Would you pick up the tab?

Can you imagine having to foot your own bill at a wedding reception? Well, apparently, that’s what some couples are trending towards. I guess this is the new generation of “sponsored” weddings. I was first introduced to this concept a few years ago. We were attending a wedding in which the couple did not register, so it is apparently an unspoken rule that they wanted monetary gifts. I am not object to giving monetary gifts, because this lets the couple purchase whatever their heart’s desire, without the hassle of taking unwanted or duplicate gifts back to the store. {Can you tell, I’ve had experience!} However, it wasn’t until my husband stated our monetary gift must equal the cost of our dinner at the reception…each! Apparently, I had been living under a wedding gift etiquette rock, because I had never heard of such a thing. Being an Atlanta native, I was figuring about $200.00, BUT the wedding was in New York. It was until then that I found out just how expensive weddings in New York are compared to Atlanta. I could have died when we forked over almost $400. That was the most expensive dinner, I've ever eaten. I would have much preferred to give a setting of Villeroy and Boch china, but that’s just me.

Within the past two weeks I have come across two articles with the same subject matter, wedding guests picking up the tab. The above example is in a suddle, indirect way, but today’s couples are becoming bold about what to expect from their guests.

Question!

How would you word that request in an invitation? With all the tricky wording for invitations, I can only imaging the etiquette for notifying your guests that they will be paying for their meal. A wording example on the response card…”when responding to confirm attendance please insert a check in the amount of ______, to cover your meal. If you would prefer to pay by credit card, please respond via email and we will send you a Paypal request.” Ha! What do you think?