Many brides plan weddings anticipating that they will receive gifts from friends and family. I mean, we can’t blame them right? We all love presents, even though we pretend like we are above that.
Some people pay for big weddings hoping they will make some of the money they put in back. Weddings, as we all know, can be expensive.
Now matter how you slice it — weddings are incredibly expensive.
According to TheKnot.com , the average cost of a wedding in the U.S. was $28,000 in 2019.
Coming from someone who’s in the midst of planning his own wedding, let me tell you — that’s a very conservative average.
As you can probably imagine most people, don’t have that kind of money lying around — especially young couples.
This is why you must always always bring a gift whenever you attend a wedding.
But sometimes deciding on exactly what that should be can be challenging.
When it comes to gifts, there are tons of “traditions.”
Some say that you should pay for your plate, then add $100 on top.
Others say you pay based on the venue and how “fancy” it is.
However, how would you feel if your gift determined your meal?
Imagine that you went to a wedding and how much you gave as a gift determined how well you got to eat at the wedding.
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Seems crazy, right?
Wrong. One Reddit user posted the invitation to a wedding where the couple did exactly that.
On the meal cards, the available options were priced out in numbered tiers that included “Loving Gift”, “Silver Gift”, “Golden Gift” and finally — “Platinum Gift.”
They were floored by the invitation, calling it “greedy.”
The invite showcases that the more you pay, the higher your “meal” would be.
Additionally, kosher and vegetarian options were only offered for the highest gift price.
Not only that, but the price ranges were astronomical!
If you’re going by the standard pay-for-plate + $100 approach, then $250 would still be a very generous gift.
But to include a “Platinum Gift” with a price tag of anywhere in between $1001-$2500 is just plain insulting.
People online had a lot to say about this.
“That might be the tackiest thing I’ve seen in a long time, one person said.
It’s hard to disagree. Not only is it putting a dollar value on generosity, but it’s also alienating to anyone who can’t afford top-tier.
“Yeah, screw that [expletive], you’re not forcing me into to the priciest tier due to dietary requirements,” another added.
You’d think that if the strategy was to get people to pay more, that this couple would’ve made the “Loving Gift” tier a vegetarian meal .
It’d certainly get me to pony up more dough.
Others said they “definitely wouldn’t attend.”
“This can’t be real. I would absolutely not attend, no matter how much I thought I liked these people,” one commented.
One person came up with a brilliant idea to get back at the greedy couple.
“Everybody should just say their gift was over $1k, eat the 2lb of lobster, and laugh thinking about the couple opening their $40 toaster later,” they wrote.
It may sound mean, but they kind of had it coming. Don’t you think?
Some thought this may, however, be a charity fundraiser.
“Is this really for a wedding? It looks like a fundraiser of some sort,” one said.
It just seemed too incredulous to be possible. Who would subject their friends and family to this?
Another user added that “Looking again I now see this might be a fundraiser and totally acceptable.”
They also made sure to mention that, “If this were for a wedding, not only would I not go, I likely wouldn’t be friends with these people afterward.”
Would you use this kind of tiered strategy at your own wedding or do you think that it crosses a line?
As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Is this couple wrong by telling their guests what (and how much) they want or should this become the norm?
Leave a comment below and let us know!