We know weddings are expensive but it's hard to justify this one.

When her friend attempted to charge each of her bridesmaids 10,000 AUD (€5,946), 'Grace' (for privacy reasons) had to put her foot down. The Australian woman called up an evening radio station, Smallzy's Surgery, to find out if she was making the right decision by backing out of bridesmaid duties due to financial concerns. According to one prospective bridesmaid, this cost only covered the pre-wedding events, and not the actual wedding, which left the hosts gobsmacked. This included a $250 (€148) bridal shower with her mum and all her aunties, a $500 (€296) bachelorette party, a pre-wedding holiday 'to prepare' and a spa weekend. Looking at the itinerary, one can quickly see how the final tally grew to such heights. To top it all off, it is a destination wedding taking place in Bali, Indonesia. This led Grace to 'graciously step away' from the role in the bridal party as she could not afford to take part. “I kid you not — I think I was in the wrong pay bracket to be friends with this person,” she jokingly told the radio host. Asking her to be a bridesmaid in the first place apparently came as a shock to Grace, as she claimed they weren't friends, but just liked 'each other’s posts on Instagram and that’s about it.' However, thankfully, the indulgent bride took the rejection well and understood Grace's reasoning. “I think I did it in a tactful enough way that she didn’t hate me,” she explained. At least the story has a positive conclusion for Grace and she didn't end up bankrupt, but it is certainly worthy of a conversation. It seems these days the once much-coveted role of bridesmaid is not one people are vying for due to the sheer cost of it. On the other side of the spectrum, there are brides who don't believe in charging bridesmaids to be involved in their big day. One TikTok user, known as @partygirlclauds, took to the app to share her opinion on this. "I don’t expect my bridesmaids to pay for a single thing, including the hen’s [bachelorette] party. “Your wedding is not your bridesmaids’ financial responsibility," she said.

@partygirlclauds should your bridesmaids pay to be in your wedding? #bridesmaids #financetok #wedding #2023bride @Victoria | She’s on the Money ♬ original sound - Claudia ✨ Your Wedding Bestie

The comments section were, let's say, mixed on the topic. "I can’t fathom asking your bridesmaids to PAY for their own dresses/hair/makeup etc! That’s just bizarre to me," one user wrote in agreement. Another supported this, and said: "I’m a 2024 bride and I have asked my bridesmaids to only pay for their dresses as I am paying for everything else, which I believe is fair." While others had different thoughts on the matter. "I got my bridesmaids to pay as I’ve always paid as a bridesmaid… as I thought it was normal," one confessed. "I mean I would personally do 50/50 only because then they have their freedom of choice too," another wrote. What are your experiences? Has it gotten too expensive to help walk a loved one down the aisle? Judging by this, it seems the times are a-changing when it comes to asking people to be your bridesmaid!

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