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A woman says she was "furious" after arriving at her cousin's child-free wedding only to see some kids had been invited.
In a post on Reddit's "Am I the A------" forum, the 35-year-old woman explained that her cousin's wedding invitation specifically noted "no children." Because the OP (original poster) and her husband had a 2-year-old daughter, she reached out to her cousin to make sure that the wedding was indeed a child-free event.
Her cousin confirmed the no-kids policy due to the venue being a winery, but noted that an exception was being made for the flower girls and ring bearer. Hearing this, the OP arranged for her mother-in-law to travel to the city where the wedding was being held so that she could care for the toddler while she and her husband attended the event.
However, she was surprised to arrive at the wedding and see a number of young children there, despite her cousin's insistence that only the flower girls and ring bearer would be in attendance.
"My husband and I were furious," she wrote, explaining that they stayed for the ceremony and dinner but then got up and left "without saying goodbye" to the newlyweds.
Making matters worse, during dinner, several people — including the groom's brother and the OP's other cousin — asked where their daughter was. "We made sure to tell them that we were told it was a child-free event so my husband's mother was watching her," the OP recalled.
She concluded her post by asking if she and her husband were wrong to leave the wedding early due to their frustrations over the situation.
In the comments section, many readers pointed out that the extra children at the wedding were likely brought there by guests who decided to ignore the no-kids request. They told her she was wrongly placing the blame on the bride and groom.
"What is more likely: the wedding couple giving everyone except OP an exemption from the child-free rule to specifically spite OP or that several sets of parents decided the rules didn't apply to them, brought kids, and the wedding couple chose to not toss these guests out on their ears," one person wrote.
Another agreed, commenting, "It seems more likely that those other people brought their kids in spite of that request, as opposed to the bride/groom intentionally excluding you from bringing your kid. YTA [you're the a------] for misplacing that aggravation as the responsibility of the bride."
Others told the OP that, no matter the circumstances, she could have handled the situation more diplomatically. "Leaving without saying goodbye was in bad form," one reader said, while another added, "Leaving in a snit because you couldn’t bring your toddler is extremely childish."
Someone else told the OP she was making too big of a deal out of the perceived slight and should have just stayed and enjoyed the wedding. "Honestly, when my son was 2, regardless if kids were invited, I would have opted to leave him home anyhow. 2 year olds are unpredictable and you have to watch them the whole time. It can be hard to really enjoy the wedding when you’re constantly wrangling a 2-year-old," they wrote.
The commenter added, "I don’t understand why so much offense needs to be taken instead of just focusing on enjoying the evening as an adults night out." (People.com)