She Enforced a Strict “Child-Free” Wedding Policy—Until Her Sister Went into Labor on Wedding Week
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There’s good reason why child free wedding are becoming more popular. It’s no secret that for a lot of folk, their wedding day is something they pump their hopes, dreams, and a whole lot of cash into, in order to make it as close to perfect as possible. And honestly, perfect and young kids don’t go hand in hand. Stories of screaming children, parents leaving early, and nice moments interrupted is enough to put a lot of people off having children at their wedding – they might even think that the parents would have more fun without their kids there too.
And that’s fair enough – it is their day after all. But when the bride to be in this story banned children from her wedding, she didn’t yet have the context to know that there would be a child very close to her arriving just before her special day – and by banning children from the wedding, she might inadvertently exclude important family members, as well as causing a rift that would be difficult to heal.
Read on to find out why.
AITA for not wanting my future niece/nephew at my wedding?
I (25, female) am getting married January 2027. My sister (28, female) is pregnant and it due roughly three weeks before my wedding.
I am over the moon happy for her and her partner as this is something they wanted, so its not a matter of not being happy for them or annoyed at them for getting pregnant nine months before the wedding, these things can’t be helped.
When she told me a couple months ago the whole family and I were delighted and so excited.
Getting closer and closer to January, more talks about the wedding are happening and they joke about the fact she is due so close to the wedding. For context I am having a child free wedding and no child is invited to the ceremony or the dinner.
Let’s see how this bride to be is feeling about this.
My no.1 thing I wanted for my wedding is no children as I have seen too many videos from weddings of babies crying and screaming during the ceremony while the couple are trying to say their vows or ruining the first dance with screaming or running on the dance floor.
It is my worst nightmare as I have been dreaming of my wedding for years.
So she jokes about that and how I’ll have to make an exception for her as her baby will be so young.
And I joke back about how the rules are the rules but she looks at me with a dead pan face saying “well you have to”.
Yikes! Let’s see how this is affecting things.
I feel absolutely terrible that I feel this way, and feel that if the baby was there it would ruin my whole planned day as me and my fiancé are spending a godly amount of money on the wedding I wanted it to go as I planned.
I feel awful for the fact I feel this way but also feel – ‘should I not have my wedding day the way I wanted?’ But feel awful that I think that too.
I seriously don’t know what to do or think. I feel like the best option I have is that my sister’s partner has the child for the first half of the day and my sister attends the ceremony and then her partner and my niece/nephew could attend the dinner with her maybe? But I still feel strongly with not wanting a child there at any point of the day.
Would I be wrong if I told her not to bring her child and have her partner have the child for the day?
AITA?
Honestly, this is a really tricky situation.
The bride is not wrong for wanting a child-free wedding. That is increasingly common, and not just so a baby doesn’t cry during the ceremony – it also allows family and friends to relax and let loose without having to watch their kids all day.
But three weeks after her due date? If the baby can’t come, the chances are the mom (the bride’s sister) won’t be able to make it either.
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Let’s see what the Reddit community made of this.
This person explained that while she wasn’t in the wrong, this might not be a great situation to put her sister in.
While others encouraged her to think about how this would impact the family.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a sister who feels badly about unknowingly encouraging her younger brother to play with bullies.
Meanwhile, this Redditor explained exactly why three weeks is a very short period after which to separate mom and baby for a full day.
This really must suck for this bride, whose child free wedding rule is now bending. Because the truth is, once one parent finds out that a child is coming to the wedding, they’re going to wonder why their child isn’t invited as well. And sure it’s her sister, but she’ll be understandably gutted if her wedding video – or even jus the ceremony experience – is drowned out by a three week old baby screaming throughout. And that’s understandable, it is her wedding – hopefully her only wedding – after all.
But she’s excited to become an aunt, and meeting her new niece or nephew will be a great experience. It’s just a shame that months before they’re born, they’re already at the centre of some family drama. Because what this bride isn’t taking into account is the effects on the mom’s body, as well as the baby’s wellbeing, if they’re not together at the wedding. So while she’s not wrong to ban children from her wedding, she has to understand this might mean her sister not attending as well.
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