feWould You Send No-Show Wedding Guests A Bill For Their Uneaten Dinners?

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It’s always a bummer to have to back out of plans you’ve been looking forward to at the last minute, but one Minnesota couple says their regret over missing a relative’s wedding turned to confusion when the newlyweds sent them a bill for the dinner they didn’t get a chance to eat.

The couple were getting ready for a night out a few weeks ago, when the woman’s mom called and said she wouldn’t be able to babysit their kids, reports KARE-11.

Since the invitations said no children, that meant they’d have to stay home that night. She explained to ABC News that she didn’t call or text the bride and groom, because when she and her husband had gotten hitched, the last thing she wanted was extra phone calls on that day.

“We had discussed if we should contact anyone and decided against it because, coincidentally enough, we’d had people RSVP and no-show to our wedding and I knew when I got married I didn’t want to be bothered with phone calls on the day of my wedding,” she explained. “I just assumed, I guess, that we’d let them know the situation later on.”

Then this week, she says they received a bill for the dinner they didn’t get to eat — $75. 90 for two herb crusted walleye, as well as a service and tax charge.

“This cost reflects the amount paid by the bride and groom for meals that were RSVP’d for, reimbursement and explanation for no show, card, call or text would be appreciated,” the note read.

She says they threw out the invoice and don’t plan to pay it, but she that she and her husband will likely give a check to charity instead, and send the newlyweds the receipt.

In this situation, etiquette experts (and a little bit of common sense) say that while you should never send someone a bill if they can’t make it to a wedding, the considerate thing to do is to notify hosts as soon as possible if you can’t attend. To that end, however, couples should plan for some guests to be no-shows… or for others to show up unexpectedly.

“General rule is prepare for about 10% of overage or underage when you’re planning a big event like that and catering companies are well aware of this,” Sarah Baumann Rogers, editor of Minnesota Bride, told KARE-11.

The couple in question wanted to remain anonymous, but issued a statement to the couple via ABC about the bill hooplah:

“We apologize for not being tactful in expressing our disappointment in your absence. We waited three weeks after the wedding for any correspondence and received nothing, this along with your last minute RSVP caused us to act on emotion rather than logic,” the statement read.

What would you do in this situation? Take the poll below to weigh in:

Guest gets bill after not showing up to wedding [KARE-11]
Minnesota Woman Says She Was Billed by Bride for Missing Wedding [ABC News]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist