My wedding rehearsal.
The night before the day I had dreamed of my whole life. I stood next to Andrei, holding his hand, and felt nothing but happiness. Quiet laughter and the clinking of glasses filled the room, and the warm candlelight made everything seem almost unreal. Here it was. The beginning of our new life.
And then my mother-in-law stood up.
She tapped her spoon lightly on her glass, smiling in a way that might have seemed warm and friendly to an outsider. But I knew better. I felt Andrei tense up beside me. My stomach clenched.
‘I just want to say something,’ she began, drawing out her words as if she were about to give a touching speech. Then she turned to my parents. “It’s a shame when some people think they can just come to a wedding they didn’t pay a penny for.
The room fell silent. You could hear even the distant hum of the air conditioner, as well as the tense sighs of the people.
My father’s hand clenched on the table. My mother’s face turned pale. Andrei squeezed my hand tighter.
‘Mum, stop it,’ he said in a low, restrained voice.
But she didn’t stop.
‘Since our side paid for this wedding and they didn’t,’ she continued with a venomous note in her voice, ‘I think it would be fair if they didn’t come tomorrow.’
I felt as if the ground had been pulled out from under my feet. My heart was pounding wildly in my chest. My throat was dry.
Was this really happening? My mother-in-law had always loved being the centre of attention, and she had never liked my family because we were “too simple” for her standards. But even in my worst nightmares, I couldn’t have imagined that she would use our wedding to humiliate me and my parents.
She was seriously kicking my parents out of my own wedding.
Before I could say anything, my father did something no one expected. He smiled.
‘All right,’ he said, standing up and adjusting his jacket. ‘We’ll leave. But first, one small detail.’
My mother-in-law leaned back in her chair like a queen granting forgiveness.
‘Oh, please,’ she smiled falsely.
My father raised his glass, looked me and Andrei straight in the eye, and then slowly took something out of his pocket.
A cheque.
He unfolded it, smoothing it carefully as if it were a document of the utmost importance.
‘This,’ he said calmly and confidently, ‘is the receipt for the deposit for this very banquet hall. Paid in full. By me.’
A collective sigh went through the room. My mother-in-law’s face paled, her smile faltered.
My mother, always reserved, finally spoke:
‘We never mentioned it because we wanted to do something nice for our daughter. We didn’t need recognition.’
‘But since it’s so important to you who paid for what,’ my father continued, addressing everyone present, ‘let me clarify. The flowers? We paid for them. The catering deposit? Our money. And the dress?’ He looked at me tenderly, his eyes calm and confident. ‘It was a gift from our daughter.’
A murmur rippled through the room. The silence that followed was deafening.
My mother-in-law’s lips opened and closed, like a fish thrown onto dry land. Her fingers clenched around her wine glass.
‘Well, I…’ she began, but my father interrupted her:
‘No,’ his voice remained calm but firm. ‘You don’t speak now. Because here’s the thing: we didn’t keep score. It didn’t matter to us. But it matters to you. And since you brought it up, I think it’s only fair that you leave.’
His words hung in the air like the last nail in a coffin lid.
Andrei let go of my hand and took a step towards his mother.
‘Mum,’ he said quietly, disappointment in his voice. ‘You just tried to humiliate my wife and her family in front of everyone. The day before our wedding.’ He shook his head. ‘I love you, but if you can’t accept them, then you have no place at our wedding.’
His mother-in-law’s eyes filled with tears, but she was too stubborn to apologise. Too proud to admit her mistake. Instead, she lifted her chin, put her glass on the table, and left the hall.
As soon as the doors closed behind her, the tension in the air dissipated. The guests, still stunned, began to talk among themselves, and the atmosphere changed.
I turned to my parents, my hands shaking.
‘I didn’t even know…’
‘We didn’t want you to worry,’ my mother said softly, taking my hand. ‘This day should be yours alone. And it still is.’
Andrei hugged me, his presence calming me.
‘Tomorrow,’ he said, ‘we’ll celebrate with those who truly love us.’
And that’s exactly what we did.
The wedding was beautiful. My parents walked me down the aisle together, beaming with pride. Andrei and I exchanged vows with full hearts, knowing that we were surrounded only by those who truly cared about us.
And my mother-in-law? Yes, she came. But it didn’t change anything. She lost the power to ruin anything.
Because in the end, it wasn’t money, but love and respect that became the foundation of our marriage.
And I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world.
What would you have done in my place? Write in the comments! And don’t forget to share if this story resonated with you.
