Weddings are often spent surrounded by your closest friends and family - with the occasional long-distance relatives making an appearance.
While gifts often come as an additional courtesy from wedding guests, the bride and groom tend to request favours of choice.
However, one couple has sparked a huge debate online after requesting 'donations' ahead of their wedding day to help expense their 'lovely' ceremony.
Taking to popular forum site Reddit to discuss the controversial decision, one person shared a screenshot of the PayPal request and post, as they wrote: "My cousin is butthurt that no one is donating to their wedding …"
The post read: "Hey guys as you all know I have a wedding coming up on September 15th.
"I'm asking if anyone would like to donate whatever they can so we have a lovely wedding.
"Please and thank you."
They added: "What really bothers me is all these people want to come to my wedding and get all happy about it, but when I post for donations to help make this weekend happen everyone goes silent."
Someone responded to the bride's post, writing: "People can try to be happy for you - even though times are rough right now and they don't necessarily have the money to pay for someone else's wedding...
"I've never heard of anyone asking for donations to pay for their wedding. If you're not able to afford a wedding yet, why rush it?
"Weddings are EXPENSIVE. But if you get creative, you can do something really nice, for way less. This post sounds kinda crazy."
Since sharing her thread, the woman's post has raked in over 100 comments to date - where people were torn over the bride's decision.
One person wrote: "The bride will post on September 16 complaining about not receiving big gifts or any gift from every guest invited. Count on it."
"If you can't pay for a wedding, don't have one," a second person said.
A third Reddit user penned: "Guests are not supposed to pay for the wedding. Guests buy a gift and show up. If the cousin can't afford to get married without the guests paying, she should delay the wedding and she and her SO should save for it."
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