I really needed that!

Our hotel for the Florida wedding has a private beach, and they charge $250 to use it as a wedding site.

The original hotel we were going to stay at (yeah, we switched to a nicer hotel that was charging the same rate) didn't have a private beach, so there was no charge to use it.

I'd asked the people at the new hotel if there was any way we could get a lesser fee since we were having a smaller ceremony -- and since the other hotel wasn't going to charge us. I was told that they charged to use the beach because it's private. The total was set.

The hotel was going to work with us on a backup location in case there was rain, which the other hotel couldn't do, so I justified the $250 fee in my mind based on that.

Well, I talked to the hotel wedding person today about some other details and about reserving our beach. I had said nothing to her about the price, so I was really surprised when she told me that since the other hotel wasn't going to charge us -- and since all we were using was the beach (no setup on their part) -- they would bump our price down to $50. She knocked $200 off the price!

In my mind, that means my dress (and then some!) was free! (MLIB logic: If my dress was <$200 and we get $200 knocked off the beach price, then the dress is free.)

With the stress of planning two weddings at once and trying to choose between reception sites, this was the kind of surprise I needed today!