When this groom to be feels somewhat guilty for excluding his BIL, he asks Reddit:
Im engaged and getting married relatively soon. For some background, my sister got married last year. Her husband, I'll call Bill, is a nice well intentioned guy but just not super interesting. Neither she or him have many friends, which is fine they're happy together.
But he included me in his wedding party which is fairly normal as a way to branch out, but also asked me to his bachelor party. It ended up being us two, his brother, and one other friend of his. It was a very chill weekend, which was fine but not the way Id have my bachelor party.
For my wedding I have a best man and 8 groomsmen. Were going to Vegas for my bachelor party in a couple weekends. Apparently Bill has always wanted to go to Vegas but it never even crossed my mind to invite him, nor would I really want to hang out with him and my friends.
Of course I didnt invite him because I had no reason to. Well my sister asked me yesterday about when im asking all my groomsmen and i told her I already did. She asked why I didnt ask Bill and I said the thought didnt even cross my mind.
She said Im one of his 'best friends' which I thought was kinda funny becasue to me he's just my sister's husband. We golf together every now and then but I wouldnt really call him a 'friend'.
Anyways, she's trying to get me to invite him but I have no interest. My friends that are all going can get pretty rowdy, and I want to get rowdy on my bachelor party too. Meanwhile Bill will likely just be super awkward and ruin the vibe. AITAH if I stand by my guns and not invite him?
whitesauce2 writes:
YTA. As you pointed out, Bill had you in his wedding party because it's normal...but you didn't feel like that applied to him? I agree he's not really a friend, but he's your family now. You could've at least had a conversation with the guy instead of playing the 'I just didn't consider it' card. Just comes off rude.
Betcha Bill could've been the Zach Galifianakis to your wolf pack - a straight man that doesn'treally fit in but gives a bit of 'colour' to the group dynamic. Could've been a riot in Vegas.
yousaywownow writes:
NTA. But Bill is going to be in your life for a long time, so it would be a good thing to try and build upon the friendship you have, especially if he already values it so much.
That doesn't mean you have to invite him to be a groomsman or even to your stag do. Definitely not the AH on this.But perhaps you can organise to spend some time with him outside of those two things, and try and forge a closer friendship.
It sounds as though he's more introverted than your normal friendship group but that doesn't mean you can't build a decent mutual friendship.
He's going to be very hurt by not being included in the wedding and stag, so I'd suggest that it's worth thinking about how you want to frame that decision... assuming you don't want to crush him completely and would like to maintain a friendly relationship. I don't think you'll have the luxury of just not saying anything and hoping it will go away.