Wedding Etiquette Forum

Issues with Inviting a Specific Family Member

I am going back and forth about inviting a specific family member and I was hoping to get an outside opinion. Two years ago, my grandmother died and ever since then my aunt has been cutting off all of the relationships she has with members of our family. I understand that she was grieving, and it was hard for her because she was my grandmother's caretaker. However, she has said some despicable things to my mother and due to those things they are no longer on speaking terms. She has also recently harshly cut off her relationship with my uncle and his wife, as well as her own adopted daughter. She has said some terrible things about our entire family, and I’m not sure how much worse the situation will get.  I have been going back and forth about whether or not to invite her to the wedding. My fiancé does not want her there, and at this point my mother doesn’t really want her there either. She lives halfway across the country and I’m not sure she would attend even if she were to be invited. What should I do? *I know that we are not getting married for another 9 months, and that things could change before then. I just wanted to get an opinion from someone who is removed from the situation.*

Re: Issues with Inviting a Specific Family Member

  • If you think not inviting her could cause drama, maybe invite her knowing it's quite possible she won't want to come or can't come.

    It's really up to you though - do you WANT her there? Has she always been a good aunt to you up until your grandmother passed away? Maybe a big happy event would be just the thing to reconnect her with family. You'll have to guage the situation for yourself though.

    If it were me, I would invite her if I wanted to try to mend a slightly broken relationship.
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  • Thank you both for your opinions.

    To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure if I want her there. We were never really close, and she has always kind of bothered me. But she has never been nasty to me either. My concern is that if she is there, it may make the entire day uncomfortable for many people and that I will be worried about someone making a scene. I think I may just sit on it for a while and see if relationships improve.

  • gundy21gundy21 member
    1000 Comments Third Anniversary
    edited January 2012
    I made the difficult decision to not invite an uncle and my only living grandparent (mom's mom).  They cut themselves out of my family's lives about 15 years ago. Long before I even met my DH, I thought I might be able to be the bigger person and invite them to my wedding some time down the road, but in the end, I came to peace with the fact that they chose to exclude me from their lives so why should I make that effort.  Not something I am proud of, but I do feel that I made the right decision for me and I have no regrets.  Good luck in figuring out what is right for you.
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  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_issues-inviting-specific-family-member?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:9172966d-4ea0-4ab9-b181-cc052795d53aPost:1254ece1-fb27-44d1-b077-97388034e021">Re: Issues with Inviting a Specific Family Member</a>:
    [QUOTE]Thank you both for your opinions. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure if I want her there. We were never really close, and she has always kind of bothered me. But she has never been nasty to me either. My concern is that if she is there, it may make the entire day uncomfortable for many people and that I will be worried about someone making a scene. I think I may just sit on it for a while and see if relationships improve.
    Posted by Klhacker[/QUOTE]

    Based on this I would not invite her. If things do improve before the time to send out invites, by all means do, but don't feel required to invite her just because she's technically family -- she's shown through her actions how little that means to her.
    Lizzie
  • Does she know you are getting married?

    Maybe you could call her up and have a chat with her.  Let her know that you miss her and want to reconnect.   Maybe try to have a few phone conversations, talk about what's going on in your lives, and then go from there.  If she completely shuts you out, then you have your answer.  if she's willing to talk and reconnect, then maybe you can get her to reconnect with your mom?

    I think it would be nice to do this BEFORE you decide if you're going to invite her.  
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  • chattychiqachattychiqa member
    100 Comments
    edited January 2012
    I invite everyone assuming they will say yes. If having her there would cause more problems and discord than good, I think it's okay to exclude. I've struggled with this myself. I am estranged from my sister. I'm not quite sure why exactly but I've reached out to no avail. I do know that her presence would make several others uncomfortable (including myself), and the invitation wouldn't really be sincere on my part. It's heavily frowned upon in many social circles to snub family members at big events, but I really think that if there is no mutual effort to keep in touch every other day of the year, why would a wedding change things?
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  • I would invite her. I see it as being the bigger person, that being said she will likely decline anyway.I have an aunt like this and I am inviting her otherwise she tells everyone and their brother her family is ridiculing her and cutting her off which nobody is doing.
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