Yahoo Lifestyle 
Bride and groom slammed for turning profit at cash-bar wedding
An irate bridesmaid has unleashed on a soon-to-be-married couple who have tried to turn their own wedding into a cash grab, without guests being any the wiser.
The astonishing move by the duo was picked up upon by the savvy friend ahead of the nuptials after several things struck her as strange around the wedding.
In the first place, the pair, given the aliases Bob and Mary, are surprising family and friends with the wedding, which they are pretending is the groom’s 30th birthday BBQ event.
Here’s where things start to get lucrative for the couple.
“Almost every element of this wedding is being paid for by the guests or bridal party, without them even realizing,” the bristling bridesmaid wrote on a Reddit thread. “In fact, Bob and Mary even have the audacity to try and make a profit off of their wedding guests!”
RELATED:
She revealed that the pair have asked guests to bring their own food and cooking utensils and to buy alcohol at a cash bar provided.
“Bob and Mary will be profiting from drinks sold after buying the alcohol on consignment and putting a mark up on it to ‘recoup some costs from the wedding’,” the writer claimed. “The venue actually allows people to [BYO] for free.”
Adding insult to injury, the then bride asked bridesmaids to buy their own dresses and pay for their own hair and makeup, but the costs didn’t add up.
After studying the receipts the friend realised the bride had added extra on top of each bridesmaids’ payment to cover her own hair and makeup, without asking them.
“Mary showed me quotes, and when I did the math, she had factored her own hair costs into the amount the bridesmaids pay, and was not upfront about it,” the bridesmaid explained.
And it didn’t end there. The bridesmaids were also told to buy their own bouquet’s for the occasion, as the couple didn’t want to fork out for flowers, and guests were asked to give monetary gifts on the invitations.
“I just feel that this is rude,” she summed up the situation. “I get that not everyone can afford a lavish wedding, however, why try and profit off of your guests at your own wedding or manipulate it in such a way that guests are paying for basically your entire wedding while you sit back and enjoy the free party?”
“Probably the tackiest, classless situation I have ever experienced!” she concluded. “If money is a major factor, then there are better ways to have a low-cost wedding than this surely!”
Reddit user gobsmacked over ‘tacky’ cash grab
Readers were appalled with the situation, many pointing out that doing a low-key wedding is nothing to be sneered at, but being deceitful about it is classless in the extreme.
“If you’re on a budget, just say it,” one person pointed out. “Weddings are expensive even when they’re a budget wedding. But yeah doing a surprise wedding and being as stingy as these friends...just weird and rude.”
“I wouldn’t go,” another person stated. “And I definitely wouldn’t be in the bridal party.”
“Wow... That's next level trashy!” another wrote.
Others argued that while they might make a profit off the cash bar, they didn’t agree the entire thing was a scam, and people who chose to go should cop it on the chin.
“Aside from the bride getting the bridesmaids to pay for her hair without telling them, none of this is the scam [the original poster] says it is,’ one person argued. “People are willingly attending this fiasco and the only thing that is hidden from them (other than the hair costs) is that it's a wedding.”
“I don't see anything wrong with this wedding other than the deceit,” another agreed. “People get pretty entitled about expecting open bars and free dinners at weddings and in the same breath criticize people for spending so much when they could use the money instead for a down payment on a home.”
Never miss a thing. Sign up to Yahoo Lifestyle’s daily newsletter.
Or if you have a story idea, email us at lifestyle.tips@verizonmedia.com.
