Weddings often come with a variety of rules and expectations, one of the most common being the no-children rule. This policy is put in place for several reasons, including the desire to maintain a peaceful, distraction-free atmosphere for important moments like vows and speeches.
In addition, many wedding venues have limitations when it comes to accommodating children, and some even raise safety concerns. Consequently, many couples opt to make the difficult decision to exclude children from their special day.
Child-free weddings can also be a preference where the couple decides how they want their wedding to go, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Weddings can get expensive, and limiting the costs sometimes imposes itself, especially when the couple is on a tight budget.
A Redditor who goes by the username u/wedchildfree made a post on the r/AmItheAhole subReddit where she explained how she refused to attend her brother’s wedding after uninviting her 16-year-old son. The user was called names for not wishing to be present at the wedding without her son, which made her doubt the way she handled the situation.
The Reddit community had a lot of different reactions to the user’s post. Scroll down to check out the full Reddit post, and scroll a little further to read the comments from the original post.
Here’s the original post by Reddit user u/wedchildfree:
The wedding invitation specified that the celebration would be “child free.”
Op was surprised to find out that the “no child rule” also excluded her 16-year-old son.
OP got called “immature” and “petty” for refusing to attend without her son, which made her doubt her decision.
OP eventually modified the post to include an “Edit” with more context about the situation.
OP thinks she might potentially be the a-hole for the following reason:
Here’s how the Reddit community reacted to u/wedchildfree’s post:
Even if it’s accidental, it’s never a pleasant feeling.
“How do they reasonably expect her to attend if her kid can’t go.”
The name-calling should make OP reconsider the relationship entirely.
The kid is going to feel terrible.
Op’s brother is probably a significant father figure for him.
“Declining is the obvious and acceptable answer.”
There’s a huge difference between an invitation and a summons.
They shouldn’t have done it so publicly.
OP declined the invite for a completely different reason.
“I don’t understand excluding family from a wedding celebration…”
If there were only one ticket, things would have been much different.
They brought it upon themselves.
“My brother was 7 when I had my son so they grew up together.”
There’s no significance in pointing out the obvious.
OP should skip the gifts as well.
OP had every right to refuse to attend her brother’s wedding. They are allowed to have their rules, but OP’s son should normally be an exception, especially if you consider the relationship he has with the brother.
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