It Officially Looks Like We’ll Be Seeing Couples Crowdfund Their Weddings More and More
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We’ve been seeing mentions of couples crowdfunding their weddings here and there—specifically through websites like GoFundMe—for a bit, now. A few months ago, we even told you about a couple whose wedding was saved after they were robbed days before their wedding when their best man set up a page for them, and it surpassed the requested goal. And that was awesome.
But these days, we are more and more hearing about couples who are putting their wedding bill out into the world to be paid for by everyone from their beloved guests to people they’ve never met before, and this is something I’m just not so sure about. (Here’s a story from ABC about it from back in January, and here’s another one from CNN that we saw today. Good Morning America ran a segment on the topic last week.)
Maybe it’s just me, but it does, a bit, strike me as a case-by-case basis kind of thing: On one hand, I can certainly understand wanting to celebrate your nuptials with a little something, and if friends and family want to throw a total of a few hundred dollars at you in lieu of a wedding gift (or maybe, rather, as a kind of advance on a wedding gift) so that you can throw a small celebration with your very nearest and dearest? I get that, and feel like in this kind of situation, even if it feels a little unorthodox and uncomfortable, it just might be a sign-of-the-times kinda thing.
But then, like, the one couple in the CNN story who cannot afford their $28,000 wedding, cut their guest list from 200 to 135 to “trim costs,” but is now crowdfunding the remaining expense of the wedding? That makes me cringe, quite honestly, and feels very different to me than the example above. {Soapbox-y aside: A wedding is a party, and marriage is life, and if you need money that badly, you need to be scrounging for it in order to live your life, not to throw a party. End of soapbox-y aside.}
I mean, here’s the thing: If people are comfortable asking friends, family and strangers to help them pay for their wedding, and those people happily give to such a cause, and a wedding is had and everyone—friends, family, strangers and newlyweds—ride off into the sunset and no harm is done and all is well, then all is well. If it’s fine and works for everyone involved, then it seems silly for all of us to get our undies in a bunch about it.
But I just can’t imagine that there wouldn’t be some people involved who would be put off by it all. Who would feel pressure to contribute or offended that they’re even being asked to contribute or who would be happy to help them out if they need it—but for rent or a downpayment on a house, not for periwinkle hydrangeas and skewered shrimp. And because of that, I think this is very murky water.
I’m sure this will be one of those modern-day/technology-related/changing-etiquette wedding things that will continue to evolve the way, say, social media and weddings have become so tangled up—but in the meantime, I’ll be sitting here watching all that happen with a furrowed brow.
RELATED: Best Man Raises Money for Couple Whose Wedding Funds Were Stolen One Week Before the Wedding
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