Man Says Wife Was Expected to Spend Nearly $6K as a Bridesmaid: ‘No Concept of Money’

A Reddit user says his wife was asked to spend nearly $6,000 on bridesmaid expenses for his brother’s upcoming wedding. He shared the situation on r/aitaweddings, where the post received 2,800 upvotes and 950 comments.

u/Diligent-Farmer5750 said his brother is getting married. According to the poster, his future sister-in-law, whom he calls Lizzie in the post, is nice but grew up wealthy and has different expectations when it comes to wedding expenses.

Lizzie invited his wife to be a bridesmaid. However, the dresses she wanted the bridesmaids to wear during the ceremony would be white, followed by pink cocktail dresses for the reception. “The dresses alone cost almost 3k,” he wrote in the post.

That was not the only expense. Lizzie also wanted a bachelorette party in Mexico, which the poster said would cost another $3,000.

“There is also going to be a bridal shower at a historic mansion and no price tag on that yet,” he wrote.

The poster said his wife was also becoming frustrated with the costs. The couple were still paying off student loans and could not afford the expenses being requested of them. He said the situation was also beginning to strain his wife’s relationship with Lizzie, which he did not want because Lizzie would soon be part of the family.

Ultimately, he decided they would not pay for the dresses or the bachelorette party. He spoke with his brother and Lizzie and explained why they were dropping out of the wedding party. According to his account, Lizzie appeared apologetic.

“She said she had only been a bridesmaid once and thought that was a normal cost. Then she took out her phone and without me asking venomed me the cost of both dresses, the bachelorette, and an extra thousand for the bridal shower. She seemed really apologetic,” he wrote.

However, his wife was upset when she found out what had happened.

“She said I humiliated her and now Lizzie is going to think we are poor, and she now feels she is stuck being in the wedding despite not wanting to. She called Lizzie an exhausting princess and called me a ‘simp.’ I'm just confused as I felt I did the right thing to prevent Lizzie and my brother from jumping to conclusions,” he wrote.

Reddit users debate whether he should have talked to his wife first

Reddit users had different opinions about the situation, with some saying the poster was in the wrong and others placing the blame on his wife.

Some commenters focused on his wife’s concern about appearing “poor,” arguing that he should have spoken with her before making a decision that affected both of them.

Others concluded that everyone involved was at least partly responsible. Some users voted ESH, which stands for “everyone sucks here” and means they believed both sides were in the wrong.

Other commenters defended Lizzie, pointing out that she offered to cover the expenses after learning that the couple could not afford them.

“If Lizzie got upset about it and kicked her out that’d be one thing. But she understood and handled it. Thats very nice and shows she values your wife as a future family member,” one user wrote.

The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the events described in the Reddit post, which are based on u/Diligent-Farmer5750’s account of the situation.