paying for reception from cards?

ok ladies to settle a disagreement with a friend of mine, how many people actually use their money from their cards to pay for meal? I personally dont think the meal will pay for it self from gifts, but am I wrong? she doesnt understand why I am stressing about numbers going up bcos she thinks we will get it back?? i dunno tho? can you guys settle this?

No one I know did this. There's no way of knowing who'll give money, or if they'll give it to you on the day. You'll also get gifts of non cash and nothing from some people.

I honestly don't think this happens. As ACS said, who's to know when you'll be given gifts? People should have the wedding they can afford, and not rely on envelopes. Our wedding will be paid for, in full, 2 days before. Anything we receive will be a bonus.

No way , how can you know you will get enough money?? also loads of people gave us cheques and bank drafts which you would have to lodge. I would not count on presents to pay for your wedding, I would have a nervous breakdown if I had of had to do that, I had all my bank drafts and cheques laid out in envelopes about 2 weeks before the wedding theres no way I could have handled the stress of not having the money there ready to be paid.

thanks ladies, glad im right to only invite numbers i can afford and right to stress about numbers going up. I know we have been to weddings where we have maybe only given a small gft no money and i still owe some one a gift, glad i asked cos i though for a moment i was going mad x

I know exactly what you mean though. Our numbers are way over (we can still afford it but it's gotten ridiculous) and everyone I'm moaned to about it keeps saying "sure the gifts will cover it". I don't expect everyone to give a gift (nevermind money). Ask her,Are you meant to then send her into your room to open all the envelopes to pull the cash together to pay the hotel. Go with your gut instinct on this one.

The cost of weddings varies hugely too, so while gifts might cover the cost of the meal at the lower end of the spectrum, say 40pp or so, you would be unlikely to come close with a more expensive wedding I can't imagine anything worse than counting cash out of cards on the wedding day to pay the bills We'll be paying the venue by credit card, (but have cash to cover it straight away) currently shopping around to find one with a good deal on points so that we can get an extra bang for our buck!

Just bear in mind also, some hotels ask for payment before the wedding. Ours was paid in full 48 hours before the wedding (or was it 24?) Anyway, we paid upfront so even if you were counting on getting some money back, you still have to have it there to pay out in the first place! Our guests were really generous but the gifts didn't cover the whole cost of the wedding whatsoever. That's a really dangerous road to go down. Tell your friend you're right and she's wrong!

I remember seeing my sister frantically rip open cards the morning after the wedding to make up the balance for the hotel - now its was only the final few 1000s but still there's NO WAY id leave it hanging in the balance like that!

We've been Saving our butts off so as we can pay for everything ourselves as I don't want to be relying on cards. My friend said though when she got married two years ago that te day after the wedding thy had a few extras to pay so they did have to dip into the cards however it wasn't for a large amount. I don't think I could handle the stress