Would you ever make your bridesmaids pay for your wedding dress?

And would you ever pay for your friend’s?

Being a bridesmaid is expensive work. You’ve probably forked out for a hen do, arranged a present, maybe paid to have your hair and makeup done… and now the bride, your (perhaps former) best friend, is actually asking you to pay for her dress?

Well that’s exactly what happened to one bridesmaid, Hayley, who was asked to cough up for her friend Caroline’s ‘dream gown’ before her big day.

It seems like the bride-to-be was already on the rampage in the build up, sending her bridal party requests around the clock to research things for her, and using slightly hilarious business acronyms like, EOP and COB to direct them in ther hunt for dreamy wedding dresses.

‘On Saturday morning I cancelled my breakfast plans, instead researching Tasmanian wedding cake-makers (she'd decided to have a picturesque destination wedding) that might be suitable,’ bridesmaid Hayley writes on Mamamia. ‘I sent it through to her and had a reply almost immediately. "Thanks for this, would've been really helpful to have it yesterday when specified but I appreciate it."’

Another gem? ‘Hey Hayley, How’s it going? I need some cake-maker suggestions by COB today please, Jase and I really want to get a wriggle on with this and need the contact details, price brackets, flavours and an idea of how prestigious the vendor is – in a table would be great. Excel is probably best please. Thanks!’

But when the bride found her dream designer wedding dress, she took things a step further than even the biggest bridezillas before her have dared to go. Priced at $10,500, the Marchesa dress was double her allotted budget, but her bridesmaids did what any good friends would do, and backed her up, telling her to splash out and treat herself if it was what she wanted.

She did, and later each of her seven bridesmaids received an email with the subject line ‘bridesmaid dress contribution.’ Caroline asked each girl if they would ‘chip in’ for her gown because ‘it’d mean so very much and would mean that as she walked down the aisle, she’d be wearing something we’d all had a part in.’ Say what?

Three of the seven bridesmaids have apparently paid up, but Hayley, whose full story in the Mamamia forum is called, ‘My bride-to-be mate just crossed a fundamental friendship line,’ is still deciding what to do.

Tell us what you’d do in this situation on Twitter, @MarieClaireUK.