A Cruel Lesson for a Bride Who Dictated Rules of Behavior to Guests at Her Wedding

Every bride and groom wants their wedding to be perfect. Everything should be beautiful, just like in the movies: guests smiling, applauding and laughing at the right moments, tables covered with Gordon Ramsay-style food, musicians not faking a note. One couple faced misunderstandings from their relatives in their quest for the wedding of their dreams.

4 simple rules

One couple already knew exactly how they wanted their wedding to be, so they decided to make a list of rules for their guests to follow. Here are the rules.

Rule 1: No phones

Unplugged ceremony and reception until dinner is over and the dance party starts. That means no phones at all unless a very huge emergency. People were ok with the ceremony part but they found the dinner part too much.

Many of my parent friends also said that since they’re leaving their kids at home, they should be at least be granted a little grade to check their phone with their kids babysitters. I said if I made an exception for them, I’d have to make it for everyone, so no. Unplugged means unplugged. Checking with your kids is not an emergency. If something serious happens, you’ll know.

Rule 2: Strict dress code

Color scheme and strict dress code. All black color scheme and mandatory dresses for women and tuxedos for men. No pants allowed for women. I got reactions for this for two reasons. One reason was that my aunt, who’s been mourning her dead husband for over 2 years, just got rid of black clothes couple of months ago and tries to move on and claims wearing black makes her depressive.

Another issue was the mandatory dress as my husband’s sister have body dysphoria and hates dresses on her and always wears pants. Again if we make an exception for two people, we’ll have to make an exception for everyone.

Rule 3: Bridesmaids diets

Bridesmaids diets. We’ve ordered the bridesmaids dresses months in advance. So they’ll stay on the weight they are right now. If you’re bigger size, do whatever is in your power to stay big. If you’re skinny, quit fast food for few months and stay skinny. They had an issue with this claiming I can’t police their eating habits.

Rule 4: Flower girl

My maid of honor’s daughter is supposed to be our flower girl, but maid claims she can’t do this since the kid will have to stay with a babysitter at a hotel after the ceremony. She lives 4 hours away from me and where I’ll be having my wedding. She planned on letting her daughter with her mom to save money on babysitters and refuses to bring the kid as a flower girl and leave her at the hotel with a babysitter.

Guests react as expected

So, have you familiarised yourself with the list of requirements? Would you want to go to such a wedding? People close to the couple did not take this information too well. Here’s what the bride herself wrote:

• After all, we just asked them to help us create our dream wedding. But when they saw the rules, our families gave up on us. My in laws have been against most of our rules from the start. My parents supported us until now, but my mom got so mad that she said our wedding is doomed from the get go with these rules. Many people are cancelling on us last minute and bridesmaids threaten to drop out. © Calm-Blueberry2618 / Reddit

Here’s what regular web users think

• Both you and your future husband are crazy. Don’t be surprised when the cancellations continue to roll in. © Dramatic-Rip5605 / Reddit
• You’re inviting people to your wedding because you love and care about them and they’re important to you, so while it’s your day, you should want your friends and family to enjoy it too. They’re real people not props to make you look good. © easthighwildcatfan1 / Reddit
• You can make all the rules you want, but be ready to have fewer people at your wedding if you persist so rigidly. Also don’t use your MOHs child as a prop. It’s her child, not “the kid.” © lianavan / Reddit
• Rule 1. It’s unreasonable to expect guests (whether they have kids or not) to be “unplugged” for your reception. It’s pretty standard for the actual ceremony but wedding or not their life doesn’t revolve around you. Rule 2. Mandatory dresses for women. Pull yourself out of the 50’s. Women can look fine in pants. Rule 3. Just no. Rule 4. Reads like you want a child free ceremony and have no interest in MOH’s childcare arrangements once you’re done with her daughter as a flower girl. Girl, you’re a mess. Fix up before you lose all your friends. © CrystalQueen3000 / Reddit

We don’t know exactly what the fallout from this story has been. But we firmly believe that the many comments have shaken the couple’s faith in their integrity. Our hope is that their wedding will be as wonderful as the best Hollywood movies and that their guests will be happy too.