Will your wedding cost your friends?

Taken from wedbykez.com

I recently noticed on a friends facebook a comment about the expense she was paying to be a bridesmaid in a wedding.

The bride was obviously wanting a particular dress that cost $495 dollars US ($586.70 AUD). Now I don’t know about most people but $500 + on a dress is not something I would normally consider unless a) The Dress made me look like Angelina Jolie or b) it was the most important day of MY life.

As a bride you spend hours pouring over your expenses to make sure you fall within your budget but do you ever think about the expense for your family and friends.

Flying to Perth in 08 to be a bridesmaid at my sisters wedding cost me over $2,000 in airfares alone not to mention makeup and materials for the dress.

And there is no real answer as to what your bridal party should pay for and what the bride and groom cover.. Google away- every opinion is different.

I’d be interested to hear your opinion about what the Bride and Groom cover and what the Bridal party pay for. Speaking from my own experience we are covering most of the expensives for our party because we are deciding what they wear.

The fiance fell in love with a concept suit and so we are covering the hire, I wanted a particular dress for my bridesmaid (now a bridesman – but thats a different story) and so was prepared to cover the cost for her.

But if I was allowing the bridesmaids to choose their own dress – does that mean they should pay for it?

If the groomsmen were wearing black shoes – would they have to buy them as they would need to fit their size?

What’s fair and reasonble about sharing the cost between the Bridal Party?

I’d love to hear your thoughts or your advice from your own experience…