When you attend a wedding, it's customary to bring a gift with you to give to the happy couple to honour their marriage. However, wedding presents are not supposed to be mandatory, and there shouldn't be a minimum spend attached - as most couples will be thankful for the gift no matter how much it cost.
But one bride has been slammed online after she demanded that her wedding guests spend at least $50 (£38) on their gift because she thinks it would be a "slap in the face" for them to give her and her husband a cheaper gift after all the money they'll be spending on the wedding itself.
The bride said she finds it "distasteful" when people show up to events "empty-handed", and said that because her wedding will have an open bar and food will cost $150 (£117) per head, she believes putting a minimum spend on gifts is reasonable.
In a post on Facebook that was later shared to Reddit, the woman said: "Is it rude to put on invitations that gifts of $50 or more are mandatory? My fiance and I have a lot of people in our families who love to show up empty-handed to events (they can afford to bring something), which is really distasteful to us. One of our love languages is receiving gifts and I feel it's befitting for them to at least come to the wedding with a gift worth £50, that's affordable."
The bride later updated her post to insist that her wedding wasn't all about gifts, but argued that she doesn't see the issue with asking for gifts from people who are going to be "enjoying everything she has to offer" at her wedding.
She added: "No, I'm not having a wedding just to get gifts, it's all about love at the end of the day. But if plates cost $150 on top of enjoying an open bar and an individual brings nothing just because they felt like it, I feel that's a slap in the face to my union and the relationship between me and them.
"Yes, someone might not be able to afford $50, but why is coming empty-handed widely acceptable? If everyone came to your nice birthday party with no gift at all, like no one brought anything but they were enjoying everything you had to offer, how would you feel?"
Commenters on the Reddit post were firmly against the bride's gift idea though, with many branding it "selfish".
One person said: "The idea of saying your love language is giving gifts is one thing, but the opposite makes you sound damn selfish. It's like saying you only know someone loves you based on the gifts they give you."
While another added: "We wanted to spend this much money on a wedding because we can afford it, but HOW DARE they not give us great gifts when we spent SO MUCH MONEY."
And a third posted: "Receiving gifts is a love language, but only gifts over $50? So showing up with nothing is hate? What a greedy idiot."
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