appreciate how far we've come.

It's easy to get lost in the thick of it all when you're close to the grindstone. I know there's people out there that question themselves, wondering why they keep working on all this stuff, asking themselves if they make a difference. I know because I'm one of these people sometimes. I know because some of my friends are struggling, and have been struggling for a while. I see you, and if I could I'd give you a hug twice a day.

But most days we're not in the same place at the same time, so let me say the following instead: You matter. Your contributions matter. You just being around matters.

That's why physical events are so important. It's borderline impossible to feel stuff through a computer screen. But once you meet people in person—your people, the people that, for one reason or another, are perfectly aligned with you—you can FEEL it. You can really feel it. You can feel that it matters, that the tide is shifting, that the freedom tech we are working on changes the very real lives of very real people.

It was wonderful to meet all of you. Peace & Love, and please take care of each other. 🙏🧡