It's just not right to ask other people to spend so much money!
126
I have two boys in college and in another decade when they hit the marrying stage, my advice to them is KEEP IT SIMPLE. They are both going to be entering a housing market that is out of control. Money spent on a wedding is much better spent on a down payment and starting a life together. Two years out barely anyone will remember their wedding. What they will remember is that they were able to get into a house and start a life together.
82
While vacationing in Montauk I saw a few bachelorette parties. I wondered outloud if the brides just happened to only have very thin friends or if the less thin ones weren't invited.
114
Weddings, and all the associated activities have gotten out of control. My younger self would've definitely wanted all of the things. My wiser 40 year old self declines wedding invites frequently bc I don't want to waste time and money for a college friend I haven't seen in person in 15 years.
49
This happens even in your 40's! A college friend who got married a week ago asked me and some other friends to host a bachelorette weekend in our city. (She lives in another state.) I was happy to oblige. I tried to plan a reasonably affordable but nice weekend. The bride wanted to have a spa day at a very fancy spa. I told her that I could not afford a day of spa treatments, but would be happy to meet up for breakfast, brunch, afternoon tea, cocktails, dinner, or whatever else would take place on the spa day. A couple days before the festivities were to take place, the bride told me that I wasn't invited to the bachelorette activities because I wasn't going to "spa day." She then informed me that I was still expected to drive her around, take her to lunch, and take her shopping the day after the spa day and let her stay at my home. I said no thank you. The bride became very angry and said I was making her "special day" all about me. I tried reasoning with her to no avail. I let her know that I would no longer be attending her destination wedding in a remote location. What a relief!
330
This from our 27 year old son, after being in three weddings in two years and out several thousands: “I’m not going to be in anyone else’s wedding or even go to a wedding unless they pay ME to go!” His going rate is $250.
That is a different millennial perspective!
124
Lifestyles of the wanna-be rich and famous? Losing friends to impress strangers on the internet?
Thanks but no thanks. I would rather have my friends and not all the debt.
96
It seems to me the simple solution is to delete one's Instagram (owned by Facebook) account.
Is is astonishing that so many otherwise sharp people allow themselves to be enslaved and / or impoverished by the need to present an artificial, unsustainable version of themselves in a sad attempt to trigger envy among one another.
86
Another cautionary article that assumes milennial women are deep in debt because they can't resist the froth of consumer culture. You know, like those articles that tote up how much money you'll waste over a lifetime of indulging in fancy coffee drinks at Starbucks. Ladies, just change a few bad habits and you'll be able to afford decent housing, transportation, graduate school, medical care, etc.
43
My wife and I were married on the bank of a river. No lavish parties. An intimate lunch afterwards. That was 42 years ago, and yes, we are still together. Shallow showing-off does not create real memories. Love does.
106
Every wedding I've been to has been memorable and fulfilled the social functions that a wedding needs to. Same with funerals for that matter. Costs for guests were minimal if the hosts could afford it. If not, budgets were kept tight to maximise participation.
Also I did a few months as a wedding videographer. It often felt like people were overspending, for no more fun than a cheaper wedding.
25
@Simon White, I notice you live in New Zealand and not New Jersey which may explain your experience.
22
I have never regretted not having an official bridal party (which is not uncommon in my circle of friends). The people I would have probably asked put together exactly what I wanted for a bachelorette (hanging out in a friend's apartment, drinking heavily, eating cake, and playing raunchy party games while I got my hands hennaed. When I needed a hand, they were also happy to help, probably in part because they could volunteer time/materials freely instead of by command. It also gave my various circles of friends a low-pressure opportunity to get to know each other. I highly recommend it.
28
I have declined several bachelorette parties, fortunately without any retribution from the brides to be. One party required taking several days off work in addition to the weekend! I was happy to attend the wedding since that was contained to a weekend, but vacation days are sparse and valuable -- I couldn't justify taking those days away from my family for a bachelorette where I'd be spending time in a foreign country with a group of girls who were 90% strangers to me.
It's also worth mentioning that if you're a light drinker (or you don't drink at all), these parties can be especially troublesome when you're (1) being peer-pressured to drink and/or harassed about declining to drink any more or drink anything (this has happened even in my 30s!), and (2) being on the hook for sharing enormous bills that are primarily inflated by the cost of alcohol, which you barely consumed or didn't consume. I can handle being around drunk people, and I know it's easier just to split bills, but I absolutely hate feeling bullied about my choice to limit my own alcohol consumption.
201
Just say NO. They'll get over it.
76
@Lim Just tell them you'll attend their next wedding.
187
Years ago I was astonished to learn a coworker and her husband had spent $10,000 that year on weddings. Newly married, when that money should of been a down payment on their first house. Glad to read some are now saying how much and no thanks. The bride that doesn't realize her friend can't afford all her desired extravagance is no real friend. And the brides that dump a friend, have no understanding of friendship. True friends are like my cousin who had all her bridesmaids buy dresses of their choice, they would wear again, not wasting money they couldn't afford on a dress they would immediately toss out.
64
I don't know if pity or disgust is my dominant response to this nonsense. Talk about mindless sheep....
118
I couldn’t agree more...
19
@MD I'm leaning toward disgust.
34
The most meaningful weddings that I've attended also happened to be the smallest and cheapest, including my sister's beautiful ceremony at City Hall in Cambridge, Mass. Why shake down your friends and family or start your marriage in debt?
65
The first clue that this was a wedding out of control was the 11 bridesmaids. Sheesh. Trashy, not classy anyway.
My husband and I funded 2 weddings in 9 months and gave each daughter the same amount to spend. It was a ridiculous amount by any standard but we could afford it. They wisely had fabulous but not crazy weddings for family and close friends.
My mantra to them was-"You see the lifestyle your parents have? It is precisely because we always lived below our means.. And those choices start now for you."
Charleston is chock full of these pre-wedding parties, many of which seem silly and expensive.
A simpler evening out together is plenty to garner any of the "positive social benefits" the other commenter promotes.
77
As the president of Ooh la la! France Wedding Planner based in Paris, I am totally on board with the writer’s point of view. If attending a bachelorette party under these dire financial and social conditions, it is best to take a pass. The event in this situation is all about the bride and Instagram envy, and not about friendship and love. A lovely dinner or tea hosted by the bride seems the most loving way to express thanks to friends and family for years of support and care.
66
@Rachel Kaplan And these are the same people who will soon be having inane "Reveal" parties and excessive birthday parties for 1 year old offspring.
God help us all!
144
"Millennials are even going broke to attend, and I’m one of them." Sorry, but are you bragging or expressing remorse?
24
A good friend of mine got married about 15 years ago. The bachelor party consisted of heading over to a local bowling alley. The only special cost was 25 bucks for a themed bowling shirt. It was a great time, we're still friends, and they're still married.
114
Amen and then some! What part of keeping up with The Jones haven’t we learned is just a big, Fahd, EXPENSIVE rat race?! I got caught in this trap over 20 years ago, before social media was even the fuss. Think exclusive private island, securing restaurant table reservations with a bottle of liquor for $300...and I kindly and humbly
declined to this acquaintance that it was out of my budget. Her response was to use mileage for a plane ticket for a few of us...which just made it worse. Yes, Thank you for that help, but I still can’t cough up $1500 for the rest of the weekend. Was it worth it? NO. 20 years later, I can say that the bride set the “bar high” and could not keep up with that $$ lifestyle either. Someone still has to pay the credit cards. I’m ALL about tradition, but in my book, if you choose an over the top wedding party, YOU foot the bill. Last but not least, do some of these folks really want the marriage or just the party that comes with the wedding?
53
@Tapped Out If your friend assumes you should impoverish yourself and damage your credit buying stuff and events for your friend's hoopla, that's a friend you can do without. If your "friend" tries to pressure you, tell the friend to "tell it all down at City Hall".
29
Exactly. Fortunately for me, my friends would have the opposite reaction I'm sure- "Joan, are you crazy? Tasteless and why follow the herd? You know none of have the money." Sorry but these are not friends. These are people pretending to be so.
29
All of this, for the addictive and instant gratification of “likes” from mostly strangers on Instagram. SIGH.
53
While the cost of bachelorette parties can sometimes and very often be excessive, I think this article fails to point out many benefits of the tradition.
Countless studies have shown that there are mental health benefits from spending time with female friends and nurturing those relationships. As we get older and become busy with careers and families, spending quality time with girl friends can be harder and harder to do. I think bachelorette parties are a great reason to get together with old friends, meet new ones and try new experiences together. Many times after attending a friend's bachelorette party, I leave feeling inspired, rejuvenated and less "alone" than when I arrived.
I see so many articles about how expensive bachelorette weekends claiming they are all a show for social media, but they rarely point out the positive benefits and aspects of the tradition.
I'd love to see an author discuss the pros of bachelorette parties, not just the cons.
6
@Leigh Maybe so, but it should be optional and if money is tight for anyone, as it is for many that age, either the bride should pay for everything or the event should be simple (a night out in town). Being in someone’s wedding party shouldn’t mean being forced to pay for a vacation or two.
55
@Leigh I didn't hear any criticism of the tradition or the party itself, just the arrogance of assigning absurdly high costs to your guests, who must then choose between friendship and fiscal responsibility.
97
@Leigh A sweet tradition gone off the rails is the point, I think.
57
From what I understand from talking with my parents, when they got married the convention was that big ticket items such as appeared on the registry were for older, more well-off friends of the bride and groom's parents. Now, it seems like registries are packed with expensive items and friends are also expected to shell out, on top of paying for travel to and from the wedding, maybe a hotel, maybe a bridal shower gift and bachelorette gift, plus paying something toward the bachelorette party.. I am attending my first bachelorette party soon and although it is in town, am contributing money plus have spent on all of the above. The only thing I do take umbrage with in criticism of 'bridezilla' is the occasional criticism of a bride and groom doing a wedding somewhere 'far' for some of the guests -- when it is the city where they live, or where one/both of them grew up. That is not and should not be considered a bothersome destination wedding; it is a reality of a more globalized society where one or more people in a couple may live away from their families and some of their friends. Other than that, I agree with everything in the article and broader criticisms. When I get married, I plan to have a brunch a day or two before and leave it at that.
16
My husband and I did a joint bachelor/ette party. We rented a house in upstate NY and it cost $250 per person for the whole weekend (travel, food, housing, drinks). My friends still say it’s one of the most fun trips they’ve had: no bottle service, no expensive flights, no matching clothing. Just friends getting together and having a great time. Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be about?
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Because these are true friends and not paying actors in a momentary post .
26
@Stephanie I like your style! very cool!
11
This behavior is so stupid as well as superficial and self destructive. What's wrong with you all? And what does this say about your other decisions re having children, jobs, education, housing? Use your minds!
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The events leading up to weddings have become excessive. Years ago showers were small gatherings of close friends and family in a home or club of a friend of the bride’s family. Today they have become huge affairs usually given by immediate family as the expense is too great for a bridal party. Gifts have gone from toasters and oven mitts to what use to be high ticket items the brides mother would buy for her. Weddings have followed suit with elaborate three day get aways. My generation didn’t have bachelorette parties, but now they are mini vacations for the bridal party to suck up and attend. Thankfully, my daughter has very understanding friends. Every wedding she has attended, the brides understood she didn’t have the time away from work or the funds to be in the wedding and also go on a mini bachelorette holiday! If your friend dismisses you because you couldn’t afford the extras, she is not a friend and you are better off!
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I think it's the bridal magazine/website industry causing most of this. You know I love my daughter. She looked at one or two bridal magazines/sites for a 'few ideas.' The next thing I knew, she decided it would be 'fun' if I got a pedicure with her future mother-in-law from the West Coast whom I had never met.
I'm not a pedicure person. I do polish my toenails (Lincoln Park After Dark), but that's about it. I know so little about pedicures, I didn't realize I'd need open shoes to get out of the place and had to walk home in those paper sandals the Pedicure Palace provided.
My daughter paid for this. She and her fiance paid for the entire wedding. I don't have much of an income. Still I needed to buy a dress (for sale, if you're interested) and rent a room (beach wedding).
I just couldn't relax. I'm an old hippie. No one had ever asked me if I'd 'thought about what I was going to do with my hair.' I wash it and braid it. I don't 'think' about it.
Because of the 'fun' suggestions of the bridal industry, I couldn't relax. I forgot to wear earrings, so I had to borrow spare pink pearl earrings from a bridesmaid. I've never worn pearl earrings in my life. This all sounds trivial, but I used to be fine as a mom and then because of some kind of bridal industry hypnotism/brain-wash, I was a totally inadequate loser mom.
I sucked it up for the 'special' day. My daughter would be surprised if she read this. Her recollection would be totally different. Que sera.
221
The writer is lucky is only cost her $675. That bridezilla was actually not a friend. Had she attended the "festivities" at the bachelorette party it would've been far more good money thrown away.
Over the past few years I have observed my offspring and their friends get sucked into pre wedding destination weekends that are not only very expensive but also heavy booze and nightclub cruising events. Nobody wants to say no for fear of "hurting" the bride's (or groom's- they are doing the same crazy stuff) feelings or going against current social norms. After the last one, my offspring was thrilled to leave early after offering a reasonable excuse to support the choice
39
No big loss in cutting ties with that friend, it seems to me.
49
Just another example of how social media is making us all miserable.
We're supposed to grow out of this mindset in middle school - there was always a richer kid, a kid who had it all - but then you grow up, gain some perspective and realize you are in control of how enriching you find your own life.
59
Backyard wedding + vintage store or family heirloom bridal gown + home cooked or pot luck food (the latter substituting for gifts) + small number of attendants wearing dresses and suits they already own + no bachelor or bachelorette parties + no wedding shower + no going into debt = potentially happy, long-lasting, financially stable marriage.
Young couples should use their money for the downpayment on a house; paying off student loans; saving for children and retirement, not Instagram-inspired fantasies, bridal industry profiteering, and social one-upmanship. Their true friends will both respect and thank them.
165
Substitute dining room for backyard & you’ve described our wedding day! Relaxing and easy.
27
The Husband and I were married by a Justice Of the Peace, on a weekend off. We were both serving in the US Army, and were in the same training course, after Basic Training. The cost: 10 Dollars for a license, a Twenty Dollar fee to the JP, and about 40 dollars for my dress. A white, cotton gauze, flowing hippie dress, by Gunne Sax. Photos were free, taken by fellow soldier with that hobby. He and one other guy were witnesses. Guess what ??? We’re still married, 41 years later. Wow.
Unscientific, but I’ve noticed that the more Money spent on Weddings and associated festivities, the greater likelihood of D-I-V-O-R-C-E. And we knew one another for three months, before getting married. When you know, you know.
Best wishes.
55
I agree with your conclusion. I think it’s because “bridezillas” & “groomzillas” are inherently selfish, which makes for a lousy spouse. People who consider others as more than just background filler and disposable income understand the give and take that is required in a marriage. When the first emotion others have toward you is resentment, all the “likes” in the world won’t keep you company.
19
The world is facing a climate crisis and whole bridal parties are flying around the world for BACHELORETTE PARTIES! A young friend told us recently there was a bridal party from Birmingham, England at the trendy destination spot in trendy bachelorette party destination Austin, Texas, where her own party from New York (bad enough) had flown. I suppose, after all, New York is no place to throw a decent party. C'mon, millenials! I thought you were concerned about the climate. Air travel is one of the worst carbon culprits and cruise ships are the worst, so please think about what you are doing. For a bachelorette party. Shameful!
65
I stay in town for the wedding. You want to go to some exotic locale? Do it on your honeymoon.
36
Yes! It's so obvious. Weddings now require all guests cough up time and money to go on what used to be others' honeymoons.
14
How rude of the bride to cut you off after you'd already laid out cash, but more than that. This is getting beyond social awkwardness into actionable legal situations like promissory estoppel. Which is silly.
40
Well, thanks for explaining to me -- a boomer oldster -- my millennial niece's strange (to me) "bachelorette" party --documented on Facebook and Instagram -- a WEEK LONG trip to California, in luxury digs, with spa treatments and attending a musical festival. It was so elaborate, it had a NAME -- a pun on the niece's name and "Coachella" -- and logo-themed accoutrements like all the girls having matching caps and t-shirts.
Since none of them lived on the West Coast, this involved cross country plane tickets, hotels and B&Bs, spas, fancy restaurants -- it had to have cost $1000+ per girl. And this was ON TOP OF two very elaborate wedding showers in two cities, and the wedding itself, which was "Instagram fabulous" (and filmed like a romantic rock music video!), AND a luxurious Caribbean honeymoon.
Nobody involved here is particularly wealthy -- upper middle class parents perhaps -- and my niece and her husband are still living in an apartment. Just the roughest estimate of the wedding festivities would made for a nice downpayment on a small house or condo! (and those poor, poor bridesmaids)
72
@Concerned Citizen $1000/each is a really conservative estimate... Tickets to Coachella alone start at ~$500.
22
I weekend in Palm Springs where hoards of bachelorette parties gather to invade gay bars dressed alike taking photos and loudly take over restaurants as if they were toddlers at a Chucky Cheese birthday. My friends and I speculate that the fiancees and boyfriends are less threatened by bachelorette parties here among gay men and older tourists than say Vegas where younger bros hang more readily and Chippendales strippers ply their trade. Are we the safe low rent bachelorette destination? Probably for those in SoCal, yes. Do we want you here? No, please go to Vegas or Disneyland instead. And ladies FYI: gay bars are not the zoo you go to for bachelorette fun with your shrill friends. Have some respect for the habitat you enter.
138
Facts. The co-opting of queer/trans spaces by the straight/cis for the purposes of “fun and frivolity” has GOT to stop. Whether it’s the local bar or it’s Pride, my fellow straights have got to have more respect. These spaces are about their lives, not ours.
57
This industry knows how to cater to insecure Millennials eager to live an ‘gram worthy life. Get a real life ladies!
27
1) Any bride who would insist on this mess is not a friend, no matter how long you've known them. 2) This particular conflict has become a friendship break-point rite-of-passage over the last thirty years or so. If I had a buck for every one of these I've either heard or read about, I could throw fifty destination weddings.
31
So glad I eloped. I highly recommend it.
40
Financially responsible adults don't let other people manipulate them into buying things that they cannot afford. Have priorities and say "No." If the person really cares, she will change her plans so that you can afford to participate. If a social media display matters more than her friends, then you know where you stand.
88
Is it really that hard to say no? I’ve said no to all but two requests to be a bridesmaid. Including my roommate of all 4 years of college and my childhood bestie of 21 years. Everyone’s still my friend. A good friend would not want you to have undue financial hardship. Learn to say no or get better friends. Anything else and you’re fuelling the social expectation around this.
116
27 years ago, me and my husband eloped. Best decision ever. Then our friends, my family and his family all threw us separate receptions because they were all in three different places. Since we were already married, we let them plan it all. So no arguments about anything. I highly recommend it. I always wanted to be married, but not get married.
100
Exactly!
8
@Janice
My husband and I did the same. The savings were part of a down payment we put on our home.
13
It is not possible to surf the internet without coming across an article bemoaning the fact that millennials can't afford student loans, down payments on houses, cars and children. Perhaps this article sheds some light on the subject.
52
Yep being a member of a bridal party for couple hundred bucks is why i can't afford a house or kid, not the fact that health care and education costs are wildly outpacing inflation.
94
@Nana2roaw: that and drinking super-expensive Starbucks coffee drinks like they were free water at a drinking fountain -- $7 for a Mocha-chino? oh and a $1000 iPhone X?
Sorry, no pity from this old boomer.
24
@Eye Roll It's not a couple of hundred bucks, as this article makes clear. It's a thousand bucks or more, and it's not just once. Your peers tend to do everything at the same time in life, so you can find yourself, as a young friend of mine is, attending nine weddings in one year.
Then there's your own wedding. The madness spreads. It's like rabies.
56
I'm amazed at how many brides are willing to let perfectly good friendships die for the sake of having a "perfect" wedding. It seems actually insane.
254
@Laura: I wholeheartedly agree. And the author here is either being awfully polite or obtuse, if she is not BURNING MAD FURIOUS at a "friend" who cost her $675 in lost deposits and then DUMPED her out of the wedding party!
That is no friend, and you are well rid of her.
68
@Laura, on some level, brides like this figure getting married makes them so much better than everyone--especially their female friends. Now that they're couple, they've "outgrown" or don't need friends who aren't married.
30
They aren't good friends and/or don't know the meaning of friendship
15
I was in 7 weddings after college in the 80s. My friends just wanted a nice wedding. When my turn came I did them all a favor and went to the Justice of the Peace. Getting to the weddings and the dresses taxed my budget at that time of my life. I always thought bachelor parties and showers were ridiculous. I turned down all invitations and sent a modest present.
56
As a bridesmaid, our daughter has experienced the ridiculous financial expectations set by some of her friends. As a result, her vision for her future wedding is simpler, smaller and more thoughtful of others’ budgets.
48
People need to give themselves permission to not cater to this kind of behavior the author talks about, regardless of how long they’ve been friends with the individuals getting married.
It’s completely insane to expect that the people in your life should be willing to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to celebrate your marriage. It’s indicative of a kind of pathological level of self-absorption on the part of the bride, groom, and the couple as a whole.
I’m a millennial and I’ve seen and experienced this dynamic that the author talks about countless times at this point.
These same status conscious, social media loving couples are also the ones that like to saturate their Instagram and Facebook feeds with happy, shiny photos of themselves, especially when their relationship starts to go down the tubes, which they inevitably do at some point, because their priorities are so out of whack.
No is a completely sentence. Also, getting off social media altogether and not wasting your time living in virtual reality has a way of filtering out these kinds of toxic relationships out of your life.
190
@Bmk5891, yep. Marriage to these folks is just another happy shiny image to be posted--not a relationship that requires give and take--and common sense.
15
@Bmk5891: my impression is these vapid, self-absorbed types think of themselves as STARS in a movie about THEIR OWN LIVES.
That's why everybody else is relegated to a "supporting role" and should just be happy to be in a few background photos.
That kind of superficiality, selfishness and immaturity has to be the kiss of death to a good marriage.
I am also amazed that no PARENTS, especially moms, put their foot down -- if my mom had known I DUMPED a friend out of my wedding party, after stiffing the friend for $675.....she would have read me the riot act.
99
This is not new! Well before social media, I was dis-invited from the wedding party of a former friend for daring to suggest that her dreamed-of Vegas bachelorette party during finals week probably wasn't feasible for her group of grad student friends on tight budgets and with papers to grade. She didn't even buy back my dress. We no longer speak. I suspect the driving need for the Vegas trip was to keep up with her own husband's stag party in Europe with 10+ bros. Not sure if they're together anymore...
121
Agree it’s not new! I didn’t lose any friendships over wedding parties, but I remember being asked to spend $350 on a bridesmaid dress and being shocked. My friend came from a wealthy family and didn’t have the courtesy to remember that I didn’t. I was in a job making 8.50 per hour. The whole thing was a hardship. I was happy of course to scrape together the money on the plane ticket but I think it’s rude to expect your wedding party to incur more costs than that.
59
I, too, lost a friendship over a bachelorette party over 25-years ago. I was just out of grad school, on a beginning teacher’s salary, and my friend expected all of her friends to take off two days from work and fly to LA for a long weekend of drinking and dining.
I told her I was not financially in a position to attend, but that I hoped everyone had a good time. I was disinvited from the wedding. I didn’t hear from her for nearly 20 years until she connected with me through—what else—social media. She was on her second marriage at that point.
While social media may be new, bridezillas certainly aren’t.
108
@Phillyskeptic: it is the HEIGHT of selfishness to demand your college-age friends -- likely broke, paying off loans and struggling -- must shell out $1000 or more on transportation, hotels, clothes, GIFTS, meals, plane tickets and so on -- and THEN have to buy a fancy bridesmaid dress (usually hideous and unflattering, so you don't upstage the bride!) that can NEVER BE WORN AGAIN.
IMHO: unless the bride or her family is willing to PAY for the bridesmaid's dresses (and shoes and flowers and headpieces, etc)....then you simply ask everyone to wear the same color or complimentary colors, or a dress they already have. There is no law anywhere that you must have a troop of identically dressed pals going down the aisle -- at THEIR OWN expense.
No real friend would ask this of you.
61
I’d just like to thank Ms. Picton-James for writing this. Tales of rejecting the wedding industrial complex and brides and grooms gone wild are among my favorite modern social commentaries. It’s a world I can’t imagine, but given the growing canon of literature on the topic, these people who feel completely entitled to spend other people’s money simply because they’re getting married (which is not that big a deal — many get through life quite happily without doing it while others marry multiple unhappy times), are legion!
113
@An American: wish I had a dollar for every "friend" who put their pals through all this, for a giant Bridezilla event .... and then two years later, are divorced. Then want to REMARRY and do it all again -- with NO SHAME about asking everyone to pony up a second time!
32
25 years ago, a good friend asked me to be in her wedding. The wedding required a plane ticket, hotel, dress, rental car. She even had an appointment for my hair and nails that wast at my expense. I had just started the job hunt after graduate school and was living on peanuts. I told her I simply could not afford it.
I am no longer friends with the bride. I assume the author is not longer friends w/ her bride either.
Social media or no social media, some friendships do not survive wedding planning and some brides still need to learn the hard way that the wedding and wedding festivities pale in importance to the actual marriage and lasting friendships..
238
Maybe some enterprising startup will offer a complete-future package at a substantial discount: bachelorette party, wedding, gender-reveal party, four-year college degree, and funeral. That idea might not turn out to be very practical, but success would come in selling subscriptions on Facebook (a well-hidden disclaimer would take care of the nasty legalities).
54