Bride's cousin tries to get free wedding reception by having courthouse wedding on same day

We all know weddings are an expensive exercise no matter how downsized it is.

But one man has been left furious after he discovered a family member of his wife-to-be is plotting to score a free wedding at their expense.

A groom-to-be has revealed his future wife's cousin is attempting to hijack their wedding reception and use it as her own by planning to get married on the same day.

According to the groom, the cousin is planning on getting married at a courthouse before showing up to his own wedding in the afternoon.

The frustrated groom-to-be took to social media to vent his frustration.

"My fiancée, Nicole, and I had chosen our wedding date, booked the venue, and notified the immediate members of the family of the date and the pending save the date mailings," he wrote.

"Nicole's cousin, Amber, found out that we had announced the date and called Nicole upset that we had booked a wedding on her wedding date.

"We were confused because Amber and her boyfriend weren't even engaged, but she and her boyfriend claimed that they knew that was the date they were getting married. They were going to do a courthouse wedding with their families, then wanted to come to our wedding."

The groom-to-be says he's now worried Amber will attempt to take over the wedding reception.

He revealed he stood his ground and told Amber she and her boyfriend wouldn't be welcome to their wedding if she got married on the same day.

"I'd let the planner and venue staff know that they would be turned away, and I'd be willing to hire extra staff to make sure they were refused entry.

"We also found out that the boyfriend lost his job, which just cements my thoughts that they're trying to get a free reception out of my [sic] and my fiancée."

Unfortunately, his stance has left his partner Nicole upset for getting involved.

"Nicole is upset with me because they're family, but I'm just tired of Amber and her boyfriend trying to make every situation about themselves, now including our wedding."

Hundreds of readers jumped to the groom-to-be's defence, saying he's right to feel suspicious of the cousin.

"I can't help but feel like this is a ploy by the cousin. No matter what day the bride/groom picked, the cousin would have said, 'That's the day we wanted to get married!' This allows them to effectively have a big wedding without having to pay for it," one said.

Another added: "I find it weird that a couple who isn't even engaged, has managed to say it's 'their wedding date'. Why can't they just let the cousin be happy and enjoy the day? Some people can be so thoughtless and selfish."

This article was first published on the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.