Couple slammed for making guests pay for wedding

Once upon a time, it was the bride's parents who paid for a wedding; more recently, it's tended to be the happy couple themselves.

But according to one user of Mumsnet, there's a new way of financing the nuptials - collecting the cash surreptitiously from all the guests.

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Crummyfunnymummy took to the site to complain that she and her husband were invited to a wedding that ended up costing them £700. The three-day event was held at a large house, where the guests were to stay.

"I've just found out that hiring the venue cost her and her fiancé nothing! Because, she told another friend of ours, that they recouped the full cost of hiring the house through the money they collected from friends and family for the rooms!!!!," she says.

"In other words, the venue cost x amount and they just divided x by the number of bedrooms (about 15 in total) and charged all the couples who stayed 1/15th of the venue hire!!!!!"

Guests were asked to bring three different themed outfits - as well as their own wine. And adding insult to injury, the bride emailed guests after the event asking for another £10 per head, as minor damage meant the venue was hanging on to the £600 deposit.

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Other Mumsnet users agree that the couple was being grasping. But one said she'd come across the same thing.

"Friends of ours just told us that their 3 day wedding is in a castle next year, and they're planning to do what your friend did," writes Magicstar1.

"I explained how it's wrong and greedy, and people won't be happy. I hope they listen and think again."

And we recently reported on the US bride who sent a $75 bill to guests who had to pull out of the wedding when their childcare fell through. In that case, though, the no-shows had at least partly brought the problem on themselves.

Guest fails to show up to wedding: so bride sends a bill

So who should pay for a wedding?

In a recent YouGov survey, three quarters of people said they believed that the tradition of the bride's family paying should be dropped.

In fact, according to wedding website Hitched.co.uk, almost half of engaged couples get help from their parents, with just over a third saying they funded it all themselves. Only six percent said the bride's parents picked up the entire tab.

And many couples are asking guests to contribute to a honeymoon, rather than bring a traditional gift.

"With guests footing the bulk of the honeymoon bill, couples are free to spend the majority of the budget on the big day itself," says Hitched.co.uk editor Caroline Bradley.