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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Replying to a wedding invitation - tricky

305 replies

HerculesMulligan · 03/12/2019 21:23

We've been invited to a wedding in the spring which is about 3.5hrs from home. We know the groom well (one of my DH's oldest, closest friends) but have only met the bride once although they've been together for a few years. They are having a child-free wedding in a beautiful location but DH doesn't drive and it's not somewhere easy to reach by public transport.

We have two children - DD is a few months old and was premature. Our 5yo is autistic and has had a tough time recently because I've also been unwell. DD is healthy now and my parents have offered to babysit them both, but I'm not prepared to be so far from her, or for us both to be away from our DS overnight. Doing the drive there and back in a day wouldn't usually feel like a stretch for me but I haven't driven more than 2 hrs in any one day for almost a year, because I've been ill.

WWBU to say to them that our only options are :

(1) to decline outright; or

(2) to come for the ceremony only, with the baby in tow, acknowledging that they would be making an exception to the child-free rule for her, and head for home after it?

I don't quite know how to say that without sounding churlish - it's hard to know how it will be received as we haven't seen the groom as much as we once did and don't really know the bride although she seemed lovely when we met her. My DM thinks that as they know our (currently fairly unusual) circumstances they will understand. If it was a child-inclusive wedding we'd be there and very happily, but being away from the DC right now just isn't something I can do.

I'm not sure how best to have the discussion. None of this is made better by us RSVPing late because things have been so chaotic with us and because we kept hoping a perfect solution would appear, which it plainly hasn't.

OP posts:
At17 · 04/12/2019 08:02

OP, good on you for making a decision that works for you and your family.

And, can I say, you have showed a huge amount of grace and good humour on this thread!

CottonSock · 04/12/2019 08:03

I'm betting they would rather decline than take a baby. Please don't do that.

leckford · 04/12/2019 08:10

Am I the only one who finds it weird a grown man can’t drive? Unless they are ill, disabled it is a necessary skill, even if you don’t own a car. In this case if he could drive he could hire one.

AtillatheHun · 04/12/2019 08:12

I find it weird that he apparently doesn’t know another soul attending his best man’s wedding with whom he could share cars / rooms.

pollypocket962 · 04/12/2019 08:12

Jesus, don't spend £800 on going to a wedding. Just don't

THIS /\ .... with bells on !!!!

I just don't get why people think it's ok to arrange weddings in these far away places & expect people to somehow find a way to be there regardless of the cost & all the hassle! I would just decline & that be the end of it. If the groom & bride wanted to make sure everybody could make it they could have arranged it in a local - ish place. It's just not acceptable & rather cheeky of them to expect 'friends' to be lumbered with such costs & inconvenience.

FFS people have their own lives away from ' their wedding'

IrishMamaMia · 04/12/2019 08:21

I'm laughing at people on here who are saying you can easily do it for less than £800, train fares are cheap etc. How the hell do they know 😂 Also laughing at people who seem to be easily able to travel around with a childcare entourage.
In your shoes I'd be staying home, when things are too complicated it sucks the joy out. Send husband if possible but if not touching card and gift. I don't think your husband has to go as the groom was his best man. Relationships change over time and they obviously aren't as close as they were. I'm a massive pragmatist though. Good luck with your plans and get well soon, sounds like you've had a tough ride.

BIWI · 04/12/2019 08:23

I sympathise totally with your situation, and it does sound like you've been having a very tough time. But the bit I don't get is how you're so certain your DH can't manage to brush up his driving skills before February.

Does he not want to do this? I have to say, your circumstances are a perfect example of why driving is such an important thing to learn. I appreciate you probably didn't want us to discuss this, but it would seem to be (one) obvious solution to your dilemma - and I'm surprised that your DH isn't keen!

JorisBonson · 04/12/2019 08:26

Cor the vultures are circling on this one.

OP, FWIW, you're doing the right thing letting DH go on his own. I'm having a child free wedding next year (I also had one 9 years ago Grin) and am fully expecting a few people won't come. Doesn't mean we all love each other any less. Hope your solo night isn't too taxing!

MrsCollinssettled · 04/12/2019 08:27

Anyone fondly believing that all their guests are happy with a child free wedding (or that their wedding was the best one that their guests have ever been to) is kidding themselves.

Guests will inevitably be polite to their hosts. If the bride says to you something along the lines of it must be lovely to have a night off you are hardly going to say actually it's crap, we've had a nightmare getting childcare and we're missing them. If you bugged your venue you'd get the truth about how your guests feel about it.

JorisBonson · 04/12/2019 08:27

I'm having a child free wedding AND I can't drive. Come at me, MN.

BIWI · 04/12/2019 08:27

The perfect storm @JorisBonson Grin

Ellie56 · 04/12/2019 08:28

There are some less than helpful posters on here. Hmm

I hope all goes well for DH and the wedding (and you find some cheaper train tickets!) and I hope that the unexpected bonuses of this thread re ICU experiences and sources of support help you on the way to your recovery.

Hopefully next year will be a better one for all of you. Flowers

Loopytiles · 04/12/2019 08:32

DH should organise a lift, or decline.

lotusbell · 04/12/2019 08:32

You sound completely overwhelmed and erring far too much on the side of caution. Your husband will survive one night in a cheapo hotel without feeling longer miserable, it's just a place to sleep and get ready so I wouldn't be fannying about with the 200 quid a night venue rooms. Get your parents to stay over at yours that night or vice versa then you have have some help with the children. It only needs to be one night, I'm sure you'll survive.

lisasimpsonssaxophone · 04/12/2019 08:33

If it’s in the spring then the cheap advance train tickets probably haven’t been released yet, which is why you’re only finding the expensive £190 anytime ones.

frumpety · 04/12/2019 08:40

Is the wedding in February ? Isn't that when we usually get snow in the UK ? I wouldn't class February as spring. Sorry going off at a tangent !

Agree with someone else on the thread who said you might be able to get a cheap cottage in February, so you could all go to the area but have space to spread out while DH does the wedding bit. Roughly where in the UK is it ?

Hope you continue to recover OP , sounds like you have had a rough old year Flowers

WeBuiltCisCityOnSexistRoles · 04/12/2019 08:45

God almighty, I'm usually against MN deleting threads but @HerculesMulligan I would perhaps be asking MNHQ to do it in this case (or hiding it yourself perhaps).

Judging people for not driving, asking if he doesn't do the weekly shop, saying OP clearly just doesn't want to go, she doesn't want her DH to go, suggesting he buy a car, suggesting the OP is controlling, saying she has a long line of excuses, calling DH wet...fuck me.

People are either not RTFT, or just are rude and superior judges, or being more generous - people that don't understand the awful effects of recent events like OP has experienced. Things like that affect everything you do for such a long time afterwards, it's not like falling over in Starbucks and cutting your knee. They affect the whole family, not just OP and her DH but her DC and also her parents.

Situations like this wedding, in these circumstances, which people normally would see as just a minor obstacle, can seem insurmountable. For example, those of us that like to swim. If you are healthy and well, swimming happily in your normal pool and do fifty lengths every day. Someone says right you need another thirty lengths before you get out, it might be hard but you can do it, you might have to push yourself a little more than usual.

But if (for example) you have weights attached to your ankle and a wrist in a plaster cast the thought of doing those extra thirty lengths when you're struggling to complete your normal fifty, makes it seem impossible and just beyond you.

Those weights and plaster cast aren't meant to be literal metaphors for medical problems, it's just the mental effort to get through the days when you have the trauma (as well as physical effects) still with you. Every single day you have to get up and do your fifty lengths with all that shit weighing you down, you struggle but you get up and do it every single day. Then someone comes along and says, right do thirty more now, you'll be fine now, you're just making excuses, just crack on with it...

Well @HerculesMulligan I think you're doing a bloody good job on this thread - not being deleted yet, you're a better person than I am Wink so I imagine you're doing a bloody good job in RL too and should be applauded for what you do do under the circumstances, not for what you don't do (or just don't feel up to doing).

And I also think if the groom is a good enough friend, he will recognise the effort your DH makes to get there even if it is alone, and be happy and grateful, rather than judging you for not coming too, like a load of MNers who don't know you and don't have a clue what your life is like and aren't kind enough to even try and imagine.

frumpety · 04/12/2019 08:46

Only mentioned the cottage so I could waste more time on the internet rather than do the mountain of housework that I should be doing Wink

WeBuiltCisCityOnSexistRoles · 04/12/2019 08:46

Oh why has all that gone in bold FFS Blush

Jeezoh · 04/12/2019 08:48

Blimey, the vultures are out in force on this thread, picking over the bones of every word said (and not said) and no doubt getting a cheap thrill when they come up with a new suggestion of why the OP is unreasonable.

I think your plan sounds as good as it could be in the circumstances xx

PenguinMama · 04/12/2019 08:52

Ooh, you're getting a hard time here for no reason OP. Sounds like you've come up with a good solution.

Just in case you didn't spot it, I think a pp suggested hiring an automatic for a couple of days so could cut down his hotel costs. Plus I imagine it'd be cheaper to hire it a few times between now and Feb for your DH to practise a bit and see if he'd be confident driving for 3+ hours, particularly with the refresher lessons.

bananacakerox · 04/12/2019 08:55

@HerculesMulligan you've been v patient in keeping the replies going on the thread. There have been some cutting posts none of which is deserved.

I hope your OH gets to the wedding on public transport. Wishing you and your family a lovely Christmas and a healthy 2020.

ChestnutSmoothie · 04/12/2019 08:58

@HerculesMulligan I’ve really enjoyed reading this thread....mainly because of your blank refusal to rise to the pathetically nasty & unhelpful responses you’ve had from quite a few people.

For a group of people who smugly pride themselves on their “tolerance” & “intelligence” MNers are some of the least pleasant & stupidest people anywhere online.

Bluerussian · 04/12/2019 09:09

leckford Wed 04-Dec-19 08:10:24
Am I the only one who finds it weird a grown man can’t drive? Unless they are ill, disabled it is a necessary skill, even if you don’t own a car. In this case if he could drive he could hire one.
.......
Not at all. I have a male relative in early sixties who passed driving tests when young but, apart from once (& it made him quite ill), has never driven. His wife drives the car. It's not a problem to them, they are both good people and supportive of each other and accept it.

Another one who does drive now but took about five driving tests before passing, was late thirties when eventually passed test and bought a car. It looked as though he never would.

Then there are people who have never been able to afford a car or have got so used to being without, would not slip easily into being a driver. It is amazing how well people do manage without one.

I'm not a man but I used to drive, completely lost my nerve aged 35 and never driven, nor wanted to, since. I was fortunate that my husband loved driving but when on my own, have always been happy to use cabs or public transport.

Ellie56 Wed 04-Dec-19 08:28:43
There are some less than helpful posters on here. hmm
......
Yes! I don't understand that.

I haven't yet read what was said about cottage but will go back and do so, however it sounds as though the op has found a solution.

Agree with whoever said February isn't Spring; it's the last month of winter, Spring starts in March.

Bluerussian · 04/12/2019 09:14

Hercules, I'm really glad you are recovering, you've had a hard time. I've now read back a bit and haven't grasped what decision you have come to but good luck with whatever you decide.