A couple who met through their shared love of puppetry claim they want to incorporate this passion into all aspects of their upcoming wedding. However, not everyone is happy about it.
The soon-to-be husband and wife first locked eyes during a college puppetry class, where they made their puppets, Hat Boy and Daisy.
As their love grew, the former performing arts students "considered Hat Boy and Daisy in love as well", and knew they wanted them to be part of their wedding. To this day, they still use their muppet-style puppets, both at home and at their local theatre.
The bride and groom have invited their troop of fellow puppeteers to their wedding, and even want the ceremony to be officiated by puppets, believing this will "make for incredible pictures."
They've also asked guests to bring along a high-quality puppet of their own, in lieu of gifts, expecting them to pay anywhere within the region of £125 to £415 ($150-$500).
Unfortunately, not everyone finds this quirky idea to be quite as fun as they do.
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Taking to Reddit, the theatrical groom - who goes by the username u/puppetAH123 - wrote: "We also want everyone to 'wear' their puppets during the entire wedding and reception.
"All puppets we're suggesting can be mounted on and controlled with one hand. The puppets are meant to be 'guests" at the wedding in the same way all of our human guests are as well.
"Well let's just say, there are a LOT of people not happy. Both of our parents, my wife's sister, and family members on both sides have complained that this is completely unreasonable."
He continued: "They're concerned about how are they going to eat and drink and how are they going to dance (you don't need hands to dance, so I don't know where this complaint came from).
"We of course don't expect people to have their puppet on their hand while in the bathroom, but everywhere else, we'd really like to insist on it.
"We also made sure that our hors d'oeuvres are all finger foods. There will be plenty of cocktail tables so people can put down their drinks. We even made sure that all of the food for the dinner itself is portioned so that it can be eaten in bite sizes just with a fork without having to use a knife."
The groom-to-be believes the reluctant guests would "have a blast" once they're actually there with their puppets, and doesn't feel they've made an unreasonable request.
However, other Reddit users feel the couple needs to take the negative feedback onboard, reminding him not everyone will be so wildly enthusiastic about puppets.
One person said: "I think it makes you kind of a bad person to demand that every guest spend £125 to £415 to attend your wedding.
"Also, if this wedding is in the US, 25% of the population here has at least one disability. So it’s reasonable to assume that a portion of the guests would have some difficulties with this.
"Would their 80-year-old great aunt Margaret be steady enough on her feet to have one arm inside a puppet for the whole wedding and reception?
"Is John from high school supposed to unhook and re-hook up his puppet when he needs to get to his insulin pump? This level of inconsideration is really pretty bad."
Another commented: "They don't want guests - they want the people they invite to provide entertainment for them. Suddenly, all the guests have an expensive, exhausting, annoying job. An unwanted job they have to pay hundreds of dollars to do.
"If I was close friends with a couple, I might bring an expensive gift - but if my partner came with me, we wouldn't buy two separate expensive gifts.
"Plus, who would demand that every guest pay that much money to participate in a world where a lot of people have lost jobs or are suddenly paying double for their commute because of gas prices?"
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