cynthia1960: (whattetheswyve?)
cynthia1960 ([personal profile] cynthia1960) wrote in [community profile] agonyaunt2019-12-04 12:33 pm
Entry tags:

OMG wedding horror

Both sets of parents hijack wedding plans, what to do?

WIBTA for eloping when the wedding is this weekend?

My girlfriend and I had planned to get married on Saturday. We wrapped up all our planning around Halloween, all that was left was to ring some time this week and make sure everything was running smoothly.

She called the venue and the person she spoke to asked her to confirm some changes she'd apparently made. My girlfriend had no clue what he was talking about, and he reminded her of all the changes that had been put in recently. We had not approved any of these changes. We were able to get some of it put back the way it was but there are some things that we couldn't change back at such short notice.

The venue forwarded us the emails asking for the changes so we could look over them. Our communication was being done via an email account we created solely for wedding stuff, and the email address which asked for the changes is the exact same address, except 2 letters are switched round. The venue is very apologetic for not calling us directly but can only fix so much of it at this stage.

We think we know what happened. The whole time we were planning the wedding we got pushback from both sets of parents, and the stuff they had the biggest issues with have all been changed. I'm willing to bet that all of this was related to at least one of our respective parents. We don't know anyone who would want to fuck with us or the wedding this badly except our parents, who got pissy when we told them they couldn't financially contribute to the wedding because they were trying to trade their money for whatever wedding stuff they wanted.

Right now the stuff that we wanted that is still in this wedding is my suit, the venue and the DJ. My girlfriend has gone to pick up her dress and she's not heard from the shop so we're assuming that hasn't changed. I'm calling round everyone and it looks like the menu has been changed, as has the guest list and the cake. We paid for the wedding we'd planned and it looks like any additional costs from the changes (such as the extra people) were paid for by someone else, but they wouldn't give me any of the card info for legal reasons.

We probably won't be speaking to our parents again after this, unless one of them owns up in which case we'll just stop speaking to that one, but this feels like a joint effort as it's dealt with both sets of parent's complaints.

Before my girlfriend left to get the dress she gave me permission to post this as we are seriously considering eloping. We have the marriage certificate here, the honeymoon is unaltered and exactly what we wanted, and there's a few appointments we could make between now and Saturday at the town hall to get the certificate legally signed/filed.

However, we now have around 200 people attending this wedding in 3 days (our original guest list was about 100 including families and plus ones). People have booked hotels, planes, trains, and are coming from other countries to be here. None of these people have done anything to us and would be getting caught in the crossfire if we were to elope instead.

Would we be the arseholes?

Update: I posted in the group chat I have with all 4 parents that someone has been screwing with the wedding, we've found the email they used and we'd be tracking the IP address to a device and location (this was all absolute bullshit, we don't even know how to find an IP address). As soon as I said we'd be tracking the email they all started pointing fingers and accusing each other. It looks like all 4 of them were in on it together. Still not sure what we're doing about the wedding but all 4 parents are uninvited.



We're thinking that we might elope for the ceremony and then have the reception as planned (it's all the same party/venue and we won't get money back) because of the number of people who are coming from all over the place.

Edited to show original post. Link left so we can get at the comments over there
lemonsharks: (wedding shit)

[personal profile] lemonsharks 2019-12-04 08:48 pm (UTC)(link)
This is so, so utterly ... horrifying. my god.

Just ... HOW. HOW? HOW. WHY.
Edited (more shocked horror) 2019-12-04 20:53 (UTC)
ashbet: (Default)

[personal profile] ashbet 2019-12-04 08:52 pm (UTC)(link)
*WORDLESSLY AGHAST*

[profile] _____@
kshandra: A cross-stitch sampler in a gilt frame, plainly stating "FUCK CANCER" (Default)

[personal profile] kshandra 2019-12-04 11:48 pm (UTC)(link)
I can't help but think that ShitpostCalligrapher over on Tumblr would be ALL OVER that signage.
minoanmiss: Naked young fisherman with his catch (Minoan Fisherman)

[personal profile] minoanmiss 2019-12-05 12:43 am (UTC)(link)
Beautiful.
tielan: (Default)

[personal profile] tielan 2019-12-06 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
This. I 100% hope they did this.
lannamichaels: Astronaut Dale Gardner holds up For Sale sign after EVA. (Default)

[personal profile] lannamichaels 2019-12-04 09:34 pm (UTC)(link)
oh my god, those parents are horrible. I am sideyeing the venue a little bit, though, especially on the couple comments I've skimmed from people going "oh yeah, wedding interference attempts are a normal part of doing wedding business". o.O
minoanmiss: Red pillars inside a Minoan palace (Palace Pillars)

[personal profile] minoanmiss 2019-12-05 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
Me too. This is not how to run an events planning business.
movingfinger: (Default)

[personal profile] movingfinger 2019-12-04 10:02 pm (UTC)(link)
The venue is greatly at fault here for not verifying who they were emailing with. Didn't they catch the changed email address? They never phoned to check in when 100 guests had been added? Very careless. They should at the very least refund the OP's deposit and any other payments OP has made.

Eloping and cutting off the parents is suitable.
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)

[personal profile] redbird 2019-12-04 10:11 pm (UTC)(link)
I do like the successful bluff of "we can identify the meddler based on their IP address."
movingfinger: (Default)

[personal profile] movingfinger 2019-12-04 10:23 pm (UTC)(link)
They probably can, if they can get full headers off the emails. Unless the parents all live very close together. If they were all in on it, then there are likely multiple IPs for the origin. I doubt these people would use VPNs.
conuly: (Default)

[personal profile] conuly 2019-12-04 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
WOW.

On the plus side, at least they know now that neither set of parents can be trusted, and are starting their married life with their eyes well and truly opened.
cereta: antique pen on paper (Anjesa-pen and paper)

MOD NOTE

[personal profile] cereta 2019-12-05 12:51 am (UTC)(link)
Can you post at least the tax of the question here?
edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)

[personal profile] edenfalling 2019-12-05 12:57 am (UTC)(link)
What the fuck, who DOES that??? O_o
movingfinger: (Default)

[personal profile] movingfinger 2019-12-05 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
As if every other sign pointing toward malice weren't enough, deep in the replies someone asked OP about the dress, because he mentioned that the bride was going to pick it up today, and he wrote that the bridal shop told her that someone had phoned and tried to change the gown from the one she chose (colored!#@%! The scandal!!!) to a white one her mother had preferred.
jamoche: Prisoner's pennyfarthing bicycle: I am NaN (Default)

[personal profile] jamoche 2019-12-05 02:41 am (UTC)(link)
This is so common that many wedding venues will encourage people to set a passcode so that no unauthorized person can make any changes.
jadelennox: Oracle, shocked, saying "Uh... WHAT?" (oracle: what?)

[personal profile] jadelennox 2019-12-05 05:35 am (UTC)(link)
smart! and horrifying.
jadelennox: Oracle, shocked, saying "Uh... WHAT?" (oracle: what?)

[personal profile] jadelennox 2019-12-05 05:37 am (UTC)(link)
  • "all 4 parents are uninvited." Um, definitely.
  • "We're thinking that we might elope for the ceremony"
  • "then have the reception as planned"


Probably good responses. And these parents are dead to them, wtf.


cereta: Talia's hand holding a knife, words "Not a damsel" (knife)

[personal profile] cereta 2019-12-05 01:38 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm going to be pretty radical in my response: I think that the couple needs to take an indefinite break from their parents. And even if they reconcile after this, if they have children, there need to be very specific rules and perhaps simply no grandparent time without one parent present. Because these are the kind of assholes who would baptize a child without permission/cut their hair against everyone's wishes/decide deadly allergies aren't real/think modern car safety regulations are stupid/sign kids up for activities without checking...the list goes on and on.
amireal: (Default)

[personal profile] amireal 2019-12-05 06:42 pm (UTC)(link)
I'd go one further and have the couple mail out "Sorry we missed our own event but here's what happened" thank you cards to the entire guest list. Because this kind of bad behavior should not be rugswept in any way. And it'll weed out the other parts of the family they won't want in their lives as a bonus.
likeaduck: Cristina from Grey's Anatomy runs towards the hospital as dawn breaks, carrying her motorcycle helmet. (Default)

[personal profile] likeaduck 2019-12-05 03:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I am so impressed that these folks, having presumably grown up with these terrible parents, have developed the boundary-setting skills to be confident dis-inviting their parents from their wedding. I don't normally go in for weddings symbolising "the start of a new life" but I wish these folks all the best in a new life with much less contact with their parents.
xenacryst: clinopyroxene thin section (Death: contemplative)

[personal profile] xenacryst 2019-12-05 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
You're not alone...
harpers_child: melaka fray reading from "Tales of the Slayers". (Default)

from LW

[personal profile] harpers_child 2019-12-05 08:08 pm (UTC)(link)
UPDATE 2: My mother made up the email and her mother helped re-plan the wedding. We knew they'd been meeting for lunch but we didn't realise what they were doing in that time. Caterer and baker can fix the menu and cake, and the clothing is all safe. Venue think they might be able to fix the decorations and the parents have paid for the changes.

The ceremony itself is the same (we were worried it had been changed from a non religious ceremony to a religious one but it hadn't) so we'll probably just go through with the day as it currently stands, with a couple changes.

We've decided that we will meet up before the ceremony with some close friends (no parents) to sign the certificate so we're not doing it surrounded by strangers, then have the ceremony and rings as planned with everyone invited, go to the reception with everyone who has been invited because innocent people have paid out money to be here, and then afterwards we will go for drinks with the people who were at the signing earlier in the day.

The venue offered us security, but we're not going to uninvite the additional people or turn them away, and as for our parents, we're not sure. The options are either invite them and let them deal with their invitees so we don't have to, then cut them out of speeches and just don't acknowledge them all day and after the reception cut contact, or just don't let them come, in which case we will need the security the venue offered because I can't see them just not going.

Venue have also said to pretty much just leave it with them, they'll put what they can back to what we'd planned and they're prepared to offer a partial refund based on what they can't fix (so if they fix 50% of it, they're prepared to refund 25% for the 50% they can't fix)
harpers_child: melaka fray reading from "Tales of the Slayers". (Default)

Re: from LW

[personal profile] harpers_child 2019-12-05 08:11 pm (UTC)(link)
I'd take up the venue on their security offer and tell security to keep the parents out. I'd give security pictures because as someone on the reddit thread said, those parents would totally give fake names to get in.

I'm petty, so at the beginning of the party I'd welcome everyone and tell them why our parents aren't present.