When planning a wedding, newlyweds often adhere to two main opposite concepts—either a very modest cozy wedding with a minimum of guests, or a pompous and luxurious event with hundreds of invitees, quite comparable in scale to the triumphs of the Roman emperors. And in terms of budget, too.
The story we’re going to tell you today is just one of the second category of weddings. The bride and groom planned a destination wedding in Dubai, but made several mistakes in the budgeting process—and the whole wedding was literally on the verge of failure a week before the ceremony. And what else would we call the situation when the MOH, who is also the bride's sister, refuses to attend the event?
More info: Reddit
The author of the post has a younger sister who is going to marry soon and plans a destination wedding in Dubai
Image credits: Asad Photo Maldives / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Needless to say, the event is going to be very pompous and the author and all her relatives are going to pay for the flight and accommodations themselves
Image credits: One_Change4503
Image credits: Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Recently, the newlyweds-to-be asked the author to lend them $17K for the wedding—and the couple, together with her parents, helped them
Image credits: One_Change4503
Image credits: EmilyStock / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The author got incredibly livid after finding out that this money was actually spent to pay for the groom's parents and relatives
Image credits: One_Change4503
The author just refused to attend the wedding at all and it caused a major threat because she was also the MOH
So, the Original Poster (OP) has a younger sister who is getting ready to tie the knot soon. And she and her fiance planned a destination wedding in Dubai. Seven dozen guests, a transcontinental flight, a luxury hotel—everything is as if it's in some Hollywood romantic movie. And, after some time, it turned out that the genre of this movie was actually a tragicomedy.
The groom earns well, and the author's sis also earns decent money, so the OP and her husband were very surprised when the newlyweds-to-be once came to them with a request to lend them $17K to organize a wedding. Well, they were surprised—but they decided to help. The author and her spouse gave $7K, and their parents added another ten thousand.
And now, imagine the surprise and indignation of our heroine when, literally a few weeks before the wedding, it turned out that this money would actually go to pay for accommodation and a flight for the groom's parents and their numerous relatives!
Needless to say, should the original poster, her husband, and her entire side pay for everything themselves? As our heroine also found out, the groom simply grew up in poverty, and although he now earns well, his family cannot afford such expenses.
Be that as it may, the OP was outraged that she and her husband had been lied to, and she said that she refused to fly to Dubai at all. And, considering that she was also supposed to be the maid of honor, the problem for the bride grew to alarming proportions. No amount of persuasion from the sister and her future BIL had any effect on the author. However, she still decided to seek support and some kind of advice online.
Image credits: freepic.diller / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Well, organizing a destination wedding really does change the scale of the event's expenses. For example, The Knot calculated that the overall average wedding cost nowadays is $33,000, with this amount fluctuating between $32K for a hometown event and $39K for a destination wedding. But these calculations obviously didn’t take into account the fact that the wedding would be held in Dubai.
For example, this dedicated article on Vocal Media claims that tying the knot in one of the most expensive cities in the world costs between $40K and $135K. Considering the original poster notes that the flight and accommodations for guests will cost around £2,900 (~$3.7K) each, the budget is closer to the second number. So, it’s not surprising that the groom’s parents couldn’t afford it.
However, this should have been thought through long before the bride and groom started booking a venue and hotels in Dubai. And people in the comments also reasonably noted this. Well, many responders believe that an attempt to deceive her and her parents is well worth refusing to attend the wedding. Although, of course, in this case, the relationship between the sisters will be ruined for a long time—if not forever.
And the author also admits that she’s conflicted here. On the one hand, she wants to teach her sister a lesson for this lie, but on the other—she doesn’t want a major scandal and a break in their relationship. However, some responders recommend the OP simply tell her sis off once more—and still go to Dubai. For some reason, it seems that she will do just that... And what do you think?
People in the comments were quite divided but some folks just urged the woman to attend the event anyway
