A bride-to-be has resorted to blackmailing her mother-in-law after she went behind her back to try her $3,000 (£2,360) wedding dress on.
And now her relationship with her future husband is being called into question as he helped his mother get away with the scheme.
Taking to Reddit to share her frustration, the woman explained that her mother-in-law had been “pestering” her about trying on her wedding dress, which had been bought several weeks earlier.
The mother-in-law said it was because of her “obsession” with wedding dresses – but the bride-to-be refused.
She continued to deny her even when her future husband’s mum offered her $100 (£78) to put the dress on.
But things came to a head when the woman came home from work early to discover just how far her mother-in-law would go.
She wrote: “I found my fiance at home. He freaked out after seeing me and tried to prevent me from going into my room while trying to text somebody on his phone.
“I opened the door and was shocked to see his mom standing there wearing my dress.”
The woman didn’t hesitate before taking her phone out to snap a picture to prove what had happened – and made her demands.
She said: “I instantly pulled out my phone and took a photo of her in it.
“She and my fiance freaked out after I told her that she needed to pay me for a new dress in three days or else I’ll show the whole family the photo.
“She started crying and then left and my fiance blew up at me saying I can’t be serious and that I overreacted because his mom just wanted to try the dress on, no harm done.”
But she argued that the “dress should only be worn by the bride and the bride only,” adding: “Quite frankly, I felt disgusted looking at the dress again, I don’t want it anymore.”
Her fiancée then yelled at her and told her to “wake up and stop treating his mom like that as if she was an enemy.
“We had a fight after he failed to get me to back down and he’s been staying with his mom since then.”
“I felt awful, but I spent $3k on this dress and worked hard to get it, I can’t stand looking at it but people in my family think I’m escalating things and risking my relationship with not only future mother-in-law but my fiancée as well.”
However, many commenters were firmly on the beleaguered bride-to-be’s side.
One said: “Are you sure you want to marry this guy? He stood guard outside your bedroom so that his mother could try on your wedding dress. Do you think he will ever stand up for you against her?”
Another added: “The problem isn’t just your future mother-in-law. It’s your fiancée. He let her in. he was going to lie and hide from you that she tried it on. HE is defending her actions.
“Personally? My petty self would call off the engagement, and the announcement of that would be the picture of his mom in the wedding dress stating, ‘Unfortunately, I can not marry [this man]. It appears he’s already married and emotionally committed to his mother’.”
And another said: “He knowingly went behind your back to help his mom try on your dress. He knew it was wrong, he knew you would be upset and yet he did it anyway. Then he doubled down and defended his mother when you caught them. You don’t have a mother-in-law problem, you have a husband problem.”
But some felt everyone was at fault, with one commenting: “I’m sorry, asking for $3,000 for trying on a dress is ridiculous. If you would have said, ‘I called off the wedding.’ Or ‘I uninvited her.’ I’d be 100 percent on your side.
“By the way. Sounds like you’re in for an awful marriage. And you should be thinking about that, not the dress.”
