Wedding guest reveals bride sent her a message asking for more money

The bride said guests were expected to make a minimum contribution of €75 each 

Chelsea Ritschel
Wednesday 22 May 2019 21:29 BST
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Wedding guest shares message from bride requesting more money (Stock)
Wedding guest shares message from bride requesting more money (Stock)

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A wedding guest has shared the message she received from a bride the day after her wedding informing her she didn’t give enough of a monetary “contribution”.

In a Twitter thread, Seyi Akiwowo recalled attending a 2015 destination wedding in Romania of her former friend and co-worker, only to return to London and receive the message requesting a bank transfer.

According to Akiwowo, who’d attended the wedding along with a plus one, the bride and groom had gone all out in planning their special day - and had specified before the wedding on the invite that they preferred money over gifts.

At the end of the wedding, Akiwowo said guests were given little white envelopes to put money in. In return, they were given goodie bags.

“Remember I told ya’ll we paid for our own expenses… we ran out of cash,” Akiwowo wrote. “And we were in the village. We didn’t see local ATMs. Most cabs refused to take euros so we literally only had enough local currency to get back to the hotel and to the airport at 4am…”

Because they’d nearly run out of money, Akiwowo and her guest, who’d paid for their hotel rooms and flights, contributed €25 (£22).

After arriving home the next day, Akiwowo received what she thought was a Facebook message from the bride asking whether she’d gotten home okay - but was actually a request for more money.

The bride began the message asking Akiwowo whether she and her friend enjoyed the wedding before writing: “You seemed to enjoy plenty but this was not reflected in your contribution to our wedding costs.

“We’ve received a 20 Euro note from you and €5 from your friend, which is by far insufficient to cover the costs of the menu and drinks for Sunday, not to mention all the efforts put for organising Saturday’s garden party and welcome packs etc.”

According to the bride, the “average contribution” was €100 (£88) per person, but “even 75 Euro would be sufficient to cover the costs related to the menu, drinks and the location”.

The newlywed then asked that Akiwowo and her friend “make a bank transfer to our account for the difference” - a minimum of €125 (£110) - before concluding her message: “Hope you’re back safe and sound and with lovely memories from this weekend!”

Akiwowo ended the thread informing her followers that the couple are still married and have just welcomed their first baby but that she is no longer friends with the “debt collector”.

Akiwowo’s post, which has since been liked more than 3,800 times, has been met with shock from people on social media.

“I’m speechless. What kind of ratchet behaviour is this?” one person wrote.

Another said: “Since when are guests expected to ‘cover the wedding costs’ WTF?”

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However, others said the practise is customary in Romania.

"This is a very Romanian wedding!" someone responded. "Nothing is surprising, it sounds like you just didn't know the culture and expectations for weddings there."

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