Wondering what the thoughts about this are following the other thread. I never thought it was an issue but I'm now wondering if it actually was...
When we got married, people were invited for 3 days but it was up to them whether they stayed for all of them. It was in the middle of nowhere so people probably had to stay for at least one night and the only place to stay was the hotel where we got married. Don't worry - the three days weren't full of lots of organised "fun" activities.
We hired the whole hotel as it was by far the best value. It's not as showy as it sounds.
If guests stayed for all 3 days (most did) they would also have had to pay for 4 meals so overall the cost for each guest would have been about £400.
Instead we asked guests to pay £25 each for both nights and all meals (which they chose). Obviously they could say no but this was lots cheaper than paying for just one night. We didn't ask a couple of people who we knew would struggle.
We asked for them to pay mainly as some of my family members would have booked but not turned up. Asking them to pay a token amount meant they had to commit (or not, as it was).
But yes, the money they paid did help to pay for the wedding. But equally, it saved the guests money.
In full disclosure, a lot of guests had to travel across the UK which we didn't subsidise.
Was asking people to pay anything grabby?