A bride has sparked a huge debate online after requesting that her sister-in-law doesn't bring her kids to her child-friendly wedding – because they're too noisy.
After sharing her concerns that the children will be loud during the ceremony, the woman's post on popular forum site Reddit has raked in hundreds of comments.
The bride-to-be has claimed that there are a 'few' other children attending the marital ceremony, but she's requesting that her sister-in-law makes other arrangements.
Seeking advice from people online, she questioned: "Would I be the a**hole if I asked one specific person not to bring their kids to my wedding?"
The woman explained: "My (26F) fiancé (28M) and I are still in the early stages of wedding planning, so this hasn't been something we need to directly address yet, but I know it’s been in the back of both our minds.
"My fiancé has a stepsister who is married with three young children, all under 10. My fiancé did not grow up with this stepsister as their parents married after they were both out of the house, and they are not close.
"His stepsister's oldest is on the spectrum; he is mostly non-verbal and communicates physically and through grunts and very few words. He is very physically active, stimulating himself by running around his environment (home, restaurant, etc.) and making loud noises.
"His younger sister wants to play with him, so she follows his lead and runs around making loud noises. Significantly, my fiancé's stepsister does nothing to try to reign them in or help them behave more appropriately. She makes sure they don't wander too far, but they are otherwise free to do what they want.
"This occurs even in crowded restaurants, with the children regularly getting up from the table to walk around the room. The third child is an infant.
"Neither I nor my fiancé have anything against kids in general. We both want kids in the future, and there will be a few other toddlers and young children at the wedding, all of whom we know personally and are much better behaved in public settings.
"Our wedding ceremony will be outdoors, but the reception will be mostly inside, with some limited outdoor space. My fiancé's stepsister's children will have room outside to run around, but will likely still disturb the guests, and will not have the space to run around inside the reception area.
"I am also worried that the two of them playing and being rambunctious will encourage the other children to join in and cause distraction and potential chaos to both the ceremony and reception."
Seeking advice, she questioned: "Would I be the a**hole if I requested that she find other arrangements for her children for the night and risk her declining the invitation to attend the wedding at all?"
Since sharing the thread, the woman's post has received in excess of 600 comments - where people encouraged the future bride to make the whole wedding entirely child-free.
One person wrote: "I'm autistic and although you would not be the a**hole - you should just make it child-free."
A second person said: "You would not be the a**hole, though I do agree that making the wedding fully child-free is the best way to go to avoid backlash and hurt feelings."
Do you have a story? We want to hear it! Get in touch at grace.hoffman@reachplc.com
