Who pays for the bride?
The standard: guests split the bride's share of shared costs — lodging, group dinners, the party bus — so she attends her own weekend free. The bride typically still covers her own travel to get there and any personal spending. On a 10-person trip, covering the bride adds roughly 11% to each guest's share; say it out loud in the invite so nobody is surprised by it later.
Budget tiers and opt-outs
The fastest way to breed resentment is forcing one budget on ten people. Structure the weekend in tiers: shared basics everyone's in on (lodging, one big dinner), and opt-in activities (spa morning, boat rental, bottle service) that only their participants split. Publish rough numbers before anyone books a flight — people commit happily to costs they saw coming.
The organizer's system
If you're the maid of honor, you are one bad system away from becoming the weekend's unpaid accountant. The system that works: collect a deposit for the big fixed costs before booking, keep one running tab during the weekend for everything else, and settle the remainder once, within days of getting home. Never float the whole weekend on your card and "figure it out after" — that's how organizers end up hundreds of dollars short and too tired to chase it.
Run the weekend in Divvy
- 1Create the party groupAdd every guest by name. They don't need the app — they get a link to their tab.
- 2Scan everythingDinners, the Airbnb, the party bus. Whoever pays scans it; items go to the people who had them.
- 3Spread the bride's shareAssign her portion across the guests — Divvy folds it into everyone's balance automatically.
- 4Settle onceOne tap sends each guest a Venmo or Cash App request for their exact total.
