This 30-year-old woman lost her home after spending $18,000 on weddings and bachelorette parties
- 30-year-old Georgina Childs revealed on British TV that she was forced to give up her home having racked up £13,000 ($18,000) in wedding guest debt.
- She has attended 14 weddings and 13 hen (bachelorette) parties)= over four years.
- Ultimately she had to decide between saying no to weddings or giving up her flat - and she chose the latter.
- Childs has faced criticism on social media for her choices, but for many millennials, her situation is all too relatable.
Wedding guest debt is unfortunately becoming a thing among millennials. Most people will know someone who is attending nine or 10 weddings this year - and it's easy to start resenting the expense and, in some cases, unnecessary extravagance.
Suddenly, a day which is supposed to be about celebrating with friends and family becomes a mounting financial burden.
Someone who knows this all too well is 30-year-old Georgina Childs from Essex, England, who revealed on British television programme This Morning that she lost her home after spending £13,000 attending 14 weddings and 13 hen (bachelorette) parties over four years.
Childs resorted to credit cards to foot the bill for accommodation and transportation costs, having spent £1,500 on outfits and over £4,000 on hotel bills over the years.
The debt mounted and ultimately she ended up giving up her flat and moving back in with her parents in order to continue seeing friends get married.
Childs explained that she now dreads the arrival of a wedding invitation in the post, because while it's exciting and "an honour" to be invited to a wedding or hen do, she finds it difficult to turn one down as it could come across rude or offensive.
And the popularity of destination weddings, or weekday ceremonies - which are often cheaper for the couple - make the occasions more expensive, especially if an elaborate stag or hen do - think a weekend in Ibiza, Las Vegas even - is part of the package.
"Some people say I should start turning down invites of once-removed type friends, but it's not that easy to turn down a wedding invite," she said. "It's seen as a bit of a social faux pas."
Ultimately Childs was left with a choice - to start saying no to weddings, or give up her flat - and she chose the latter.
"I was living away from home and I'd just got to a point where I thought if I want to keep going to these weddings and seeing my friends walk down the aisle then something has to give," she said. "So I went back to my parents."
Admitting that some of this was down to FOMO, she called for people not to get too carried away when organising stag and hen weekends and be a little more "modest."
"If you're with your friends you shouldn't really need to do cocktail making or bike rides," she added.
Some people have slammed Childs' decision making on social media, but for many of us this will feel all too relatable.
Have we reached peak wedding-guest costs?