Claire nodded. Her eyes were bright.
“I don’t think either of us has been completely fair to the other,” I said. “And I’d like to figure out how to do better.”
“Me too,” she said.
Owen unclenched his shoulders slightly.
## The Financial Reality
The conversation we had after the emotional piece was considerably more practical, and I think it was actually easier for everyone to have it in that order: feelings first, logistics second.
The reality was that Claire and Owen had limited liquidity. They had planned to spend their combined wedding budget across venue, catering, florals, photography, and the other accumulated costs of a modern wedding, and the venue was a significant portion of that budget. Without my conditional gift, they were facing a shortfall.
They had looked at their options in the week before our meeting. Becca had offered to contribute, because she is exactly the kind of friend who does that. Owen’s parents had asked if they could help, which was a conversation Owen had not anticipated having but had handled honestly. Claire had called her mother.
My mother had not called me about the money conversation. That was a change from the previous dynamic, and I took it as a sign of something shifting.
Between their own savings, Becca’s contribution, Owen’s parents’ offer, and my mother’s contribution, they could get close to the shortfall. Not all the way, but close.
I looked at the numbers they laid out. The remaining balance at Willowmere was seventy-two hundred. They had pieced together approximately fifty-five hundred from various sources. They were still short seventeen hundred dollars.