Same Room Different Price Hats

There is a well-documented phenomenon in which a venue, a florist and a caterer all quote one price for an event and a noticeably different price for the same event held on the same day with the same number of people, once a particular word has been used. The word is wedding. Nobody denies this. It is simply how the industry works. Then there is the list, which is not a list but a diplomatic instrument. Every name on it implies three more. Every removal has a cost that is not financial. It gets built, cut, rebuilt and negotiated over months, by two people who started out saying they wanted something small and meant it at the time. These hats belong to the couple doing the planning and are pointed at the industry and the process — never at family, and never at guests. That boundary matters: this is a hat you have to be able to wear at the wedding.