Bride's Unconventional Wedding Cost-Cutting Strategy Sparks Outrage Among Guests

It’s one of the most important tasks to do in the early stages of wedding planning: creating your budget. When you sit down with your partner to talk through potential costs, you’ll need to consider where you want to spend some money—and where you think you can cut back. For example, the two of you may decide to allocate the bulk of the savings for your big day to your venue and catering rather than your flowers and entertainment. Some couples may decide that fashion is the most important line item, while others prioritize great photography. Regardless of the route you choose, it’s critical that you determine your spending strategy before crafting your guest list, as the number of attendees will play a crucial role in how much your nuptials cost. Rather than taking this standard approach, however, one bride tried an unconventional technique to cut back on her wedding budget, electing to pick fights with her invitees in hopes that they would opt not to attend the celebration, and ultimately save her a bit of cash. 

In a post on Reddit’s “Wedding Shaming” subreddit, an invited guest posted about the bizarre approach. After being invited to the bride’s nuptials, the user wrote that eight weeks before the big day, she had not yet been told where the ceremony was scheduled to take place. And as a result, she wasn’t able to book any accommodations. However, around that same time, the bride posted on her social media accounts that she had booked the venue—even though she hadn’t informed guests where it was. “I told her that it would have been nice to know in advance so we could book the accommodation, and she lost it,” the user wrote. “Went absolutely off tap about how it was ‘her day’ and that I should be more supportive. I simply pointed out that we, like others, had to plan travel, take time off work, get a [house sitter] etc.” Instead of being empathetic to the guest’s situation, the bride told her “you can take time off work the day before; no one cares.” 

“This was a friend of my husband’s who hated me from the onset of my relationship with him,” the user added. “It became clear that she had blown their wedding budget and had to cut back [on] everything, including the guest list. Rather than state that, she was picking fights with people so that they wouldn't come.” The Redditor theorized that the bride also decided to send invitations later than she should have, in hopes that people wouldn’t be able to attend on such short notice. After their tense interaction, the guest wrote that the bride tried to convince the Redditor’s husband to still come to the nuptials. However, he refused to do so, telling the bride: “I'm not traveling 8 hours without my wife to watch you marry someone I've never met and eat wood fired pizza after." The rest of the internet was just as appalled by the bride’s behavior as the Redditor. “Is she jealous of you??” one user theorized. “Seems so weird. What an infuriating experience, but at least it makes for a hilarious story now.” Others criticized the bride’s unorthodox approach to cutting back on her budget. “That's soooo cringe and tone deaf,” one commenter wrote. “She's a coward.”