Asking guests to shell out over $250 AUD to attend a wedding sounds like it could be the latest horror in a long line of 2017 wedding horror stories, but the logic here kind of makes sense.
A couple in the UK have devised what many consider to be a bit of a cheeky plan to help make their wedding dreams come true.
They’re asking their guests to chip in for the wedding costs, at £150 a head (and yes, that includes the children in attendance).
But this isn’t going to be any ordinary wedding – the groom explains it’s “more an all-inclusive holiday” with pre-wedding payment buying a three-night stay in the lush Knockerdown Cottages in Derbyshire, UK.
Speaking to the BBC, the groom, Ben Farina, explained he came up with his wedding business model before he popped the question to bride-to-be Clare Moran.
“I knew her reaction would be ‘we can’t afford to get married’ so I started showing her how we could.”
The couple has been together for three years and have one a daughter together.
Friends and family apparently see no problem with the plan, 60 adults and 20 children have already paid a deposit to attend.
Ben’s wedding business model
Ben shared his business model with the BBC.
The wedding venue, Knockerdown Cottages in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, is charging £10,000
There will be 60 adult guests and guests are paying £150 each – a total of £9,000
Parents will pay £50 for each of the 20 children attending – a total of £1,000
The groom’s mother is paying £750 for a hog roast on the day of the wedding. His father is also giving £500
The couple are spending about £2,000 of their own money, which will cover alcohol, food, the wedding dress, bridesmaids dresses and cheap suits for the groom and best men
The couple are buying alcohol from a supermarket for the wedding day itself, and guests can bring along their own alcohol to drink over the weekend
Mr Farina’s stepfather, who works as a chef, is cooking a Sunday roast for guests the day after the wedding and a family friend has offered to be the wedding singer
Having previously spent over £500 to attend a destination wedding themselves, the couple sees no problem with their plan.
We tend to agree, when you think about the amount you can spend on a wedding the costs are often will into the $300 region, at least this couple are being upfront about it.
They are set to wed in June.
