How much will you spend?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph....edding-guest-547.html

Are any of you likely to spend this amount, if you are invited to be a wedding guest, or do you class an invite as a free meal and a good party, just in exchange for a bit of confetti, a card and a cheap supermarket toaster?

While on the subject of marriage, why are most 'Lefties' against the idea of marriage, whereas 'Right-Wingers' support the idea?

[Greedyfly]

I don't go to weddings. I refuse generally.

[sp1814]

The cost sounds about right when you consider the following:

1. Cost of new suit/dress/shoes
2. Hotel accomodation
3. Gift for bridal couple
4. Travel to chuch/reception
5. Drinks at reception when the free bar runs out
6. (Possible) cost of attending stag do.

In 'the old days' weddings were a lot cheaper for guests, but since the last government allowed weddings to be held practically anywhere a licence could be obtained, people have been holding their ceremonies in increasingly far flung venues (adding to transport costs and accomodation).

Stag dos are no ridiculous. Personally I've done Dublin, Amsterdam, Las Vegas and New York. The days of a weekend in Blackpool are (sadly) on the decline.

[sp1814]

"While on the subject of marriage, why are most 'Lefties' against the idea of marriage, whereas 'Right-Wingers' support the idea?"

I don't know whether that's true...but the question could be equally phrased thus:

While on the subject of marriage, why are most 'right whingers' against the idea of civil partnerships, whereas 'Lefties' support the idea?"

[marval]

I went to my own wedding, that was enough

[thetruthhurts]

I'm what AOG classes as a lefty, ie. I don't agree with his opinion on most things. I have been married 3 times. And i was a willing party all three times

[jake-the-peg]

Right wing people tend to be conservative with a small c and like tradition and doing things in a traditional way.

I guess they derive comfort and security from it.

Left wing thinkers are more likely to be more positively disposed to change - or at least not necessarilly doing something in one way because goodness knows how many generations have done it that way before.

I would also hazaard a guess that more religious people are righht wing than left so that too would play a part.

[Haggisdj]

I dj at most weddings I go to so it never costs me anything...

[McMouse]

Can't remember the last time I was invited to a wedding. These days get loads of funerals though.........they don't cost much..

[andy-hughes]

I think the paper is using some pretty extreme examples here.

I have never travelled abroad to a wedding, only stayed overnight once, never bought a new outfit, so my outlay has been on petrol to ceremony and reception, and a modest gift, so for me, the Telegraph is well wide of the mark.

As I think is AOG - rather more generalising there I fear from my senior sparring partner?

[ELVIS68]

If there`s no free bar then then the card containing the money stays put

[flip_flop]

My first round of weddings was in the early to mid 90s, when the stag and hen nights were just that - a night, and you pretty much bought what you liked as a wedding present.

The second round of weddings - which is still ongoing - are for the people's weddings I attended in the 90s who have got divorced and are marrying again, and the cost has gone bananas.

The stag 'events' are now long weekends and I've been to Dublin (twice) Prague, Riga, Tallin, Budapest and the capital of Iceland (which I won't attempt to spell). I've even had a full 7 nights stag do in Spain.

Mrs Flop gets invited to the hen parties, and whilst these have tended to be closer to home, they still inevitably require at least two nights in a hotel and loads of 'treatments' (whatever the hell they are). Last year she had three nights in The Grand at Brighton and the total cost of the Hen do was about £600.

Add to this the new frock that simply has to be purchased for every damn wedding, and the wedding present which must be bought from the John Lewis Wedding List....................

So yes, the figure in the article is easily achievable - and in fact I'd say is on the low side.

It has got bloody ridiculous - I miss the good old days when you could get away with a p1ss-up in the local pub for the stag, a £30 present, church, photos, prawn cocktail starter and chicken something main, disco, getting p!ssed and dancing with a bridesmaid to Move Closer by Phylis Nelson.

[sp1814]

flip_flop

Everything you wrote is true.

Thinking of starting a Facebook group - "Bring Back Cheap Weddings".

Cava is just as nice as Champagne - and no-one can tell the difference.

[joko]

i think its rude to ask for money...a gift is meant to be your choice of item from you to them...not a way for them to stock up on cash...
ive seen and heard some money grasping couples and its sickening...even heard one say they would invite someone they didnt like just because they knew theyd get a generous gift from them

any wedding i go to they get what they are given...

[anotheoldgit]

joko

I think this cash present request started because it seems these days most couples live together before they marry, consequently they have most things.

By bunching all the cash together they can buy something more expensive, something that they might not have afforded to buy themselves.

Interesting though, to a couple who have most things, what are the type of things you buy as a present?

[joko]

aog, oh i understand why they do it and i agree that for them its probably the best thing for them...i just think they should not ask outright, as though they dont want actual gifts...more mention as an option or something...because as has been said, people will feel obliged to give more than thye had wanted to spend...gifts should be a chice not an thoughtfree obligation

[tamborine]

McMouse outfit looks apt for all weddings & pin a 'score' to bride

[spudqueen]

It sounds about right to me. Four years ago Mr Spudqueen and I went to six weddings in that year. I was able to get away with only three new outfits, chosen so that the same group of people didn't see me in the same outfit twice. We live in Lancashire, and whilst four of the weddings were close to use and we didn't have the cost of staying overnight somewhere (one of us was the chosen driver and didn't drink - or if close enough we got a taxi, one was even round the corner from us and we could walk), one wedding was in Lincoln and one in Sussex, which involved spending quite a bit of money on petrol and overnight stays.

We did spend an awful lot of money going to one wedding two years ago though. We went to a wedding in Hong Kong - us and our two children, which cost a pretty penny! We did combine it with our main holiday though and spent 9 days in Hong Kong and had a great time. Without the wedding we probably never would have got round to going and would have missed out on a fantastic holiday and experience.