Wedding Guest Outraged Over Having to Pay for Water

There’s no denying that a wedding is all about the couple of honor, but that doesn’t mean their guests should be ignored: As a bride or groom, part of your responsibility on the wedding day is being a great host. That means you should greet your attendees, ensure they’re well taken care of, and provide food and drinks for them—at a minimum. While not every wedding has a full open bar, etiquette rules generally state that there should be a selection of free beverages, both alcohol and non-alcoholic.

At a recent wedding, though, that wasn’t the case. According to a Reddit post on the website’s /weddingshaming thread, guests showed up for a couple’s outdoor ceremony and reception and learned that anything from the bar—including water—would need to be paid for by the attendees. That wasn’t even where the communication breakdown began. “I knew nothing coming into this wedding aside from the time and place. That was the only information given on the invitation, and there was no wedding website to get more information,” the original poster explained. “Turns out, it was an outdoor wedding on a humid 95° and sunny afternoon (thought it was indoor because I looked up the venue). People were in shorts, tees, and slip-ons, and others were in floor-length gowns. One lady was in a full white dress.”

The ceremony itself went fairly well, the OP noted. Other than the heat and crying kids, everything went as planned and was relatively quick. As guests moved to cocktail hour, there was “no direction on what to do.” “I follow the herd to the bar line. At this point, I am drowning in my own sweat, and all I want is water,” the original poster wrote. “I’m not paying attention to the people in front of me because I’m busy trying to fight off flies. My turn in line and I ask for water. ‘You got it, $2.’ I look up and I see the sign. No free beverages- period. Not even water.” Too hot to argue, the guest handed the bartender their credit card before learning that it was a cash-only bar. Luckily, they had some money in their purse.

The guest went on to note that they “felt sick from the heat” by dinner and had “little interest in socializing.” Dinner was a buffet, which the OP noted looked “homey”—”No problem,” they wrote. “Who doesn’t love a home cooked meal?” Unfortunately, by the time it was their turn to grab dinner, everything was covered in flies. Dessert was also covered in bugs, the poster explained, but that wasn’t a problem since there were no plates or forks for the cake. “I truly don’t feel like this was real life,” the guest wrote. “Like this had to be a practical joke, right?”

Other Reddit users agreed that the wedding sounded like a mess, and they all took issue with the lack of free water for attendees. “I truly am an easy going guest. I have zero issue with cash bars, I will very rarely complain about the choices a couple made to celebrate their big day. But at a wedding in the dead of summer, you gotta provide some kind of beverage to your guests,” one user wrote. Another added, “I have no issue with a dry wedding in the traditional sense. It’s totally fine with me if there’s no alcohol BUT dry does NOT mean literally dry where you can’t even get water! In this instance, a cash bar is beyond shame worthy.”