A Chicago-based couple recently sparked a heated debate on social media after posting photos of invoices they sent to wedding guests who confirmed their presence at the event but never showed up. Doug Simmons, 44, and Dedra McGee, 43, invited 109 guests to their fairytale wedding reception at the Royalton Negril Resort & Spa in Jamaica. However, some of them repeatedly confirmed their presence, but ultimately failed to show up on the big day, which left the couple feeling so aggrieved that they decided to create invoices for the cost of the absentees’ meals. A model of the invoice posted on Facebook demands that the no-show guests pay $120 — $240 in case of a plus-one — as compensation for the expenses incurred by the couple on their behalf. Simmons, a small business owner, said he opted for the unconventional strategy to make the no-shows pay because they had multiple chances to let him and his bride know they couldn’t make it, but never bothered to do so. The unusual invoices divided people on social media, with some siding with the newlyweds and praising them for having the guts to ask no-show guests to pay up, while others described the move as “tacky” or “petty”, claiming that guests didn’t really owe the couple anything.
