Cutting costs for guests who are actually attending your wedding in order to impress strangers on the internet can be a dangerous path to take, especially when elderly family members are in attendance. So, when a frustrated cousin decided to vent to gloriously petty and judgmental 'Wedding Shaming' group of Reddit about the treatment of their grandmother at an Instagram-obsessed wedding, people were eager for the gossip.
So my cousin recently married his girlfriend (now wife) and it has caused massive drama in the family. All throughout their relationship my cousin would choose her and her family’s events over ours, including missing my grandfathers funeral for a birthday party.
This has really upset the family especially my aunt but everyone just has southern 'smile and don’t mention it” attitude, this changed after the wedding.
I got my invite months back and it said it was going to be a black tie wedding at a huge ranch. Few weeks later my cousin texted me saying they are downsizing to only immediate family.
Fine right? I assumed it must have been a stress issue because both my aunt and the brides family are extremely well off. My aunt apologized to all the cousins and even said “I guess the groom's parents have no say in those things” which I found odd because she is not the type to express herself like that.
Day of the wedding happens and my parents, my grandmother and my aunt and uncle get in the car and drive four hours to the venue. I have to admit I was a bit hurt but I was under the assumption it was a small intimate wedding. I was wrong. Turns out the brides parents paid so they decided that they choose the guest list.
Their family made up 120/150 of the guests. My cousin had only 30 spots including all the groomsmen. The wedding was opulent in an influencer type of way. My grandmother said that there were 3 different photographers plus a drone pilot. Many of the wedding activities were clearly just for photo-ops. Dinner comes along and it’s completely awful.
There is corn, mashed potatoes, and beef which only fed the wedding party before running out. There were no drinks except one type of cocktail which everyone was limited to two. I only point this out because this wedding was very lavish but it was clear that the budget was only spent to make the photos look good.
So my grandmother has diabetes and was not served any food. She starts becoming very fatigued and can no longer walk, she ended up falling but thankfully my uncle was able to get her into a chair.
My dad was about ready to call an ambulance but the people at the venue actually sent someone to go to Chick-fil-A to get her food during the wedding.
So as all the guests are starving after hours of ceremonies and photo shoots, my cousin and his wife make everyone stand up and light sparklers as they run happily into the rented Rolls Royce waiting outside.
Obviously my entire family is upset not only because of the imbalance in guests but also that they would rather spend money on renting a luxury car than feeding their guests.
I would also like to point out that my aunt offered to help pay for the wedding but the bride refused stating “it’s tradition for the brides family to pay.''
It was a horrible way to start the union of two families, I am upset at my cousin for not having the dignity to stand up for his family. Not to mention I am very glad to not have attended.
classicgirl1990 said:
This is not a bride/bride’s family problem, your cousin is a complete as*hole for allowing even .00004% of what transpired.
csf_ncsf said:
Your cousin and his wife deserve each other.
[deleted] said:
This wasn’t a luxury wedding. Sounds like a budget wedding where they ran out of money to feed the guests. Hope no one got them gifts. They both sound like horrible humans.
gele-gel said:
I’m not one for airing dirty laundry on social media but THIS would have been all on the gram and FB, starting with Granny’s CFA bag at the reception.
Cyber2354 said:
I literally wouldn't talk to or associate myself with selfish, cold-hearted people like her family. And clearly your cousin is no better.
trwwy321 said:
I’m so sick of “influencer” style weddings. Enough already with your dumb Pinterest/IG inspired weddings where you just want to appear perfect while everything is falling to shit behind the scenes and your guests question your sanity.
verucka-salt said:
As soon as I read “black tie at a ranch,” I knew I was in for a tacky read.