A Plea From A Wedding Guest!

As summer approaches and the 'Save The Dates' and wedding invites arrive it's a time for excitement. Who doesn't love the opportunity to share in a couple's joy as they share the amazing experience of getting married?!

We love a wedding!

This morning on checking my emails I received one from a PR agency asking if we wanted to share research carried out by a company called One4All, the Post Office gift card. Normally I scroll and delete through these types of studies but something caught my eye on this one. THE COSTS!

These figures are crazy! I mean times that by 3 or 4 weddings and the phrase 'prepared' to spend suddenly becomes 'fear they will have to spend'. 

Weddings got me like

The other factor they don't include is time off. The trend of having a wedding on a week day to save money is not something i'm a fan of. I don't wish to offend (and apologies if I do) but on top of the money being spent to attend, having to take a day or two annual leave is a bit of a kicker.  

I understand the reasons and cost savings for the people getting married but having 50 + people all having to take a day off means it will more likely cost their guest way more that being able to attend a weekend wedding. 

There are ways to lessen the blow when you're making people take time off. I am in the 31% that welcome a wedding abroad. If I am going to take a day or two annual leave then I want an experience. I don't want to pay for two nights hotel stay awkwardly far from home, find a dog-sitter and add a £100+ petrol bill to the costs to sit in a church or bland reception venue. It may just be me but I'd rather invest that money in spending time with the happy couple on a weekend away and not just pay out to become part of a crowd. 

In the past when a friend was getting married in San Fran we turned it into a California Road Trip with the wedding as part of it. Last year when a close friend got married in Idaho we stopped off at Toronto. Even way back in 2011 when our friend got married in Thailand we made a 10 day trip of it and added in island tours and a day in Egypt on the way out.

Wedding over looking Alcatraz

And when we got married we made it a trip to remember for everyone, not just us, by adding in a bachelorette party in Vegas before taking everyone to Idaho.

Just to clear I know we asked a lot of our wedding guests that traveled with us and on a side note we did keep it on a Saturday to make it easier for the locals attending.

Once in Idaho we had sourced group rates for the accommodation and offered a to-do list for those who wanted to explore. We paid for guests to spend two nights at the venue with us and on the day of the wedding we also organised mini buses for people to visit a gold-mining town. This was also because as our wedding wasn't till 5pm and we needed to get the house ready. We wanted to offer entertainment and something different. Something memorable. The same went for the reception, our menu was food from our travels around the world, we had a band, free bar and a DJ. We wanted everyone to have a  great time.  I like to think we gave people an experience they will never forget for the money they spent and time they took off. 

And we danced all night

That's not to say I recommend everyone getting married abroad, I am aware that there will always be restrictions but my request for anyone who can't is that they do something special on the day. If I am taking the day off I want to go to a beautiful venue, or somewhere a bit different, I want to ride on a double decker bus or play games in a castle court yard. I want something to make the day memorable.

One of my cousins got married on Loch Lomond, I happily took time off to stand on the banks with a beautiful view as it's not something I see every day. Another cousin got married in a conference centre with no outdoor space and I spent the whole day gutted that I was there- the sun shining outside gave me total FOMO.

With all that said I appreciate wedding days aren't about the guests but if the people you are invited are loved ones, close friends and your nearest and dearest then maybe give them a thought. If you were spending £800 + and taking a day off what would make it special for you?!

On that note, I hope you enjoy all the weddings you are attending and can make it an experience you'll never forget, for all the right reasons.

Ah and the One4All giftcard, - the people who did the research offer gift cards in case you are interested for a present idea. Itis a gift card that can be spent at 50,000 outlets and you can load with anywhere between £10 to £400. It can then be spent in outlets including:

Full list click here