Man sparks debate about child-free weddings after refusing to go own sister's
People have shared their heated reactions after a man said he is refusing to attend his sister’s child-free wedding ceremony.
The Reddit poster’s sister and his best friend are tying the knot in the cabins they used to visit when they were at school.
A child-free wedding wouldn’t normally be much of an issue for the man or his wife because they would just drop of their son and daughter at his wife’s parents house or with their grandparents.
However, there’s some confusion around the couple’s decision to have a child-free wedding.
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“My sister had asked them to be the ring bearer and the flower girl,” the man revealed in his Reddit post.
The sister tried to find a solution, however, it all sounds rather confusing.
“Apparently, they want the kids to perform their duties at the wedding but then not attend the reception,” he explained.
“That means either my wife or I will have to be there with them alone in the cabin while everyone is ‘partying it up’, but wait, I'm the best man and will be conducting the reception so it's just going to be my wife.
“What about food? My mom will give my wife 20 minutes to come in, grab some plates with food and come back because the mother of the bride can't be missing for too long.”
The children, who are both under the age of seven, would have to stay in a ‘tiny cabin that is not child proof' at the wedding next month. The man described the cabin as having ‘barely’ any mobile phone signal and the only ‘source of heat is a fireplace.’
He would also have to drive seven hours to the location with the children.
His wife tried to compromise and said she could stay in the cabin alone with the children, but the man doesn’t want her treated like ‘the babysitter’.
“Not only do I think this is not a safe idea considering it would be the middle of winter, my wife has never been to these cabins and the lack of ability to properly communicate, but also, I think it's incredibly rude to invite someone to a destination wedding where they are only allowed to attend the wedding.
"Although my wife says she can manage (she's really gullible sometimes and is a little bit of a people pleaser), I refuse. "She's not being treated like a guest but as the babysitter for the ring bearer and flower girl.”
Unfortunately his sister and best friend ‘are not conceding or willing to compromise’ even after he offered to attend their wedding ‘completely child-free and leave the kids behind’ which has left him feeling ‘p****d’.
He's now refusing to go to attend which led to him asking the popular Internet forum if he’s the a**hole in the situation.
“NTA If she wants child free then she does not need your kids as props,” One Reddit user responded.
“As a parent you have the right to not attend a child free wedding without guilt.
“Tell her she should hire some local children for the gig.”
Another Reddit user shared: “Besides, every wedding I’ve ever been to, if there are little kids as flower girl and ring bearer, everyone wants to talk to them at the reception and dawn over them and tell them how great they were and how lovely they looked, etc.. If they weren’t there, everyone would be constantly asking where they went.”
While someone else agreed, writing: “Your kids are part of the family, not hired talent. If the bride and groom want them to perform in the ceremony (let's be honest, that's what it is) then they need to accommodate your family's needs.”
Someone else typed: “I think it's fine for your sister and her fiancé to have a childfree wedding, but I don't understand why they're objecting to you not bringing your children at all?
"They want them as part of the ceremony, but children aren't decorations or props that you can just shove in a cupboard once you're done with them,” another person wrote.
“You've tried to come to a compromise and they're not listening.”