Stay in Touch
Get sneak previews of special offers & upcoming events delivered to your inbox.
Sign in
07-12-2014 11:46 AM
Just when I think I heard it all..............
I have heard the same story twice in the last month-
I know of 2 young(ish) brides-to-be who are both planning destination weddings when I asked them about how many guests they expect or hope for they say none!
The wedding packages on these islands are cheap when you select packages for less than 20-25 guests (the one has a package for 12 or less guests). Then you pay for actual RSVP's.
But they are both sending out HUNDREDS of invites.
The game plan is, invited guests are expected to send gifts or cash (since they were invited a gift is expected) and NOT to come to the wedding as this will cause expense to the couple.
I have been told by MANY people that it is now a common practice.
The expense and convenience of an elopement with the benefits of wedding gifts and cash. Apparently the wedding invite=gifts loop-hole has been exploited.
I am appalled by this greed!
Talk about a 'gift-grab'
07-12-2014 11:49 AM
Confused....so they would pay if I decided to go?
07-12-2014 11:52 AM
07-12-2014 11:57 AM
It seems that young brides now a days are all about the gifts. Personally, if I was invited to a wedding somewhere like the Bahamas where , obviously not many people can attend, I would not send a gift since it is blatantly a gift grab situation.
I am aware of one situation where the couple had a destination wedding and they paid for the private jet to take the guests and a block of hotel rooms for their guests , and as long as you ate at the hotel , your meals. of course they have the means to do this. It was a 3 day affair. Sadly, we could not go because my employer would not give me the 3 days off even using vacation time. This couple also asked for no cash gifts but set up a box where you could put in a cash donation to a charity instead.
07-12-2014 12:01 PM
If I ever get married, I swear, it'll be done at the courthouse, by a justice of the peace, or a quickie in Vegas, then have a bar-be-que cookout afterwards, lest I accidentally "offend" someone by thinking that I was out for gifts, or gasp! money.
07-12-2014 12:02 PM
No, they don't pay for your trip at all. They hope that the cost of the trip will dissuade anyone from attending. They may or may not even plan for family to attend. Many double their honeymoon with their nuptials. Main it is done on islands or Mexico. This is less hassle than planning for people to attend and pay for the food and all. I did something similar but announced a wedding reception instead of inviting people to attend the wedding. We got married on a beach in Jamaica with just our parents and immediate family. We proposed this plan to the families and gave enough time for everyone to be able to pay for the trip and made arrangements for a house rental for them, as sharing a house is much cheaper than hotel rooms when split between them all. They all used it as a vacation as well, so we did a lot of cooking and family trips with them while we were all there. It really served as the family vacation for the year. We then sent out invitations and pics of the ceremony and had a reception for our family and friends to celebrate with them. We did a large, family style BBQ with steak, chicken, and fish. Most everyone brought their gifts then, but we were already set up on our own and were not concerned with gifts. We didn't request them and did encourage donations to be made to the local animal shelter in their place.
Today, that doesn't seem to be the case with these destination weddings. Many want all the benefits of a local wedding, but without all the cost on their part. It is a budgeted way to go in many cases, but can be very off putting to the more traditional wedding sect. I've even seen people from Florida come to Georgia to get married on farms and have the hay bales for seats for the guests and take pictures with the animals....to the tune of 25k for the benefit of the farm and hundreds of miles away. It is a way of offsetting the costs of farming. Pictures with the crops and critters are apparently more appealing to city folks.
07-12-2014 12:03 PM
I now officially have more respect for the couples who choose to exchange their vows in the drive thru chapels in Vegas. Simple, private, practical.
The drive thru special is forty bucks. Such a deal.
07-12-2014 12:21 PM
Not sure why this topic gets people's knickers in a twist.
It's really simple. At the end of the day, if that couple was special to you, you would gift them for their life experience whether you went or not....and no matter if they got married out in the parking lot or on Mars.
07-12-2014 12:28 PM
It's not a common practice but some classless, tacky couples are doing. Sometimes out of ignorance.
07-12-2014 12:31 PM
We all know when someone is trying to play Gotcha. Just don't play along. Send regrets, nothing more. Some brides do this because they are preggers, believe it or not. Then they can have the "casual" island dress and the presents before anyone knows.
Get sneak previews of special offers & upcoming events delivered to your inbox.
*You're signing up to receive QVC promotional email.
Find recent orders, do a return or exchange, create a Wish List & more.
Privacy StatementGeneral Terms of Use
QVC is not responsible for the availability, content, security, policies, or practices of the above referenced third-party linked sites nor liable for statements, claims, opinions, or representations contained therein. QVC's Privacy Statement does not apply to these third-party web sites.
© 1995-2025 QVC, Inc. All rights reserved. | QVC, Q and the Q logo are registered service marks of ER Marks, Inc. 888-345-5788