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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Fiancé just told me he only proposed to shut me up.

154 replies

olaplexy · 28/02/2022 21:24

Name changed for this because I’m so embarrassed and I don’t want it linked to other threads where I’ve talked about how happy we are.

Fiancé and I got engaged last summer after being together for 7 years. Booked a wedding venue in autumn for autumn 2022. We had different ideas about the wedding, he wanted something bigger and I wanted something smaller and we compromised at something imbetween. I’ve gone through stages of being excited to plan and looking forward to the day and stages of wishing we could just elope and be married, as that is what I am most excited for - being married. I’ve expressed this to him and he has told me he finds it wearing. But I’ve been the one who has done 80% of the planning, form filling, finding vendors. In fact the only job he had was to book the registrar and he hasn’t done that yet.

Anyway, we’ve had a tough few weeks with some stuff going on in his family that’s made us both worried about how it will impact our day. I was just feeling sad about how I can’t get excited about the day at the moment and he asked me what we could to do make it better. I said we couldn’t do much within the parameters of what we already had booked/who we had invited etc. I then said he didn’t seem very excited about the wedding either, and he agreed. I asked him what he would change if we didn’t have any deposits etc paid and he said he would cancel what we had booked, and just have a long engagement and not think about a wedding until we both had a special day planned.

I then said I’d do the opposite - if just get married in a registry office asap and start married life. He told me he didn’t want to waste our one wedding day on a shit wedding and why would I want to do that. The argument suddenly escalated, with him
saying nasty things about my parents wedding and me asking why he wanted to cancel the wedding.

He suddenly started being really cold and nasty, and told me he only proposed to shut me up because I kept nagging him, he’s sick of trying to make me happy and I have an empty, bottomless void inside me that means I’ll always be miserable. He was so unpleasant.

We then carried on talking and he said he’d only said that to be mean, and he thought I was trying to railroad him into getting married without his family (which I wasn’t - I’ve been the only one to make compromises on that because my ideal
wedding has 0 guests!) and I’d gone into the conversation with an agenda.

I’m sat upstairs now not knowing how to proceed from here. He made me feel like I was in the wrong? But I don’t know why you would ever say to the person you’re engaged to you didn’t want to propose unless you actually mean it? I don’t know what to do.

OP posts:
Tiffbiff · 28/02/2022 22:40

*more people

Bussinbussin · 28/02/2022 22:42

@housemaus

Regardless of the context...

Do you want to marry someone who deliberately says things designed to destabilise how secure you feel in your relationship plans and make you feel unwanted when he wants to win an argument?

Do you want to marry someone who insults your family to win an argument?

Do you want to marry someone who suggests you're broken and emotionally exhausting in order to win an argument?

Do you want to marry someone who then freely, easily admits they do things like this to 'be mean' as though that's a normal, rational response?

Do you want to marry someone who makes assumptions ("thought I was trying to railroad him") about your intention and takes the nuclear option in response instead of trying to talk about his feelings with you?

Do you want to marry someone, who, when you've made a compromise on your wishes (to have a small wedding) in favour of his (a big, much harder to organise, wedding), makes you do all the work and then drags his heels on doing even a tiny administrative task?

This could have been about any number of things. It's his defensive, cruel, wildly escalating response to feeling attacked that's the problem here - not the wedding itself.

With the benefit of bitter hindsight can answer all the above questions for you.

NO. NO YOU DO YOU NOT.

I'm still suffering 20 years down the track - booted him out 5 years ago but he still makes my and my kids' lives hell. These types of men are soul destroying to be married to and even more horrible when you finally find the courage to divorce them.

Bussinbussin · 28/02/2022 22:43

Sorry for the extra YOU in there, I get PTSD such thinking about this stuff!

momtoboys · 28/02/2022 22:44

Maybe you may want to postpone the wedding and give you both some breathing room. I would worry about his being so unkind though.

expat101 · 28/02/2022 22:44

When you talk about (starting) married life, do you see your life being any different from how it is now?

Your post reminded me of a neighbour who also spent a long time waiting to be ''married'' and she had different expectations of how life would be, once they were married.

Could this be what your DP is getting defensive about?

Pixiedust1234 · 28/02/2022 22:44

Oh op - do not marry this man. Get out now. It is not about the wedding or marriage anymore but about his control over you. You will be forever be trying to appease him, wondering if you are good enough and any attempts by yourself to disagree will be met by nastiness and putdowns until you shut up and obey. Please go.

ToffeeNotCoffee · 28/02/2022 22:45

So start from scratch and come up with a new plan as neither of you are happy with the current one?!

Mmmmm lovely bait, thank you.

She is not happy with him. Not the bloody wedding plans. The only plan that needs to be made is the plan to get away from him. Be firm. Be strong.

Ditch the shit bag. Are you really going to hang around and wait for more hurtful and shitty behaviour from him ?

Only proposed to shut her up ? Fuck off, just fuck off.

ikeepseeingit · 28/02/2022 22:46

Honestly, I would be rethinking. Not because of you disagreeing on how to get married, but because he felt he could belittle you for disagreeing with him. The fact that he has admitted to talking to you in a way that will hurt you DELIBERATELY is really cruel. He's now minimising it, refusing to apologise, and suggesting you move from your own bed for the actions and decisions he has made. I worry that all conflicts will be handled this way between you both in the future.

Tiffbiff · 28/02/2022 22:52

@ToffeeNotCoffee

So start from scratch and come up with a new plan as neither of you are happy with the current one?!

Mmmmm lovely bait, thank you.

She is not happy with him. Not the bloody wedding plans. The only plan that needs to be made is the plan to get away from him. Be firm. Be strong.

Ditch the shit bag. Are you really going to hang around and wait for more hurtful and shitty behaviour from him ?

Only proposed to shut her up ? Fuck off, just fuck off.

Where in her post does she says she’s not happy with him?

She says she wants to just be married to him! That’s not a relationship that should be thrown away because two people had an argument - jeeeeeez! I wish mumsnet would stop throwing LTB at every.single.scenario

housemaus · 28/02/2022 22:56

@Yellowsubhubabubbub

Just sounds like an argument in a stressful time that’s got way out if hand OP Sleep on it. You probably feel better in the morning and so will he. He wouldn’t be doing a wedding otherwise. And men usually leave the planning to us. DH often says wild stuff in arguments and 30 seconds later is saying sorry he didn’t mean it but I’m still hurt
Well, then you deserve better - sincerely.

Let's not make 'men saying cruel things because they don't know how to emotionally regulate' where we set the bar for normal, because it isn't okay.

Nevermakeit · 28/02/2022 22:57

I would be very careful. Totally get the point about lives being entwined and not wanting to start again, but.... would be much worse if he dumps you or makes you unhappy a couple of years down the line, or (even worse) once you have a baby.
Arguments are one thing, but he crossed the line with this, and said what he thinks deep down. I think you need to put the relationship on pause for a bit, and see if he really tries to win you back. Don't end up railroaded by the wedding itself, painful as would be now, would be worse later.

juas · 28/02/2022 22:57

I think he’s getting upset because it sounds like he comprising to your whole wedding dream and your not to his wedding dream. He probably doesn’t understand how a wedding is a wedding without all the grandeur.

tara66 · 28/02/2022 23:07

Romance is dead and he killed it for you.

Sillyotter · 28/02/2022 23:13

The mask has slipped. Get out now and find someone who wants to marry you for the right reasons

Summerfun54321 · 28/02/2022 23:26

People do break up when they get engaged because they have difficult conversations that can other wise remain unsaid. 7 years together followed by a reluctant proposal - sorry OP but it really isn’t meant to be this hard.

Nat94 · 28/02/2022 23:29

Weddings are very stressful. Before i got married to my husband i never told him but there were times because of all the stress and wedding politics i wished we weren't getting married (nothing to do with my husband though) if its a one off i would put it down as a build up of stress that he didnt mean and try and move on from it.

BlueLorikeet · 28/02/2022 23:29

“he said he would cancel what we had booked, and just have a long engagement and not think about a wedding until we both had a special day planned”

He gave you a perfect way out. If it was me I would calmly and sweetly tell him that I agree, and cancel all bookings and plans, then ask for time and space to cool down.

If you feel hesitant to break up because your lives are so entwined, you can start by detangling them gently with as little drama as possible and then the time and space will let you both reevaluate and see thing more clearly.

Migrainesbythedozen · 28/02/2022 23:31

He's a hateful person isn't he? Really hateful and nasty towards you, and you're not even married yet! Imagine how he'll be when you settle into the married routine and he knows he doesn't have to bother to win you over. He won't even apologise to you. What sort of a horrible person doesn't apologise for saying cruel and hateful things deliberately to hurt you?

I'd LTB. Seriously you are woman of 2022, what are you talking about 'starting over'? You'll just be not in a relationship with him, that's all. You're not going to die. Better to have your self respect and freedom, and be alone for awhile, than with a pos that secretly (not so secretly now) hates you. Why be with someone who enjoys being cruel and hurting you? The fact he suggested you sleep in the spare bed, when he is the one that caused the argument and was nasty, shows he is a cruel narcissist. Woman up, be proud, have self respect, it's 2022. Don't be with a 'man' who hates you and gaslights you into thinking you are wrong and kicks you out of your own bed for his wrongdoing!

Toddlerteaplease · 28/02/2022 23:33

@OrlandointheWilderness I've heard clergy say similar!

OrlandointheWilderness · 28/02/2022 23:51

I suppose they see so many of them! It definitely makes sense to me.

CourtRand · 01/03/2022 00:08

Damn. That's hard. I understand a bit as I've been with DP for 8 years without proposal and you do start to question when it will happen. I'd also be fine with eloping.

Not sure how I'd move on from that. I'm also someone who snaps and says things they don't mean in anger - but not that someone's an empty, bottomless void.

I'd be asking him if he wants to be with me at all tbh or if he's only with me because nothing 'better' has come along.

Not sure I'd want to raise children with him.

Migrainesbythedozen · 01/03/2022 00:17

@OrlandointheWilderness

I suppose they see so many of them! It definitely makes sense to me.
Yes, it's long been known that the more expensive the wedding, the shorter the marriage. In the OP's case, she shouldn't even get as far as the wedding day. This guy clearly loathes her and her family, so why marry into that.
Migrainesbythedozen · 01/03/2022 00:19

@CourtRand

Damn. That's hard. I understand a bit as I've been with DP for 8 years without proposal and you do start to question when it will happen. I'd also be fine with eloping.

Not sure how I'd move on from that. I'm also someone who snaps and says things they don't mean in anger - but not that someone's an empty, bottomless void.

I'd be asking him if he wants to be with me at all tbh or if he's only with me because nothing 'better' has come along.

Not sure I'd want to raise children with him.

@CourtRand Why would you wait 8 years? Why not propose to him or give him an ultimatum, tell him you want to be married and ask him why he won't propose.
SouperNoodle · 01/03/2022 00:32

He said you were pathetic because you didn't want to just get over it on his terms?
He literally does not give a shit about your feelings at all.

What is your relationship like usually?
Is he supportive, honest, loyal and loving? Or the opposite?

Quirkyme · 01/03/2022 00:45

There seems to be a lot of threads like this across Mumsnet at the mo.

Is it anything to do with it being post-Valentine's I wonder.

It's all weird as fucked, and men are fucked up.

I sometimes wonder what they're good for and I really can't see it.

Swipe left for the next trending thread