Bride invites estranged friend to wedding, 'at the bottom of the invite was a bill.'

You'd think asking your wedding guests to buy specific gifts you picked out yourself would be enough for couples getting married, but what about Venmo requesting guests for their dinner at the reception?

Sorry, but if you check off 'chicken' that'll be $50. Oh, and don't forget to contribute to the DJ's tip and the florist's invoice.

So, when a confused potential wedding guest decided to vent to the beautifully petty and judgmental Reddit group, 'Wedding Shaming,' about an ex-friend who expects her to help crowd-fund her expensive wedding, people were eager to contribute to the roasting session.

Bride invites me to wedding and expects me to pay for venue. Haven’t spoken to her in 2 years btw...

So this friend I made in university and I were once close, until she got engaged 2 years ago and cut off all her single friends cause she’s “too good for single friends and can only now have engaged or married friends” lol according to her. I haven’t spoken to her in two years since that and have since gotten over it since it’s been a while.

I get an email today that I thought was spam. Turns out it was a wedding invitation, not personally from her, but from her coordinator inviting me to their wedding. At the bottom of the invite was a bill for $400 to pay for the venue plus $150 for the meal.

I know this varies around the world but where I am, the bride and groom or maybe their family pays for the venue and food. Not random people you don’t talk to.

20 people in total were invited to the wedding. You could see all the emails in the “sent to” bar. So I guess she’s pretty much only inviting me to help pay a cost. I would never have the balls to do that to someone especially after telling them we can’t be friends cause you’re engaged and can’t have single friends.

And no I’m not the kind of friend that parties or drinks - she cut off any friend she had that wasn’t engaged or married. I now know what they mean when they say “weddings bring out the worst in people”

Later, the post was updated to include:

So after she sent me the message asking me why I declined, I just said it’s impossible to finance that. She didn’t say anything. I spoke to the mutual friend.

The mutual friend isn’t going but was told about the mandatory payment (lol) prior to the invitations going out because basically like other users here suggested I was like plan C of people to invite and she REALLY needed people to come to this wedding because the venue gives her a discount if the quantity of people reaches a certain amount.

Everyone in the wedding party is not paying. So I was like a last resort type thing, basically like so many of you suggested.

Since we are age all 23-24 not everyone who she invited was able to pay in the first place. So yeah, she was like “who’s next on this list?” I guess she thought I’d forget about her reasoning for cutting off her fiends but I don’t.

As for everyone wondering who the fiancé is, no one has met him…not even the mutual friend but he was in charge of a club at our university and I’ve heard he’s kind of a d*ck. So I guess she realizes like…you can’t just cut friends off and send them that years later.

That doesn’t work. But she wanted to try her luck. He has a lot of friends as well so I think his friends overshadow hers and she just wants someone there for her. But no…you cannot harvest and bare fruit from a tree you never watered.

Of course, the jury of wedding shamers was eager to weigh in on this cash-grab crowd-funded Kickstarter of a Potluck wedding. Here's what people had to say:

princess_dork_bunny said:

I wouldn't pay $550 to go to my own wedding.

Megmca said:

“Well I’m still single so I don’t think I’m ‘good enough’ to be around her.”

drilllbit said:

Just text back “unsubscribe.'

devopsknight33 said:

I’ve never heard of making guests pay for a wedding, this is the first time I’ve even read about it. Ughhh, what? Hard pass.

cyn507 said:

Tell her that her married/engaged friends should be more than happy to foot her wedding bill but single people, alas cannot afford it as they have to put all their financial resources into finding someone to marry them so they can be friends with all the right people.

learnthepattern said:

I'm picturing her wedding dress covered with decals from her biggest sponsors, like a NASCAR driver.

sandim123 said:

I would email the coordinator and cc the ‘bride’ declining and why- it’s BEYOND RIDICULOUS that she expects the ‘guests’ to pay for her venue/catering. Not in this lifetime.

So, there you have it!

Everyone agreed unanimously here that this is some seriously shady bridal behavior. Forcing guests to fund a wedding is tacky in the first place, but asking people you aren't even friends with to pay for your venue is a hilariously bold move. Regardless of whether or not her single, estranged, or close friends agree to front the cash, you have to respect her hustle.