Bride-to-be criticised for plans to overcharge guests for drinks so she can 'recoup wedding costs'

Weddings can be an expensive event – with the average big day in the UK this year costing £31,974.

But one bride-to-be has gone to great lengths to stay within budget by deliberately overcharging guests for their drinks.

She said in a post on Reddit that it would be a way to “recoup costs” from the reception.

She also said she was turning to the site for advice after one of her bridesmaids called it “incredibly tacky".

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The bride-to-be explained she had managed to secure many parts of the wedding “for free” – including the venue, food and band.

But she and her fiancé had decided to cover other expenditure by “doing a cash bar" and selling drinks at "moderate prices".

Explaining the decision, the woman wrote: “OK so me and my fiancé are getting married next year and like many people our age we are pretty grossed out by the wedding industry and are trying to keep our wedding as cheap as possible.

"So for example, we are having the ceremony and reception at my uncle’s farm (free of charge) out in the country, my good friend from college who owns a catering business agreed to do our catering for free as a wedding gift, and my fiancé’s good friends with a band that will play at our wedding for free also as a wedding gift.

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"We got my dress and his suit from Goodwill and got them altered. Everything said and done we will be paying less than $2k (£1,500) for our wedding.

"Now we get to the alcohol. We’re having a semi-big wedding (150 people - we have a ton of friends and family coming from all over) and the idea of paying for all of that booze is making us stressed out.

"It’d be at least $1k (£800). We thought about it and decided to do a cash bar.

"We figured we could buy the booze and pay one of my cousins to be bartender for the night, and we realised we could probably recoup some of our costs on the other wedding expenses by charging moderate prices for drinks - win-win!”

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She continued: "We were set on this idea until I brought it up with one of my bridesmaids and she flipped out and said that would be incredibly tacky.

"I was sort of taken aback by this. I’ve looked online and cash bars at weddings are pretty common.

"It seems ridiculous to pay to get everyone drunk. My other friends and family seem pretty split and I’m starting to wonder if this is actually a faux pas."

However, her fellow Reddit users were shocked by her plans.

One person wrote: “How do you have 150 friends?"

Another commented: “If you want a big wedding, don't be cheap. If you are cheap, elope."

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A third shared: “There's nothing wrong with a cash bar at a wedding like this, but it is tacky to overcharge your guests and try to make a profit.

"I don't know if she's deliberately misinterpreted what her bridesmaid said or not.

"Also I hate when people brag about how little they spent only to find out that they did so because they got everything for free.

"She's still having a big expensive wedding, just at the cost of her friends free labour."

And a fifth person added: "So you already saved tons and want the guests to pay for the £2k you have spent? This is tacky as hell. How cheap can you get."

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