Most people aren’t made of money, and although many of us do splurge on certain things (shoes, Ben and Jerry’s, earrings, Starbucks, CDs, etc.), most of the time we keep our spending within our budget. Even when it comes to our wedding.
Groomasaurus Gal and I wanted to have a wedding that is a bit out of the ordinary and that allowed all our friends and family to really relax and enjoy the time with each other. Thus we hatched up our plan to have a destination wedding in Mexico. However, knowing that budgets are tight these days, we have taken advantage of quite a few timeshare weeks that my family has stored up so that most people won’t have to pay for their room for the week; they just have to cover their airfare and food. And because the rooms all have kitchens, our guest can eat in if they like and save more money.
Simply put, we didn’t want to make people have to opt out of our wedding because they couldn’t afford it. I bring this up because today we were talking with a friend and she mentioned she was going to be a bridesmaid next weekend (1 of 9) in an over-the-top wedding that is costing its participants quite a bit of coin, with expensive dresses, flights, lodging in downtown Boston, 4 days of events (many of which are at extra cost to the participants/attendees), etc. Our friend couldn’t even attend the bridal shower/bachlorette party because it was going to cost each individual around $2k to attend.
Now, some people can afford these things, and if that’s you, more power to you. But if you know not everyone who you invite can afford all this, then why plan something that is instantly going to make people you care about feel left out. It ticked me off a bit when I heard about this, because I feld bad for our friend, and it made me think of what’s really important at a wedding: being able to share the moment with the people you care about most. When money starts to screw that up, it’s time to reassess.
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