Would you consider charging your guests to attend your wedding? Well, one couple has stirred up controversy by requesting their guests to pay $65 (a little over 50 pounds) to be part of their special day.
The situation was shared on Reddit by a friend who received an invitation to the wedding. The invite presented three RSVP options. Guests could opt to attend the full day, incurring a $65 fee, or choose to attend the ceremony only, which was free of charge. As per the poster, the fee was intended to cover expenses for food, music, decorations, and the venue.
“The evening before the wedding, they also have a dinner which you need to pay for (don’t remember the price but cheaper than attending the wedding). If you want to sleep over at the venue, you need to pay around 100 dollars (I’m not in the US so the conversion is not entirely accurate). This applies both for the night between the pre-dinner and wedding day, and the night after the wedding. So that would be 200 dollars in total.”
The post read, “I guess these prices are more OK since nobody is forcing you to attend that dinner and/or sleeping over. But if I’m INVITED to a wedding I shouldn’t have to pay to attend the actual wedding?!”
“On top of that, they have a page where you can choose to contribute with money towards a gift. You have different options like cooking class, dance class, a trip, etc. It says “gifts are not needed but welcome”. But WHO would pay for a gift after they have to pay to attend the wedding? Since it’s a norm to give a gift I think many people are gonna feel forced to give one anyway. In my country we’re all about politeness and not causing a ‘bad atmosphere’, as we call it,” the OP continued.
The individual who shared the information on Reddit also mentioned that there was a pre-wedding dinner planned for the evening before the wedding. Additionally, they noted that the venue’s overnight stay cost approximately £100 per night.
“If a guest were to attend every single thing and contribute with money to a gift it would cost a guest AT LEAST 300 dollars. I don’t know what it’s like in other countries but where I live that’s a lot to pay to be a guest at a wedding. And on top of that, you also have to pay for a dress and shoes if you don’t already have some so it could even be closer to 400+ dollars,” they wrote.
The friend added that despite having a longstanding friendship, she had decided not to attend the wedding.
“The thing is, I KNOW they have money. My friend inherited a lot of money from her grandma in advance, they have a house, her fiancé is an engineer, they have a boat, and they are currently renovating their house. I also suspect that they actually can afford both the renovation and the wedding, but they are probably just trying to play it smart and make the guests contribute because as I said, I’ve always known she’s cheap. And I’m also questioning if their gift solution will actually go to said gift, or if it’s just another contribution to more renovations of their house. She has also told me that her goal is to be rich,” they added.
“It’s just unfortunate because we’ve been friends for 12 years and it’s sad to only be able to attend the ceremony because I absolutely refuse to pay.”
Other Redditors expressed considerable astonishment at the bride’s decision. One person commented on the post, stating, “This is so beyond tacky and tasteless. I hope she gets roasted for it.”
Another individual remarked, “How can you be so cheap and tacky?”
A third person added, “I need to hear how many people actually show up to this wedding.”
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Source: Reddit
