A bride-to-be has been supported online in her decision to snub her mother's pleas for her to allow her stepfather to walk her down the aisle.
The woman, who is due to marry soon, wrote on Reddit that she would prefer her paternal grandparents to walk her down the aisle in memory of her father. He had passed away from cancer when she was a child. While her mom was hurt by this choice, internet users have rushed to support the bride-to-be after her bold move, which has caused a rift in her family.
"My wedding is coming up and my mom has been campaigning hard for her husband, my stepdad, to be the person to walk me down the aisle," the woman wrote on Reddit.
"I had already asked my paternal grandparents. My mom knew I was going to ask them, but she has not given up on the desire for me to ask her husband," the bride-to-be added. "The other day she told me that it would make the most sense and she feels like he is the correct and most worthy person to walk me down the aisle.
"I called her out on that and said she should be more honest about why she wants him. The reason, I know, is because she knows that her husband and my dad hated each other and she believes that I should have been loyal to her husband over my dad. She especially believes I should have given all the loyalty I had to my dad to her husband," she added.
The woman wrote that her mom has remained persistent in her determination to install her second husband in her late husband's parents' place on her wedding day. The poster added that what fuels her mum's desire for this to happen is the fact that her stepfather still hates her biological dad.
"I never got closer to my mom's husband. I was such a daddy's girl. He was my mom's husband and my half siblings dad but even though I don't remember a time where I didn't know him, I never saw him as my dad," the woman wrote.
"My mom hates it. She hates that he's just her husband and I haven't embraced him as my dad. One time she said it can be so hurtful to lose to a dead man and be rejected in favor of a dead man," she added.
The bride-to-be finished her post off by sharing that her mom responded angrily when she found out her daughter wasn't going to budge on her choice to walk down the aisle with her grandparents.
"She said she was not lying and I was being rude," the poster wrote.
Dr. Carole Lieberman, a forensic psychiatrist based in the U.S., told Newsweek that the bride was right to stand up against her mom and put her own wants and needs before everyone else's on her special day.
"First of all, her wedding day is supposed to be 'her' special day, not her mom's. So, she doesn't get to pick who walks her daughter down the aisle," Lieberman said.
"However, the bride needs to ask herself if she purposely didn't choose her stepdad to walk with her because she is angry at her mom for having married him, instead of staying with her biological father," Lieberman added.
"Nonetheless, putting all these unconscious reasons aside, the bride already gave her grandparents the honor, and it would be very painful for them if she took it back."
Lieberman said that, to keep the peace, the bride should give her stepdad some other role in the wedding or have him walk the maid of honor down the line.
What Do the Comments Say?
Since it was shared to the social-media platform on September 25 by u/Responsible-Word-230, the Reddit post has been upvoted by 96 percent of the users who engaged with it and commented on more than 1,100 times.
"You have made the right choice," one user wrote.
Another added: "I'd be really curious to know why the stepdad feels so strongly about the dad."
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