I Declined To Be a Bridesmaid In My Cousin’s Wedding- Because Of Money

Over 20 years ago, my husband and I had a young family and did not have the funds to lavish on my cousin and her new fiancee.

Cindy* had asked me to be a bridesmaid. And financially, at the time, I had to say no. She was mad and pretty much stopped talking to me after that.

Especially in these economic times, it is not unheard of to not be able to afford to be a part of a wedding party.

The Reddit poster goes on to explain the following:

“The bride chose a bachelorette party that is out of state and requires me to buy plane tickets, use my PTO [paid time off] and spend a lot of money on airbnb/other random activities. The maid of honor asked us all to pitch in $200 each for the BRIDAL SHOWER!” the woman wrote.

“Between the shower, bachelorette, dress and hotel for the wedding, I’m spending WAYYYY more than I did on my own marriage!” she continued, asking, “Why are we normalizing this behavior?”

She went on to note that while she is happy to celebrate her friends’ weddings, she feels the expectations — and expenses — of the events are over-the-top.

So what is the solution to entitled brides?

“I think it’s also about the growing entitlement to spend…