Couple charges Ksh150K per guest to attend wedding
A couple in the US convinced nearly 300 people, some of whom they’d never met, to pay to come to their nuptials.
Expensive, I know. The average in the UK now costs more than Ksh 4.6 million, according to the wedding planning website Hitched. Actually, Jaxx and Larsen are in Boise, Idaho. And this is more about who paid for the wedding.
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Their parents? Their guests. How much? Up to Ksh 150,000, or more than Ksh 140,000.
Now I’m interested – go on. Jaxx and her fiancé, Larsen, were so shocked by wedding costs (including one venue that quoted them Ksh 97,500 just for cake-cutting) that they told their friends and family they would have to pay if they wanted to come.
Presumably, friends and family told them to do one, and the couple ended up getting hitched in the county court with a couple of witnesses dragged in from the street? Incorrect. In the end, nearly 300 people came.
It’s expensive enough going to a wedding anyway, isn’t it? What with stag and hen dos, accommodation, presents, outfits, childcare, and travel, you’re looking at Ksh 148,000 a bash on average in the UK, according to one survey this summer.
If you’re spending the same on a ticket to the wedding itself … To be fair to Jaxx and Larsen, it was Ksh 150,000 for a VIP voucher that allowed access to a whole package of wedding events, including a rehearsal dinner and a “biohacking brunch.”
Whatever that is. That was for the richer, then. And for the poor? Ksh 8,550 for admission to the Friday afternoon ceremony and reception.
Now you’re talking. Anyway, not only did Jaxx and Larsen cover the Ksh 7.5 million cost of the wedding, but they actually made a profit …
Well, that’s just wrong. What happened to marrying for love? … A profit that they donated to a charity providing community-led education in rural Kenya.
Hmmm. It’s still not very traditional, is it? Jaxx and Larsen said they were “disrupting” the multibillion-dollar wedding industry. Also, they didn’t even know many of their hundreds of guests; they were strangers from the internet.
It’ll never catch on. Actually, it does seem to be catching on. A startup in Paris …
The City of Love! The City of Love a Business Opportunity, more like. They’ve made an app that allows couples to sell tickets to their wedding to strangers, in order to cover costs.
And what do the strangers get? To go to a wedding they wouldn’t have otherwise.
Do say: “Yeah, a bit like Wedding Crashers but more … Wedding Crashers.”
Don’t say: “If it doesn’t last, I want my money back.”
