Multiple guests make family wedding all about them, 'Good one, Aunt Carol.'

Everyone knows the sacred codes of wedding etiquette 101: don't wear white, don't give an R-rated impromptu speech, and don't do anything that might take attention away from the couple getting married on their very expensive, special day...So, when a disappointed wedding guest decided to vent about spotlight-stealing family members to the gloriously petty Reddit group, "Wedding Shaming," people were scandalized by the series of events.Multiple family members decided that my cousin’s wedding was THEIR special day too... My cousin, the bride, planned and executed a nice wedding in the mountains. It was mostly family there, and everyone came and stayed in short-term rentals near the venue. Now, I’m not sure anyone in our family is on good terms with “Aunt Carol” (not my cousin’s mom, she married our uncle “Mark”). She’s one of those women that’s sugary sweet but extremely controlling. However, her two kid sons are super cool and Uncle Mark is a fun guy so of course the whole family is invited to stuff. So we all arrive, and suddenly family plans are shifting. Aunt Carol’s youngest son just had his birthday and wouldn’t it be nice to have the whole family celebrate it? Wouldn’t it be perfect timing to have a family party with everyone in one place? “Sure?” we all reply, nervously. Of course, wouldn’t you know it, it would have to be the same day as the wedding, because nobody booked flights around this previously nonexistent, unrelated, other celebration. Now don’t get me wrong. We all love her kids and we were obviously already planning to congratulate him and bring little gifts since we don’t get to see them in person often. Which was talked about so she knew this. But of course, such informal gestures would not allow Aunt Carol to boss everyone around for several days. So lo and behold, the plan is made by Aunt Carol to have a birthday party RIGHT AFTER the wedding reception. It’s not enough that everyone is already running around trying to help the mother of the bride get things ready, now someone has to arrange pizza, salads, ice cream, sodas, etc. It’s not enough that mother-of-the-bride is hosting a whole wedding, now she has to come back to her rental after a long day and host a birthday party because she’s the only one with enough space. So yeah, that happened. And because my whole family is obsessed with making nice in public, they all just went along with the new plan and Aunt Carol got her time to wrangle everyone into sitting around uncomfortably in their wedding clothes, giving her youngest son presents in front of a huge audience, while her poor other child watched jealously. Good one, Carol. But oh ho ho, let’s not forget the title of this post. Backing up a bit, my cousin gets married at her beautiful lakeside venue. The skies are clear, the bar is open, and the reception begins. So far so good. But wouldn’t you know it, there is another woman at the wedding who loves to control a room. “Nikki” married the bride’s brother a few years earlier. She is now a bridesmaid at her little sister-in-law’s wedding. She decides to capitalize on such an opportunity. The reception is winding up. People are tittering about Aunt Carol, but it was a beautiful wedding with a beautiful bride so all is well. And then, in full view of everyone, Nikki goes to the mother of the bride and, I kid you not, kneels in front of her and hands her a gift, saying “Congratulations on being a grandmother for the FIRST TIME! Your son and I are having a baby!” My cousin had to be carried to her honeymoon limo absolutely plastered, and boy do I not blame her. She, understandably did not show up to the birthday party planned for the same time as her honeymoon send off would have been. Nikki absolutely did show up to tell everyone how hard it had been to fit her belly into her bridesmaid dress. I’d love to say that the gossip following this wedding was enough to shame the offenders so much that they slunk back to their homes in shame. But, uh, clowns feed on clown sh*t. Of course, the jury of internet strangers was eager to weigh in on this family disaster. Here's what the wedding shamers had to say:throwawaygremlins said: Damn, I hope you guys learned to say NO to these horrible people… geepgoop74 said: You announce your pregnancy at my wedding and I’ll die at your funeral. mermaidpaint said: All that was missing was some dude deciding to propose to his girlfriend at the reception. Sargentrock said: Not gonna lie, I would totally watch this movie and laugh my ass off. Seriously, you got something with all this. Tina Fey needs to absolutely be the sane one (you, I'm presuming) caught in the middle of it all. Gembeany said: I feel so sorry for bride over the Nikki stuff. But the Carol stuff was 100% avoidable by simply saying no at any point up to and including just NOT GOING to the party. For anyone out there, it’s not mean or rude to point out to someone that what they are doing is rude itself. Good luck, everyone. The next family holiday is about to be awkward...