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What do you do when you know your friend is making a mistake (wedding related)

29 replies

VaseFromMars · 28/07/2022 10:06

I know the answer is going to be it’s none of my business and it’s her life. Which it is but I just feel sad for my friend

We have been friends for 10 years, she is my best mate and we have been through thick and thin together. She has had boyfriends through the years and there’s always been some kind of drama, she has a very fiery temper but on the whole she just didn’t meet the right man

Anyway. she met her DF (I’ll cal him Max) last January on a night out. He was living with his parents (he’s divorced with 2 kids, he was in the process of buying a house but dropped out of the sale and moved in with my friend who I’ll call Gail). There’s been SO many things that have happened but to summon up a few:

-Introduced his kids to her 1 week after meeting (his ex wife hit the roof)


  • dropped out of his house move and moved in with Gail after 6 weeks

  • she has a 2 bed house, the spare bedroom is her wardrobe, refuses to make it into a proper bedroom for when the kids come so they sleep on blow up beds, plenty of room for bunk beds but she has made it clear it is her house

  • got engaged after 12 weeks. Booked the wedding for a year away. Kid free wedding, she told him this included his own children which he said was fine (kids are now coming to the wedding)

  • numerous drunken fights, they’ve split up more times than I can count

  • she received an anonymous message to say he had cheated on her

  • going on drink binges and not coming home for 2 nights

  • she has told him she wants him to reduce his time with his children as she finds them too much hard work, he did not accept this so instead whenever the kids come to the house she moves out and stays with her parent

  • he makes 0’effort with any of her friends or family, her dad cried last week and told her she deserves better

  • he is terrible with money and has a lot of debt

  • he is very jealous and possessive, the first time I met him he tried to fight my husband as he saw my husband give Gail a hug (hadn’t seen her in ages because of covid) and thought he was trying it on

  • his friends don’t like Gail and think she is taking him away from their group

the wedding is in September, they had a huge argument this weekend over something trivial and again the wedding was called off. Her mum was upset on the phone, her sister has now said she’s not coming to the wedding and the other bridesmaid has said she cannot come either now. She is making a huge mistake, the relationship is toxic for everyone involved. She can’t stand his kids who are school age, after she tried to ban them from the wedding but eventually said they could come she’s now said they have got to be picked up straight after the meal. Max has agreed to this which in itself is a red flag.

I truly don’t know what’s she’s playing at. She is god mother to many of
our friends kids including one of my own and she has never been nothing but lovely and kind yet the kids just seem to piss her off. I told her this weekend that they cannot get married if this is what life is going to be like, that they need serious counselling and to take a step back. She agreed with me
bht this morning has sent yet another message to say everything is fine now and we are back to normal? I could shake her, she is not the person I have known and loved for 10 years. I think she got swept away with the whole
wedding thing and now that’s all she can focus on.

At this point I don’t want to go to the wedding or have any more discussions about him. We had the hen aboard 3 weeks ago, the grooms name wasn’t mentioned once which surely shows how much everyone there despises him. It’s such a mess and she is making the biggest mistake of her life but there is literally nothing I can do but stand back and wait for it all to implode.

OP posts:
SummerDawn2000 · 07/05/2023 14:26

How are things now? Was there a wedding. She does deserve better but she can’t dictate anything to do with the children.

Ellmau · 07/05/2023 15:52

TBH she sounds as bad as him.

Hellocatshome · 07/05/2023 15:54

They sound as bad as each other. Leave them to it.

Interested in this thread?

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littleripper · 07/05/2023 15:54

She sounds horrendous and utterly selfish with terrible taste in men! What does she bring to your life?

Crabwoman · 07/05/2023 16:13

They both sound awful, with messed-up priorities. The only decent thing I've heard is him refusing to reduce contact with his own kids.

What is she normally like in relationships?

My sister is a perfectly decent rational human until she gets in a relationship. She dates awful men, seems to love the drama herself, and has picked up some pretty toxic habits along the way. It's completely baffling to me.

Please tell me she's not wanting children with this man?

Crabwoman · 07/05/2023 16:25

Realised you asked a question in your OP.

I'd pull her up on the nonsense surrounding his kids, tell her she's making an awful mistake and then leave her to it. I'd refuse to engage with him at all, especially as he tried to start a fight with your DH ffs.

Keep one eye open in terms of abuse. It sounds like the sort of relationship that gets worse once they're married.

Seriouslynotseriously · 07/05/2023 16:29

I agree that she sounds as awful as him.

ChateauMargaux · 07/05/2023 16:39

She should try to limit any claim that he might have as a spouse on her house... this marriage might not last long and she might loose half of her house.

tsmainsqueeze · 07/05/2023 16:45

I thought i would feel sorry for her until you describe her attitude to his children , he sounds awful but she doesn't sound much better.
She sounds a bit too stupid to listen so i would keep out of it if i were you.

Rogue1001MNer · 07/05/2023 16:57

🧟‍♂️ 🧟‍♀️

AlisonDonut · 07/05/2023 17:00

but she has made it clear it is her house

Is she marries him it won't be any more!

Anewuser · 07/05/2023 17:06

Zombie thread

ForTheSakeOfThePenguin · 07/05/2023 17:10

Thus reminds me so much of a couple I knew. Same timing for moving together, getting engaged, booked the wedding and a huge amount of arguments in between.

if it helps, they were as a bad as each other, in an argument he said threatened with cancelling the wedding, she kicked him out of his house and came back to it after work to find he had stolen everything that had monetary or emotional value to her as well as cutting the electricity off.

At that time the police was contacted and she learnt he had been in jail for beating her previous partner and had other previous issues with stalking. He had thrown all her stuff at a recycle centre/tip so she was not able to recover it.

All this happen before the wedding date arrived. So you may say she managed to dodge a massive bullet but no, 2 months later she had moved another guy and was already engaged. This is a highly educated woman with a very strong character (and temper to match) sometimes I wonder if it is actually her who was the abusive person pushing for a quick commitment.

ForTheSakeOfThePenguin · 07/05/2023 17:10

Zombie thread? Doh 😁

Hellocatshome · 07/05/2023 17:11

How odd that she got zero responses the first time round.

HuffPuffBosomHoik · 07/05/2023 17:12

They sound like a pair of twunts. Yeah, she's marrying a wrong 'un, but she's a wrong 'un herself by the sounds of things. I'd go to the wedding and keep my distance otherwise and await the inevitable disaster ☹️

HuffPuffBosomHoik · 07/05/2023 17:14

Ugh sorry - zombie. How on earth did this get unearthed?

IggyAce · 07/05/2023 17:18

@VaseFromMars id love to know the outcome. I’m surprised no one commented at the time.

Aquamarine1029 · 07/05/2023 17:23

Why are you friends with this woman? She sounds absolutely dreadful. I'd wash my hands of the whole mess, end the friendship, and move on.

TheTERFnextDoor · 07/05/2023 17:26

Zombie thread or not, I'm invested now!

Come on OP, did the wedding go ahead?

RichardHeed · 07/05/2023 17:29
Dawn Of The Dead Zombie GIF by Maudit

This thread after @SummerDawn2000 decided to awaken the dead

SummerDawn2000 · 07/05/2023 19:54

@RichardHeed 🤣 it helps to read when the Op has written the post. Jesus wept. I blame my hand over

Newnamenewname109870 · 07/05/2023 19:58

I know she’s your friend op but she also sounds awful. She’s being bordering on cruel to his kids. Does she want kids of her own with him? Absolute nightmare. All you can do is say look are you sure about this? does he have anything to gain by marrying her btw?
hopefully it’ll never happen.

VaseFromMars · 07/05/2023 20:24

just seen this has been resurrected! So the wedding went ahead, they had a huge falling out on their honeymoon and split up 8 weeks after the wedding. They got back together for 3 weeks but his ex wife threatened to withhold access to the kids so he upped and left (which she blames the kids for) and they haven’t seen each other since.

They can’t file for divorce until they’ve been married for year although she says she has no intention of divorcing him due to the cost so he will have to divorce her. As far as I know he’s got his own house, she’s had probably 3-5 boyfriends since the wedding

OP posts:
TheTERFnextDoor · 07/05/2023 20:30

Did you go to the wedding?

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