Hand over your wedding cash online

OUR weddings have always been about money – lots and lots of it.

No so very long ago a crucial part of the village wedding was coating the bride’s wedding dress with banknotes. Supposedly less crass, and even more lucrative as you don’t have to feed all your guests, is the modern ‘cake and a shake’ method where crowds stand in line by the thousands at classier receptions to hand over a little white envelope, receiving in return a loukoumi and a glass of sparkling wine.

But weddings have now entered the 21st century for those who find the whole queuing shebang too much to handle. Why stand in line just to hand over a wad of cash to near strangers when you can do it without leaving home?

A new website aptly named doropay.com, set up by Papitel Trading, allows you to hand over money online. Advertised as “really easy to use”, couples can now register their wedding online in a “few easy steps” as they wait for the cash to pile in as friends and relatives send their “wishes and gifts”.

Registration on doropay.com is free and money is transferred from all interested parties directly into the happy couple’s account with all monetary transactions dealt with by Marfin Laiki Bank.

“People are just learning about the website slowly and with time we believe it should do well,” says director of Papitel Trading, Michalis Michaelides. “We haven’t had the chance to advertise it much yet but we’ve already received positive response, especially from people invited to weddings who can’t make it for one reason or another.”

Safe and secure, the website assures all visitors that the latest technologies ensure quick and easy transactions.

And here’s the best bit quoted under the “why use doropay” section: “Couples can receive wedding gifts directly into their account, no need to worry about carrying around lots of cash. Plus, they can download a spreadsheet with all of their gifts, having a detailed report of who gave them what.”

Any Visa or MasterCard can be used from any bank, with a small handling fee to cover transaction costs. As for the lovebirds in question, they are issued with a Marfin Laiki prepaid visa card with a personal account into which the money is deposited. Getting hold of money on your big day has never been simpler it seems.

“The average transaction at the moment ranges between 50 to 100 euros,” says Michaelides. “It makes it easy for friends abroad or those who might not be able to make it because of other obligations. And couples can even upload their wedding pictures on their personal page for friends to view.”

But hang on a second. How do those who get invited along to a wedding know that they can avoid the tedious reception by depositing online? Will wedding invitations now come with an extra clause at the bottom stating that online money transfers are more than welcome? The option is definitely encouraged. Couples can either build a custom page on doropay and send guests an email link with the details or “better yet, you can print this URL on your wedding invitation!” informs the website.

Doesn’t all this encourage ever-more impersonal weddings and make them even more like a business?

“Well yes, you could argue that. But in Cyprus where people often invite 2000 or more people to their wedding, isn’t the whole thing already impersonal anyway?” responds Michaelides. “In any case, wedding lists will also be put up on the site by the end of the year with people able to purchase gifts for the newlyweds just like they do in other countries.”

‘Doropay.com’ even plans to extend the service to include other celebratory events. Engagement parties will be posted on the website next. And then there are all those birthday parties that are hardly worth making the effort to go to. Even christening monetary exchanges will soon enter the realm of cyberspace.