Weddings have become a costly affair.
Long gone are the days when all you needed was a priest and wedding rings, a simple wedding dress, a miniature bride and groom on a cake and a hall with a basic buffet-style menu.
Oh no, these days it’s couture gowns, outlandish venues, a bridal party that fills the front of the church and five course sit-down dinners prepared by top chefs.
Of course, the bride and groom want to share their special day with friends and family in the most spectacular way. And yes, weddings have become a grand social event; often, scoring an invitation to one is like getting a VIP pass to an exclusive function.
As a guest, all one should really be concerned about is your outfit and a gift for the couple.
Golden invite in hand, outfit sorted and gift carefully picked from the registry, what more is there for a guest to do?
As a bridesmaid, this wedding guest did not have to score a golden invite, get an outfit ready or buy a gift, but she still had to cough up a pretty penny just to be there.
For Twitter user @Micylaaa, the bridesmaid, it cost an eyewatering R10 000.
She recently took to Twitter to share the shocking figure, saying, “I’m a bridesmaid at a wedding in Pretoria this weekend and I’ve spent almost 10k just to be present”, and adds, “normalise eloping cos weddings are k*k expensive”.
I’m a bridesmaid at a wedding in Pretoria this weekend and I’ve spent almost 10k just to be ✨present✨
— Babytjie (@Micylaaa) May 3, 2022
normalise eloping cos weddings are kak expensive
With over 5 000 likes and over 650 retweets, the tweet has gone viral and followers are in agreement that the cost of weddings have gotten out of hand.
One Twitter user said, “I'll never understand the concept of expecting your bridesmaids to pay their way for your wedding”, while another responded, “Also people must normalise not having bridesmaids if they can’t fund them for their wedding rather not have bridesmaids. It’s not fair. R10k is a lot of money in this economy.”
Here’s what other tweeps had to say:
Missed a mates wedding for this very reason. Worse, I was going to be flying out around Christmas time (with crazy flight prices), was easily going to spend around R15K+ to be a bridesmaid, no gift/ bridal shower contribution included in that amount 🥲. https://t.co/u2z8kMjIca
— Otsile Mkontwana (@Forever_Otsile) May 4, 2022
I don’t understand how people want bridesmaids at their wedding and expect people to pay. Just don’t have a bridal party https://t.co/PnLsVfuitP
— UH HUH HONEY 🦋 (@sbetweene) May 5, 2022
👀🤣🤣🤣…..you could also normalize NOT attending weddings😆 https://t.co/J1WcFmitVs
— Lesala Kolobe (@lkzip13) May 4, 2022
People getting married must actually cover these expenses it's their wedding after all. My distant cousin who never calls me, called to ask that I be her bridesmaid, the two dresses needed would cost R3k plus I still needed to do hair, buy shoes make up and and and. I refused. https://t.co/rmEDse7Jzy
— Maishibe (@FavourIsMyName7) May 4, 2022