Man gets called AH for telling brother his 'miracle baby' isn't invited to wedding.
'AITA for using flash cards to explain to my brother and his wife why they can't bring their rainbow baby to my wedding?'
My fiancee (F) and I (M) are getting married. We've decided wedding's gonna be child-free. No hate towards children just to keep it more organized and contained. My brother 'Chris' (M) and his wife (F) have a 3yo son who everyone calls 'miracle baby' or 'rainbow baby.' He came after several failed pregnancies that lasted for years.
When they found out that my nephew was included in the no children rule; they tried to convince me to make an exception for him. Chris told me his son is a miracle baby and his presence at the wedding will bring 'blessings' for me and my fiancee.
I refused and said no, the wedding is child-free. His wife kept sending my fiancee pics of my nephew when he was months old (what that mean??). I told them no, and to stop.
My brother told me this might cause a rift in our relationship. I again said no and explained that the wedding is child-free. He asked again and pointed out how his baby is different since he's a rainbow/miracle baby. I again said no and explained that the wedding is child-free.
They brought it up when they visited at my home and I knew they weren't going to stop so I'd made flash cards in advance with the phrase 'the wedding is child-free, period' and pulled them out and started slowly showing them the flash cards one by one in this order:
1. The wedding (with a sticker of bride and groom).
2. Is Child (with a sticker of a baby).
3. FREEE (with a sticker of a 🚫 sign).
4. PERIOD (with a huge, black dot sticker).
They both were stunned. I asked if they get it now and Chris lost his sh*t. His wife had already grabbed her stuff and walked out. Chris called me an a**hole for doing this and said that I disrespected him, his wife and their son who's my one and only nephew.
He rushed out after we argued. My fiancee saw the whole thing and thought that it was funny but my parents and Chris are livid beyond measure. They're telling everyone about the amount of disrespect and mockery I had displayed towards them and I'm being told to 'fix it' now.
Note from OP: I love my nephew but like I said, I can't let them bring him to the wedding.
Here's what people had to say:
Dipping_My_Toes writes:
Well, I suppose you could have used hand puppets instead, but flashcards seem to have gotten the message across. It makes me insane how some parents think their little bundle of joy should be allowed anywhere, anywhen, anytime and that no never applies to them. It's pretty clear they were going to run this horse right up to the altar. NTA.
BadBandit1970 writes:
What about puppets holding flashcards???
Its_Rare writes:
They gonna bring the child to the wedding.
throwaway3373123 OP responded:
Jesus. I hope not. I'm not risking to have the day ruined. Not even sure how my fiancee will react if that happens.
DaddyBrown writes:
NTA. 385,000 babies are born every day, but THIS one is special!
throwaway3373123 OP responded:
I can't argue with that, it's the truth some people choose to ignore it 🤷♂️
Brilliant-Cherry510 writes:
Well, let me start by saying that you made a couple of mistakes.
No boom box.
Not enough flash cards.
You missed a fantastic opportunity to press play on something like The Dan Band's version of Total Eclipse of the Heart (definitely a wedding song) while flipping cards 'Love Actually' style. I'm thinking you could have gotten all the way to:
To me, your rainbow baby is perfect.
But you can't bring him or his rainbows to my wedding.
And even if you had made it look all the while like you were going to give in and then dropped the hammer with the last card. You are still: NTA.
throwaway3373123 Op respond:
Ahahaha...My God! This is absolutely hilarious. 🤣🤣🤣