A woman says she was left "horrified" after learning her sister's wedding buffet was actually made up of leftovers from her own wedding reception, held some eight months before.
According to the 26-year-old bride, she and her husband had thrown a big wedding with around 200 guests. Knowing there would likely be leftovers, the happy couple had arranged beforehand for any spare food to be donated to the soup kitchen they sometimes work with.
Unfortunately, her mother ended up going behind her back and took the majority of the food home with her. For eight whole months, she had no idea what happened to all the food, until the day of her older sister's wedding.
Her sister Callie, who tied the knot over the long weekend, "hates planning and people" and so basically let their mum take over all the planning side of things. All they had to do was "show up [...] and party".
Taking to Reddit, she recalled: "The ceremony was beautiful, but it was when the buffet was revealed that I noticed something odd. The food looked eerily familiar. Like, identical to what I had for my wedding except for a little more dried out and sad.
"I found an opening and went to ask my mum about it where she happily told me she 'saved a fortune' by unfreezing the food from my wedding to serve to the guests now.
"I was horrified and immediately voiced my concerns about safety. She got upset and said I was acting like a snob and should be happy the food wasn't going to waste. I argued that it was never going to be wasted, but she wouldn't hear it."
Although she didn't want to make a scene on Callie's big day, she was worried about people becoming ill, and so "snuck off" to inform her exactly what their mum had done.
The mortified Reddit user wrote: "She was horribly embarrassed - mentioned that mum said something about saving money but didn't question it because she didn't want to foot the bill as I had. She told me not to eat the food and thanked me for the warning."
The rest of the evening went well, but after that point, she and her husband began "discretely" warning some guests to be "wary" of the buffet.
Reaching out for advice, she continued: "My mum caught some flack for being cheap, but I've also been catching heat. Some of our relatives have been saying that I intentionally made my family look bad and that the food was fine as it was frozen and then defrosted for the wedding.
"They say no one would have known if I didn't make a stink over it. I don't know if I did anything wrong, I could use some help and would like to know if I should apologise."
One person commented: "Oh my god. It's not that it was stored frozen for eight months, it's that it sat on a buffet table for god knows how long at your wedding, then in your mother's car, before it was frozen. This is not only tacky but super dangerous."
Another shuddered: "Yeah, that's a no from me and I'm not a germaphobe. I've pushed the limits a few times, but just for myself and never anyone else. Even frozen things have a shelf life.
"Your sister does not want her wedding to be the one remembered for her quests being glued to the toilet with a bin in between their legs."
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