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Just Said Yes May 2024

mil wants to invite her friends to our intimate wedding. fh already had a 1-on-1 call and told her no, but she asked me personally again

Abigail, on May 13, 2023 at 10:14 AM Posted in Family and Relationships 1 12

Hi everyone! Just looking for some opinions/support.


FH and I decided after getting engaged that we wanted an intimate wedding and celebrate with only close friends and family (about 75 guests total). Randomly one day, MIL told us to add her 8 childhood best friends to the list because they helped her a lot and always ask how FH is doing. We are paying for the wedding ourselves and don't want friends of parents there. We already told my parents, who also have best friends that helped our family a lot, and they are fine with it because it's our wedding.

So FH had a call with MIL and explained that, to which she proceeded to cry and yell at him. We thought she understood after the call, but when she was in town visiting this past week, while FH was out running an errand, she brought it up to me and explained how great her friends are and how she can pay for them. I said I will discuss with FH, but now we are really torn between saying yes just to make her happy (since it is only 8 people) and saying no so that we are happy with the wedding we want with only people we care about. What would you recommend and when we respond, should it come from FH or both of us at this point?

12 Comments

Latest activity by Ebony, on May 16, 2023 at 3:30 PM
  • H
    Master July 2019
    Hannah Online ·
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    Stand your ground. No is a complete sentence. Once you start giving explanations, then that’s when they try to troubleshoot, such as saying she will be. Just say “we have discussed it and our guest list is now finalized. We cannot add anymore people to it.” End of discussion. If you’re paying, there is no reason to have her friends there if you don’t want them.
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  • Jasmine S.
    VIP May 2022
    Jasmine S. ·
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    She doesn't get a say, especially since she isn't contributing financially. A wedding is not the place to invite everyone you know, it's for people who are special to the couple and still involved in your lives. Keep telling her no. It should come from both of you, or your FH at the very least. When the time comes to print and send invitations, you won't be making invites for those people. Also be mindful of if you think she's telling them the date and time of the wedding -- you don't want crashers.
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  • Jacks
    Rockstar November 2054
    Jacks ·
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    She’s trying to split the two of you apart to get what she wants on this issue. Stand your ground.
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  • V
    Champion July 2019
    Veronica ·
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    Like others have said stand your ground. It's your wedding so she needs to accept that you and your fiance have said no. Plus the second you say yes to this 8 it wouldn't surprise me if she suddenly wants to add even more people. It also wouldn't be fair if you said yes to her but had told your family no.
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  • C
    CM ·
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    While as host, what you say obviously goes, we had no problem allowing each set of parents to invite a small handful of their closest friends. There was no impact on our day whatsoever and it made the parents happy to be happy to share the day with those most important to them. In my own view a wedding is about family and it’s their day to celebrate too. To me it’s a generous gesture and has mothing to do with who is paying, but if they are offering to cover costs, and you want to gain points, I’d honestly have little issue with it in your place.


    Is this group an all or nothing invitation situation? In that case, and if they all have partners, you might want to or have to stick to none. Otherwise, would cutting the numbers help, limiting to just a few?

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  • LM
    Super December 2022
    LM ·
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    Eight (8) out of town guests are unreasonable and most likely they will not come. However, it is within your right to invite people you have actually met. Stand together as a team. If FMIL wants to throw a party, she can host them on her own. I invited some of my pare
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  • LM
    Super December 2022
    LM ·
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    (got cut off), parents' friends, but I knew them well and there were few. BTW, 75 is typical of a mid-size wedding, 25 micro or more intimate. If you all are used to 300 person weddings, mom will need longer to get used to a different way of wedding. Just be firm yet patient. Less info about wedding the better.
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  • M
    Savvy January 2022
    Mallory ·
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    FH should let her know that the decision to not invite them has already been made, as he previously told her.

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  • A
    Just Said Yes May 2024
    Abigail ·
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    Thanks, that's a really good point. We told my parents about not inviting their friends, so they are hosting a separate reception for us to invite their friends and they will pay for it. MIL is hosting a reception in her hometown for elderly relatives who can't travel, but she says that's too small to invite her friends to. Our suggestion to her was to make the reception bigger and we will gladly attend and meet her friends there, but she didn't like that idea lol.

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  • A
    Just Said Yes May 2024
    Abigail ·
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    Thanks. Yeah, I think most weddings MIL has attended in the past have been much bigger so she thinks inviting friends of our parents is the norm. I agree that is typical if you have a 100+ people wedding, but we wanted 50 originally. Had to increase it to 75 because MIL told us there are relatives we have to invite, which I was fine with.

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  • LM
    Super December 2022
    LM ·
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    Girl, they are trying to get 3 receptions out of you. Just put your foot down with these parents. Don't let their money take away your time from focusing on your marriage. What are these parents going to ask of you next-- a plan for all future holidays and vacations?

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  • E
    Devoted May 2023
    Ebony ·
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    This is why I hate mother in laws because they usually make everything about them and its making me sick!!! Before my mother in law decided not to come to our wedding she complained about everythig...my dress, what she has to wear, the colors, etc...Tell her to stop asking you and if she keeps crossing boundaries or gets upset maybe its time for your FH to take a stand and reconsider her invitation.

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