Weddings are stressful enough, but adding in a global quarantine and a self-absorbed mother and things can get out of control.
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Weddings are stressful enough, but adding in a global quarantine and a self-absorbed mother and things can get out of control. When this OP’s sister switched up her wedding plans, he knew things were going to get dramatic. OP’s sister was set to get married to her fiancé in April, but due to the state the world was in (and is still in), it was obviously canceled. As quarantine dragged on (and CONTINUES to, please wear your masks), the couple decided to modify their ceremony and make it work according to CDC guidelines.
“We planned on having 10 people including brides and the officiant, social distancing was observed, we all wore masks when possible, so on so forth.” OP commented, “but had a feeling our mother had something up her sleeve.”
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To provide some context, OP and his sister’s mother has a record and is nearly notorious for ruining good things.
“Our mother has always been fairly dramatic and has been very on-again, off-again with us in our adult lives. She has sort of improved in the past few years but still does some not great things.”
Reflecting on the past situations their mother had managed to mess up and make all about her, OP did not hold back
She showed up 15 minutes late to my high school graduation.” OP kicks off the list, “she didn’t bother to show up at all to either of my sister’s graduations (high school and college). She decided she didn’t like my major so she then refused to go to my college graduation. That’s whatever, but she deliberately hid my sister’s car keys so she couldn’t come either! But my sister, who was 17 at the time, ended up catching public transport for several hours ALONE because she didn’t want to disappoint me.”
Not only would their mother try to sabotage big events, but she’d make it a point to make other people around her miserable as well. Unfortunately, this mother’s track record doesn’t stop there.
“My mom turned up halfway through my wedding ceremony in sweatpants just to make a scene because ‘we didn’t tell her the right time’ (we did). She also wanted to be the first to hold my kids!?” Uh no. Not sure how that whole “kids” thing is supposed to work, but I don’t think OP’s wife would want her mother-in-law to hold her newborn babies before she can. Especially when OP’s relationship with his mother has always been so rocky!
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So, considering the fact that their mother had already sabotaged one of their weddings, OP and his sister both knew their mom would likely pull some stunt at this wedding. They especially thought so considering she had made some pretty homophobic comments about OP’s sister’s relationship before.
When OP’s sister planned out the wedding originally, she had asked OP to be the backbone.
“We don’t know our dad, and because of COVID there wasn’t really a bridal party, so I ended up as the father of the bride, brother of the bride, and maid of honor rolled into one.” OP mentions, “one of my jobs was specifically to keep our mother in check.”The night before the COVID wedding, OP and his sister stayed at the hotel to get things in order. OP’s wife and kids stayed with his mother.
“The plan was that my wife would drive our kids and my mother since my mother can’t drive,” OP recalls.
But the morning of the wedding, their mother struck up her antics. OP’s wife sent him a photo of what his mother planned on wearing to her own daughter’s wedding. Not only was it white, but it was VERY similar to his sister’s wedding dress. OP’s wife had suggested that her mother-in-law should wear something else, but apparently, this was the only nice thing their mother owned. She told OP’s wife that she assumed that this would be appropriate attire because the wedding was “non-traditional” anyway (it was very traditional, so OP can only assume she said that because his sister was marrying a woman). She then locked the bedroom door so OP’s wife couldn’t possibly go find her something else in her closet to wear to the wedding.
Knowing there was not going to be an easy way out, OP came up with a plan that needed to be carefully executed to be successful.
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Once his wife relayed the situation to him, OP took a stand.
“I told my wife to tell my mom that there was a change of plans,” OP begins to spill the beans on his devious plan. “I had her tell my mom that we would be picking her up in a way nicer car. One that I was driving my sister in. All so that she could make a grand entrance with us.”
The queen of the spotlight quickly agreed and was ecstatic with the news that she would get to participate in the big, center of attention entrance with both OP and the bride. She was so caught up in imagining how extravagant the moment would be for her that she didn’t notice her daughter-in-law leaving with the kids.
“We never picked her up,” OP’s plan was pulled off. “She doesn’t drive, so this meant that she’d miss the wedding altogether.”
When OP went to pick up his sister, he informed her of the entire situation. He told her about how their mother came down in a white dress similar enough to the one she’d be wearing that the intent behind the outfit was obvious to him and his wife. His sister wasn’t the least bit surprised.
“She did suggest that we call her before the ceremony began so that I could run down and pick her up if she saw the error of her ways. She never answered the phone, and never called any of us, so we just got on with.”
Their mother is still furious about being intentionally left behind due to her outfit choice.
“She says that she didn’t deserve to miss the whole wedding because of it and that we should have told her earlier not to wear white.”
Surely, their relationship is about to be off-again but despite it all, it sounds like OP made the best decision and executed the perfect revenge plan to keep his sister’s wedding safe. Hopefully, she doesn’t try to weasel her way back in to ruin another major life event anytime soon!
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