Bride Is Mad That Her Mother-In-Law Didn't Attend The Wedding But Still Wore White That Day
There are no rules about what can or can't be worn outside of the wedding.
Rus Limon | Shutterstock Weddings always seem to stir up family drama, whether it already exists or not. This can sometimes lead family members to skip out on the big day.
For one family, the bride was mad at her new mother-in-law for more than just skipping the wedding.
One bride was upset when she found out that her mother-in-law wore white on her wedding day at another location.
A confused groom took to Reddit to share what upset his new wife after what seemed to be a fine wedding.
“I recently got married and it was a beautiful day,” he recounted. “Unfortunately, my family chose not to attend as they didn’t like our plus-one policy.”
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Based on his replies to commenters asking what exactly their unique “plus-one policy” was, it sounded like you weren’t allowed to bring a plus-one if your relationship with them wasn’t serious.
In a follow-up comment, he said, “My mom couldn’t bring a date as she isn’t in a long-term relationship, and we haven’t met him.”
In his original post, he continued, “It was very hurtful, and I wouldn’t say we are no contact, but right now no one is in a hurry to make any contact.”
Despite not actively being in contact with one another, his wife naturally still saw a social media post from his sister.
“My wife came to me a few days ago very upset,” he explained. “She showed me a picture posted on my sister’s Instagram from the day of our wedding. They were at a winery, and my mom was wearing a white sundress.”
The husband was not sure why his wife was so unhappy.
“At first, I thought she was upset because they went out the day of our wedding. I tried explaining they were probably trying to take my mom’s mind off of it, but she pointed out that the dress was white,” he said.
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He still didn’t understand exactly what had caused his wife such distress.
“I was confused and said my mom wasn’t at our wedding, so who cares,” he stated. “She asked if I was even a little bothered by it and I said I was bothered by them skipping the wedding, but not by her wearing a white casual summer dress.”
The bride, on the other hand, didn’t feel so nonchalant about the whole thing.
“My wife became very quiet and I could tell she was annoyed,” he concluded.
The rule that wedding guests do not wear white still stands.
With time, certain aspects of weddings that were once traditional have evolved and become less so. One thing that has not changed is the etiquette rule that guests at a wedding should not wear white — that color is reserved for the bride.
Vogue asked Anny Choi, a bridal stylist, for her thoughts on the subject. “The simple answer is ‘no,’ unless the invite calls for it,” she said.
When asked by Vogue about similar color options like cream or ivory, celebrity stylist Micaela Erlanger proclaimed, “It’s all white!”
While white is a definite no, similar colors on the palette should also be avoided to escape any comparison to the bride.
There are no rules about what should be worn outside of the wedding, though.
As for what guests, or invited guests, can wear to places other than the wedding — there are no rules. The assumption that there are feels downright strange.
Reddit commenters agreed. “People who aren’t at your wedding are allowed to wear what they want,” one person said.
“You’d better never wear white as someone has a wedding that day,” another joked.
The fact that this angered the bride so much makes it seem like perhaps she was just hurt that her husband's family chose not to attend the wedding, which is understandable. The dress was, or rather, the color of her mother-in-law's dress was simply the vessel for her to channel her hurt and anger.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.