A wedding is the most special day in the world for a Bride. One day that’s all about her and making sure everything she needs is catered to and perfectly in place.
But for some families, like the one in this story, even weddings aren’t protected from the gross preferential treatment of one sibling over the other.
This user learned that the hard way when her family secretly planned for her sister to walk down the aisle before her, only for her husband to end up tricking them and getting them to pay for the whole wedding!
Sister wants to walk down the aisle at my wedding. We use that to our advantage
So, ever since I could remember, my parents loved my sister more.
I don’t mean in subtle ways either. If my sister accused me of something, they’d believe it and punish me. If I accused her, they wouldn’t believe me.
My birthday cake had to be a flavor she wanted. Hers did not, and my parents always denied knowing I didn’t like that type of cake.
I’m not sure what the cause and effect are, but when we were young teens she found herself with no friends and her behavior got worse.
Anyway, she had no friends. I did. I used to be decently popular.
But instead of appealing to OP to include her, the sister’s behavior got even worse.
She started accusing me of more stuff. She accused my friends of more stuff.
My parents stopped allowing me to hang out with anyone, the excuses ranging from “They’re not good people according to your sister” to “Why are you trying to leave us, why cant you be like your sister and enjoy family time?”
At one gathering, my extended family invited me over to something (I don’t remember what), and I sadly replied I’m not allowed to go anywhere.
When asked why, my kid self with no filter replied that it was because I wasn’t allowed to have friends since my sister didn’t have any.
Gotta love that brutal honesty that can only come from a kid!
Well, that reached the adults. Who apparently tore my parents apart. Later I was scolded for lying and grounded (as if I had anywhere to go) for a month.
But after that they allowed me some leeway, so it was worth it.
And her sister only continued her reign of terror when OP got her first boyfriend.
And then I got my first boyfriend. I didn’t want to bring him home at all, but my parents insisted.
Well, at one point we were separated and he came to find me to tell me my sister was flirting with him.
By which he meant, she came over with skimpy clothing, batting her eyelashes really badly and started telling him how bad I was and how good she was.
He was irked and ran off to find me.
Of course, my sister told my parents a different tale: that my bf had instead tried to flirt with her, but she naturally refused since how could she do that to me.
Guess who my parents believed.
And the pattern only continued with OP’s next boyfriend.
Anyway, my parents prohibited me from dating such a horrible boy. I did try to keep going in secret but it was hard and the relationship ended.
I did get another, but again my sister accused him of flirting with her when he refused her advances. Again my parents believed her.
I tried pointing out how this happened again, but they decided that meant I was incapable of making good choices and kept picking bad boyfriends.
And her biased parents were absolutely no help.
And the unequal treatment continued at this time.
She had more spending money, her curfews were much better than mine, she was free to go anywhere at anytime while I couldn’t.
If I pointed it out, my parents would say it’s because she’s older.
But when I reached that age, I still didn’t have the same treatment she had, and when pointed out, they’d deny they ever said that or claim I couldn’t be trusted like she was.
Things came to a head when her sister started preparing for college.
Time goes by, and it’s time for my sister to graduate. She was accepted into a college.
My parents, naturally, made a lot of fanfare and told her they’d pay for everything. I was relieved she’d be going away.
Not that it made my life any easier. She’d always come home every other weekend and somehow stuff kept missing from her room or some other issue she’d think of to make my life miserable. My curfews were still strict, etc.
OP, unsurprisingly, did not get the same treatment.
Eventually, my mom came to talk to me about my impending graduation (I’m only a year younger than my sister).
She told me since they were paying for my sister’s college, they had no money to pay for mine.
So it would be “better” for me to start working immediately after graduation and waiting until my sister finished uni to see if they could afford something for me.
I pointed out I could get student loans. Mom said yes… except no.
That is, because they were so caring towards me, and I had such bad judgement, they would decide if a college was worth my getting in debt or not.
But OP was completely unfazed.
Anyway, I didn’t bat an eyelid. I simply said okay.
My mom clearly didn’t expect that and kept pushing. Maybe she hoped I’d throw a tantrum so they’d have an excuse to not ever pay for my college.
You see, after a whole lifetime of their terrible parenting, I NEVER had any expectations towards my education.
I knew they would find an excuse to not pay for mine and make my life miserable. I never believed they would eventually pay it if I worked and waited for my sister to graduate.
I could barely go out, my friendships were slim, so I had a lot of time to study. And study I did, because I saw college as my only chance to be free.
And when her college acceptance letter came, OP saw her chance to escape her crazy family.
Well, the time came and I worked my butt off and got a scholarship. Not to anywhere like Ivy league or anything like law or medical school. But it was a good enough course, in a decent college, with a full scholarship.
Knowing my sister would hate it and try to stop me via parents, I put my achievement in social media at the same time I told them. Even forced myself to thank them in the post.
Initially they were even a little proud and boasting about it.
And then I guess my sister got to them, and they changed gears and even asked me if I was sure I wanted to go.
They let slip my sister wasn’t doing well in college, and since she was smarter and had better judgement than me, I’d suffer worse.
I obviously stuck to my guns. They weren’t happy but couldn’t do anything.
And when she finally was away from home, she thrived!
College was my savior. I started being happy.
I still contacted my parents and visited on holidays and such, but since they refused to pay for anything, I could excuse not going a lot due to money.
My sister stopped going to college, moved back home (paying no bills or rent but “it’s different” my parents said) and started working at the same company as my mom, obviously thanks to my mom pulling strings.
Soon OP met her Prince Charming, who was the perfect counter to her evil family!
I met my husband around this time.
You know those people that say that “if I was in X situation, I’d have done something”? My husband is the type that really does.
He loves drama, in that he loves to resolve it. He’s the guy that if he doesn’t immediately reply to a slight, you better start worrying because he won’t forgive and forget, he’s just stewing something worse for revenge.
When we discussed marriage, we decided we didn’t care much about the ceremony due to our budget, as we’d rather spend on a dream trip to Europe for our honeymoon.
As for where to do it, since his family was spread out and mine was still mostly concentrated in my hometown, we decided to do it there.
A meeting between OP’s husband and her family was inevitable, and this is where the story gets good!
Well, at this point my parents naturally demanded they meet my man. I wanted to grow a spine and refuse, but was having a hard time.
Well, my husband looked like I cancelled Christmas when I told him I would at least ensure they were never alone with him. See, he had been getting ready for this.
He was stoked, thinking of all the ways he could refuse my sister’s advances, insult her, and then spread the report of her attempts to my family.
He even bought a high quality recorder he could hide in a pocket to record it all.
But the introduction didn’t go at all how he or OP had expected.
He came back later euphoric. “Babe! Babe! You won’t believe the awful crap they wanted! Babe! We can screw them over so bad, there’s so many possibilities!”
Well… he went there, and instead of the flirting, my parents and my sister sat him down.
After some grumbling about not being okay with him, my judgement etc, they proclaimed they were willing to pay for my wedding… on one condition.
My sister would walk down the aisle on my wedding first. In a wedding dress.
Their excuses were that it wasn’t okay for a younger sister to marry first, so it was only fair if my sister had at least the experience of it. On my venue. With pictures being taken, and the dress, and she’d have a cake later too etc.
But instead of laughing in their face OP’s husband had the genius idea to string her family along.
So, my husband sincerely recounted how my parents wanted even my wedding to be about my sister, with a grin on his face. And had the recording to prove it.
I was shocked. The distance had softened how bad they treated me. Thankfully, my husband insisting on the angle of revenge helped me not go to a bad headspace.
We eventually settled for the most benign plan we had cooked up: Act like we agreed, but then hire security and don’t let her in.
And so they began putting their plan into action…
He went back to my parents. Said he probed and thought I wouldn’t be down with it.
However, he didn’t see the issue and, not wanting family to fall apart, would be down to helping them do it.
He pointed out I don’t like conflict, so if I was surprised with it, I might not throw a tantrum in front of guests. On the other hand, marriage IS a big thing, so who knew if I’d lash out.
Thus he suggested a compromise: they’d help pay for stuff.
This way, I would feel even more pressure to not say anything, as not only would we be public, but I’d be grateful to the help they gave and that’d mollify me.
But the cherry on top was OP’s idea to keep their plan secret.
My husband also claimed that due to some bad judgement in boyfriends in the past (These words were all my idea and I’m so so proud of using their words against then lol), I was distrustful and controlling and liked to check his phone and stuff to ensure he wasn’t cheating on me.
As such, it was imperative that NOTHING of this plan was ever put in any writing.
And so began the months of deception. Where my parents and sister thought they were tricking me, and my husband and I were milking them.
And OP’s family bought it hook, line, and sinker.
How?
Well, rather than pay for the wedding than lay low, of course my parents wanted input in everything.
What we did was thus: we’d go, say, to check the drink and menu options. We’d then accept the lowest or second lowest priced option.
My husband would then “secretly” take my sister there to also try it out, then sigh and say it’s a pity we don’t want to abuse my parents goodwill so we wouldn’t get the best options.
Cue my sister demanding my parents pay for the best. My parents would then tell me not to worry and they’d pay for the most expensive.
Same was done with photographer.
Flash forward to the big day…
Soon the day came. The plan my parents/sister/husband had come up with was: wait until everyone was seated.
Since the bride always comes out late, they’d have my sister arrive at that precise time (to avoid me seeing her and trying to stop it), and walk down the aisle.
By the time I heard what happened, it’d be too late to do anything.
But the real plan was all ready to go.
We made sure to keep our actual security hidden at first. As the guests and my parents arrived, all they could see was a woman with a list of names to check.
Only after my parents arrived and sat down did we bring out security. A guy that looked like a bodyguard.
We told him to not allow my sister in, and even agreed on paying a handsome tip if he didn’t reveal we told him that.
Soon the time arrived. My parents got a text my sister was less than 5minutes away, so my dad went and told people to start.
My bridesmaids had been told to follow his lead beforehand, so they obeyed without checking with me.
After they all went down and took their places, my dad stood up at the entrance, as if waiting for me.
But he was about to have the smile wiped off his face!
Well, as soon as my dad took his position, the bridal song started playing, the doors open and… I come in.
My dad looked aghast at me being there. He tried glancing behind me, but you can’t see the venue entrance from where we were, so he couldn’t see what happened to my sister.
And then his phone rang, I saw the caller ID and it was her. He just… left me there with a mumbled “something came up”.
There were gasps and confusion all around. The friend in on it, loudly asked what happened. I lied and in a teary voice said he told me “it wasn’t supposed to be me there.”
But in a move that really encapsulates this whole story, the husband’s family stepped in to save the day.
At this point, my husband’s dad quickly ran over and took my arm. He’d been forewarned he might need to. Watching him run desperately to me helped me smile.
Well, what happened is… it worked! The following is the summed account from friends, family, the security guy and my husband, that I received afterwards:
Meanwhile OP’s sister’s world was crashing down around her.
My sister did arrive in a wedding dress. The security refused to let her in. My dad went there and tried threatening him with police, claiming he never heard of him, so he couldn’t be working there.
At this point the wedding plan was bust.
All my parents could do now is damage control as everyone that learned about it was aghast they’d try and pull it and screaming and berating them.
The three naturally said it wasn’t a secret, and threw my husband under the bus.
But OP’s husband conveniently had no idea what they were talking about.
At this point my husband was summoned. When he came over he put on his best look of confusion and denied, denied, denied.
To quote him: gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss lol. He denied having ever agreed to something so ridiculous.
My sister was scream crying and apparently sat on the floor kicking her legs like a kid. My dad looked like he’d beat my husband, but security and other people held him back.
My husband laughed and said “wow, how convenient huh?” then again repeated why would he EVER agree to something so messed up.
Tore them a new one about being awful parents, then said he wasn’t going to let their stupid plans and lying get in the way of his wedding and went back to me.
And after that, the newly married couple completely ignored OP’s enraged family!
Of course, since that whole thing the three have tried to contact me. I’ve refused calls, because my husband insisted on keeping a papertrail.
My husband took my phone, screenshot the call logs, screenshot my sister’s message, screenshot some messages of my parents demanding I pick up the phone… and sent it all to my family group chat.
He wrote a message in said group chat begging my family for help, as I was now being harassed by them constantly.
Then finished neatly with a request that they don’t share our locations, to avoid my parents sending my sister over.
All in all, while I obviously would preferred to have a normal loving family at my wedding, at least for once in my life they not only failed to ruin something meaningful to me, but I got them back.
Wow, talk about crazy in-laws for OP’s new husband! But it seems he’s perfectly equipped to deal with their shenanigans, and can give their ridiculousness right back to them!
Reddit absolutely loved this detailed account of an extremely satisfying revenge, with many people empathizing with OP.
Many related to success being expected of them by their parents.
Others thought OP’s family suggested their plan to try and get out of any financial responsibility.
This user said OP’s story was well worth the long read!
And finally this user thought about how awkward it would be for the sister to stand at the altar alone!
It’s always great to see a rotten family get what they deserve!
Whenever somebody gets pay back for the terrible treatment they enured, it warms my heart!
If you thought that was an interesting read, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.