One of my very good friends is getting married in a few months. She's having a very small wedding, and only a few of her friends from college were invited, myself included. Initially, I was very gung-ho about going. Then I started researching.
She's getting married in a resort town over Memorial Day Weekend. The location was chosen because it's a midpoint between her hometown and her fiance's hometown. With layovers, the quickest trip for me will still be almost 8 hours. But that's not the bad part. The bad part, as you can expect, is the price. After looking at the cost of flights and splitting a rental car (necessary in this town) and hotel room, and meals out, I'm looking at close to $1000.
I love my friend, but $1000 is a lot of money that could be spent elsewhere. I spent less than that for my entire trip to Hawaii last year (admittedly, I stayed with a friend, but still, it was a much longer trip).
Admittedly, a big part of my hesitation is also the travel time. Even if I go for a 4 day weekend, I'm still spending two of those days traveling.
I know that the couple understands the cost of the travel, and would understand if I backed out because of the price, but my friend has already asked me if I was coming, worrying that none of her friends would be able to make it. So I'm feeling a little bit obligated.
But $1000. I can technically afford it, but it puts a big dent in my budget.
She lives near me, so it's not as if we never see each other. And only one of my other friends will be there, a friend who I will see many times throughout the year. So this isn't one of those weddings that's also a bit of a reunion.
I like her family a lot, and I'm sure the weekend would be fun, but right now, I'm really hesitating. What would you do?