Not having a lot of money can be tough…especially when other people in your life are rolling in the dough.

You can’t do all the fun activities they do, you can’t travel as much, and, let’s face it, you just can’t compete with their lifestyle.

Most of us have friends like this, and you just gotta be honest with them and let them know when you can and can’t afford to do things.

But things get even more complicated when the person with the money is your own sibling.

In today’s story, a woman opened up about why she can’t go to her sister’s wedding in Italy…and she feels pretty bad about the whole thing.

Let’s take a look at what she had to say.

AITA for telling my sister I can’t attend her destination wedding?

“My sister Amy is getting married in Italy this fall to her fiancé Adam. They’ve been together about three years and sent save-the-dates roughly 10 months in advance.

Amy and I used to be really close. She even officiated my wedding. We would go on day trips together and talked often, but things changed after she started dating Adam.

This guy sounds like a real gem…

To keep it brief, Adam is very transactional and tends to judge people based on money and status. His family is wealthy, and he doesn’t think highly of my spouse and me, largely because of our financial situation.

Over the past three years, my husband and I have gone through four major surgeries and both lost our jobs, which drained our savings. We’re actively trying to recover, but it’s been rough.

Amy offered to help me attend by contributing $700 toward my travel, which I genuinely appreciate. But the total cost for flights, transportation, and passports is about $1,600 per person, so roughly $3,200 for both my husband and me.

Even going alone would be extremely difficult financially, and I also have severe anxiety around travel that makes doing something like this solo is really risky for me.

What’s this all about…?

Here’s where I’m struggling. Amy offered my other sister (“Sister 2”) about $1,600 total to cover both her and her husband. Sister 2 is financially stable with a six-figure job.

I know I’m not entitled to anyone else’s money, but it still hurt to learn that Adam didn’t even want to help me at all and only wanted to help her.

For additional context, Sister 2 and her husband don’t even like Adam. They find him selfish and difficult. He also relapsed at our dad’s funeral, which made an already painful situation even harder for the family.

This doesn’t sound like a good idea AT ALL.

Right now, I simply cannot afford to go. My savings are almost gone, I may need to take out a payment plan with the IRS for taxes, and the only way I could make this trip happen would be financing it at something like a 36% interest rate, which feels like a terrible financial decision when we’re trying to rebuild.

I’m incredibly embarrassed and feel awful about this. I love my sister, and I’m worried that telling her I can’t attend will damage our already strained relationship, especially since we haven’t been as close recently, even during difficult times in my life.

AITA for telling my sister I can’t afford to attend her wedding?”

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a sister who canceled a family dinner after realizing she’d been the only one putting in effort for years.

Here’s how folks reacted on Reddit.

This person weighed in.

Another individual shared their thoughts.

This Reddit user said she’s NTA.

Another reader spoke up.

And this person had a lot to say.

Well, this is a bummer.

Sure, everyone would LOVE to go to Italy for a wedding, but we should commend her for making the smart and mature decision.

Still, it’s gotta hurt to have to break that news to her sister…

She’s in a really tough spot and she’s not sure what to do…