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I was the one complaining about having the wedding in DC...and also I think I made a point of saying that something close and accessible (like Alexandria) was a totally fine and viable option...there are also closer places in Fairfax County and in Maryland that are great too. And not terribly expensive. I realize DC proper is expensive. But no offense, this girl could've afforded that!
What I was really complaining about was the absurdity of doing the wedding 3 hours from DC in an inaccessible place (only accessible by car--a cab ride would've cost millions!) where the closest airports are in the DC area. Meaning that all of us from out of town had to pay for rental cars. None of us were 25 at the time (so add to that $25 extra dollars per day per driver) and even more for 2 of us to be able to drive the car. The 3 of us that shared our car ended up paying for only 1 of us to be a driver and so she got stuck driving. There were about 20-30 of us who went to college with this girl who came from out of town and all of us had to pay for freaking rental cars and extra drivers. I think for those 3 days, the 3 of us who shared the car spent at least $150 a piece. And we got the cheapest car we could. I think a little more. Add to that a hotel room and air fare and oh yeah, a gift...I spent nearly $600 to attend this wedding. And I wasn't even in the bridal party! I was in school at the time (as were a lot of us) and had just come off of a year of Americorps service...so I didn't have a lot of cash.
This girl was a good college friend and I wanted to go--but she also made a point of telling us that this place wasn't an expensive place to be as a guest since the rooms were 'reasonable' and car rental wasn't too bad. Yeah right. What's her idea of expensive? My friend in the bridal party spent at least $800 on this wedding (I think a little more) since she had to pay for a dress and shoes. I'm sorry--when most of your friends are in grad school or don't have a lot of money, making your wedding in a place where they would spend this much on a wedding is ridiculous. I know a few people who didn't go because it was too cost-prohibitive. One friend, after saying she'd come, once she saw how much she'd have to spend told the bride that she was sorry but it just wasn't financially possible with grad school was told by the bride "this really isn't expensive at all--and you got a scholarship for grad school--don't you have savings or something?". Needless to say they aren't friends anymore. The friend in grad school had a scholarship, yes, but it didn't cover everything and she was working a job to pay for things.
Many friends (including the bride from this wedding) went to a wedding for another friend from DC about 6 months later. It was in Potomac, Maryland. I spent the same amount of time in the area for her wedding, spent the same amount on a gift, and took a cab with friends both ways to the hotel (where the wedding was also held). How much did we spend? About half of the other wedding. I was a bridesmaid in this wedding--and I spend $450 total for everything including my dress and shoes. I remember bride from wedding #1 making a comment that more people from college seemed to be at this wedding. No one had the heart to look over and say "Look honey, 2 of us could come here for the price of 1 person going to yours!"
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