Nevada-Las Vegas

Dilemma re: inviting family but no kids

edited September 2014 in Nevada-Las Vegas
My sister and I are not that close. I tend to get very frustrated with her as she turns everything around to be about her. Long story short, she is due to have a baby in late January. I don't want the baby at my wedding. We are paying for our own wedding, and neither FI or myself want any children with the exception of my (then) 15 year old daughter at the wedding. I want to make it implicitly clear, however, I know what is going to happen. Family drama. My father getting mad at me, my sister saying it's not fair. Yeah, sure it isn't fair, but I really don't want a baby at my wedding. 

 Put me on the list of "evil bitch sister", I don't care. But how I go about telling her this is a hard thing. If that means she doesn't show, she saves me a headache of having to deal with her in the first place. You might ask, "Why even invite her in the first place?", 1, my dad won't have it (and he's not even involved in the planning or paying of the wedding), 2, she invited me to hers (which she ignored me at, mind you, and we drove 1,000 miles to attend her wedding and she barely acknowledged us). 

 Huge dilemma. It has us at the point of saying "f*** it, let's elope", but I am NOT leaving my FI's family out of this as this is his first wedding and their first-born son. Plus I really want them to be there. My family?? Not so much.

Edited why does TK hate me and won't allow paragraphs on my laptop? It's one thing on the iPad/iPhone, but the laptop Chrome browser too? Sigh.
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Re: Dilemma re: inviting family but no kids

  • That's a tough one. I would stand your ground on the baby and if she decided not to come..that's on her. 
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  • I agree if you and your FI are paying for it, then family has no say on who gets to come.  :)
  • I have had a tough time putting my foot down, because I was raised that you don't not involve family AND you respect your elders, but there comes a time and place where you have to say enough is enough.
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  • Where are you having the wedding? I know I was thinking about Ghostbar and it has a rule of no one under 21 is allowed in the building, even for an event maybe you can try and work that in somewhere then its not on you 
  • It isn't a bar, and there's always the question of why my 14 (who will be 15) yo daughter is at the wedding. She's my daughter, and yes, the baby will be my only niece, but still. I don't want a baby there. So I need to figure out a way to be honest but not bitchy. Doesn't matter, it won't go over well regardless.
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  • @Vegasbride2015 - We had no kids at our wedding as well.  Most friends/family were ok with it.  My husband's mom totally called me out on it b/c her niece had a baby and it did cause some huge drama but we stood firm.  We made NO exceptions. Our best man's wife decided not to go to the wedding.   Hold your ground, there will be a lot of No's and Why's etc. - It's YOUR day! 
  • I will keep you all posted. I dread it but it will be stated implicitly. 
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  • @Vegasbride2015 - We had no kids at our wedding as well.  Most friends/family were ok with it.  My husband's mom totally called me out on it b/c her niece had a baby and it did cause some huge drama but we stood firm.  We made NO exceptions. Our best man's wife decided not to go to the wedding.   Hold your ground, there will be a lot of No's and Why's etc. - It's YOUR day! 
    We had one guest who asked us about it directly, and another that tried the passive aggressive lobby mutual friends method to let us know they were disappointed they wouldn't be able to bring their four year old.  I just told the mutual friends that I knew there would be a ton of drunk people and I didn't think it would be a good idea to have kids there lol.

    Married in Vegas - June 2011


  • We have a lot of friends who have children and most of them had no desire to bring their baby/child to vegas. The formal way to let someone know who is invited is to address the envelop to only the guest invited, and it can be considered rude to put "no kids" or some other form of listing who isn't invited. I do know, however, that people don't always follow or understand traditional ettiquette and some people just flat out dont care. I would send the invitation as usual and when she RSVPs or when it comes up, if she says she and her buddy are coming say something along the lines, "I am so glad you two can make it, who will baby X be staying with while you are in vegas?" Then you can reply, based on her response respectfully. Oh, I'm sorry, the invitations were addressed to those invited and we can not accomodate baby X, I hope you understand. I sure hope you can still make it, but if not we completely understand. She may go ahead and arrange a sitter or rsvp no, and then you can save yourself the possibliity of causing a conflict altogether.
  • The problem is, I have to be upfront and no beating around the bush with it with her. As much as I would like to follow formal etiquette, this situation does not allow for that. I'm still struggling on how I am going to word it, and I don't want to send it in the invite, but rather, explain it to her in person when she is up here next week, visiting. 

    My family stresses me out. I'm so close to considering leaving them out. They're coming up next week and my teenaged daughter (from a previous marriage) wants nothing to do with them and has a busy schedule because of marching band and Homecoming. When I explained this to my family, my father, of all people, was NOT understanding and made snide comments about us not spending time with them. I can't change these things. I don't even want them to visit now, but they're coming up, and it is done. I don't blame my daughter for wanting nothing to do with them, but she will be seeing them, just not as much as they'd like her to.
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  • When I explained this to my family, my father, of all people, was NOT understanding and made snide comments about us not spending time with them. I can't change these things. I don't even want them to visit now, but they're coming up, and it is done. I don't blame my daughter for wanting nothing to do with them, but she will be seeing them, just not as much as they'd like her to.
    That kind of stuff drives me crazy.  My wife and I both work 50 to 60 hours/week and my retired dad recently gave me two weeks notice that he'd be in town and what week days can we spend with him so he can get to see his grand daughter.  I was like well, none, you can plan your schedule around us or you can give me a few months notice.  He didn't like that but it's always been this way so I got sick of sugar coating it.

    Married in Vegas - June 2011



  • When I explained this to my family, my father, of all people, was NOT understanding and made snide comments about us not spending time with them. I can't change these things. I don't even want them to visit now, but they're coming up, and it is done. I don't blame my daughter for wanting nothing to do with them, but she will be seeing them, just not as much as they'd like her to.
    That kind of stuff drives me crazy.  My wife and I both work 50 to 60 hours/week and my retired dad recently gave me two weeks notice that he'd be in town and what week days can we spend with him so he can get to see his grand daughter.  I was like well, none, you can plan your schedule around us or you can give me a few months notice.  He didn't like that but it's always been this way so I got sick of sugar coating it.
    I'm struggling. It happens to be the week of Homecoming and my daughter is in marching band, so they have the game, then the dance the night after. She was making plans to go to the dance. Every day after school she has plans and stuff to do, and I am being held to this standard of pulling her out of school and her extra curriculars?? Yeah, I did take PTO from work to visit with them, but I can't be in two places at once. it's frustrating.

    Like you, I'm starting to get sick of sugar coating it, and in a response to my father, I shot a nasty email back, and I don't regret it. I basically said, "You planned to come visit and are renting a home that is 45 mins from where I live, instead of staying at a hotel we could have gotten you a really good rate on, all because my sister wanted a house.". Then I went on to say how him and my mother coddle my (28 year old) sister and give me grief for all the choices I make in my life (which aren't bad, he just LOVES to nitpick everything I do, and the fact that I am the fat daughter). Anyhow...sorry for that long-winded response. And this is why I am two seconds from not inviting them to the wedding. I'm seriously contemplating it.
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