Why Amazon Might Be Your New Best Friend While Wedding Planning
Amazon Prime is more than just free two-day shipping. I am a huge fan of all things Prime. You should see my house around Christmas time, Prime box after Prime box on my porch. While I was wedding planning, I can honestly say it was a true lifesaver!
I decided to get prime when, 3 days before our engagement pictures I realized my fiancé didn’t have the correct size gauges for his ears (earrings) and he was going to do our engagement pictures with big holes in his ear! Gauges are not the easiest thing to find in my town, unless you want to pay an arm and a leg for them. That’s when I stumbled on a 30-day trial of Prime…I found him gauges to wear (for $8!) and they got here the day before pictures thanks to the free two-day shipping! By the time my trial was over, I was HOOKED. I immediately signed up for a full membership. Soon, I realized the truth about Prime, and today I decided I should share it with you.
Everyone knows about the free two-day shipping, so let’s start with the other benefits of Prime that can help in the wedding planning process.
Full disclosure, some of the links I have provided, I make a small commission on (at no cost to you!) when you purchase from them! However, I never advertise for products unless I love them and fully believe in them!
Prime Music. It’s like Pandora, except it comes with your Prime membership. I will be honest here, in my personal opinion, Prime Music is not as good as Pandora. It doesn’t seem to learn about you in quite the same way as Pandora. However, it is still pretty darn good. So, how does Prime Music help you with wedding planning? They have plenty of stations to listen to wedding music and love songs. So, if you’re stuck finding a song for your first dance, your walk down the aisle, or any of the other hundred “special” songs for your wedding, throw on one of those stations while you're cleaning or working out and screenshot ones you like. Within a few days you can figure out all the music you want to use!
Prime Video. This is one I just recently started using more. It may be slightly less helpful while wedding planning, except that if you are stressed out and need a break from all of it, then this is very helpful. They have tons of movies included with your Prime membership. Feeling a romantic comedy? They have every season of Sex and The City. Drama more your thing? Try American Beauty! Want to get away from all things wedding and try and out a horror show? Check out American Horror Story. Now, I’m not saying this will replace your Netflix or Hulu, but it’s an awesome addition!
Prime Prints. You know you’re going to want to print your photos after the wedding…how about doing it super cheap and getting them back super-fast through Prime Prints?! I just ordered an 8x10 and a 5x7 to see if it was worth it. I can assure you, this is a great perk! Their pricing is similar to Walmart. With Amazon Prints a 4x6 will only cost you 9 cents, a 5x7 is 58 cents and an 8x10 is only $1.79! Not mention they have other awesome photo gifts such as photo books, canvas and mugs! All with amazing pricing! Another benefit of Amazon Photos is free unlimited photo storage. So, cancel that extra storage plan on your iPhone and send them all to Amazon instead!
Prime Reading. This is another cool escape for when wedding planning stresses you out. Tons of free books, magazines, audible books and podcasts. And no, you don’t need a kindle to enjoy these benefits, it can be delivered to your iPhone or iPad!
Prime Registry. Amazon has some pretty awesome Registry Benefits including 20% off after the wedding on anything on your registry that you didn't get, bonus gifts with certain items, an extended return policy so you don't have to stress and they even keep track of who sent you what (you know, for those guests who forget to write their name on their gift! Yes, it happened to me!) If you want ideas for things to register for on Amazon click here!
Other Prime Benefits. There’s some other miscellaneous Prime benefits that I won’t get into as much but I thought I’d go ahead and mention them.
Don’t need 2-day shipping? Get a bonus credit toward a future purchase for forgoing the 2-day shipping and selecting “no rush.”
Share your prime membership with members of the same household for free.
Early access to lightning deals (can be up to 85% off!)
Prime Pantry. This is a pretty awesome benefit, but one that I’ve personally never used. You can get a box of groceries delivered for only $5.99. I have never used it because you must hit a weight requirement and I personally can’t find enough stuff I want to fill an entire Prime Pantry box.
Prime Now. This is not available in my area and may or may not be available in yours. But it is free 2 HOUR shipping on select items.
Get a 20% discount on pre-orders and new-release video games.
Amazon Restaurants. If you are in an area that gets Prime Now, you also get Prime Restaurants. Get a hot meal delivered within the hour!
Prime Day. It’s like black Friday for Prime members.
Prime Family. Save on baby-related expenses.
College students can get Prime at 50% off. Check out a list of 50 Awesome Products on Amazon here! For a list of ALL the benefits of Prime, click here.
So how do you decide if it’s worth it? First off, do you pay for Netflix? Netflix is roughly $8/month…that’s $96/year. Do you use Pandora One? That’s $4/month, which is $48/year. This basically gives you both of those things, plus TONS of other benefits for almost the same cost as Netflix alone!
But since this is a wedding blog, you might be wondering; Why is it worth it for the wedding alone?!
To answer that question, I did some research. First, I found 6 wedding-related items you may decide to purchase. I chose a cake topper, a garter set, a cake serving set, a pair of shoes, a facial moisturizer and sheet masks.
I found each one on Amazon, and found the exact same one on another site. Once you factor in the other sites price, plus their shipping cost, I literally saved over $130 on those six items alone!
OVER ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ON SIX ITEMS!!!!! Look, my Prime account just paid for itself (and then some) with only 6 purchases!!