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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU for not just getting up and moving?

70 replies

ThatSassyPeachPoet · 09/02/2025 16:28

Im not a total idiot so I’m already very much aware my FMIL was very clearly in the wrong here and if she acts this way after nearly a decade together this doesn’t bode well for her as a MIL in the coming years because her opinion won’t magically change in viewing herself as the number one woman in my husband’s life. She will always demand that she should still be the number one woman even over his partner/spouse. Thinking she should be sitting next to him at thanksgiving or other holiday dinners instead of his own wife. When the babies come she will think she has more of a say over me the mother bc she is the GRANDMOTHER AND DAMNIT THEY HAVE RIGHTS. But what I am asking is I’m on the verge after her tantrum and outburst of uninviting her to our wedding and the only thing that would be stopping me is the fact I wouldn’t want to do that to my fiancé because she is his mother and that this is the first time she has acted out but trust me I’m very tempted to. So I’m asking you guys is this wedding invite revoke worthy this incident?

My fiancé’s who is 29 his father very sadly passed away due to health complications from an accident he was in years back. His father was 59 years old and his father was an only child and so is my fiancé. My fiancé’s mom have been divorced from fiancé’s father for 20 years now. My fiancé and I own a home together and our wedding date is in June 2026. We have been together 9 years and have lived together for 5 years and are very much a fully committed couple we live as married and conduct ourselves as such since we have been living together a while. The day of the funeral I sat next to my fiance because well we been together 9 years, he is my life partner, never mind the fact we are engaged. And because naturally I’m going to be the person as his partner who is going to be his comfort to lean on and his emotional support when he is sobbing. Just to be very clear before I get into the rest that there were 6 chairs at the very front row and again both my fiance and his dad were only children so I wasn’t taken a seat away from a member of his dad’s immediate family by any stretch or otherwise I wouldn’t have sat next to my partner. So it was my fiancé’s dad’s mom, fiancé’s mom, fiance’, and me.

Well his mom (who mind you hasn’t been married to the man in 20 years) has the audacity to look me dead in the eye and tell me to and these were her exact words and I quote, “get up and sit behind my fiance because I’m not family and since she is my fiancé’s mother she will be the one to sit next to him and support him.” Now I get it it’s the father of her child and emotions run high at funerals so people say things that are out of character or not the kindest but IMO it’s no excuse to take it out on people who had nothing to do with the situation at hand. And I find it extremely out of line for an ex of 20 years to think she can dictate the seating arrangements. Never mind I’ve been with my fiance a decade and it isn’t bc I think I’m super close to his dad necessarily but I’ve always been raised funerals are about being there for the grieving not necessarily the deceased so I was there next to my life partner to be his shoulder to cry on. I said back to my FMIL, “I’m supporting my fiance and being this is his father’s funeral I think the decision should be left up to him.” His mother said back, “well I’m his mother and mother trumps partner so he can lean on me.”

I find this incredibly strange that she would expect her nearly 30 year old son to primarily lean on her and cry on the shoulder of his mother over that of his long term partner he has been with for a decade and who is about to become his wife. I’m worried that she still views herself as the primary woman in his life and that’s not going to bode well for our marriage bc I don’t ever see her view changing. I got up to sit behind my fiancé and he told me no I am family and I’m sitting right where I need to be and he told his mother if she has a problem with it she can move. She cried her eyes out and said she can’t believe her son is choosing some woman he isn’t married to over her.

OP posts:
Contraryjane · 10/02/2025 05:17

I’ve read this before

Princessconsuelabananahammock9 · 10/02/2025 05:39

Yabu because you’ve posted before and are obsessed with being the most important woman in his life.

You can’t uninvite her because it’s not just your wedding. Your finance might want his mother there especially given he’s just lost his father.

BlondiePortz · 10/02/2025 06:11

How do you look dead in an eye? Seems to have happened before on here from memory

Mo819 · 10/02/2025 06:24

Just to play devil's advocate my grandparents were divorced for years but at my grandads funeral all 4 boys wanted support from there mum who was there and gave it. I don't see anything wrong with a mother wanting to support her child just in the way she went about it.
If you do something to try and break there bond you might be the one one left out in the cold.

farmlife2 · 10/02/2025 06:35

You said it's the first time she's acted out? If so, I might just forgive her this time. Your fiance has two sides, so why was it even an issue? You could have both sat next to him.

I do understand the issue though. My MIL always saw herself as the primary family of my DH, even after the wedding and kids, and head of my household. She quickly became the grandma we never see.

Flipslop · 10/02/2025 06:45

ThatSassyPeachPoet · 10/02/2025 02:41

To those who think I am being unreasonable I would like to know how?

I think the MIL sounds awful but you do come across as a bit childish tbh. Your reaction to her behaviour seems to be to find a punishment by not inviting her to your wedding which is nearly a year and a half away and also nor just your wedding, your partner will be there too!!
I feel for the guy in the middle tbh. Poor guy
a more mature approach would be to leave your partner to deal with this stuff and just have some healthy boundaries not write an assay about it and spite her with the wedding.
edited to add, your lack of any empathy towards her for the death of her ex and the father of her child is shocking. I’ve been apart from my ex for 10 years, most of that has been pretty awful in terms of his behaviour towards me but if anything were to happen to him I’d be devastated, especially for the kids

MummaMummaMumma · 10/02/2025 06:51

Her behaviour is unreasonable.
I vote YABU because it's not your decision to invite her to the wedding. That's your fiancés mum, that's his choice only.

discdiscsnap · 10/02/2025 07:07

I wouldn’t have even responded. I'd have asked my partner if he wanted me to stay. And ignored her.

Pootlemcsmootle · 10/02/2025 07:12

DaisyChain505 · 09/02/2025 16:45

You fiancé is the one who needs to be dealing with this, not you.

He should be calling her out on things in the moment as they happen.

He should be telling her what’s what and putting his foot down.

Your fiancé is as much the issue here as your MIL is.

He needs to be correcting her in every situation, not just the one.

Edited

You didn't read the post to the end did you...

IlooklikeNigella · 10/02/2025 07:14

Not unreasonable. She will be a nightmare. I'd invite her to the wedding for my fiance's sake but I would have very little to do with her during the marriage. If you have kids remember it's what you say goes.

user1492757084 · 10/02/2025 07:32

Your fiance has your back so I'd stop fussing about his mother.
I would have just stood up and moved though. I would never have argued with a person mourning at a funeral.

Do not uninvite her to your wedding.

In fact sit her at the most prominent position on the parents' table. Make sure your DH compliments her in his speech.
You have to just laugh or life will be terrible.

Learn to not have her in your home much but when you do see her, give her free access to her son and voice how she is his favourite mother. Nothing will change her.

Don't let her change you to be mean. You are both on the same team. Be strong to live your life while she also shares the planet.

Hodcafesuk · 10/02/2025 07:33

BlondiePortz · 10/02/2025 06:11

How do you look dead in an eye? Seems to have happened before on here from memory

Looking someone 'dead in the eye' means the same as looking 'straight in the eye'. It's a common saying.

MangshorJhol · 10/02/2025 07:38

Ah the June 2026 wedding, the insistence on being together for 5 years, your MIL is batshit, but are you the one who had a thread deleted where your fiancé discussed his finances with his mum (who then said nothing in response) and you went crazy at him. And you want him to be clear that his mother will become his extended family when he marries you, not his immediate family any more?
Something about the posting style and the details seems very familiar…

Keepingthingsinteresting · 10/02/2025 07:48

Spirallingdownwards · 10/02/2025 02:50

Because they didn't read it properly I would guess! In no way are you unreasonable. I am glad your fiance stood up for you then.

I do think before wedding arrangements get fully underway he needs to have a word about it being your (joint) wedding and he wants no nonsense from her surrounding it otherwise she will not be welcome at it.

Or because she’s asking the wrong question. It shouldn’t be about not inviting her to the wedding, if the fiancé wants his mum at the wedding she should go, but if she thinks the women will make the rest of her life difficult she should be asking whether she should still marry her fiancé

travelallthetime · 10/02/2025 07:53

I wouldn’t uninvite her….yet! I would get your fiancé to have strong words about how she needs to calm the fuck down or she won’t be invited and any more fuckery like at the funeral will lead to no invite

AyrnotAir · 10/02/2025 07:57

Yanbu, my DH always wants me beside him at a funeral and vice versa. It's normal to sit next to your partner when your parents passed away. We both needed each other for support at our parents funerals.

It's her that I'd have found strange sitting there to be honest after being divorced so long. I wonder if she thought others would think the same, so wanted you to move so it looked like he'd chose her to sit beside him so it didn't look as strange. My dad certainly wasn't beside me or up the front at my mums funeral. He was a few rows back.

The good thing is he stuck up for you and hopefully he would continue to.

LisaD1 · 10/02/2025 08:02

I don’t get this whole “most important woman” shit. I’ve been with my DH for 20 years, married 18. I am incredibly important to him and so is his Mother, just in different ways.

my fil died a few years ago,
none of the spouses occupied the front rows, these were for his mum and her children and grandchildren, it wasn’t even discussed, us spouses immedietely left the front this way, all of us been married between 18-30 years!

I was very close to my fil, he was more of a dad to me than my own, where i sat ti grieve him had no bearing on that or how important i am to my DH.

i feel sorry for your fiance, he’s surrounded by batshit women.

booboo24 · 10/02/2025 08:05

I wouldn't uninvite her, her behaviour over the next 18 months however would determine any discussion I had with my fiance about the possibility of doing so, but ultimately it's his decision not yours.

She sounds a complete nightmare and this may be a sign of things to come going forward, so you and your fiance need to show a united front, and she needs to understand, now, that this behaviour won't be tolerated. Hopefully she'll get the message before children enter the equation.

You keep saying about her being divorced for over 20 years though, I will defend her on this, I've been divorced 12 years now, but if anything happens to my ex before me, I KNOW I'll be absolutely devastated. I'm happily engaged but although things didn't work out between us romantically (22 years together), it doesn't mean I don't care anymore. I would however be sitting a few rows back!

Namechangean · 10/02/2025 08:14

MangshorJhol · 10/02/2025 07:38

Ah the June 2026 wedding, the insistence on being together for 5 years, your MIL is batshit, but are you the one who had a thread deleted where your fiancé discussed his finances with his mum (who then said nothing in response) and you went crazy at him. And you want him to be clear that his mother will become his extended family when he marries you, not his immediate family any more?
Something about the posting style and the details seems very familiar…

why was the post deleted? You can tell it’s her because she’s still talking about DF so possessively and her question being shall I uninvite FMIL like she has the power to make that decision on her own is controlling

MangshorJhol · 10/02/2025 08:20

That one said the OP wasn't who they claimed they were. It's really obvious who the OP is including the aggressive answers to anyone who might have a slightly different opinion. And the insistence that OP's relationship was the greatest love story ever- they were extremely compatible, and now must be seen as one unit for ever more. This OP is more carefully written thought to make sure that a) the fiance comes across as reasonable b) the MIL comes across as definitely unreasonable. It's not something I say on MN very often, but that poor man!

AnAlpacaForChristmasPleaseSanta · 10/02/2025 08:37

ThatSassyPeachPoet · 10/02/2025 02:41

To those who think I am being unreasonable I would like to know how?

Because they'll become the same kind of MIL as yours.

Butchyrestingface · 10/02/2025 08:38

Namechangean · 10/02/2025 08:14

why was the post deleted? You can tell it’s her because she’s still talking about DF so possessively and her question being shall I uninvite FMIL like she has the power to make that decision on her own is controlling

Is this the American one from a couple of weeks ago? The one who posted <chokes slightly> upwards of 250 times to the thread within 24 hours?

LaundryPond · 10/02/2025 08:42

ThatSassyPeachPoet · 10/02/2025 02:41

To those who think I am being unreasonable I would like to know how?

You just sound fully as adversarial as her, like you’re two tomcats marking territory.

Or as though your fiancé is a cake and you’re continually looking at the size of your MIL’s slice, because that means there’s less for you.

Namechangean · 10/02/2025 08:46

Butchyrestingface · 10/02/2025 08:38

Is this the American one from a couple of weeks ago? The one who posted <chokes slightly> upwards of 250 times to the thread within 24 hours?

Yes! Same set up, same wedding date, and same insistence of being the most important woman in his life

Mymanyellow · 10/02/2025 08:46

Yep it’s her. She was particularly delightful to me. I told her to fuck off in the end.