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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:
Headofthehive55 · 18/01/2016 21:57

Not sure how the veil is wrapped up in all of this.

I can understand why you feel upset about your son, her godson not being invited. I noticed that your son has ASD, and I think we all get more sensitive when our children are rejected by family members, even though it might be for logical and pragmatic reasons.

When you generously invited her to be bridesmaid, yet she doesn't even invite your son, her godson, it can feel like a terrible snub. I know people can invite who they want, but often we feel it's unfair if it is one sided, you do expect some symmetry or reciprocal arrangement in families especially.

I think your veil issue has got tangled up in your feelings.

Bunbaker · 18/01/2016 21:59

I'm with you on this Headof

goddessofsmallthings · 18/01/2016 21:59

I have a feeling that's the way it'll be, Chicago. If we knew the date and venue we could turn up en masse for the grand unveiling Grin

vindscreenviper · 18/01/2016 22:00

YAB a bit U about thd veil op, but I understand why you feel hurt that your children aren't invited to your niece's wedding when she was such an important part of your wedding day at the same age. Of course the bride and groom can invited (or not) whoever they want but if their exclusion of your dc is so upsetting for you then don't go. Honestly it sounds as if you'll be miserable anyway, so send them a card and a gift and spend the weekend doing something nice with your family.

vindscreenviper · 18/01/2016 22:02

Oops your cousin, not niece sorry.

HumptyDumptyHadaHardTime · 18/01/2016 22:02

your children aren't invited to your niece's wedding

It OPs cousins wedding not niece Wink

HumptyDumptyHadaHardTime · 18/01/2016 22:03

Ops x posts

Belleende · 18/01/2016 22:16

I think I am going to draw a veil over this one

0pheliaBalls · 18/01/2016 22:17

No matter how many times I read the OP I cant make head or tail of what's going on. Utterly, completely batshit bonkers. OP, YABVU (and so is your DH).

PiperChapstick · 18/01/2016 22:22

FWIW I get where you're coming from re the children not being invited. I personally think child-free weddings are miserable and mean spirited and it would have been the decent thing for your cousin to explain personally to you why her own godson is excluded (However she has got dozens of guests to worry about and probably wasn't thinking). However there's a difference between thinking this and saying it out loud, and like it or not that's what they've chosen for their day. Either go with your DH and enjoy it (please don't go and be miserable all day) or decline her invitation.

Re the veil YABVVVVU. You're overinvested in it. I think it's important to point out re your DD and this veil a few things:

  1. Depending on her age she probably wouldn't give a shiney shite about what you want her to wear in 15-20 years.
  2. She may not get married
  3. By the time she did get married she may have different taste and not actually want to wear it. And you mustn't force or guilt trip her about it - would you really want her to wear something she didn't want to on her wedding day just to please you and appease a family tradition that may mean squat to her?
AyeAmarok · 18/01/2016 22:27

Hi OP, are you still there? Are you quite well?

goddessofsmallthings · 18/01/2016 22:30

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?

None of the above. As you couldn't be arsed to make the effort to go to the other 2 family weddings in which the all important veil presumably featured, simply decline the invitation by saying that unfortunately you are otherwise engaged on the date in question, wish the happy couple well, and send a generous gift.

Fwiw, your first suggestion is as emotionally blackmailing as your third. As for your second suggestion, a mad sad-eyed guest who gives the bride the evils is likely to be remarked on to their detriment and it's probable you won't be the only one wishing that you'd never worn the damn veil in the first place.

maybebabybee · 18/01/2016 22:30

OP???

MrsTerryPratchett · 18/01/2016 22:32

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? MissB I did wonder. You put it so well.

If your DC didn't go to the last two weddings, why TF is it so important that they attend this one? Utterly weird. And I suspect the OP will never return.

BadLad · 18/01/2016 22:37

Many people have asked the OP to return, to no aveil.

Chippednailvarnish · 18/01/2016 22:38

Please don't go to the wedding. It will be so much nicer without you there.

can't remember the last time I looked at my wedding photos

PiperChapstick · 18/01/2016 22:42

Is the word 'veil' starting to sound really weird to anyone else?

Hope the OP comes back and answers questions but I suspect she won't Sad

MrsTerryPratchett · 18/01/2016 22:42

to no aveil Ouch. That one hurt.

PiperChapstick · 18/01/2016 22:43

I think people are being mean making fun of her for looking at her wedding pics. I look at mine occasionally. Mainly to sob over how much thinner and younger I was

OwlinaTree · 18/01/2016 22:43

Some meanies on here tonight. The op is upset about the family tradition. It might seem daft to you but it's not unheard of for families to pass these things on and have traditions.

PiperChapstick · 18/01/2016 22:43

Also I really hope the wedding takes place in Maida Veil

LittleBearPad · 18/01/2016 22:51

Love 'veiled insult'

OP you're being silly. Don't go if you don't want to but get over the bloody veil thing. It's ridiculous.

whothefuckhas5children · 18/01/2016 22:53

OP back yet?

BadLad · 18/01/2016 22:55

Perhaps she's watching the football.

Port Veil.

ladymariner · 18/01/2016 22:57

I veil to see what the problem is here, other than the op. She really is a problem.....

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