Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TIGHT WEDDING
Groom asks guests to pay £150 a head to be at his big day
A THRIFTY groom is charging guests £150 a head to attend his wedding, telling them to think of it as “an all-inclusive holiday”.
Ben Farina, 33, who is marrying Claire Moran, 37, denied being “tight” and said his plan “went down well” with guests.
He said: “I had it all mapped out before I proposed. I knew her reaction would be, ‘We can’t afford to get married’, so I started showing her how we could.”
The bash is at the Gainsborough Retreats in Derbyshire, a Georgian hall with 16 self-catering cottages, which is costing £10,000 instead of £14,000 as it was a cancellation.
That is covered by the £150 charged to each of the 60 adult guests and £50 for each of the 20 children invited for the three-day bash.
Ben told the BBC: “People always pay a large amount of money to go to a wedding anyway. All the food and drinks will be incorporated in that cost.
“The venue has a spa, an indoor swimming pool and games room. There’s a lake, so it is like a little holiday resort.”
Ben’s mum is paying £750 for a hog roast on the wedding day and his dad is chipping in £500. Ben’s stepfather, who is a chef, is cooking a Sunday roast the day after the wedding and a friend has offered to be the wedding singer.
The couple will spend about £2,000 of their own money on alcohol, food, the wedding dress, bridesmaids’ dresses and a £50 ASOS suit for the groom.
They are buying supermarket booze for the wedding day and guests can bring their own for over the weekend.
Ben, of Rotherham, South Yorks, has a daughter, three, with Claire, who also has another daughter, aged 17.
Ben and Claire paid £550 to go to a friend’s wedding in Greece and spent £1,200 while they were there. He argued that a hotel stay for a wedding would cost £100 with a £50 bill at the bar. Claire admitted she never thought they would be able to afford such a big day. She said: “We had spoken about marriage because we’ve got a little girl.
“I always said we wouldn’t be able to afford to do it, or it would have to be a register office wedding, not a big wedding. This is a brilliant way to do it.
“He has put a lot of thought into it.”