When you go to a wedding it isn’t uncommon to have to shell out a lot of money for a gift, a dress, maybe even some travel, but one groom in England took things a step further and actually asked his guests to give him money to attend the big day.
Ben Farina is set to marry his fiancé Claire Moran next year, and has asked all his guests to shell out a little over $200 per person to attend. Initial reports suggested Ben was actually “getting guests to pay for the venue,” the four-star Knockerdown Cottages in the English countryside, but it turns out that’s really not the case. The venue offered the couple a package that included the wedding venue for free if they filled up all the rooms on the property, so those paying are actually getting accommodations for an entire weekend, including food and drinks, and use of both the spa and the swimming pool.
“It’s just like when you have a party and the owner says to you if you spend so much in the bar you get the venue free,” he told the “Daily Telegraph.” "We are not charging our guests to come and pay for our wedding – we are telling them to pay for their accommodation. We've told guests it costs this much if you want to come,” adding that it can be like a weekend vacation for them.
Although the couple got some initial bad publicity over the story it isn’t going to sour their excitement for the big day. Ben notes, “we are so looking forward to it and hoping it will be a special weekend for everyone."
Source: Daily Telegraph