The Rising Costs of Being A Wedding Guest

The newspaper headline said, “It’s getting pricier to be a wedding guest.” Naturally I had to read it.

Why is it getting pricier? The article didn’t really say, other than citing wedding gifts, travel to the wedding locale, attire, and other wedding related festivities. But haven’t those expenditures always been linked to attending a wedding in some shape or form?

It also cites that weddings used to be community affairs where friends and family members took care of the food, photos, music, etc. So how does this really affect what it costs to attend a wedding?

While the article doesn’t give any clear explanation, think of it this way . . .

Where the wedding is held

Weddings were community affairs as the bride and groom were often from (and possibly still lived in) the same town, as did their families and friends. Everyone knew everyone. Meaning . . . the wedding took place where everyone was.

Fast forward to today . . .

College and job prospects now take the bride and groom away from the towns where they grew up. So, where to have the wedding? The bride’s home town? The groom’s? Maybe the town where they currently live? Either way, many people will have to travel beyond just driving across town.

So if they have to travel anyway, why not a destination wedding?

Travel = airfare and lodging. An expenditure that didn’t exist in the times of “community affair” weddings.

Gifts from the wedding guests

The article also shares a couple views of increasing costs of wedding gifts that I can only explain as faulty logic:

1. Your gift should be “equivalent to how well you’re wined and dined” by the bride and groom.

Um, no.

Your gift is a GIFT. Merriam-Webster defines ‘gift’ as “a thing given willingly to someone without payment.” What you choose to give the couple is not compensation for what they paid for their event.

2. “People instinctively knew what a couple needed to start housekeeping.”

Guess what. People still know this. They haven’t forgotten. However, couples are typically older and have established a household already by the time they get married. They have pots and pans, tablecloths, bed linens and whatnot needed to “start housekeeping.”

Is it getting pricier to be a wedding guest. Absolutely. The dynamics of weddings have changed.

But then again isn’t everything (groceries, filling the gas tank, seeing a movie, . . .)?

Hearts, Joy, Love!
Jean

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