Last weekend my FMIL met my parents for the first time. She came to visit for a three-day weekend. It was a little awkward but overall it went well.
However! My mom was all excited to show us the invitations. She had received a few samples from the printer and the order is in. The rest are being printed as we speak (I think). I had carefully checked for spelling and correct dates and addresses, all of that. But when we showed FMIL the invitation, she noticed that we identified her as "Ms. So-and-So." But I had completely overlooked the fact that she recently earned her PHD, and should be identified as "Dr. So-and-so." Oops.
Furthermore, later when I was talking to my fiance about it and asked, "Do you think it's that big of a deal?" He was like, well, she had a high school diploma and three kids when she divorced my dad, so yeah, she worked really hard to educate herself, it took her 20 years, and she's proud of it." He didn't say it, but I think it was a point of pride to show the family of her ex-husband how far she's come -- and I don't blame her.To make matters worse, we did identify my dad as "Dr." on the invitation because he is an MD. But my mom knew that and we've all known him as a doctor our whole lives. I guess I kinda forgot that FMIL has been quietly working her ass off in school this whole time (she does live out of state so it's not like we've been witnessing all of her studies). Feminism fail. =(
Sigh. It's too late to make a change, or at least it would be very costly if we did. I feel like the best we can do is offer a sincere apology and hope she understands that re-ordering the invites is not an option at this point. They are supposed to go in the mail in two weeks.