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Wedding Etiquette Forum

Disappointed by lack of enthusiasm about our engagement

Since I got engaged about three months ago, I have felt hurt by a general lack of enthusiasm about our engagement (particularly from my future in-laws). My fiancé and I flew out to visit his family for a week over the summer and, during that trip, he and I drove a few hours to stay at a romantic and private Airbnb on the Oregon coast, where he proposed on the beach. We stayed there for a couple of nights and went back to spend the rest of the trip with his family. On the drive back to his parents' house, I was ecstatic, wondering how his family (brother, sister-in-law, parents, and grandma) might celebrate our engagement. Would they take us out for a special dinner? Have some kind of surprise waiting for us upon our arrival? When we arrived at his parents' house, they hugged us, said congratulations, and then went about their day as usual. There were no surprises, no special dinner, nothing at all. His brother and sister-in-law were out of town, so they were not home to celebrate, but his SIL texted us the same day and congratulated us. However, his brother did not congratulate us until a week after we got engaged, which I thought was strange and hurtful. For context, my fiancé's parents are not big drinkers, so when I saw a bottle of champagne in the back of the fridge, I assumed it had likely been sitting there for a while and that they were not in a hurry to drink it. I asked them if we could pop the champagne to celebrate our engagement, and my future MIL said, "No, we are saving that champagne for our anniversary next month." She also did not offer to purchase a different bottle of champagne to celebrate us, so the answer was essentially, "No, we will not be popping any champagne to celebrate this occasion." I felt as though our engagement was not exciting to them whatsoever, that they were completely uninterested in celebrating, and that their anniversary was more important to them than our engagement. The rest of the weekend felt just like every other normal, regular trip we have taken to visit them.

I am also one of the MOHs in my best friend's wedding, so I am helping her plan her bachelorette party. The other MOH is her other best friend. I flew to Ohio to visit her this past weekend so my co-MOH and I could meet each other in person and begin collaborating to plan her bachelorette party. My co-MOH seemed friendly enough, but perhaps a bit prickly. I can't put my finger on it. She wasn't mean to me or anything, but I did not get the sense that she was particularly interested in being my friend, which is fine because she doesn't have to be my friend to be my co-MOH. I couldn't tell if she liked me or not. While we were all sitting together and planning, she noticed my engagement ring and said, "Oh, I forgot you got engaged." I smiled and said, "Oh yeah, my proposal was perfect and I love my ring!" She then said nothing in response and went back to planning. I feel like most people would follow that up with a "Congratulations," or "Let me see the ring," or "Tell me about the proposal," or literally any other response other than ignoring that comment.

I am a highly sensitive person (HSP), so I understand that I may be reading too much into these things. My best friend's future in-laws paid for her and her fiancé to take a super expensive trip to Greece so that he could propose to her there. They all spent 2 weeks celebrating in Greece with champagne, dancing, and good times. I'm not saying I expected anything grand like a whole proposal vacation in Europe. However, I did expect more than a hug and "congratulations" and then not speaking about it again. Perhaps I am wrong for expecting my future in-laws to do something special to celebrate our engagement in the first place. Has anyone else experienced disappointment due to a general lack of enthusiasm from family, friends, and/or acquaintances?  Any theories as to why this might be? I am trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I feel like my engagement is a big deal and that we deserve to be celebrated and to feel special.

Re: Disappointed by lack of enthusiasm about our engagement

  • I think you need to ask your FI if this is how his parents act.   I think the flying your kid to Greece thing is so far out of my realm I can't process it.   But I think that's a big occasion so a hug and then back to your previously scheduled programming seems weird too.

    It doesn't mean that his family is bad - but I think you need to ask your FI what his family is like and if HE is surprised by any of that.  
  • Since I got engaged about three months ago, I have felt hurt by a general lack of enthusiasm about our engagement (particularly from my future in-laws). My fiancé and I flew out to visit his family for a week over the summer and, during that trip, he and I drove a few hours to stay at a romantic and private Airbnb on the Oregon coast, where he proposed on the beach. We stayed there for a couple of nights and went back to spend the rest of the trip with his family. On the drive back to his parents' house, I was ecstatic, wondering how his family (brother, sister-in-law, parents, and grandma) might celebrate our engagement. Would they take us out for a special dinner? Have some kind of surprise waiting for us upon our arrival? When we arrived at his parents' house, they hugged us, said congratulations, and then went about their day as usual. There were no surprises, no special dinner, nothing at all. His brother and sister-in-law were out of town, so they were not home to celebrate, but his SIL texted us the same day and congratulated us. However, his brother did not congratulate us until a week after we got engaged, which I thought was strange and hurtful. For context, my fiancé's parents are not big drinkers, so when I saw a bottle of champagne in the back of the fridge, I assumed it had likely been sitting there for a while and that they were not in a hurry to drink it. I asked them if we could pop the champagne to celebrate our engagement, and my future MIL said, "No, we are saving that champagne for our anniversary next month." She also did not offer to purchase a different bottle of champagne to celebrate us, so the answer was essentially, "No, we will not be popping any champagne to celebrate this occasion." I felt as though our engagement was not exciting to them whatsoever, that they were completely uninterested in celebrating, and that their anniversary was more important to them than our engagement. The rest of the weekend felt just like every other normal, regular trip we have taken to visit them.

    I am also one of the MOHs in my best friend's wedding, so I am helping her plan her bachelorette party. The other MOH is her other best friend. I flew to Ohio to visit her this past weekend so my co-MOH and I could meet each other in person and begin collaborating to plan her bachelorette party. My co-MOH seemed friendly enough, but perhaps a bit prickly. I can't put my finger on it. She wasn't mean to me or anything, but I did not get the sense that she was particularly interested in being my friend, which is fine because she doesn't have to be my friend to be my co-MOH. I couldn't tell if she liked me or not. While we were all sitting together and planning, she noticed my engagement ring and said, "Oh, I forgot you got engaged." I smiled and said, "Oh yeah, my proposal was perfect and I love my ring!" She then said nothing in response and went back to planning. I feel like most people would follow that up with a "Congratulations," or "Let me see the ring," or "Tell me about the proposal," or literally any other response other than ignoring that comment.

    I am a highly sensitive person (HSP), so I understand that I may be reading too much into these things. My best friend's future in-laws paid for her and her fiancé to take a super expensive trip to Greece so that he could propose to her there. They all spent 2 weeks celebrating in Greece with champagne, dancing, and good times. I'm not saying I expected anything grand like a whole proposal vacation in Europe. However, I did expect more than a hug and "congratulations" and then not speaking about it again. Perhaps I am wrong for expecting my future in-laws to do something special to celebrate our engagement in the first place. Has anyone else experienced disappointment due to a general lack of enthusiasm from family, friends, and/or acquaintances?  Any theories as to why this might be? I am trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I feel like my engagement is a big deal and that we deserve to be celebrated and to feel special.

    Yes, you are wrong. It's not about being sensitive; you're inventing problems that don't exist. It's great that your friend's in-laws gave them such a lavish gift, but that is absolutely not the norm. Nor is a fancy dinner or getting a bottle of champagne. Likewise, it is also not the norm for someone who is not your friend to care about your ring. 

    Your engagement may be the most exciting thing happening in your life, but it is not the most interesting thing for anyone else. Of course they're more interested i their own anniversary than your engagement! 

    Congratulations and a hug is a very normal reaction. Your expectations need adjusting.
  • Yeah I absolutely think the rest of the expectations need adjusting!  


    The bottom line is that you're getting married so if you're happy about it be happy and start planning!! 
  • My H and I recently mentored through marriage prep a young couple and we talked about this and expectations - basically that this was the way the groom’s family normally operated, and they needed to figure out how to respond to that without getting bent out of shape because they expected something different.

    If they had flown your BIL and SIL out to Greece and given you a hug and then gone about their day, that would warrant some extra thought. But comparisons to a totally different family are mostly unhelpful.
  • I understand your disappointment.  When I told the girl who would have been my MOH, she started talking about how much weddings cost these days - even though our wedding was 25 people for lunch.  When I told a girl who would have been a BM, she had just been in a wedding about six months ago, and she said, "Don't talk to me about weddings.  I'm wedding-ed out."  I'm still pissed about it, but it clearly showed that I was way more invested in our friendship than they were and I had to recalibrate.  
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