By KATE HUNTER
I’ve done bridesmaid duty once. It was in about 1992. The bride’s mum fired up the Pfaff and ran up not only the bride’s dress but the bridesmaids’ frocks as well.
Dark green shot silk with black trim. We bought our own black court shoes (from memory, mine were from Myer). The only other expense I remember (vaguely) was the cab fare home from the reception.
The whole affair was enormous fun. Perhaps that’s because I’m not still paying it off.
These days, things are different. By different, I mean EXPENSIVE. . The wedding-as-a-week-long-celebrity-event, even for people who aren’t celebrities is such a thing now.
Not surprisingly, more and more people are saying, ‘No, sorry,’ when they’re asked to be bridesmaids or groomsmen. Not because they don’t want to, but because they can’t afford it. The Mail Online reports:
Young people are turning down invitations to be best man or bridesmaid in record numbers it has been revealed, as the cost of being in a wedding is leaving them in a financial hole.
The wedding industry this year reported a return to pre-recession spending for happy couples, with the average budget coming close to $30,000. However it appears that a knock-on effect is that bridesmaids and groomsmen are feeling the pinch and in particular, the best man.
According to Today, almost one in ten people turned down being a groomsman or bridesmaid because the cost is too high. And in the 18-34 age group, almost 12 per cent of men said no when asked to be a groomsman because of how much it cost.
These days it’s not just the cost of clothes for the wedding itself. It’s the costs associated with the pre-wedding parties (shower, cellar party, rehearsal dinner) the post-wedding get-togethers (present-opening anyone?) and then there’s a gift. And possibly travel. Destination weddings are almost du rigueur now, with best friends ducking for cover as soon as the words, ‘OMG we’re engaged!’ are squealed.