My story is about a former coworker of mine. “Hannah” worked with me part time for only a few months. We were never close, but we were friendly with each other and she added me as a friend on Facebook before quitting. I have not talked to her since she left, and she has not contacted me online or otherwise in almost two years.
Then last week I got an event invite over Facebook to her wedding to a man I have never heard of before. The event is a public event, and the paragraph on the front page declares the invitation open to “Everyone on Facebook, and the World!” The description goes on to describe the location of her wedding (a small town about 4 hours away from most of the “guests”), followed by a supper for only close family and friends. She also gives a list of probably 30-40 items for gift ideas, including bath sets, snuggies, gift cards to every store in our city, and “a years worth of free oil changes for the groom!” I wish I was joking.
I admit that I am using Facebook to plan my own wedding this July, mostly for contacting bridesmaids and what not, but this is WAY too far! Needless to say I have no plans to attend the wedding, and will let the rest of Facebook feed this gimme pig. I’m deleting her from my friends list tonight. 🙂 1230-12
Kudos toyou for seeing right through this “invitation”.  It’s nothing more than a global gift grab from every creature this bride has encountered in her life under the guise of “sharing my joy”.  The real guests received a more proper invitation and will enjoy partaking of a reception dinner. You and the rest of the world are nothing more than a convenient vehicle to greater material asset acquisition.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t like using the FB event feature for purposes like this. You are right to delete her from your friends list. That’s just bad etiquette.
Wow, just wow. One good thing I can say is at least the bride was up front on how it was to be (come to my wedding, but the reception dinner is only for family/close friends, and of course, please get me gifts regardless). Instead of the type who invites everyone to the wedding, and only afterward guests are surprised to learn just a certain portion of them are included in the reception’s main festivities, while the rest either are to attend the lesser part of the party, or excluded altogether. I wonder how many oil changes the groom received so far? That’s something new.
I love it when someone who is on my friends list strictly for mafia wars or some other game sends me an invitation to their wedding/birthday/baby shower/whatever in Botswana or some equally ridiculously far away place. Do they really believe total and complete strangers will come to these things?
No, but they DO hope the strangers will feel obligated to buy gifts!
Ah, that ever-useful excuse when it comes to naked greed and self-interest…’I wanted to share my joy!’