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Michael and Ashley are surprised by how little they received in cash gifts from their wedding.
To pay for their expensively elaborate, Valentine's Day wedding, a groom offered vendors sex with his bride as payment in full for services rendered.
Absolutely gorgeous, as if she was a model on the cover of Brides magazine carrying a bouquet of white roses, Ashley looked beautiful in her fifteen-hundred-dollar, white, wedding gown. Adhering to the Valentine's Day theme, Michael wore a black tuxedo with tails, a top hat, and a red rose in his lapel. With them both tall and good looking, they made for a stunning couple.
In celebration of their wedding day, forever memorializing their anniversary on this day of love, they had chosen this day, Valentine's Day, as their wedding day. Ashley slowly walked down the aisle followed by her maid of honor and four bridesmaids all wearing red gowns and holding red, rose bouquets. Michael's best man and four groomsmen, all attired in black tuxedoes, had red roses in their lapels. The church and the hall, being that it was Valentine's Day, the day of roses and of love, were decorated with dozens of beautiful red and white roses.
Then, at the reception, with a choice of roast beef or seafood, at eighty-dollars a plate, they drank the two bottles of wine their caterer provided at each table to their one-hundred guests. They danced the night away stopping only to eat and to greet friends and relatives, while posing for pictures and video recordings. A beautiful wedding, it was a memorable affair made even more memorable when the bride and groom were unable to pay for it.
* * * * *
Now that the wedding was over in a blur of invited guests, Michael was finally alone with his new bride, Ashley, in their hotel room before heading out to Marcos Island, Florida for their honeymoon. They booked a suite for five nights, at six-hundred-dollars a night, at Marco Beach Ocean Resort, costing them three-thousand-dollars. Yet, before they left for their honeymoon, there were a few things that they needed take care of first. They needed to pay the wedding planner, the florist, the invitations printer, the band leader, the photographer, the videographer, the hall owner, the limousine service operator, and caterer for providing the food, the liquor, and the services of their staff.
As if they had just robbed a bank or held up a liquor store, with their wedding money in the middle of the bed between them, they sat on the bed after counting the money they received as gifts for their wedding. Surprised by how little money there was, hoping they made an error in math, they counted it three times. Each time they counted it, they counted the same, small amount. Expecting to receive more than enough money to at least pay for their wedding and to pay everyone they owed, sadly and disappointingly, there wasn't enough money to cover the cost of their wedding.
"What are we going to do, Michael?" Ashley held the money in her hands, a little more than five-thousand-dollars in cash that they received as wedding gifts. She looked to her husband as if he had all the answers and would know what to do. "With just the caterer costing eight-thousand-dollars and the open bar bill another fifteen-hundred-dollars, we can't even pay for our wedding with the little bit of money we received, not even close," said Ashley.
She looked at her husband as if she was going to cry. Then, she looked at her husband with resolve, as if she had already made her decision to cancel their honeymoon. An event that was nearly as important as the wedding and the wedding reception, they had no choice but to cancel their honeymoon. At least they could save some money doing that by not spending any more money they don't have and couldn't afford to spend.
"I'm sorry, Ashley, but don't worry about it. I'll think of something," he said.
He looked at her with hopefulness while she looked at him with sadness.
"As starters, we'll have to cancel our honeymoon," said Ashley already seeming disillusioned that they couldn't afford to have a honeymoon. "We can't afford to go now. Already in debt before the wedding and in more debt now after the wedding, we can't spend any more money that we can't afford to spend. We can't be in any more debt than we already are."
With this Valentine's day night also his wedding night, Michael looked at his bride with sadness instead of happiness. An understatement, receiving this little in cash gifts caught them by surprise. Instead of giving them money, seemingly getting rid of gifts that others had received for their weddings but didn't want, some of their friends gave them useless and duplicate gifts that they didn't want and couldn't use either. They received two toasters, a blender, an iron, three fondue sets, a punch bowl set, and four crystal vases. What they needed and wanted for their wedding was money instead of wedding gifts that they'd never use and would no doubt give away to someone else.
"Don't worry, Ash, I'll figure something out," said Michael again while confidentially assured that he would think of something. "I'm glad we only made a reservation for the hotel and didn't put down a deposit as they had asked us to do. With all of our credit cards maxed out, I couldn't put down a deposit even if I wanted to put down a deposit," he said with a sad, little laugh.
She looked at her new husband with love, trust, faith, and hope that he'd think of something to fix their financial setback and start their marriage off right. Now that she enjoyed her fantasy of having been a beautiful bride on her romantic, Valentine's Day wedding, reality raised its ugly head. She realized her new life being no different from her old life. Married only for several hours, instead of basking in the glow of happiness of a new bride, she imagined her misery as a tired housewife and a working mother saddled with children while her husband cheated on her. She imagined financially struggling throughout their entire marriage.