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Wedding went viral

283 replies

Xenia · 29/06/2011 16:11

Agree with the step mother but she should not have written it. If you want a sil,y big wedding you are not someone to marry.
www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23965571-in-the-white-corner-the-bride-in-the-pink-the-mother-in-law-from-hell.do

In the white corner, the bride. In the pink, the mother-in-law from hell...
Laura Roberts
29 Jun 2011

The last thing any bride-to-be wants is to fall foul of her future mother-in-law - particularly when her damning criticism of your behaviour goes viral on the internet.

But that is what has happened to Heidi Withers, a PA working in the West End.

She received an email last month from Carolyn Bourne, the stepmother of her fiancé Freddie Bourne.

The 29-year-old forwarded the message to a select group of friends who were so surprised by its tone that they too forwarded it on to others...and then on to thousands.

Mrs Bourne, 60, who is married to Freddie's father Edward, wrote: "It is high time someone explained to you about good manners. Yours are obvious by their absence and I feel sorry for you."

She went on: "Unfortunately for Freddie, he has fallen in love with you and Freddie being Freddie, I gather it is not easy to reason with him or yet encourage him to consider how he might be able to help you. It may just be possible to get through to you though. I do hope so. Your behaviour on your visit to Devon during April was staggering in its uncouthness and lack of grace.

"Unfortunately, this was not the first example of bad manners I have experienced from you. If you want to be accepted by the wider Bourne family I suggest you take some guidance from experts with utmost haste."

She even described her future daughter-in-law as "an ideal candidate for the Ladette to Lady television series".

Mrs Bourne, who lives near Dawlish in Devon and is a renowned breeder of pinks and dianthus flowers, went on to list numerous examples of Miss Withers's "lack of manners" - as detailed below.

She concluded by saying: "I pity Freddie."

Her stepson, who runs online bike shop Capital Cycles and lives in Putney, declined to comment. His father Edward Bourne, 63, said: "We have nothing to say."

Miss Withers and Mr Bourne are not the first to suffer acute embarrassment because of out-of-control email round robins. A derogatory email exchange between Harry Fildes, 25, and Sebastian Marsh, 24, about the latter's ex-girlfriend "went viral" in March after Mr Fildes accidentally copied her in. Mr Marsh was later sacked by his company, Miller Insurance.

Holly Leam-Taylor, a graduate trainee at consultants Deloitte quit in December 2009 after sending an email discussing attractive male staff. The email, entitled Deloitte First year analysts Christmas Awards, asked her female colleagues to vote on which men in the office they considered most attractive.

The nine categories included "boy most likely to sleep his way to the top".

An excerpt from their email exchange...

from: Carolyn Bourne
to: heidi withers
subject: your lack of manners

Here are a few examples of your lack of manners:
When you are a guest in another's house, you do not declare what you will and will not eat - unless you are positively allergic to something.
You do not remark that you do not have enough food.

You do not start before everyone else.
You do not take additional helpings without being invited to by your host.

When a guest in another's house, you do not lie in bed until late morning in households that rise early - you fall in line with house norms.

You should never ever insult the family you are about to join at any time and most definitely not in public. I gather you passed this off as a joke but the reaction in the pub was one of shock, not laughter.

You regularly draw attention to yourself. Perhaps you should ask yourself why. No one gets married in a castle unless they own it. It is brash, celebrity style behaviour.

I understand your parents are unable to contribute very much towards the cost of your wedding. (There is nothing wrong with that except that convention is such that one might presume they would have saved over the years for their daughters' marriages.)

If this is the case, it would be most ladylike and gracious to lower your sights and have a modest wedding as befits both your incomes.

One could be accused of thinking that Heidi Withers must be patting herself on the back for having caught a most eligible young man. I pity Freddie.

OP posts:
mayorquimby · 30/06/2011 09:50

Poor freddie.
I bet he just wants a quiet life and no hassle.

mayorquimby · 30/06/2011 09:51

"I sent a handwritten not to my husband's parents after the first time I stayed in their home. Who wouldn't? It's basic good manners!"

I wouldn't. I do agree it's nice but I don't think it's really expected anymore. I'd have thought verbal thanks or a text would be perfectly acceptable. I know I don't expect anything more than a verbal thanks from friends or family.

piprabbit · 30/06/2011 09:51

"You should never ever insult the family you are about to join at any time and most definitely not in public".

That one comment made me hoot with laughter. Could the MIL have been more rude or more public? Pot, kettle, black.

CoffeeIsMyFriend · 30/06/2011 09:53

I really hope the DIL is a MNer! That is such a typical thread...

"AIBU - my MIL knows I am diabetic and wont give me food?!"

Hullygully · 30/06/2011 09:58

How unspeakably marvellous.

The mil is an utter utter cow.

squeaver · 30/06/2011 10:00

I think I'm on the MIL's side.

You should write to thank people if you stay with them.

You shouldn't insult your future family in public.

You shouldn't get married in a castle

You shouldn't forward personal emails to all and sundry

swanker · 30/06/2011 10:01

I do imagine the MIL is one of those people that serve the 'ladies' about 1/4 the portion of the men- fine if your men are farm labourers and your women are embroidering nosegays all day on their chaises longues, not so good if you are a diabetic that missed breakfast by lying in I imagine.

oldenoughtowearpurple · 30/06/2011 10:02

I'm 75% with MIL 25% with DIL. DIL sounds ghastly - spoilt, rude, trashy, selfish, insensitive. I didn't see where the diabetic bit came from but I am quite sure that if she explained to MIL politely then as an old fashioned hostess MIL would have done whatever necessary for the comfort of her guest. And forwarding the email on was just appalling and stupid. You might show it or read it out to some friends but forwarding it is just asking for trouble.

Having said that MIL sounds like she needs a broom extracted from her arse.

Ephiny · 30/06/2011 10:03

I've never sent a hand-written note of thanks, would honestly never have occurred to me that it was expected. When I've stayed with DPs parents, or been to their house for dinner, we say thank you in person when we leave.

Really it seems like the MIL is just picking on any little thing she can find to criticise, because she dislikes the DIL for some personal reason. None of the things she mentions sound really awful to me - as others have said, if you're diabetic you have to be particular about what you eat (and how much, and when). Having a lie in is hardly a crime either. I think it's much ruder to send such a nasty email criticising someone's behaviour and commenting on their family's financial situation.

If I had to guess, I'd say it was because 'Freddie's' father is willing to pay for his son's big expensive wedding, and his wife resents that and would rather have the money saved/spent on herself...

ggirl · 30/06/2011 10:05

yy to writing a note of thanks
I did it to my pil , but must admit I use email now if the person is au fait with computers, written note if not.

SpringHeeledJack · 30/06/2011 10:06

remember, though, that this is the MIL's view, and therefore subjective

we don't have the DIL's view, or the son's.

MIL sounds awful just by her own account

TotalChaos · 30/06/2011 10:07

apart from the castle wedding issue, MIL sounds like a prize cow. Hideous remarks about diabetes, sometimes it can take years to get good blood sugar control (have a friend this happened to, he eventually got an insulin pump).

VivaLeBeaver · 30/06/2011 10:08

I blame Freddie a bit to be honest. He must know what a nightmare his step mother is and that she'd have expected a note, etc and wouldn't have been impressed by DIL being in bed in the morning.

So why didn't he tell her to get up and tell her to write a note. Why didn't he write a note himself?

limitedperiodonly · 30/06/2011 10:13

I can't believe that so many people here are defending the MIL.

She is an utter loon.

The father of the bride will have plenty of material for his speech though Grin

squeaver · 30/06/2011 10:16

I wonder if they'll get married?

rollonby · 30/06/2011 10:16

MIL is at fault here imho. Sounds a bit out of touch with reality.

Plus, we got married in a castle, wasn't aware that made us chavvy celeb wannabes. :o

Xenia · 30/06/2011 10:17

What is so amusing is that the fiance clearlly thinks everyone will think the future step mother in law is wrong but in fact the fact the girl disseminated it and that she thinks it proves she, the guest, was in the wrong simply shows how wrong the finance is.

May be the boy is jut marrying outside his class and the finance hasn't bothered to find out what is good manners. However most people agree you do not point out when someone else is rude in your home. You just have a whinge about it to your other half.

OP posts:
limitedperiodonly · 30/06/2011 10:58

But xenia the comments you posted about the bride weren't supported by the email.

They appear to be based on your own prejudices, not facts

I can't get a cigarette paper between Mrs Bourne's views and yours.

Xenia · 30/06/2011 11:18

The email which I posted above says she didn't get up which is rude. She didn't thank. She criticised her hosts. Those are not very good things.

OP posts:
LtEveDallas · 30/06/2011 11:30

When I was a mere slip of a lass I went to stay at my future MIL and FILs for the first time (a long weekend).

On arrival MIL asked us if we were hungry and told us there was "spaghetti in the kitchen". There was. A tin of Heinz.

When we went out that evening she said "Make sure you are back by 10 or I will be locking the door". It was Glasgow, City of Culture year. We were 18/20. The pubs were open until 3am. We stayed out.

She didn't talk to us the whole of the next day (because we'd stayed out). Trying to unfreeze the atmosphere I offered to cook. She said "What is wrong with my cooking, what are you insinuating?". We went out for chips.

The next morning she woke me up hoovering the bedroom at 0900 berating me for being lazy and staying in bed when "everyone else had been up for hours". We got up, went out and stayed out.

The next day we had to catch our flight back in the afternoon. Except I told FIL-to-be that the flight was in the morning so he took us to the airport early. Me and then DP had a blazing row in Glasgow Airport when he realised what I had done.

MIL spent pretty much the next 3 years telling everyone I was rude, greedy, common and ungrateful.

I wasn't, she was just a bitch (and then DP was a spineless bastard). If she had sent me an email I would have forwarded it to THE WORLD just to show them what she was really like. As it is I think Heidi showed great restraint in only sending it to her friends.

OTheHugeManatee · 30/06/2011 11:32

I'm on the fence. I can't help thinking of The DIL sounds awful, but I imagine staying with her future ILs felt a bit like Grin

hatwoman · 30/06/2011 11:35

has anyone got the full version?

both sound bad. mil does indeed need the broom handle extracted from her arse. dil needs to learn to be a bit more sensitive and adaptive. and I agree with beaver that freddie isn't faultless. assuming he'd prefer a tolerable mil-dil relationship he needs to up his game and help the path of their relationship along

limitedperiodonly · 30/06/2011 11:37

Xenia we both know I'm not talking about the words in the email. But just in case you've forgotten, I'll explain: I'm talking about your comments on the bride which aren't based in facts but what I can only take to be your prejudices.

You said:

'I agree. The points are not wrong a all but they are something the step mother could have a quiet word with the son about if she really felt she had to and could not just rise above it. If she and her husband are being asked to pay towards the silly expensive wedding though I can understand concerns and if the rapacious greedy girl is expeted her fiance to pay which will almost bankrupt him then he needs to put a stop to it and see if she'd still marry him if he offered her a church wedding with a receptio back the house which is a buffet. That soon sorts the sheep from the goats in terms of materialistic girls to be avoided.'

I asked before how you arrived at these conclusions. So, how did you?

BTW, as an adult in full command of your own decisions and finances, how would you respond if someone told you that you needed 'to put a stop' to something that wasn't any of their business?

Xenia · 30/06/2011 11:38

Also the fiance then forwarded a private email (MIL did not make her email public, did not criticise the girl in public at all) to her friends. That in itself is not lawful. I am sure the MIL is best not to comment at all and things will die down but in theory the errant fiance breached copyright and privacy rights by fowrarding it to her friends.

Rather than providing funds for the wedding of the impoverished extragant PA finance, perhaps the parents should be suing her for damages. Silly girl.

OP posts:
LtEveDallas · 30/06/2011 11:43

Once the email was sent to the DIL it belongs to the DIL (as the addressee) and she can do whatever she wants with it - including forwarding it to her friends. Property and copyright laws do not come into it.