Staying safe while online shopping for the big day!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of CHASE. The opinions and text are all mine. 

One of the biggest things to stress about while planning a wedding is money. Sadly, a day that special relies heavily on some sort of a budget. Whether big or small, this day is tied to a number.

As you all know by now, my fiance’ and I decided to get married this Fall and we actually wanted to! Not only because we have a lot going on in the first half of the year (family birthdays, anniversaries, etc), but also because we think it’s one of the best seasons. Our venue had an AMAZING off-season rate and that was the reason we decided to book Villa Woodbine. The house is incredible and they take care of absolutely everything from catering to valet. They even provide a beautiful clear tent with A/C, which in Miami is an absolute steal!

Another way to save money for a Fall wedding is by buying most of the stuff you want or need online, but you have to be careful! Many sites have gorgeous things, but you should always double-check how reliable the site, and even the seller, is. I was head over heels over some geometric vases that I just had to have for my wedding. I found the inspiration on Pinterest but none of the pins had the information for where to get them, so I decided to google it. One thing led to another and I ended up on a pretty sketchy website that had the vases I wanted, but something didn’t feel quite right. I reached out to the seller to see if I could get some sort of a discount since I needed to purchase ten vases. They replied about twelve hours later and were extremely pushy. That was one of my biggest red flags! I want the seller to want my business and be nice, but when they are too pushy, something is shady.

I learned my lesson and decided to stick to trustworthy websites like Etsy, and even there I decided that for wedding stuff I was going to only purchase from US sellers. I went to more lengths by checking out the stuff I wanted online and then going to the store to purchase it. I’m the kind of person who needs to touch and see the quality of what I am buying, ESPECIALLY for an important event like my wedding. Even in the stores, it’s always better to use the chip on your card and the chip reader instead of swiping it. Check out some other tips by Brittney Castro and Chase to protect against fraud on the video below or by visiting the Chase Anti-Fraud site.

I’m a big advocate for shopping online because I hate malls, but wedding shopping taught me that a pretty picture can be deceiving. You really don't know who is on the other side of the transaction. You have to make your financial security a priority. After all, you don’t want to ruin your wedding or start your marriage by having fraudulent transactions on your bank account. Or worse, having your identity stolen!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of CHASE. The opinions and text are all mine.