Wedding is a momentous event, which we all want to celebrate with our loved ones by our side. While families go all out and dig deep in their pockets to host high-octane wedding events, it's equally exciting for the guests to be a part of the celebrations, food being one of the major attractions. But imagine if you are invited to a wedding where you have to pay for the meals; would it put a damper on your plans? A bride-to-be might actually do it. She is contemplating asking her wedding guests to pay for the dinner in lieu of gifts, and as soon as the news broke out online, the users had their own opinions about it.
The bride-to-be took to Facebook to look for answers to her dilemma, and the same was posted on the Reddit group 'r/weddingshaming' with the caption, 'Bride fails to budget appropriately, wants her guests to pay for her reception.' The woman had written in the post, "Did anyone ask their guests to pay for their meals? Everything is so expensive at the moment. We're either going to postpone our October wedding, cancel the guest part or ask our guests to pay for their meals in lieu of gifts. I've sent the invites out so not sure how we'd go about it. Please help. I'm stressed and sad."
Take a look at the post:
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The Reddit post evoked emotions of the users, many of whom were surprisingly in favour of the bride-to-be's decision. They left comments like:
"Personally if I was asked to pay for my food within reason instead of a gift I would be really happy with that. So long as that was the understanding from the start. Some people just want to spend the day with their family and friends I see no issue with that."
"Exactly what I was going to say. Not a terrible deal if meals are in a reasonable price range and gifts aren't expected. I'd be okay with it."
"I agree. I would've been totally fine with going to a wedding like this. She's basically saying, "I'd rather have you at my wedding than any material gifts."
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Some people admitted experiencing a similar situation:
One user wrote, "That's what my dad did at his wedding, on the invite it said no gifts but please pay for your meal."
Another user shared, I'm going to a wedding in a few months, on the invitation it said we would have to pay around $450 for it because it was four days out in the mountains with lodging (in a beautiful resort, room to myself) and meals included. I had no problem signing up for it because when am I going to get that good of deal any other time. No gifts were asked for unless you wanted to (everything I got them was under $20)."
"My sister did this; they had an established house and didn't need anything, so in lieu of a gift we paid $55 for the meal and drinks. I loved it because we're not super close and I wouldn't know what to get them anyway!"
"It's actually kind of the Hungarian tradition to cover your part for the wedding and the reception as a gift. I'm getting married in 2 weeks and we expect to get back about 40-60% of the costs as gifts from our guests. Easy for the guests, considerate for the young couple (as we are paying for it ourselves, not the parents)."
But, obviously there were some detractors who quite not agreed with these terms. They wrote comments like:
"They really should have the wedding they can afford. It's extremely tacky to ask guests to pay for their meals.
"I mean you can have a small potluck backyard wedding. I don't think it's cool to ask people to essentially pay a fee to attend a wedding venue though."
Would you mind paying for a wedding meal, if you ever have to? Share your thoughts here.
About Neha GroverLove for reading roused her writing instincts. Neha is guilty of having a deep-set fixation with anything caffeinated. When she is not pouring out her nest of thoughts onto the screen, you can see her reading while sipping on coffee.