Bride Asks If She Should Sue Friend Who Used Her Destination Wedding As A Free Honeymoon
Miljan Zivkovic | Shutterstock One couple was super generous and not only paid for everything that came with having a wedding in Bali, but also for their friends to attend. Instead of showing gratitude for the gesture, one of the bride’s friends decided this was the perfect time to take a honeymoon with her own new husband on her friend’s dime.
A wedding is an expensive affair these days, especially when you’re traveling out of the country for it. In fact, The Knot estimated that the average international destination wedding cost $41,000 in 2025. While under most circumstances, the ingenuity of combining a destination wedding with a honeymoon to save money would be applauded, the friend in this case couldn't even be bothered to attend the nuptials. Now, the bride is wondering if she should sue.
According to the bride, her friend used the plane ticket and the hotel stay she paid for, but never showed up for the wedding.
A 25-year-old took to Reddit to share the bizarre tension that developed between her and a friend after her January wedding. “It was a destination wedding, but my parents and his parents paid for their own plane tickets and hotel, but we paid for our friends’ plane tickets and hotel stays,” she shared. “Each plane ticket was about $2,000 USD and hotel was maybe about $150-300 for a week.”
Luis Erives | Pexels
Obviously, this was incredibly nice, but some people felt like it was OK to take advantage of the situation. “My friend ‘Gemma’ brought along her newlywed husband ‘John’ … but paid for his plane ticket,” the bride continued. “The problem is that Gemma and John did not show up to my wedding. Gemma took the free plane ticket to Bali and the hotel room, and when I asked her why she didn’t show up, she said that since they couldn’t afford their own honeymoon, this was a perfect opportunity and that [John] decided that he didn’t feel like going.”
“I was really hurt by this since Gemma and I have been friends for over 10 years,” she explained, before asking fellow Reddit users if she would be wrong to take Gemma “to small claims court for the money I spent on the plane ticket and hotel.”
Reddit commenters were pretty shocked that Gemma couldn’t at least do her friend the courtesy of attending her wedding.
They said that this was a perfect chance for Gemma and John to take that honeymoon, but they should have handled it differently. “All they had to do [was] just SIT there for, like, two hours and watch someone kiss and then eat all the free food,” one said in confusion.
Another person noted, “They could totally have done both, spent some time together in honeymoon mode, and also attended your wedding.”
Commenters seemed to be in agreement that Gemma was not a true friend, which was pretty obvious. However, many questioned whether the bride would really have any success in small claims court. They seemed to think she was better off just asking Gemma for the money back.
It sounds like the bride’s case might qualify for small claims court, but her chances of winning are pretty slim.
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According to Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute, “A small claims court is a state court where legal claims that fall below a statutory threshold — generally between $2,500 and $25,000 depending on the particular state — are adjudicated.”
However, Fidelity noted that an individual can gift another up to $19,000 in a year as of 2026. These kinds of gifts are “irrevocable,” so it’s important to consider how they impact your financial status. As Redditors pointed out, this could be a problem. “Legally, you gifted her a plane ticket,” one said. “There was no contract she had to come to the wedding.”
Of course, we don’t know all the particulars of the situation. It’s possible that there are some details that would give this bride a chance in court. Whether she is able to sue her friend or not, it’s pretty clear that this friendship is over. No one who wants to maintain a good relationship takes thousands of dollars from their “friend” without at least showing up for the wedding ceremony.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
