As weddings become extensions, guests must pay increasingly important sums to honor the invitation. And the addition can quickly become salty.
No need to be married yourself to feel the wedding season. Since the health crisis, the number of ceremonies has exploded. In 2022, INSEE counted 244,000 marriages in France, a record for ten years. Same excitement in Belgium, where we celebrate almost 40,000 each year. Behind the scenes, another trend settles down: guests are no longer content to bring a small gift and dance to dawn. They often have to pay transport, accommodation, holding, present, additional activities … and sometimes even participate in the financing of the event. Result: attending a wedding can now cost as much, or more, as a weekend abroad.
These high amounts are partly explained by the internationalization of ceremonies. It is no longer uncommon for the newlyweds organizing their party abroad, in Marrakech, Greece or Dublin, imposing plane tickets and several nights on site. For Emma, 29, questioned by Le Figaro, it is a chain of three weekends between Brittany, Corsica and Ireland which has undermined its finances. “It becomes a bit anything”, she says.
And the problem does not stop there. You also have to think about the outfit. On average, men pay 96 euros, women 99 euros. Added to this is the gift: 91 euros for men, 94 for women. And if you are a bridesmaid, expect to have to finance makeup, hairstyle, coordinated outfits and sometimes even a part of the decor. For some, like Eva, cited by Yahoo! Life, the cup is full. Coming to Marrakech for the union of a friend, she says she was asked for a kitty in addition to all the costs incurred. “I have been criticized for not having given enough. Since then, we don’t talk to each other”she deplores. Indeed, in 2023, the Savoo site assessed the average cost of a wedding weekend at 912 euros. This figure rises to 936 euros for the members of the procession, 1,159 euros if we participate in the burials of a young girl or boy, and reaches up to 2,097 euros for the bridesmaids.
A phenomenon that is accompanied by a global rise in costs related to the organization of marriages. In Belgium, according to the company AP Events, it takes about 18,000 euros for a “classic” ceremony. An amount up 20 % since 2019 according to RTL Info and some providers already announce a new increase of 11 % for the following year.
An inflation that bounds necessarily on the guests, more and more asked to lighten the bill of the bride and groom. This is why, the latter, also confronted at exploding prices, no longer hesitate to organize “participative” weddings, where everyone pays their share, or even more.
