Relationships,CouplesSEP 11, 2025

Woman Breaks Engagement After Fiancé Says He Loves His Mom The Most, His Family Goes Ballistic

Forget "something borrowed, something blue"—this bride got stuck with something stolen: her choice.

A few days ago, Reddit user Sad_Highlight31 described how her fiancé's family excluded her from dress shopping, and when she expressed her disappointment about it, they outright said that her opinion didn't matter.

The groom's mother declared the gown was about her son, not her, and to make things worse, her fiancé sided with his mom, insisting the bride needs to apologize if she wants to keep the peace.

This woman thought she had met the love of her life

Image credits: Dax Dexter Delada / Pexels (not the actual photo)

But when the couple began to plan their wedding, her hopes for a happily ever after began dwindling

Image credits: Los Muertos Crew / Pexels (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Alena Darmel / Pexels (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Greta Hoffman / Pexels (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Timur Weber / Pexels (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Sad_Highlight31

Image credits: Natasha Fernandez / Pexels (not the actual photo)

Wedding planning is often stressful

Preparing for your big day involves a lot of exciting steps, but the whole experience can also take a toll on you.

According to a 2023 Zola survey of more than 4,000 engaged couples, more than half (52 percent) of them described wedding planning as "stressful," while six in ten (59 percent) went even further and used the word "overwhelming" to summarize the process.

Only six percent said that they weren't stressed, meaning that nine in ten (94 percent) of the population feel some sort of version of this emotion while executing the vision for their nuptials.

There are many different sources of wedding-planning stress that can affect couples, like budgeting, figuring out who to invite (and who to put on the B-list), selecting the perfect attire to wear, and so on.

Meeting the families is also on that list.

Image credits: Ron Lach / Pexels (not the actual photo)

A mom and son's love is hard to beat

The connection between the woman's (former) fiancé and his mom is undeniable. "Couples often come together with a feeling of newly discovered love, but the passionate and absorbing bond with a parent is the infant's first experience of loving, and of being one person of a loving pair," psychologist Terri Apter, Ph.D., says.

"Though romantic relationships are very different from 'blood' relationships, the biochemistry and neural signals that bond infant and parent are the very same ones used to bond us to a mate. The parent/infant pair in many ways behaves like lovers. A mother and baby lock together in a mutual gaze, each looking back to the other looking at her—an activity called 'eye love,' which is also practiced by romantic lovers as they gaze at each other in mutual admiration."

This early intimacy leaves a legacy that impacts every subsequent intimate attachment, including marriage.

"Though it is often said that the family is in decline, the bond between parent and child (and grandchild) remains as strong and as enduring as ever," adds Apter, author of Difficult Mothers: Understanding and Overcoming Their Power.

According to the psychologist, a parent-in-law may be loving, but this love is rarely unconditional. Their conspicuous and continual assessment of a son's or daughter's spouse, combined with internal vulnerability ("How will my child's marriage impact my special relationship?"), form the bedrock of conflicts between in-laws.

"The person who wants to be both a loyal spouse and a loyal son or daughter can experience a dilemma that can rock a marriage to its roots, and this is one reason it is important to understand the intricacies of in-law relationships," Apter explains.