Etiquette for who pays for a farewell brunch

BlondiesSweets

Hi everyone!

My fiance and I are getting married this May and are paying for the majority of the wedding ourselves. We are also paying for the rehearsal dinner the night before, We want to have a farewell brunch for our guests the day after since many are traveling out of town for our wedding but we don't want to pay for the brunch ourselves. Is it acceptable to invite everyone to brunch the next day and also ask them to pay their own way? If this isn't poor etiquette then how do we word the invitation? Any advice or help is appreciated! Our budget is about gone and we can not afford another party.

sunflower1998

Never.  You can't invite your guests and then ask them to pay. You could always casually recommend a get-together and see if anyone suggests meeting somewhere together, but if you want to have the brunch, you'll be expected to host and, of course, pay for it.

Avion22

Farewell brunches aren't required.  If you want to have one, then you need to pay for it yourselves.

FYI, we were able to do a farewell breakfast really cheaply.  The hotel we stayed at (and most guests stayed at) offered us a conference room for free.  We got a bunch of bagels and cinnamon rolls from a local bakery, a fruit platter and jugs of juice from the grocery store, and my mom borrowed hot water urns from her work to use for coffee and tea.   It was nice to have a casual get-together in the hotel so people could see each other one last time before everyone had to check out and go home.