Who Pays For The Wedding? – The Rules And The Exceptions
If you should ask your mom or your grandma how wedding expenses were shared in their day, you shall probably be surprised to find out that their families paid for nearly all the proceedings. Did this have anything to do with being a female and member of the weaker sex? Whatever the reason for that, happily for you, if you happen to a bride-to-be, that arrangement is no longer observed today.
Just how precisely did people go about wedding expenses two, maybe three generations ago and for a long time previous to that?
Formerly, the bride’s family took care of wedding expenses at the engagement party, if such a party was celebrated.
On top of this, all the costs incurred by the wedding itself, including; transportation, rentals, musicians and various other professional and religious fees was also charged to the bride’s family.
After that, the expenses for the wedding reception, including the music and entertainment, the food and party favors were all paid for by the bride’s side.
The family of the bride also bought the bridal gown, a pair of wedding gifts for the couple, the bouquets for the bridesmaids and all the flowers needed for dcor. They also paid for photography sessions, the photographs and the refreshments.
The groom’s family took care of their own accommodations and paid for the mock wedding rehearsals. They also gave wedding gifts to the couple and took care of the expenses for the honeymoon.
In modern times, people think more about making wedding expenses convenient for both sides of the union. There is a tendency for apportioning the costs depending on the relative financial standings of the families involved. This usually ends up with all common wedding expenses being halved.
Wedding expenses incurred for guests are shouldered by the family inviting the guest. In this way, the side who invited a greater number of people paid more for the wedding reception meal and favors.
For families who belong to the same income bracket, the above manner of dividing wedding expenses is prevalent. But the idea behind the sharing of marriage costs is not really dividing everything evenly between the two couple’s families, but in contributing to the occasion in proportion to the family’s financial status.
In some cases, the more advantaged side of the union may offer to pay for all of the wedding expenses. Although that may seem to be convenient for the other family, it is generally not wise to accede to that offer. There may be cases when paying for all the costs of the marriage may encourage the wealthier family to try and run the entire show on its own.
For the sake of all relationships that will be involved in the marriage, that situation has to be averted. The family that is less fortunate money-wise should insist on a less expensive wedding that they can easily afford to contribute to. They should also make it a point to give their share of the expenditures, however little that may be.
In such a case, it will be far better for the less well-off side to insist on an inexpensive wedding in which both parties can afford to split the wedding expenses, if not even, at least to some extent.
To start off the relationship between the man and the woman on equal ground will be crucial in encouraging mutual respect for each other and in making sure that their relationship lasts the tests of living life. This may be true for the relationship between the in-laws as well.
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