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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Family wedding but inconsistant family members invited and veil issue

241 replies

shutupaboutstarwars · 18/01/2016 19:49

So my cousin has decided to have no children at her wedding but hasn't bothered to explain anything to me just sent the same impersonal email round to everyone. My brother's child is invited.
Background rant: she was bridesmaid at my wedding, she is Godmother to my DS1 who will be just a couple of years younger than she was she was when she was bridesmaid at my wedding (14). She will be wearing the same antique veil that has been in the family for several generations. I have fond memories of making a comment to her at my own wedding about how she would be the next to wear it. DB's child will be under a year old at the wedding so they have decided that that will be ok even though the wedding invite says that without children there everyone will be able to enjoy themselves and relax more . My DB has told me that he feels very guilty that his DS has been invited but my DCs haven't. I have been told that the reason that they aren't inviting any children is to cut down on costs but I am not actually sure that this is true or not.
I currently can't even look at my own wedding photos without getting upset when I look at the veil so don't even think that I could cope with being at the wedding without my children being there. My husband has refused to go unless the children are invited but we haven't told anyone yet. It would be 6 hours travelling in the car. I didn't take DCs to the previous 2 weddings on this side of the family as 1was abroad and the other would have involved lots of travelling across London and back as to keep costs down the registry office ceremony and the evening reception were miles apart and separated by hours as well. DS1 has ASD and we felt they the previous 2 weddings would involve so much upheaval for him for such a short period of time at the wedding that it would be inappropriate to go. This wedding is somewhere he has been to before and we would also be able to have access to somewhere quiet if he wasn't coping well.
So do we just say that we can't get child care and so DH and I can't go? Do I go on my own and spend the day feeling like s@&t. Or do I go down the emotional blackmail route about how DN is allowed but mine aren't, how horrible it would be for it to stop being a family veil because my DD won't get to see it and I wish that I had never worn the veil in the 1st place?
I don't want to cause a family argument but I feel that my cousin should at least have bothered to explain personally. It has been years since she had even bothered to send her godson a present and we have been saying for a while how selfish that she can be at times.

OP posts:
StillStayingClassySanDiego · 18/01/2016 21:14

No I don't think she is, shame.

There's a lot of wedding AIBU's at the moment, this had comedy cold potential.

StillStayingClassySanDiego · 18/01/2016 21:15

*gold.

ADishBestEatenCold · 18/01/2016 21:20

YABU.

Also I don't understand this -> "I currently can't even look at my own wedding photos without getting upset when I look at the veil so don't even think that I could cope with being at the wedding without my children being there."

Why on earth not? Are your children all carrying the veil, like a train, in your own wedding photos?

TheWomanInTheWall · 18/01/2016 21:26

People, this isn't a bridal veil. This is the veil in the doorway of the Ministry of Magic, through which Bellatrix sent her cousin to his doom.

Could y'all just take this Siriusly?

HairySubject · 18/01/2016 21:26

Did you want your cousin to tell dd that she would be next wearing the veil like you did with her and there by have dd in on the tradition and feel attached to the veil?
You can show her pictures of all the weddings that the veil has attended and tell her yourself she will be next, if she wants to be that is. No point trying to recreate what was a spontaneous special cherished memory, it would just be forced and contrived.

Hissy · 18/01/2016 21:28

Just send your apologies and don't go.

MissBattleaxe · 18/01/2016 21:29

TheWomanInTheWall- I'm taking it very Siriusly indeed. Smile

StillStayingClassySanDiego · 18/01/2016 21:31

What if dd doesn't like the veil anyway and doesn't want to wear it if she chooses to get married .

Imagine the drama then!

HumptyDumptyHadaHardTime · 18/01/2016 21:33

YABU, ridiculous and a complete drama larma.

Sandbrook · 18/01/2016 21:35

Yabvu

MissBattleaxe · 18/01/2016 21:37

I currently can't even look at my own wedding photos without getting upset when I look at the veil so don't even think that I could cope with being at the wedding without my children being there

This is actually proper alarm bells. Do you suffer from anxiety? I can assure you that none of this is a rational reaction to a wedding invitation or the wearing of a veil. And I mean that kindly.

yorkshapudding · 18/01/2016 21:40

I think I have an explanation for the veil-related angst that (sort of) makes sense. It's a "family veil" so if it was worn by a relative who has now passed away (OP's mother or grandmother for example) that might explain why looking at it makes the OP feel upset. I could understand that. What I don't understand is what the veil has to do with the cousins decision to have a child free wedding.

SmokingGun · 18/01/2016 21:42

What would the OP do if DD didn't want to wear the veil, or if she just never got married or something.

rollonthesummer · 18/01/2016 21:42

how horrible it would be for it to stop being a family veil

how would it stop being a family veil? Your cousin is, is she not, in your family...?

MissBattleaxe · 18/01/2016 21:45

Is a condition of the Family Veil that everyone in the family must see it whenever it is used, otherwise it is an invalid use of the Family Veil?

coffeeisnectar · 18/01/2016 21:47

I honestly don't understand the issue. And I've read the op 3 times.

StillStayingClassySanDiego · 18/01/2016 21:49

Where does this veil reside between weddings?

paprikash · 18/01/2016 21:50

The veil is (an entertaining) distraction. I feel some sympathy with the op for her child's godmother not even inviting her to the wedding, let alone giving her a role equivalent to the bridesmaid one she had once had at the op's wedding. The no children wedding debate will go on forever but to me it always seems a bit mean...

Hygge · 18/01/2016 21:50

I would just say you are unable to go.

Then wish them well and get over it. It's all you can do without causing trouble in the family.

You didn't take your children to the last two family weddings, and this one has one of the same issues as one of the others. You say it's a six hour drive to this wedding, and at one of the others you didn't want to drive your children back and forth across London.

So in both cases, the travelling is a good enough reason not to go. It's fair enough, six hours travelling is a long time in the car for children.

You don't have to mention feeling upset that your brother's child is invited. It's quite common to invite babes in arms and leave out older children to save on space and cut costs. Especially if you don't know all of or some of the children very well, and you would have to invite lots of children to appease various friends and relatives. You don't really know what's going on with her fiancés side of the family. Try not to see it as a slight to you and your children.

Just decline the invite, say that you can't arrange the childcare you need and with that being the case the travelling time is too much for you to get back if you are needed. If you and your DH really can't cope for a day without your children then you will be happier not to go.

And don't mention the veil. Your cousin might not remember the conversation you had. If she does, she might not realise the significance you have placed on your DD seeing her wear it now. Your DD might not even want to wear the veil when/if she gets married herself.

It's not important. You have lovely memories of when you wore it. Your cousin deserves to make her own memories with it.

Just out of interest, did you go to the other weddings without your children, or did you miss those as well?

BadLad · 18/01/2016 21:50

Love it

BillSykesDog · 18/01/2016 21:51

I'm picturing the OP sitting Miss Havisham like in the veil which she has not removed for 25 years.

rollonthesummer · 18/01/2016 21:52

Did the veil get worn at the other weddings that you didn't go to?

Katarzyna79 · 18/01/2016 21:53

It sounds like the real issue is her kids not being invited but nephew being permitted and the veil is pulled over in bitterness.

I will never understand no child policies its alien to every wedding ive been to,but its a couples decision to make . So go or make a excuse about childcare but dont break family bonds because you are bitter it seems petty, you are an adult just suck it up.

Melonaire · 18/01/2016 21:54

OK ...

HavingAnOffDAy · 18/01/2016 21:57

I love this thread. Really cheered me up after a shit day.

It could only be improved by the OP coming back & trying to explain

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