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Ashley
Dedicated January 2023

Grandma wants to attend wedding, rest of us think it’s a bad idea

Ashley, on March 2, 2022 at 5:54 PM Posted in Family and Relationships 0 7
To clarify first off, I would absolutely love for my only two grandparents to attend my wedding next January. However, the issue is that my grandmother has been in fragile health for a few years now. She was hospitalized last year a few times (non Covid issues). Her cognitive state is not always the clearest these days (we suspect early dementia), and she is physically very frail. My grandpa takes care of her and he agrees with us that she is not in good shape to travel for my wedding; they would be coming from Canada to Texas in the middle of winter, requiring a two hour drive and two flights. It is a whole day of travel and is tiring even for me, let alone people in their early and mid-80s.


The problem is that my grandma has evidently really perked up at hearing about my wedding, and she insists she is coming. My aunts who live close to her have told us she is asking about buying a dress and where are they staying and so on. My mom had previously told her that no, she cannot come because she is not strong enough for the trip. My grandma got (understandably I suppose from her perspective) quite angry and was yelling at my mom on the phone about it. My grandpa knows she cannot travel but I think he wants to avoid a fight too so he just lets her talk as though they are coming.
Our concern is the travel alone will wear her out, and that she could have an episode at the wedding (we think she has some nerve degeneration where occasionally she locks up and falls down). They don’t have health insurance here as they are from Canada. But she really seems set on this, and I can understand it would be very frustrating to be told you are too old and frail to come, but the reality is she doesn’t quite admit or understand her physical limitations anymore.
I am looking for any ideas or advice on how to handle this further. How can we get across of course we want her there, but we are very concerned that the trip would be detrimental to her health?


7 Comments

Latest activity by Cece, on March 3, 2022 at 7:47 PM
  • mrswinteriscoming
    VIP December 2021
    mrswinteriscoming ·
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    You have genuine concerns about her health and physical ability to make the trip, but I actually think that if your grandmother is precluded from attending because of everyone else's concerns, it could have a mental and emotional toll on her.

    I myself had a relative who was 92 and not in great shape at the time of my wedding and we had a similar concern about her attending our wedding (interstate to where she lives) and her exact response was "don't you dare stop me attending an event I've lived this long to witness".

    The concerns for your grandmother are understandable but she is a grown adult and has been one for long enough to make her own decisions, and I really think she would be devastated if she wasn't allowed to attend because of other people making a decision for her about the risks she is otherwise willing to take. If it were me, I would assist her in setting up a longer trip so that she can attend the wedding but with plenty of time to recover from the travel (or at least part of it) necessary to attend.

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  • Jasmine S.
    VIP May 2022
    Jasmine S. ·
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    It's not your place to decide for her. Send her and grandpa an invitation. If she needs help, they (or your parents or someone else) can arrange a caregiver for the day. My grandparents were in their early 90s for my sister's wedding and my grandfather was a couple years into dementia, but with different family members looking after them and traveling with them, we managed to make it work.
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  • Candace
    Super March 2022
    Candace ·
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    It should be up to her. The family can help her as much as possible and support her needs. Maybe she can split the travel into 2 days and spend the night in comfortable hotels in between flights/drives. She can plan to be in town for a longer stretch of time, arriving a couple days before the wedding so she has a full day of rest before the big day and have a full day of rest after the wedding. Sort of make the trip a long vacation. It might be more expensive but she obviously really wants to come.
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  • Jmz
    Expert July 2022
    Jmz ·
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    From a practical perspective, I know one can purchase travel health insurance! If it makes any sort of difference in calming everyone's nerves about her coming.
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  • Samantha
    Super May 2022
    Samantha ·
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    Either hire a caregiver to accompany them, or just stop talking about it to her and she might just forget about it. Good lluck!

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  • Jessi
    Super October 2022
    Jessi ·
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    I agree with others that if she is adamant about going it is probably better to let her go. Purchasing travel insurance and hiring a caregiver are both great things to consider to be able to keep her as safe as possible while she's there as well.

    My fiancé's grandma is very frail and is prone to fainting spells, but he's the last of her grandchildren to get married so we couldn't imagine telling her not to come. We're going to hire a caregiver for her who can keep an eye on her and take her home when she's ready.

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  • Cece
    Rockstar October 2023
    Cece ·
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    I think previous posters advice about travel insurance and hiring a care giver are really great pieces of advice. Do you think she would accept watching virtually from home? There are lots of great companies that will live stream your event so she (and anyone else that can’t make it) can watch from the comfort of their own homes. You could even take a few minutes after the ceremony to chat with her 1-on-1 via live stream video.
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