A bride and groom have ignited a heated debate online after requiring guests to pay $250 each to attend their budget wedding, with some attendees expected to sleep on air mattresses in shared rooms. The controversial invitation, posted on Reddit, gained traction after a woman revealed she had been asked to serve as maid of honor under increasingly awkward circumstances. According to the post, the wedding is scheduled for a Monday.
Guests were instructed to arrive on Sunday and depart on Wednesday for a three-night stay at an Airbnb that would also serve as the ceremony and reception venue. The $250 per person fee, according to the bride, would cover accommodation, food, and drinks for the entire stay, regardless of whether guests attended for the full duration. The couple also requested no gifts, instead asking attendees to contribute to their honeymoon fund.
However, the guest said the arrangement became far less appealing after she discovered she and her partner would be sleeping on an air mattress in a shared room while other guests secured queen bedrooms. “I know the bride, the groom and the bride's parents,” she said. “Did I mention I'm supposed to be the 'maid of honor'? I use the term loosely.” She explained that the wedding plans evolved several times, starting as a small immediate-family-only event before expanding to include a handful of friends after another couple was allegedly uninvited. “That's when I got the 'will you be my bridesmaid' gift,” she added.
Guests were also given a semi-casual dress code with a lengthy list of banned colors, including burgundy, white, and light or dark blue jeans. The post quickly divided opinion online, with Reddit users weighing in on modern wedding etiquette. “$250 to stay on an air mattress is insane,” one person wrote. “I'd do it if it were a bedroom in a shared house, but for an air mattress? Nah, especially as maid of honor.” Another added, “$250 per PERSON! That's $500 from OP and her partner to sleep on an air mattress.”
Some questioned whether the fee covered more than lodging. “I'd pay $250 for my boyfriend and I to have our own room but absolutely wouldn't be okay shelling out $500 for both of us to sleep on an air mattress and share a room with other people,” one commenter agreed. “That's a real quick no from me.” Another speculated, “I'd be curious to know how much that Airbnb actually rents for, because that 'per person' bit sounds like the couple might be skimming off the top.”
Others were harsher in their assessment. “People have gotten so damn tacky and classless just to host weddings they cannot afford,” a commenter wrote bluntly. “This is just a paid admission wedding,” another added. Still, not everyone believed asking guests to contribute was unreasonable. “I don't think it's unreasonable to expect people to cover their own accommodation,” one Reddit user wrote. “But $250 to cover a joint Airbnb when you don't even get your own room and real bed is insulting.” Another pointed out that destination weddings often come with unavoidable costs for guests. “Travel and hotel, the bridesmaid dress, gifts - we all expect to cover that when we agree to attend out-of-town weddings. But this whole mindset of offloading the cost of the party onto the guests is a bit much.”
