The conversation went on for another hour. Not all of it was hard. Some of it was just practical — the wedding plans, what they could actually afford, what the realistic options were. My parents, it turned out, could put in about eight thousand more than they’d originally said if they shifted some things around. That wasn’t nothing.
But I was not in that conversation. I was a guest for the future wedding, not a funder. That was established clearly and stayed established.
I left with the coasters still on the table and a plate of mostly uneaten cheese and crackers.
I sat in my car for a while before driving home.
Paying for the Wedding They Can Afford
Ethan called me four days after the family meeting.
He said he and Olivia had spent two days going through their options, and it had not been a fun two days, and he wanted me to know they were working on it.
The original plan — the forty-eight thousand dollar venue — was not possible. They’d paid a deposit to hold the date, which they forfeited, which was a real and specific consequence. Ethan mentioned it without drama, which I respected. He didn’t ask me to feel guilty about the forfeited deposit. He said it was a cost of having made assumptions.
They were looking at venues in the twenty-eight to thirty-two thousand dollar range instead. Smaller guest list, slightly less elaborate catering, same basic idea. Olivia, he said, had a spreadsheet.
I asked if Olivia was okay.