Bride charges drop-out guest a £1,000 'no-show' fee - and people are divided
Is it ever acceptable to charge a guest a wedding no-show fee? One bride has sparked a debate by asking that exact question after being let down by a number of her guests.
It's no secret that planning your wedding can be extremely stressful - not to mention expensive. So it's incredibly upsetting when one of your RSVPs decides to cancel at the last minute.
One Australian bride recently called into the She's On The Money podcast to reveal that she has decided to charge one no-show £1,000 to compensate for the cost of her guest's seat. She told her hosts that her wedding was just one week away and, as such, she has already given the final numbers to her venue and the caterers. The final bill has also been settled, totalling $18,600 (around £9,750).
The bride also confirmed that she had sent out her 'Save the Dates' over a year ago with the official invites sent out in January of this year, leaving guests to RSVP by July.
However, just this week, she received a text message from one guest, which read: "So sorry, I know we RSVP'd yes and the wedding is next week but we just can't afford to travel interstate at the moment. Hope you understand, would love to have been there."
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The bride further explained: "Within the last week ten guests, who had previously RSVP'd that they were coming have now cancelled citing that it's too expensive for them to travel interstate.
"I am scrambling to cover their seats, otherwise I'm effectively wasting $2,000. Is it reasonable to request that they cover these costs themselves?"
The exchange was shared on the podcast's Instagram account, and people rushed to share their thoughts. One wrote: "No one books flights for an interstate wedding the week prior.
"The guest is 100 per cent at fault here and is not a nice friend for doing this. It'd be different if she/partner/family fell ill and couldn't make it. But no one plans their travel a week prior and suddenly finds out they can't afford it…"
A second agreed: "Given they said YES in July – they had almost 6 months to ensure they could save for it. Very disappointing they committed to coming but then didn't plan to be able to afford it." And a third said: "Cancelling a week out is BS. I am sure there was an RSVP date there for a reason. So rude!"
But others disagreed. One argued: "No way. You would have paid the seat even if they came or not; so it doesn't make a difference from a budget point of view if they don't come since if they came there wouldn't have been an expectation for them to pay on arrival. Not fair to penalise a guest if they can't make it IMO, life is expensive and hard and having a wedding is a choice in my thoughts (we had a few last minute drop outs and I never would have dreamed of asking them to cover their seat!)"
A second said: "I find it very odd that people would expect someone to pay for their seat when they can't afford the travel. If I was the bride, I've already paid it regardless, I can either A. accept the loss or B. Ask another person if they'd like to attend. I wouldn't want to be burdened or burden the person who can’t afford the wedding by asking them to cover their seat cost while I should be enjoying a very special time in my life. Also, it's my event, I chose to have this wedding and if I couldn't afford to lose the money for their seat then I shouldn't have paid for it in the first place. I think it helps if people have empathy towards others in this situation."
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