Cosmopolitan Bride Magazine Australia - Summer 2014-2015

Worldmags.net
THE
BOYS
COMPILED BY JULIA NAUGHTON
COSMO QUESTION
Is it OK to ask
your parents
to contribute
these days?
Two fellas debate whether it’s obnoxious to
expect parents to cough up for your big day,
or a lovely way for them to be included
YES
Comedian
Ash Williams is a
sucker for tradition
“Call me old-fashioned, but I love
a ‘traditional’ wedding – where the
bride’s family pays for the wedding
and the groom’s family covers the
honeymoon (an unbelievably good
deal for the groom’s family).
It makes getting married such an
appealing proposition. I mean, a free
party with 100 of your closest friends,
followed by a free holiday to a tropical
island? I would marry anyone right
here, right now! But alas, I’m still
single because such weddings are
becoming a thing of the past. More and
more, big days are being financed by
cash-strapped brides and grooms and,
as a result, the champagne and caviar
aren’t flowing down the back of the
throat as freely as they once were.
But, my friends, there is a remedy
– a remedy called ‘tradition’. So pick
up the phone and call your parents for
the first time in months, and ask for
‘wedding money’ (and maybe ask if they
have any young, single female friends
for me while you’re at it).
Remind them that their generous
offer of wedding money will be duly
compensated in the form of grandkids
– the natural by-product of a lavish
honeymoon.
And, even if you’re independently
rich, you should still ask for marriage
money from your parents – they’re only
going to fritter the money away on
succulent plants and white-wine coolers
anyway. So let’s bring the ‘traditional’
wedding back in all its extravagant
glory – after all, as they say, ‘You only
get married twice in a lifetime, so make
it really special.’”
NO
TV personality David
Whitehill says asking
your folks is dangerous
“I got married recently at the ripe young
age of 38 (I was waiting for the perfect
girl!). I’ll throw it out there right now: we
did get some help from our parents – but
I don’t think it should be your birthright.
These days, we’re all getting married
later but moving in with our partners
earlier, and I think that the ‘no sex before
marriage’ thing has really gone out the
window. In other words, paying for the
knot-tying is also now our responsibility.
Gone are the days when Mum and Dad
came to the rescue of a struggling young
couple who didn’t have two coins to rub
together. Sorry.
If you’re still living at home and you’re
obeying the family rules, your mum and
dad are up for some pineapples. But if
you’ve moved on and are tackling the big,
bad world on your own, it shouldn’t really
be expected.
Think about it: asking your parents to
throw in some money could be fraught
with danger. Pressuring the family,
awkward conversations, long pauses on
the telephone – all potential side effects.
Not to mention having to invite every
long-forgotten golf mate of your dad’s
who ‘just has to be there’. Don’t get
me wrong: if they offer to help you out,
then snap it up like a bridesmaid on a
bouquet… they’ll only do it once!
But I think we shouldn’t expect it or
take it for granted. We move out of home
for our independence – so don’t go home
and raid the fridge. We have to cut our
mums and dads some slack at some
point… don’t we?” #
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