Guests at the wedding and the wedding expenses

I love weddings - I'm a romantic at heart - they are the perfect excuse to meet, see old friends, make new friends, eat, dress and dance. I liked having so many people I love in my own marriage.

But now that the first wave of my friends are getting married and I'm actually price flights and hotels, I realized that participation for weddings can be a big budget-buster, especially if you're travelling across country or further away. USA Today has a June article/video that says a guest spend an average of $539 per assisted marriage. And it is not only US who are duplication of money, the Daily Mail says that the British spend £440 by marriage. If a couple attends a conservative weddings 2 per year, they would spend an average of $2,000 +. Four Weddings a year and it would be $4,000 +. Add in the fact that most people run in the season marriages in their late 20s and 30s - while we're still getting settled in our careers, repay the loans students and fresh wrangling perhaps for our first child - and it is easy to see that even the happiest of the times can cause worries of money.

When a classmate of affairs apologized to me that she could not invite me to her marriage because the place did not have enough room, I was secretly a bit relieved. I love she and her fiance and would have liked to celebrate with them in person, of course, but it is clear which lack marriage saving a pretty penny. To attend her wedding during a summer weekend would cost at least $450 for an airline ticket, more gas to drive from the airport to the venue, over the $100 + give us as wedding gift. Attend his wedding would have been an expenditure of $600, at least.

I am happy to spend money to attend weddings of people I like - after all, what is the money for, if not for the experiences that are memorable and happy? But I think it is also important not to leave marriages dealing with compromising your most important financial goals. It's OK to say no if you can not rotate, and it is mostly OK to pass the cher or distant pre-wedding activities if these schemes do not work for your days of vacation or budget.