Weddings are beautiful. They're also wildly expensive. These days, couples are shelling out thousands of dollars to put together beautiful, memorable days with their loved ones.
It's for that reason that they find themselves pretty peeved when said loved ones don't show up. Newly married couple Douglas Simmons and Dedra McGee (now Simmons) tried to avoid that with their approach to the uncomfortable situation.
The couple shelled out a good chunk of change for a destination wedding. They were happy to do so, provided that everyone who RSVP'd actually showed up. When they had the inevitable no-shows, the couple decided to send invoices their way. Their no-nonsense approach went viral as anyone who has ever had an expensive wedding applauded their directness.
Destination weddings are a huge undertaking. There's a lot of coordinating moving parts involved, which can make an already chaotic wedding planning process that much more complicated. Still, Douglas Simmons and Dedra McGee (now Simmons) were determined to make it worked and believed their loved ones were on board.
Doug and Dedra had asked their guests several times to confirm their attendance at the couple's Negril, Jamaica, destination wedding. Still, the Chicago newlyweds found themselves paying for no-shows.
"Four times we asked, 'Are you available to come, can you make it?,' and they kept saying 'Yes,'" Doug told the New York Post.
Not only did a number of guests not show up, but they offered no explanation or heads up.
"No one told me or texted me, 'Hey, we can't make it,'" Doug shared.
"That's all I was asking. If you tell me you can't make it, I would be understanding — but to tell me nothing, but then let me pay for you and your plus ones? Four people became eight people. I took that personally."
Born of their outrage was the wedding invoice, a concept that the internet immediately fell in love with. It went viral after Doug shared it on his Facebook page. He shared that friendships with the people who don't respond likely won't continue.
Many people agreed with the idea of the invoice. After all, people were given ample time and opportunities to say they weren't coming. They also argued that because wedding sizes are limited right now, they robbed the couple of the opportunity to invite other guests.
However, some people think that level of accountability shouldn't apply during a pandemic. Many think that because things are so fluid, it's more acceptable than usual for people to back out on a commitment.
There's no word on whether or not anyone has paid these invoices. It seems like a few friendships in the couple's lives are up in the air after the move, which has widely been deemed as petty. Either way, it got a lot of people talking about how far wedding etiquette reaches.
