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Louise Thomas
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One bride is upholding her venue’s strict no outside alcohol policy on her big day, and unfortunately for her stepmom, this means she can’t bring along her preferred beverage.
For months, the 29-year-old wife-to-be has been preparing for her nuptials, planning every detail of the occasion, from the floral arrangements to the menu.
Part of her desired vision — and her venue’s options — is a set menu with only select and signature drinks served at the open bar. Between cocktails, beer, liquor, and wine, the bar has multiple beverage options, just not the one her stepmom wants.
When her stepmom asked what kind of wine would be served, the bride kindly told her there would be a house red and white. Taking to Reddit’s popular confession forum, Am I The A**hole, the bride explained her stepmom’s reaction to this.
“She said she and my dad and our family friends are very particular about the type of Chardonnay they like,” the bride noted. “I told her I planned to surprise my dad (who contributed a generous amount to the wedding) by selecting a nice bottle or two of Chardonnay from their specialty wine menu to have just for them”
Tragically, this compromise wasn’t good enough for the bride’s stepmom. The stepmom was concerned there’d be a shortage of the “nice bottles,” and she wanted her friends to grab a sip, too.
The Redditor confessed the exclusive bottles were $80 each, so she didn’t pay for more than two. “There is no cheaper Chardonnay option on their menu, all of their specialty wine is pretty expensive,” the bridhe explained.
Though she recognized her stepmom’s frustrations, she refused to let her bring a cooler of wine to the wedding.
“I told her that it was a pretty nice venue and she’d feel uncomfortable doing so - would she do this for my cousins wedding (which was super nice) we went to a few months ago?” the bride questioned. “She totally came unglued and stomped off.”
After having time to mull matters over, the bride realized she was most bothered by her stepmom’s condescending comments. To her, it seemed like her stepmom was insinuating her wedding would be cheap and underdone.
When her dad questioned what kind of wine would be served, the Reddit writer candidly told him, and he was fine with the options.
It’s not that the Reddit user believes a big cooler of wine would ruin the aesthetic, the venue has restrictions. No guest can bring alcohol, part of the event rules is that all drinks must be served from the venue bar.
“Our venue must provide and serve all alcohol during the wedding,” she confessed. “When she asked if they could bring their own wine I just said the venue wouldn’t allow it, I didn’t explain the legality around it though.”
Readers were stunned by the Reddit poster’s stepmom, arguing she had no right to ask if she could bring a cooler full of her own wine to the wedding.
A particularly blunt individual questioned: “Why does she want to make a scene by showing up to a ‘classy’ venue with a cooler?”
“I want to mention that this is so classless,” a harsh Redditor wrote.
One intuitive person mentioned: “I think it’s also tacky to buy wine for some people and not others. People will notice and they will ask and that makes it awkward for the staff.”
“At our wedding, we were told we’d lose our entire deposit if anyone was caught bringing anything in...,” an experienced individual explained.
