If you should ask your mom or your grandma how wedding expenses were shared in their day, you shall probably be surprised to find out that their families paid for nearly all the proceedings. Did this have anything to do with being a female and member of the weaker sex? Whatever the reason for that, happily for you, if you happen to a bride-to-be, that arrangement is no longer observed today.
To clarify the differences between traditional ways and the way the financial issues of marriage are resolved today let us first take a look at how they did it in the past.
If an engagement party was desired by the couples, the bride’s family was answerable for facilitating that.
Everything that had to be spent on the wedding day itself, including; transporting people, renting vehicles and musicians and all the other amounts paid for professional and/or religious fees to people officiating the ceremonies were spent by the bride’s folks.
The wedding reception, the rent the food and the favors were all answered for by the bride’s side.
Naturally, the gown of the bride was bought by her family. Besides this, the services of the interior decorator, including the expenses for the flowers, candles and other wedding accessories, were answered for by the family of the bride. They also paid for the bouquets of the bridesmaids, the services of the photographer as well as having the photographs developed. Any wedding party favors and refreshments had to be financed by their checkbooks as well.
In traditional wedding expenses it fell on the family of the groom to answer for its own accommodations, naturally. As well, they paid for expenses incurred during rehearsals and the mock wedding. A pair of wedding gifts was also expected from the groom’s side. By far the biggest expenses dished out by the groom were the honeymoon travel and accommodations costs.
In today’s scenario, financing a wedding is defined in more practical and fair terms. In other words, the common wedding expenses like the reception dinner, the rehearsals, and the paraphernalia of the bridesmaids, the flowers, the music and the entertainment are all divided equally between the bride’s family and the groom’s family.
However, each family pays for its own guests.
The situation above happens when both families involved are of equal financial footing.
To describe it in terms of percentage, if the family of the groom’s financial standing is more or less twice that of the bride’s, the groom’s relative’s pay for 2/3 of everything. In actual life, some families, whether the bride’s or the groom’s will offer to pay for everything if they are extremely well-off.
For the sake of all relationships that will be involved in the marriage, that situation has to be averted. The family that is less fortunate money-wise should insist on a less expensive wedding that they can easily afford to contribute to. They should also make it a point to give their share of the expenditures, however little that may be.
Differences in financial standing should not be underscored in a wedding. The best way to get a loving couple started out in life is shoulder to shoulder. They will be, after the ceremony is concluded, two parts of a whole.
Getting the union between bride and groom started out on equal footing will help so much in establishing a lasting relationship between the two of them as between their families.
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