Chicago Newlyweds Create $240 Invoice for No-Show Guests

Though they didn't actually send it
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 31, 2021 12:38 AM CDT
Chicago Newlyweds Create $240 Invoice for No-Show Guests
Stock photo.   (Getty Images / AndreyPopov)

Anyone who's thrown a wedding, paying for all the guests in advance, only to have some of them fail to show up has probably been severely tempted to bill the no-shows—and one Chicago couple actually went so far as to create an invoice to do just that. Dedra and Doug Simmons say they checked with the guests invited to their destination wedding in Jamaica multiple times before the happy event took place this month, and yet four guests (and their plus-ones) who had confirmed their attendance each time didn't actually arrive at the nuptials, Insider reports. So Doug Simmons (who goes by a different name on Facebook) created an invoice and posted it to social media, where it quickly took off.

While there was some controversy over the idea of charging each no-show couple $240 to cover the cost of their attendance at the reception, many on social media praised the couple, who gleefully continued posting about the viral invoice as it gained steam and made headlines. "My Husband petty AF and so is his Wife," Dedra Simmons posted after Gayle King referenced the couple on CBS This Morning. "GayleKing [sic] said she agrees with our level of petty ... A FAKE INVOICE MY HUSBAND MADE MEANT AS A JOKE HAS WENT VIRAL."

Yes, a joke: Doug Simmons confirms to Today he didn't actually send the invoice to anyone, just posted it online to make a point. Getting stood up by his friends, he tells the New York Post, "made me feel some kind of way." He tells NBC Chicago he hopes this turns into a "teachable moment" for anyone considering flaking on a wedding. Apparently it worked for at least some of the Simmons' friends; he says after posting the invoice online, the couple received a few apologies. Most commenters seemed to agree the no-shows are the ones in the wrong here, but a wedding etiquette expert notes that technically, to actually bill such people would be a breach of etiquette. (More strange stuff stories.)

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