A bride was eagerly counting down to her wedding when her excitement took an unexpected hit — thanks to some unsolicited advice from her aunt.
Sharing her experience on Reddit’s “Wedding Drama” forum, the bride explained that she and her fiancé are just weeks away from their big day. They had hoped for a calm lead-up, but “drama has come out of the woodwork,” she admitted.
Her latest source of stress? Her aunt telling her she shouldn’t get married at all. According to the aunt, “marriage is just a contract that’ll ruin your life,” and this conversation happened only two days before the bride’s bridal shower.
“She even said, ‘I can’t believe you’re throwing away your life like this. There’s so much more to life than being tied down,’ ” the bride recalled. “Like, did she seriously just say that?”
“I’m still shocked she thought this was the best moment for that kind of unsolicited advice,” she added.
Although she laughed off her aunt’s comments at the time — mostly out of awkwardness — the bride believes her aunt was serious in her attempt to dissuade her from marrying.
She turned to Reddit for support, asking fellow users, “I just need some backup here. I’m not the only one dealing with [such drama], right?”
Many commenters encouraged her to brush off the aunt’s remarks.
“Sounds like your aunt is still mad about her divorce,” one user suggested, adding, “Don’t read into her bitterness.”
Another pointed out, “She’s projecting her feelings onto you. She feels that way personally about marriage and how her life turned out. That’s a ‘her’ problem, not a ‘you’ problem, and you can just ignore her as best you can.”
Others advised the bride — and anyone dealing with unsolicited opinions from relatives — to set clear boundaries. “Tell them to keep their opinions to themselves,” one commenter wrote. “Either they respect your choice and wishes and keep quiet at the wedding, or they don’t come.”
Some readers admitted they agreed with the aunt’s sentiment but criticized her timing. “Sounds like something that she should have told you while you were still single,” one user noted.
When it comes to moving forward, commenters emphasized letting such remarks roll off. “People say stupid things all the time and you just have to ignore them. In one ear and out the other. Redirect the conversation,” one person advised.
They added, “She said something, it was not an appropriate thing to say, let it drop to the floor and move on. The tree that fell in the forest that nobody heard doesn’t make a sound.”
