Should the bride's family pay for the whole wedding? Is that the tradition?

Answer 1

It is a tradition, but now days it's rarely ever followed. It's too d a m n expensive to put the whole thing on the brides family. It's just not fare. Both families should help pay. That's how mine did it.

Answer 2

Traditionally, pretty much the bride's family paid for most of the wedding costs (with a few exceptions like the bridal bouquet, rehearsal dinner, costs of the officiant). Today, with wedding prices skyrocketing into the outer stratosphere, and brides and grooms being older and more established in careers, there's all sorts of payment arrangements being done. Sometimes you'll see both families chip in for the wedding, sometimes the bride and groom will just pay for it all themselves, and sometimes you'll get the traditional bride's family paying for it. Whoever pays for it, needs to be indicated on the invite. For example, if it's the brides parents paying (therefore, hosting) the invite should read
Mr. and Mrs. John Smith
request the honor of your company
at the marriage of their daughter

If the grooms parents are hosting it would be
Mr. and Mrs. John Smith
request the honor of your company
at the marriage of their son

If BOTH sets of parents are hosting it would read
Mr. and Mrs. John Smith
and
Mr. and Mrs. Steve Jones
request the honor of your company
at the marriage of their children

And if it's the bride and groom hosting
Sally Smith
and
John Jones
request the honor of your company
at their marriage

Of course, this can be worded however you want, I've kinda gone traditional. You just need to really make sure that if someone's contributing significantly to the wedding costs (I'm not talking giving the cake as a wedding present), then they are recognized as a host of the event. Congrats and good luck!

Answer 3

That is the "tradition" which came from the old days when it was part of a dowry that the bride's family paid to get her married off, but in this age where most women are waiting to get married and are usually well-established in their careers (not to mention making way more money than their parents ever made) it is typical (if not expected) for the bride & groom to pay for some, most or even all of a wedding.

Answer 4

It was the tradition back in the day when the father would pay the grooms family a dowry to take her off of his hands. It is common for the bride's family to pay for it all most commonly in the south and New England if the bride is under 23. If she is older, the cost can still be all with the bride's parents, shared by both parents, or paid for by the bride and groom themselves (possibly with help from the rents).

Answer 5

That is the tradition for the father of the bride to pay for the wedding and the parents of th groom to pay for the rehearsa dinner.

Answer 6

Yes the tradition in America and most places is that the brides family pays. But in China I think the groom himself has to pay for the wedding! Which makes sense to me... :)

Answer 7

Tradition, yes. General practice, these days, no.

I had to pay for my entire wedding. My fiance and I agreed that I would pay for the wedding, he would pay for the honeymoon. His parents paid for the rehearsal dinner and my bouquet. My mom bought my dress, but that was all she could afford (don't get me wrong, it was a HUGE blessing). Different people make different arrangements with their families and fiance's families. It depends on a lot of other factors too, s/a how old you are, whether you have a job and wether you've been married before. I've known couples where the bride lost both parents (died after she was an adult) but she was still young, her fiance's parents offered to pay for it. It depends on your circumstances.

Take care.

Answer 8

Traditionally, it is the bride's family who pays (well at least in American and most European cultures). These days it's pretty much whoever can afford it and wants to help out. A lot of people start a wedding "fund" and both parents, grandparents and anyone else will contribute to it. I would sit down and talk to both sets of parents about the type of wedding you want, how much you realistically expect to pay, and see if they would like to help you out (they may not want to help at all financially). Good luck!

Answer 9

Traditionally, yes the brides family pays for the ceremony and the reception. The groom's family pays for the rehearsal dinner and the honeymoon. In my situation, my dad offered to pay for us to go to Vegas to do it, or he would pay for half, as long as the budget was no more than $5000 dollars. Our total costs were just over half of his limit and he ended up paying most of the major fees. He paid for the reception, the DJ, and the minister fees. My husbsand and I paid for the smaller stuff like my dress, the pianist, flowers, decorations, stuff like that. But we also had a lot of non-financial help. So, total, I think he paid about 2/3 of the cost and we paid about 1/3 of the total costs.

Answer 10

Not any more. Most of the time its the bride and groom handling the expense of the wedding with a little bit of help from the parents, maybe. You hope and pray that the guests cover their plates with a little extra, thats the custom now.