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Man sparks backlash after returning fiancée’s wedding dress and replacing it with one his mother liked better

‘Hand him the ring back,’ one person told the bride-to-be to do following the incident

Brittany Miller
New York
Saturday 23 September 2023 21:47 BST
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Related: Bride customizes $24 vintage Goodwill dress for her wedding

Future mother-in-laws can either make wedding planning easier or harder for a bride.

A woman took to Reddit to explain what happened when her mother-in-law went wedding dress shopping with her and disagreed with the wedding dress she wanted. In a post on the popular Reddit forum “Am I the A**hole”, she explained that her fiancé’s mother is “the intrusive type” but is “nice” and the two “somewhat get along”.

She wrote that throughout the wedding planning process his mother was constantly interjecting. “His mom wasn’t willing to agree on most things, and my fiancé said that since he’s her only child I should respect and appreciate this ‘vision’ she has for the wedding and how it should be,” she wrote.

The Reddit poster continued, writing that her fiance’s mother “insisted” on coming wedding dress shopping with her. “I was so lucky to have found what I was looking for. But my fiancé’s mother picked a dress that she liked much better and said ‘she always pictured her son’s bride in it.’ My mom and friends thought this line was creepy,” the bride-to-be wrote.

“I thought the dress was somewhat creepy and toooootally not my type. I apologised and thanked her for her ‘vision’ but told her that I’d already decided on a dress that I had ‘envisioned’ myself wearing at my wedding!” the poster continued.

The woman said she then purchased the wedding dress she wanted and her fiance’s mother ended up telling her fiance about it. “He came home that evening ranting about how I made his mom upset, ‘turned down’ her help in choosing the wedding dress and excluded her from the process,” the Reddit poster wrote.

The couple then began to fight because “both dresses weren’t that much different anyway,” according to her fiance’s mother.

According to the woman, the next day, her fiance returned her wedding dress and replaced it with the one his mother preferred. “I called him and he was straightforward about what he did and why he did it. I lost it and started screaming at him. He asked me to calm down and really give this dress ‘a chance.’ I refused to even listen. I screamed at him without giving him a chance to speak. He got home and we had another argument,” the woman continued.

She ended up leaving to stay with one of her friends while her fiance continued to call her, emphasising giving the dress “a chance.” “He went on and on about how his mom has a ‘vision’ and good intentions and just wants what is best for me as her future daughter in law,” she continued.

Currently, her family is split between her mother who “wants to go scream at him and his mom” and her father who thinks she “shouldn’t ruin her relationship with her inlaws”.

Many people went to the comments section to defend the bride-to-be on why her reaction was valid. “Hand him the ring back… Say ‘I hope you get the wedding you and your mom have always hoped for.’ Walk away,” one person instructed the Reddit poster.

Another commenter also told her to avoid marrying her fiance while she still can, writing, “It’s good that this is happening now. This is not a dynamic that is going to change with either your fiancé or his mother. RUN.”

Other commenters used it as an opportunity to tell jokes. “Maybe his mum could wear it to the wedding and stand in for you,” one person commented.

“Sane response: call off the wedding - comedy response: take his suit back and exchange it for a clown outfit,” another person joked.

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