Some of us want a fairytale wedding to mark the start of a brand new chapter in our lives… while also impressing our loved ones. However, events of this size can be notoriously expensive. Many young adults turn to their family members to help foot at least part of the bill. However, if the parents had a bad divorce, things can get murky when it comes to the guest list and deciding who should actually pay for everything.
One anonymous mom opened up online about how she canceled the wedding vendors after her daughter deeply disrespected her stepdad, who was planning on funding her entire wedding. Scroll down for the full story, as well as to see what the internet had to say about the tense family situation.
Who you decide should walk you down the aisle at your wedding is a huge deal
Image credits: Jonathan Borba / Pexels (not the actual photo)
One anonymous mom shared how her daughter hurt her stepdad by picking her biological dad over him
Image credits: LightFieldStudios / Envato (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Throwaway-wed657
The mom felt that her daughter was behaving in an overly entitled way
The author of the viral r/AITAH post shared how her daughter called her and her stepdad ‘abusive’ after they canceled all the wedding vendors. The young adult then went on to trash-talk both of them to everyone who would lend an ear.
The mom was frustrated that her daughter wanted her biological father to walk her down the aisle after she reconnected with him. However, he refused to be a part of her upbringing and didn’t pay any child support. In short, he was absent for most of her life. Meanwhile, her stepdad was a true father to her.
“Her real dad is not paying for the wedding. My husband is doing that,” the mom wrote, adding that her daughter ‘broke’ her stepdad’s heart by choosing her biological dad over him to walk her down the aisle.
“I refuse to pay for her wedding where she openly disrespects her dad who actually stepped in,” the author explained why she enforced some strict boundaries in this case. Unfortunately, the mom deleted her account, so we were unable to reach out to her for further comment.
Most internet users were very supportive of the mom’s decision, and many of them felt that her daughter was acting rather entitled. While some redditors suggested that her biological dad could pay for the wedding, others pointed out that the happy couple could fund everything themselves.
Some folks had a very different take on the entire situation, though. They thought that the mom was being too controlling.
With wedding prices soaring, some vendors are worried that they might not have enough business as before
However, that’s easier said than done. Wedding costs have become truly mind-boggling in recent years. CNN reports that the price of the average wedding in the United States soared to over $30,000 in 2023, according to research conducted by The Wedding Report.
This means that many couples (and their families!) are opting out of certain features in order to save money. This means that some wedding vendors are facing a tough new reality where some couples refuse their services because of how expensive they’ve gotten.
Meanwhile, other couples simply decide not to get married because of the costs associated with these large celebrations. According to Shame McMurray, the CEO and founder of The Wedding Report, 17% fewer weddings are to be expected after record highs in 2022.
“There’s no real growth in the wedding industry. More people are cohabitating instead of getting married, so it’s a pretty flat market,” McMurray said. “The trend has been going down for a long time.”
This is already impacting vendors who only recently celebrated their businesses booming. “2022 and 2023 were the most lucrative years of my business. I was turning people away,” Boston-based wedding planner Gabrielle Stone, who has 18 years of experience, told CNN. She added that things are “cooling a bit” in 2024.
Many readers showed the mom that they supported her decision. Here are their thoughts
However, a few folks had a very different interpretation of what happened. This is what some of them said
