A woman was ridiculed by a bride after she refused to eat from the expensive food menu offered at the reception.
She posted on the subreddit “r/AmItheA–hole” (AITA) – a forum where users try to find out if they were wrong or not in an argument that bothered them – she explained that she was invited to her work wedding from a colleague.
Everything at the wedding went smoothly until it was time for the guests to eat at the wedding reception, and the wife noticed how expensive the meals were.
She left the wedding to eat at McDonald’s because the bride was asking for food.
In her Reddit post, she wrote that she was ecstatic after receiving an invitation from her colleague to attend her wedding.
She decided to ask the bride before the day if there would be any fees she would have to pay. The bride assured her not and said, “No, you don’t have to pay me anything.”
“On the day itself, everything went well until the reception,” she recalls. “To my horror, I was shown a wedding menu with prices on it.”
She commented that everything was “ridiculously expensive,” pointing out that a steak cost $50.
After seeing the menu, the woman discussed internally whether she should confront the bride, who had previously told her there were no extra charges with the wedding. In the end, however, she decided not to do it so as not to embarrass or ruin her day by drawing attention to the prize in front of everyone.
But she was now stuck with what to do in terms of another option as she didn’t have enough money with her to buy anything from the wedding menu.
“I remembered seeing a McDonald’s about five minutes away from the hotel. As tactfully as I could, I asked the bride if I could pull over quickly [at] McDonald’s because I didn’t have enough money for the reception meal.”
She made sure to tell the bride that she wouldn’t be out for long and would be back in time for the “gifting ceremony” and cutting of the cake.
The bride called the woman “cheap” because she wanted to eat elsewhere.
While the woman had been extremely respectful and even assumed the bride wouldn’t have a problem, that wasn’t the case.
“To my horror, she got really upset. She said she put so much effort into getting this ‘Michelin star restaurant service,’ but I still wasn’t happy.”
The bride argued that the woman was trying to “bring her down” by choosing to eat at McDonald’s instead of the wedding reception. She countered, pointing out that she had been told there would be no extra costs with the wedding, and so she didn’t carry any extra money.
The bride then “mockered” saying it was her own fault for not bringing money and that when she said there was no fee for her wedding she meant there was no attendance fee.
“She replied, ‘What I meant was there’s no attendance fee! You literally assumed you’d get a free five-course dinner. Wow, you’re cheaper than I thought!’”
The bride promptly asked the woman to leave her marriage altogether, who was “hurt” and “stupid” by the request. When she got home, she told her boyfriend what had happened, and although he thought it was all funny, he admitted she was wrong.
He told her that she chose the wrong time to be “stingy” and that she should have just paid for the food at the wedding or refunded the bride later.
“My other friends also agree, saying it wasn’t tactful of me to do that at the wedding — and even though she lied, I should have just brushed it off rather than dampening her happy mood.”
Most Reddit users agreed that she was NTA (Not The A-hole) because she refused to buy food at the wedding.
“This was ridiculous. If she hadn’t lied to you about it, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but it’s still bizarre,” one Reddit user wrote.
Another user added, “Never heard of a wedding where you have to pay for the food. If there is a food cost, she should have told you or clarified it in the invite.”
However, the Redditor pointed out that she could have handled it better.
“You should have just secretly gone to McDonald’s and come back later. When asked, you could have just said you [weren’t] feel good and don’t want to eat.”
A third user chimed in, “I mean, you certainly could have slipped away quietly and said nothing. But it sounds like she’s the one who escalated the situation after that, too.”
“Next time you find yourself in a situation at a wedding, consider going with the [maid-of-honor] or another member of the wedding party instead of the bride,” suggested a fourth user.
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues and popular topics. Keep up with her on Instagram and Twitter.
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