If you go on a group trip with friends, how should you split the expenses? Should you split them equally, or should the people who have full time jobs cover the expenses of the college aged guests?

A bachelorette weekend turned sour when one friend realized she’d been stuck paying extra for guests she barely knows.

Now she’s wondering if standing her ground made her the bad guy.

Read on for the story.

AITA for arguing with my best friend (MOH) over how she split costs after a bachelorette weekend?

I (25F) recently attended a bachelorette weekend for my friend Jane (25F), who’s getting married soon.

The trip was at her family’s house from Thursday to Sunday. Jane wanted something affordable since she’s in med school, so there were no lodging or transportation costs—her fiancé drove us around.

The MOH, Lucy (my best friend of 7 yrs), is Jane’s undergrad roommate. The bridal party included Lucy, Sara (groom’s sister, 20F), Anna (Jane’s cousin, 21F), Ali and Kara (both 25F). Also invited but not in the bridal party: me, Kendall (25F), and Jess (21F).

There was one expense.

Two weeks before the trip, Lucy texted me saying she was thinking of splitting house decor costs only among those of us out of college (5 girls), estimating $30 each.

I asked why we couldn’t include the girls still in school, since it would come out to around $20 each.

She said “so true” but never brought it up again.

The bill is a lot more than $30.

After the weekend, on Sunday night, Lucy sent a group text to the 5 of us who are out of college saying our share for decor and food was about $100 each.

I immediately texted her privately asking why food wasn’t split among everyone.

She said it’s because “we have monthly income and they don’t.”

OP doesn’t think this is fair.

I asked if Jane or the younger girls had expressed concern about costs.

She said no, she just thought it’d be a “nice thing to do” since they’re students and might not want to “budget for it.”

This turned into an argument.

I said I didn’t feel comfortable footing the bill for girls I barely know—especially when two are bridesmaids and I’m not, and they have summer internships/jobs.

It’s not really even about the money.

Lucy claimed she had considered covering even more of their costs originally, like Friday’s dinner and drinks out, but since they paid for that, she didn’t think they should pay for anything else.

The cost of Friday dinner & drinks was ~$80 each, and splitting food/decor for the rest of the weekend would have added only $70 ea. If decor was excluded (since Lucy had mentioned splitting that beforehand), food alone would’ve been just $45 for the college girls to contribute.

To me, it’s not the money—I can afford the ~$200 total—but the principle. Everyone partook equally in the weekend, and some even took snacks/leftovers home.

The drama continues.

I told Lucy I might’ve reconsidered coming had I known I’d be subsidizing girls I barely know. I’d rather have used that money for a nicer gift for the bride since I am not a bridesmaid.

Lucy said the other older girls were fine with it and offered to pay my share if I was so upset.

So I asked the others.

Turns out none of them knew they were covering the younger girls’ food—only decor. They were also annoyed but didn’t feel close enough to Lucy to confront her.

I told Lucy she should’ve been clearer and had a group discussion ahead of time, and asked her to apologize.

Now she’s upset and ignoring me.

If everyone enjoyed the same party, should only some foot the bill just because they’re “grown-ups”?

Reddit’s answer? Heck no.

This person has an idea of what to say in the group chat.

This person has questions.

And this person just thinks the whole thing is ridiculous.

This bachelorette trip sounds pretty stressful.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.