Probably any wedding planner or any newlyweds—if they organized their wedding themselves—would tell you that one of the most unpleasant situations that can arise during the preparation process is various kinds of force majeure. When you actually tried to foresee everything, but the circumstances turned out to be stronger than you.
Today's story, told for the first time by the user u/TAVeganOption, falls into the category of such tales, too. Just judge for yourself—our heroine found out a couple of days before the wedding that her husband's sister would still be able to attend, but because of this, she would have to critically change the entire wedding menu.
More info: Reddit
The author of the post once faced some very unpleasant news about a week before her wedding
Image credits: Luigi Pozzoli / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
No, the author and her fiance sent out the invitations beforehand and tried to foresee everything—but to no avail
Image credits: TAVeganOption
Image credits: Jay Wennington / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
The groom's sister, who'd initially RSVP'd No, then changed her mind— and demanded a vegan-only menu for her
Image credits: TAVeganOption
Image credits: john amachaab / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
The issue was that the lady was the only vegan guest, so it was a real problem to make urgent changes on the go
Image credits: TAVeganOption
The author even got called out by the SIL, so she decided to take it online to vent about
So, the Original Poster (OP) tells us how, literally a week before her wedding, she found out that the groom's sister was planning to attend the ceremony after all. About seven months before the wedding, when our heroine sent out invitations, the SIL-to-be replied that she would hardly be able to attend, because at that time she was usually out of the country for work.
Well, the bride-to-be was, of course, upset—but anyway, work is work. Each guest had a separate note on the invitations regarding dietary preferences, so that everyone could get a vegetarian or vegan menu. However, only the sister-in-law was a vegan, and two other guests said that they preferred vegetarian dishes.
So, the menu was approved and booked in advance—but literally a week before the ceremony, the groom's sister got in touch and said that everything had changed, and that she would be a guest. However, now another problem was added—since it was too late (or expensive) to make changes to the menu, the question arose: what would she actually eat?
Yes, this is exactly how the SIL asked the author during their meeting, when she tried to explain to her how difficult it was to change something at the last minute—especially a menu that had been agreed upon six months ago. The SIL, however, nearly threw a fit, and although the future husband was completely on the OP's side, his parents gently—but firmly—tried to persuade the author to give in to the new guest's demands.
Image credits: Maryam Sicard / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
"To be honest, this is in fact one of the worst 'regular' situations that can arise during the preparation for a wedding. That is, not critical issues, of course, but difficult to solve problems," says Denis Tsykanovsky, a wedding planner and host from Spain, whom Bored Panda asked for a comment on this story. "Especially a couple of days before the event."
"Changing an already approved menu at a venue usually costs quite a lot of money—especially if these are urgent additional orders. Well, they could offer to order a few vegan dishes separately through catering—but here they need to see if the venue allows third-party catering. If not—then either a refusal and a ruined relationship, or expensive changes to the menu," Denis sums up.
The opinions of people in the comments were mostly divided. Someone urged the bride to simply refuse to make any concessions—especially considering that the SIL-to-be literally demanded these changes to the menu. Others—who were perhaps more diplomatic—noted that, in any case, she's the sister of the author's future spouse, so starting family life with a major quarrel with her is also not very good.
Apparently, our heroine chose the second option—at least, in the update she wrote that she would still try to resolve the issue with the vegan menu. Or, she would at least try to order some vegan fast food for the sister-in-law. By the way, what do you, our dear readers, think about the described situation? How would you act? Please feel free to share your ideas in the comments below.
The commenters were very divided, but some people urged the bride-to-be to give in and try to make these changes
