Bride asks groom's ex to leave wedding; she refuses, says 'he wants me here.'

AITA for showing up at my ex’s wedding in a pretty dress?

My ex and I had an peaceful divorce. We co-parent our 3 children together and there haven’t really been many issues. My ex is getting married to Stephanie. I like Stephanie she has been great with my kids and makes my ex happy.

My ex invited me to their wedding and I was happy for him. It was my day with the kids so it made sense for me to come was his reasoning. When I arrived at the wedding Stephanie thanked me for dropping the kids off and brushed me off. We had never had any issues before.

I explained that I was going to stay for the reception and she was very upset. I was confused because I assumed she knew I would be in attendance. It turned out she didn’t consider that I would actually accept the invitation. I told her that I was invited and since I took the 2 hour drive I would be staying for the entire duration.

She didn’t like this response. Stephanie asked me to leave and I stood my ground. She went on to complain about my dress upstaging hers. My ex and former mother in law helped her to calm down and the wedding shortly began.

I thought that was the end of it, but later in private Stephanie accused me of trying to ruin her special day. She is convinced that I wanted to show off and make the wedding about my divorce. She said it was rude for me not to leave after the bride requested it because it was her special day.

I told her that I am not responsible for her insecurities and once again reminded her that I have no interest in ”stealing” my ex back.

OP added:

My dress was fine in my opinion. I didn't wear white. It was a red lacy dress, but she’s acting like I wore my wedding dress and engagement ring to the wedding. OP says the dress was similar to this one.

Here's what people had to say:

CanYouPointMeToTacos writes:

It’s literally a wedding dress that comes in red. That’s what it’s being sold as.

closureseekingex OP responded:

Didn’t buy it from Amazon it was not listed as a wedding dress in stores. That’s a reference rather than the exact source.

OrangeCubit writes:

….because the bride asked her to leave. The bride.

closureseekingex OP responded:

But the groom wanted me there.

MamaTumaini writes:

You wore a flaming red wedding dress. I bet a million bucks no one else there was dressed in something so attention-getting. The only other thing that would make you more of an a**hole is if this was a daytime wedding.

closureseekingex OP responded:

I dressed my children in red as well. I was not an odd ball.

duckysmomma writes:

YTA I love when these posts are skewed to be “but I didn’t do anything wrong!” And then you see the dress and it’s literally a red wedding dress

eloel- writes:

NTA. If the groom and the bride cannot find a middle ground, it's not your job to find it for them. If they disagree, they're going to have to figure it out among themselves, the wedding is just as much the groom's as it is the bride's.