If you’ve ever planned a wedding, you know one thing for sure: It’s expensive. Like, really, really expensive. The venue, the catering, the flowers — even the cake cutting can come with a fee. Supposedly, it’s meant to be the happiest day of your life, but for a lot of couples, it’s also the first time they go deep into debt together. Turns out, nobody warns you that riding off into the sunset comes with a hefty invoice.
That’s why Idaho couple Marley Jaxx and Steve J. Larsen went viral for doing something completely different. Marley is the CEO of an internet marketing company, and Steve runs the business with her. Together, they share tens of thousands of followers on social media and, used to testing bold ideas with their audience, they took the same approach with their wedding by deciding to sell tickets to attend.
Yes, you read that right. Actual tickets. Guests could pay $57 for a simple “cover your meal” pass or nearly $1,000 for a VIP weekend experience, not including travel or lodging. Not only did this unconventional move cover their $50,000 wedding costs, but it also helped raise more than $132,000 for charity — all that in only three days.
As you might imagine, the internet had thoughts on the idea of a ticketed wedding. Some people saw the whole thing as selfish or unnecessary:
One person wrote, “If you cannot afford it, don’t have the wedding. I am not paying to go to a wedding.”
Someone else commented, “They made a profit off their wedding!? Capitalism is killing everything.”
And someone else added, “Sooo they should’ve just gone to the courthouse.”
Other people felt the couple’s approach was actually refreshing and smart:
One person wrote, “i love it. makes it easy for guests they don’t have to stress about some pointless wedding gift and then the newlyweds aren’t struggling with debt bc of their wedding! it’s a win win imo.”
Someone else added, “its your wedding, its hurting no one, do what you want.”
And another person said, “That’s very interesting. I appreciate your thinking process. Wedding industry is a scam.”
With so many opinions flying around, I decided to go straight to the source. Naturally, my nosey ass reached out to Marley Jaxx and Steve J. Larsen to hear their thoughts on the viral debate and understand how their pay-to-attend wedding really worked.
I began by asking how the whole thing started, and the couple admitted that the idea was never meant to be serious at first. While touring venues, they got a quote that included a $650 fee just to cut the cake. “It felt like as soon as you said the word ‘wedding,’ everything doubled or tripled in price,” said Steve.
Frustrated, they posted online about the ridiculous markups, joking that maybe couples should just sell tickets to their weddings. To their surprise, people didn’t think it was a joke at all. “Followers started commenting, ‘You should do it.’ ‘I would buy a ticket.’ ‘I would come,'” said Marley.
Basically, imagine applying to Harvard just for shits and giggles, but then actually getting in.
From there, the couple began toying with the idea more intently, asking their online community how much they’d hypothetically spend. The answers ranged from $100 to $1,000 — and that’s when they realized they actually might be on to something.
They eventually landed on two ticket tiers: one at $997 and another at just $57, which they jokingly called the “no toaster needed offer.” “Don’t buy us a toaster. Don’t get us a gift. Just cover the cost of your meal, show up, and let’s party together,” Steve explained. The $57 option was meant to keep things accessible, covering entry to the ceremony, reception, and a full plate at the table. “You can spend easily two, three, $400 more on a gift,” he pointed out.
The $997 ticket was a full weekend pass that gave guests access to extra events beyond the ceremony. That included a relationship retreat with guest experts, a rehearsal dinner, and a “biohacking brunch” featuring health-focused activities like red light therapy, breathwork, and brain optimization tools. The goal, they said, was to create a well-rounded experience rather than just the typical “cake and champagne” wedding.
When it came to who actually had to buy a ticket, the bride and groom made a clear distinction. Close family and friends — about 30 to 40 people — didn’t pay anything. “People have asked, ‘Did you charge your mom to come?’ No, of course not!” Steve laughed.
For everyone outside their inner circle, the rule was simple: No gifts, just pay to attend. In the end, around 300 people showed up, with roughly 80% being people they already knew and 20% coming from their online community. The couple explained that this took away the stress of making a guest list, since anyone who wanted to celebrate could join without it falling on the couple’s expenses.
Honestly, that’s one way to dodge the, “Do I really have to invite my third cousin’s boyfriend?” drama.
When they first announced the idea, not everyone was on board. “Of course, a fair share of people didn’t like what we were doing, but our response to that was, ‘Then you don’t have to buy a ticket,’” Marley explained. Some of their friends and family were shocked at first — some asking, “Are you really doing this? Oh my gosh, that’s crazy.” Somebody even accused them of “turning their wedding into a circus.”
But to the couple, the reasoning was clear: Weddings are expensive, not only for the bride and groom, but also for the guests, too. “I was just with someone the other day that had to spend $2,500 to go to their cousin’s wedding because of the travel, the dress, and then the gift on top of that,” Marley recalled. By comparison, a $57 ticket to cover the meal felt refreshing, they argued. “We had no dress code either,” said Steve. “We told guests, ‘Just be comfortable. We’re going to be outside.’ So it really removed a lot of the traditional pressures that come with weddings.”
They also pointed out that their model was about avoiding the financial strain that often shadows new marriages. “In America, you go to college and you get in debt, you get a car and you’re in debt, you get a house and you’re in debt, you get married and you’re in debt. We wanted to approach it from a different angle,” said Steve.
Marley explained this logic in a Facebook Live debate. Initially, she braced for backlash, but instead, the comments section was overwhelmingly supportive, agreeing with the economic strain that weddings have on marriages. “I didn’t know if I was going to get slaughtered,” she said. “But 95% of the comments were in favor of the idea. It just validated that when you hear the reason behind it, it makes sense.”
Another major part of the wedding — and the piece the couple says really set it apart — was the charity component. None of the ticket sales went to charity; those funds simply covered the $50,000 cost of hosting the three-day event. The fundraising happened separately, during the reception, when the couple made a donation pitch to their guests.
The bride and groom organized a silent auction featuring donated artwork, set up different giving tiers (like bracelets from Kenya for $100 donations), and even invited guests to join them on a future trip to build a classroom. The response snowballed quickly. “We hit $30,000. Then we hit $50,000. When we hit $100,000, I was on the floor,” Steve recalled. By the end of the weekend, they had raised over $132,000, which, to say the least, is just a plain impressive amount.
All of the funds went to Village Impact, a nonprofit that builds schools and provides resources in Kenya. Since each classroom costs about $15,000 to build, the couple’s wedding weekend ended up funding nine classrooms. They’re now aiming even higher, with plans to keep fundraising through their business events and to travel to Kenya in July 2026 to help build the very project their guests helped make possible.
According to the couple, guests said the whole weekend felt unlike any other wedding they’d been to. They heard one person say the reason was because everyone had chosen to be there. “When you get a wedding invitation from someone you know, sometimes there’s a sense of obligation,” Steve recalled hearing. “But when you open your wallet and choose to buy a ticket, the intent of the person attending is totally different. Everyone wanted to be there.” The newlyweds also heard some people call it “the best celebration of their lives,” while others joked it was “the cheapest wedding they’ve ever been to.”
The bride and groom said the atmosphere was peaceful, joyful, and even more lively than expected. Despite the fact that there wasn’t any alcohol, people still danced, let loose, and soaked in the chance to spend more than a single day together. “Usually a wedding feels like it’s about the couple, which it should be,” one guest told them, “but this also felt like it was about us — like we got to be a part of something bigger.”
Online, the reactions were much more mixed. Some headlines framed the story as a couple profiting from their own wedding, which the pair clarified wasn’t true — the $132,000 raised never touched them and went directly to charity. “It’s absolutely triggering if people don’t understand the reason behind it,” Marley admitted. Still, they estimate the backlash is mostly surface-level. “I’d say it’s like an 80/20 split,” she said. “Twenty percent love it, and 80 percent are shocked at first. But once people actually read past the headline and hear the full story, they’re usually supportive.”
And if there’s something that has surprised them most, it’s the regret from people who couldn’t make it. “The amount of people who’ve said, ‘I’m so sad I missed it,’ has been shocking,” they admitted. “We were expecting a flurry of conflicting feedback, but instead people keep saying, ‘Man, I wish I was there.’” Some even joked about buying tickets to their anniversary party.
In the end, Marley and Steve believe that mix of joy, controversy, and curiosity is exactly the point. “We know what happened. We know that everyone who was there had an amazing time,” they said. Their wedding wasn’t just about them; it was also about reimagining what a wedding could be. Now, Marley and Steve hope their model inspires other couples to think differently, too, by rewriting the road toward “happily ever after” on their own terms.
Ladies and gentlemen, cheers to modern-day fairy tales!
So what do you think? Would you ever buy a ticket to a wedding — or sell tickets to your own? Let us know in the comments below.
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