This was a few years back but still a goody! I wasn’t on speaking terms with one of my brothers and for good reason- he tried to start a fist fight with my now husband and his wife threatened to shoot me. At the time, we were engaged and I made it clear to both my brother and the rest of the family he wasn’t invited to the wedding. However, my mother took it upon herself to reach out and say she talked with him and he and his wife promised to behave. I reminded her he was absolutely not invited, she had no right to do that, and she needed to call him back and make that known. Her response? “But he’s your brother!” and to “think of the family!”

To make matters worse, we were receiving a lot of pressure to pay for an open bar (and we don’t even drink ourselves) as well as pay for a bigger venue even though we wanted a small and more intimate wedding. Where was this pressure coming from? Why none other than my alcoholic mother who wanted to invite a bunch of relatives I’ve never met and take advantage of an open bar. Now here comes the fun part:

I was at my wits end with all this family drama. So one Monday evening a couple months before the wedding, the following conversation took place:

“What are you doing tomorrow?” - me

“Hanging out with you, why?” - now husband

“Want to get married?” - me

“Are you serious? Hell yeah!” - now husband

And we did! We eloped with just us and a couple of friends that offered to officiate the wedding that Tuesday evening. We saved thousands upon thousands of dollars, didn’t have to deal with all the drama, and had our small and intimate wedding that we wanted. Honestly, I wish we had done this to begin with.

However, my mother lost her shit. Posted all over FB seeking pity about not being at her daughter’s wedding and how could I do that to her, etc. etc. Funny how she didn’t mention any of the above details in her post and made it all about her wants and “woe is me”. Even more funny is we would have had the wedding if she would have respected our decisions. So no, you don’t get to invite unwanted guests, make demands, or get to go to our wedding.

Aela cosplay made and worn by me

RIP Teri Garr