Wedding planning can be very stressful and can bring up a lot of complicated emotions (not all of them warm and fuzzy). Perhaps the most challenging relationship during that time is the one you have with your mother-in-law. One bride responded to her mother-in-law’s demands with the ultimate power move: she canceled the wedding and instead married her husband in a national park.
When it comes to weddings, relationships with mothers-in-law can really go either way: they can be either super supportive and goes along with at least most of your ideas, or they tend to be very opinionated (and potentially pushy about who should be invited, your dress, the décor, the food being served, etc.) This latter form of relationship, of course, creates a whole other set of issues for your big day.
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A Wedding Is Planned
On Reddit, GirlofBeans shared in a post (the original contents of which have since been removed), “I (26F) have been with my now husband (26M) for roughly 4 years. Things have always been rocky with his mother. He is from a very wealthy family, and I haven’t really lived up to her expectations. I’m from a very comfortable middle-class family, and she refers to us as the ‘bumkins.’ She is overbearing and manipulative, and my husband admits the same.”
“We got engaged a while ago, and have been planning our wedding for about a year,” she continues. “The thing is, a legit wedding ceremony has never really been us, it always felt like we were planning out of obligation.”
Mother-in-Law Makes Her Move… and Loses
“TWO MONTHS before our wedding date, his mother sends me a detailed spreadsheet with about 80 people on it, telling me that none of these invitees were optional, and I had better invite all of them. Our wedding was initially only about 50 people, and only about 15 of the people on the spreadsheet were invited. She mentioned how they all had bought flights and booked hotels, even though they had never received invites. This kind of flew me into a blind rage. I called everyone and canceled. We got married in a national park with our two best friends.”
You may think that cancelling a wedding would incite angry comments, but the majority of Reddit commenters cheered on GirlofBeans. “This was possibly the most glorious result to a mil controlling someone else’s wedding that I’ve ever read and I am here for it,” said throwmeawayjno. “Congrats on the wedding your way and I wish you a lifetime of happiness and spine s of steel! ☺” said KaideyCakes. “Glorious shut down of a manipulative MIL. If you and husband both enjoyed your wedding that is the only thing that matters,” said EqualMagnitude.
The original post has racked up more than 450 comments with nearly all in total support of the bride. Well done, everyone!
What do you think about the bride who canceled her wedding to spite her mother-in-law? Would you ever do something like that? Sound off in the comments!
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