bella debate
A bride and groom have sparked debate after considering asking their guests to pay for their own dinner because of a tight budget. So, we ask…
No
Thinking back to my wedding in September 2022, I have memories of the guests all laughing at the speeches from the tables where they had enjoyed a banquet of roast beef and chicken with all the trimmings. It wasn’t cheap – event food never is. But the idea of charging guests seems as hilarious to me as the gags in those speeches. “Hey, come to our wedding – it’ll cost you to eat, though!”.
If you’re charging guests for food, what next – a pound for every DJ request? Asking them to pay the coach driver returning them to their hotel at the end of the night?
I understand that there is a budget to stick to, but I believe that if you invite people, you need to fuel them – food is a huge part of the celebration and to limit that seems very strange to me.
Having a wedding is a huge deal – you’re saying “celebrate with us”.
Guests will be paying for travel, most likely accommodation, outfits, and even gifts.
It’s easy to say that gifting “pays back” in some way for the cost of a wedding (we asked for “donations to our honeymoon” for example). But that then becomes open to the person who is giving.
I have always enjoyed the food element of weddings – how couples can use food to say something about themselves, the social element of bringing together guests who might otherwise never have chatted. To charge for that negates the joy of the day.
Yes
