If you decide to get married, you'll no doubt be hoping that your big day is one of the happiest moments of your life as family and friends come together to celebrate your love and commitment. Whether you've planned a low-key do with a handful of guests or spent months agonising over every detail of a huge ceremony, it's the memories you make with your loved ones that count.
Sometimes, painful family rifts come into sharp focus in the lead up to a wedding as tensions run high around creating the perfect day. One bride knows this feeling all too well, as she claims she was forced to walk down the aisle without her father as he arrived to the ceremony late, despite her warning him that she wouldn't wait for him if he didn't arrive promptly. Sadly, she says that this tardiness is emblematic of the poor effort he's made throughout their relationship.
Taking to Reddit to share her story, the newlywed, who remains anonymous, explained: "I love my dad and he loves me. He has this weird need to be useful. He has missed countless events that mattered to me because he was doing someone a favor [sic].
"I told him that if he was late for my wedding I would not wait. I guess he forgot because someone from his church needed some help with their car on Saturday".
Pre-empting that her father might let her down on her big day, the bride had a back-up plan, as she exclaimed: "I did not hesitate. I had my uncle ready to go. My uncle has always been there when my dad lets me down".
"My dad showed up twenty minutes into the ceremony. I guess he thought I would wait."
Devastated that his daughter chose to continue the moment without him by her side, the dad couldn't hold back his emotions when he finally arrived. But the bride is tired of not having her needs considered by her parents.
"At the reception he was crying because I am his only daughter. I took away his only chance to do this. I am just sick of being an afterthought," she admitted.
"My mom says I hurt him. I just think he has hurt me by not putting me first ever."
Hundreds of people flooded to the comments section on the bride's post to show their support for her decision, arguing that the dad had brought this on himself.
One commenter wrote: "Your dad didn't forget, he just expected you to wait for him to get there. You didn't take away his only chance of walking you down the aisle, he did that when he couldn't put your first on your special day. Now he's facing the consequences of his actions".
Another added: "It's one thing to be a people-pleaser with your own time and resources. But once others start having to sacrifice in order for you to fulfil your people-pleasing tendencies, it's gone entirely too far".
Echoing a similar view, a third Redditor said: "Dad threw his chance away with the choices he made. Deliberately".
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