There is no denying wedding planning can be really stressful for the wedding party, none more so than the bride.
Women have long been bombarded with messages to think of their weddings as fairy-tales. So the stakes can get high and expectations even higher, pushing some women into being "bridezillas." And then their high stakes suddenly translate into high stakes for everyone.
Twitter user @SeyiAkiwowo had a crazy story to share about her close encounter with a bridezilla friend:
As we are talking about wedding stories... should I share the time bride of a destination wedding asked me for mone… https://t.co/5Dxehl96jU— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558382494.0
It all started in 2015, and things seemed great at first:
Okay... it was summer 2015. A good work colleague and (ex) friend was having a destination wedding in Romania. She… https://t.co/z5l0GHz4sf— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558384660.0
I won't lie to you. The wedding was DOPE. Everything was planned so well. There was even a gift bag in the hotel. I said wow. They went in.— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558384727.0
The wedding has a full blown website. And the invite said they'd rather money than a gift because they wouldn't be… https://t.co/Ce6mxNSEkb— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558384805.0
And some things started to seem off:
The wedding went on for two days. Me and my friend bought our own flight, hotel (2 nights) and paid for our own expenses out there..— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558384889.0
Me and my friends were the only black folks, not just at the wedding but the whole damn village. Errrybody wanted a… https://t.co/W7aaCvdOiK— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558385192.0
It was an open bar. And every hour was tequila time. Its gone midnight... the family are now handing out envelopes.… https://t.co/v45hS88Xkw— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558385329.0
Never trust a strange envelope.
Remember I told y'all we paid for our own expenses...we ran out of cash. And we were in the village. We didn't see… https://t.co/YcLGcKrOn1— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558385506.0
So me and my friend. She's MY friend (remember that too). Gave all the Euros we had/could. We gave the envelope in… https://t.co/ie90vy9ypf— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558385629.0
On our way back to the hotel, ah we were a hot mess. We had 3 hours to kill before we needed to get ready for our f… https://t.co/V2tkeO36D1— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558385783.0
And now the stakes were high for the guests.
With such little time to catch their flight and so little money left over after the weekend, they went into survival mode.
We almost missed our flight. If you want to sober up quickly, wake up at the time you should be in the taxi to the… https://t.co/ksXmyIk7ni— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558385876.0
Checking out was a mad, I'm literally swearing tequila it was burning my eyes. We get in the taxi and while panicki… https://t.co/L1bkXzXvTB— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558386017.0
We get to the airport.. Wizz Air... charged us £60 to check in our bag. At this point I couldn't even cry.— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558386086.0
We pay it and we get on the plane. Before we passed out we remiensce.. I wish I could show you the photos. We hones… https://t.co/7jlvqFoxlH— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558386358.0
But, they made it.
But when they got home is when the ugly came out.
So we're back in London, (Luton) we are in the car, we drop my friend to work in Canary Wharf and me at home, I was… https://t.co/ljDKXcwew7— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558386524.0
I switch on the work laptop so I'm online on Lync... I reach for my phone and guess what I see....— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558386568.0
A Facebook message from the bride... My naive self thought she was messaging to ask if we got home okay... N O P E— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558386624.0
I READ UP TO HERE THEN I CALLED MY FRIEND https://t.co/lrPLKnLu8G— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558386708.0
So we have to pay for coming to your wedding, after we paid our own flights, hotel and expenses?
Heck no. And it gets worse.
WEDDING COST........ https://t.co/6iiLZZYrsU— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558386735.0
I read the rest of the message with my friend on the phone. My friend went momentarily deaf... she couldn't not dig… https://t.co/FvCDIoSvT4— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558386895.0
So I sent her the message and I kid you not she read that message over and over again. She could not understand. Wa… https://t.co/V6NwrgpUqA— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558386958.0
Ready for the full thing? It's a full on yikes fest.
Please note the time of the message too... https://t.co/I1YDUkqCWW— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558387088.0
@seyiakiwowo/Twitter
There's more... https://t.co/VZ4zp1nUvj— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558387293.0
@seyiakiwowo/Twitter
10.40am... the day after your wedding. My friend and I had soooooo many questions and we were equally confused/ i… https://t.co/MVYuZvIpET— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558387603.0
The queen included her bank number!
It later became clear how she tracked her guests' contributions:
So remember I said that gift bag was a TRAP. That's how she was able to track spending per person. She knew exactly… https://t.co/7OJRJJM4mM— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558388391.0
In that 12 hours of leaving the wedding we travelled back to London from Romanian and she did full calculation. My… https://t.co/NaLtIjpuUd— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558388690.0
Safe to say I am no longer friends with the debt collector. The couple are still together and had their first baby… https://t.co/6lEDokdw6N— Seyi Akiwowo (@Seyi Akiwowo) 1558390534.0
People are so thrown by this story.
@seyiakiwowo @ashindestad Thanks for the heads up sis! Me if I’m ever invited to Eastern European wedding: https://t.co/zaQFwF5mKu— girl inna di tight up shorts 🇬🇩 (@girl inna di tight up shorts 🇬🇩) 1558420436.0
@seyiakiwowo What was your reply??? Please tell me you did not transfer even a penny— Chancy With AIH & Mental Health (@Chancy With AIH & Mental Health) 1558417318.0
@seyiakiwowo https://t.co/C3O1CAWdap— Oghenekome (@Oghenekome) 1558388249.0
@seyiakiwowo Omg creasing at this story, I was on edge throughout the thread. https://t.co/hAENgp1iK8— Abdi Duale (@Abdi Duale) 1558392915.0
@seyiakiwowo I am speechless!!! 🤯— Ellen King (@Ellen King) 1558387685.0
After all, who expects guests to flat out pay for the wedding costs, in addition to shelling out money for their own transportation and lodging?
@seyiakiwowo But £5? 😂😂😂— BREIS (breeze) (@BREIS (breeze)) 1558423042.0
@seyiakiwowo https://t.co/3pEZvBQIqI— DiamondInTheDirt (@DiamondInTheDirt) 1558391164.0
@seyiakiwowo @ByAyokunu You know I think it's a eastern European thing. My Polish friend said you dont pay upfront… https://t.co/ZeosxLbDGN— Ndlovukazi🇿🇼 (@Ndlovukazi🇿🇼) 1558398313.0
@seyiakiwowo I was super excited about all the cards we got when we were married- I was interested to see were ther… https://t.co/P7u4vjKwuW— LadyHexNoir (@LadyHexNoir) 1558438781.0
@seyiakiwowo @_HERROYALORACLE I CAN'T help but laugh🤣🤣🤣 Some people use wedding to make their first millions. That'… https://t.co/eRmzvkhPfV— Pepple Medlyn Tonye (@Pepple Medlyn Tonye) 1558452965.0
@seyiakiwowo Ratchet behaviour on a new level never ever attained before— Lorraine King (@Lorraine King) 1558390103.0
A destination wedding is fun in theory, but can be extremely expensive in practice.
The wedding can end up costing you a baseline of around $27,000, assuming you don't pay the way for friends and family.
@seyiakiwowo Jesus!!!!!! Funke https://t.co/zvvR7C9E0w— GrantGrey (@GrantGrey) 1558445885.0
@seyiakiwowo @Its_Espe But if she knew she could not afford to get married, then why get married. Is it by force to… https://t.co/Lc1XHZ7V6q— BBYGAIL (@BBYGAIL) 1558521746.0
@seyiakiwowo https://t.co/nwa1IshU2F— Kwerula (@Kwerula) 1558422085.0
@seyiakiwowo I'm cryy!! https://t.co/ryQVf73Zo4— King Vito Speaks (@King Vito Speaks) 1558470961.0
The point is, nobody is forcing you to have a destination wedding. So why force your guests to pay more out of pocket for it? If you can't afford one, don't have one. City Hall marriages exist for a reason!
And if you're planning your own wedding, you might want a dose of common sense—or this book—to avoid catching the Bridezilla virus.