Clarification:
a)Unlike the Ashkenazi community where the Kallahs side pays for the most of the wedding, by Bucharians (& most other Sefardi sects) the bill is cut into 50/50
b)Unlike the Ashkenazi community where the average plate costs about give or take 30-70 dollars a couple…the bucharian wedding goes for 150-200 dollars a SEAT. So its impossible for either side to pay for all the guests.
c) There is no such thing as a gift to chosson and kallah. Never existed and probably never will.
c) in reality three is a sense of achdus where the bill of the wedding is not in the shoulder of either side, but the guests help out with the bill. So the parents cannot afford to give the money to them.
YES There is a slight problem that the cost of seat is out of hand…but i would venture to say it happens in the best of any community…hence many takanos by gedolim.