Someone posted the invoice on X (formerly known as Twitter). The user thweddat posted the picture of the invoice, wrote, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a wedding reception invoice before lol.”

The due date for the receipt seemed to be Aug. 18, a month after it was sent to the recipient. The wedding, which was held Royalton Negril Resort & Spa wedding in Jamaica seemed to have cost $120 per head.

While some people thought this invoice was fake, the bride and groom stepped forward. It was an invoice sent by Doug Simmons and Dedra McGee from Chicago. The couple spoke to the media about what had happened, and the groom admitted how guests not showing up after confirming they would have made him “feel some kind of way.”

Doug had originally posted the bill to his Facebook. The couple wrote in the notes section of the invoice, “This invoice is being sent to you because you confirmed seat(s) at the wedding reception during the Final Headcount.” It goes on to say, “Because you didn’t call or give us proper notice that you wouldn’t be in attendance, this amount is what you owe us for paying for your seat(s) in advance. You can pay via Zelle or PayPal. Please reach out to us and let us know which method of payment works for you. Thank you!”

A lot of people then began to debate whether this was a fair ask. “I wish I’d thought of this. A third of the people who RSVP’d for our wedding didn’t show up. We paid for a LOT of food that went to waste (though it was a LOT LESS than $120 a plate),” one person wrote. Another person who did not agree with their move added, “You are so special to us that we invited you to our wedding. However, we are going to severe [sic] that relationship for $240 because you didn’t let us show off to you in person. But we will send an invite to our baby shower at some point, so show up with a gift or face collections.”

One Twitter user mused how they would simply send the invoice back.

The groom did admit that they had got a “little petty” but he added, “I am not some trifling person who is going to bill somebody.”

Simmons is a small business owner in Chicago. He wanted to clarify that it was not the money that mattered but the disrespect he and his bride felt when people did not show up to their wedding after saying they would. They had worked hard to finance their wedding of more than 100 attendees.

“Four times we asked, ‘Are you available to come, can you make it?,’ and they kept saying ‘Yes,’ ” he clarified. “We had to pay in advance for Jamaica — this was a destination wedding,” he shared his frustration.

But when they did a final headcount, they realized not everyone who said they would show up had shown up. He shared how it transpired, “No one told me or texted me, ‘Hey, we can’t make it.’ That’s all I was asking. If you tell me you can’t make it, I would be understanding — but to tell me nothing, but then let me pay for you and your plus ones? Four people became eight people. I took that personally.”

The couple did not specify on what they would be doing if the payment was not made to them. But it seems that a lot of relationships for them might be in jeopardy.