My question to the various multitudes is this: How do I pay for my brother's wedding?

My brother is getting married at the end of July in Eugene, OR. We live in Chicago. We're looking at airfare for 2, at least two nights of lodging and a rental car. By my math, we're looking at close to $1500 for those 3 days.

We'll be paying off our last credit card about a week before we leave. The only active card we have has a $500 limit, so even the option of putting it on the card and paying it in full before the next due date is not really available. Pretty much the only other liquid assets we have are about $1500 in a savings account, which is the start of our emergency fund.

We've been looking on-line and it seems that a B&B may actually be cheaper than any of the hotels that have reviews that dont' mention rodents or bodily fluids, but airfare and the car are the biggest issues I'm seeing.

Any ideas.

Moydd, are you wanting to fly into Eugene or into Portland? I have friends in Eugene who may have some ideas for cheap lodging. I'll ping them and see what they have to say...

There aren't any friends/family in town that you can stay with?

No friends or family, the next closest friends are in LA.

We're probably looking to fly into Portland then drive to Eugene. Looks cheaper so far. But we're pretty flexible.

Have you checked out Southwest? I'd also shop around for rental cars...

With some more facts I am willing to do some research here in Eugene.
What day are you coming in?
Do you have a general price range?
Does shag carpet bother you as long as it is clean?
Do you want to be within staggering distance of the bachelor party?

Your GRS Travel Agent in Eugene
you get what you pay for!

Try staying at a hostel or in summer time accommodation at the university.

Would it be cheaper/possible to fly to Eugene and not hire a car? I have no idea what the town is like, but if there are other family in, you might be able to share cars and/or walk and/or get a cab if necessary. A combination of those might work out cheaper.

If you have unlimited time I'm tempted to suggest getting a Greyhound bus. Its cheap and can be an interesting experience, even if it will take a ridiculously long time.

If it's your brother's wedding, I'm assuming that other family will be in town.

Could you do four-person occupancy in one of the hotels with another relative and spouse? If they have suite-style rooms, you could get a fridge and buy some food for breakfast and such, and not be tripping over each other. Even if you just got the basic double-double, you could still get by for the weekend (although you wouldn't be able to store as much food).

If that doesn't work, consider places that price in the continental breakfast, and grab an extra piece of fruit or two for the day.

Thanks for all the tips. The wedding is the 28th of July. We'll probably come in Thursday evening or Friday morning. I have lots of vacation time available, but my wife does not. We can sleep just about anywhere, but we prefer sanitary. We've been talking about sharing space with my father and step-mother, but they're technically still newlyweds themselves. So doors would be good. We've also looked at vacation homes, which, when split 4 ways look to be about the same price as a hotel, but with a kitchen.

As far as location, I'm used to walking a half-mile to the train everyday to get to work, so I it were reasonable to not use a car, I'd go for it. I understand that Eugene has decent public transit, so if that'll get us where we need to be we can probably swing it. We were orignially looking to make this a vacation, but I think we're saving that until September for our 5th anniversary, so we're willing go push "frugal" into "cheap" for this trip. I'll see what info I can find about the university housing as well.

If it helps any of you who are familiar with the area, the wedding is at the Owen Rose Garden.

Here are a sone centrally located motels near the Rose Garden. These no-frills motels appear well maintained and do not typically have any loitering around the sidewalks. The location is "unappealing" but is a functional safe location. If you want to pay more for location I can review the higher priced sites if you wish.

These are clean and close the Rose Garden. 6th Street is a 2-lane street that is a primary East to West route through Eugene. From a Eugene point of view it gets "rougher" 3 to 6 blocks west of these motels. I have walked in Chicago's neighborhoods and you may find this area to be very tame. The bus gets within 5 blocks of the Rose Garden. Walks to "good" food and spirits would be 20-minutes. Taxi's are "expensive" in Eugene because of the low supply and demand.

Best Value Inn
1140 W. 6th Ave. Eugene, OR 97402 (about 8 Eugene blocks South of the Rose Garden)
http://www.bestvalueinneugene.com/ (the web site is more attractive than the property, but I believe the interior pictures)

Courtesy Inn (I set my parents up here once)
345 W. 6th Ave Eugene, OR 97402 (about the same hoof as the Best Value Inn)
http://www.courtesyinneugene.com/

Econo Lodge (OR150) (Same Area)
1190 West 6th Avenue , Eugene, OR, US, 97402
Phone: (541) 342-7273 Fax: (541) 743-2312
http://www.choicehotels.com/ires/en-US/ ... y_code=XXX

Express Inn & Suites (Same locale and new)
990 W. 6th Avenue, Eugene OR 97402
541-686-1520

I think the best suggestions so far are to share whatever you can with family.

Check out a fairly new (I think) website - www.farecast.com - that currently predicts the fare from ORD to PDX will be going down. The site can also help you choose between that Thursday evening or Friday morning arrival.

Interestingly, to me, Farecast is run by a University of Oregon Economist here in Eugene.

I'd also check out www.kayak.com and www.sidestep.com as flight comparison websites.