“I sent home the man who had brought his four children to my child-free wedding.”

“I feel incredibly guilty.”

Lauren* recently got married. She and her new husband explicitly stated in their wedding invitations that their wedding would be child-free. However, her husband’s best friend ignored this and brought his four children to the venue. Lauren decided to send the man home and now asks on the Reddit forum if she did the right thing.

Invitation
“My husband and I got married two weeks ago. We decided we didn’t want children at our wedding,” the woman begins her story on the forum. “We wrote in every invitation that we wanted a child-free wedding. My husband’s best friend, Leo, is a widower with four children. Leo complained to my husband that he was disappointed he couldn’t bring his children, but that was it.”

Wedding
“My husband said during the wedding that he was afraid Leo wouldn’t come because I insisted that children weren’t welcome. However, about an hour after the day started, I heard all kinds of noise. When I looked closer, I saw that Leo was there with his children – who all looked very neat. He had an argument with the staff about children not being allowed.” Lauren continues that Leo behaved terribly towards the staff. “I felt terrible. At one point, Leo even started calling my husband. He thought my husband could tell him that it was ‘his’ wedding, and that the children could stay. I was extremely upset and embarrassed. Yet, I remained calm and walked up to Leo to talk to him.”

Sending away
Lauren then told Leo to take his children to a babysitter and come back later. “He was angry and said that his best friend had invited him to the wedding. I said I was sorry, but that the rules applied to everyone. And that I hoped he would respect that. Leo went into discussion with me again and said he wasn’t just a guest but family.” Lauren then stated that her family didn’t bring any children either and tried to think with him about arranging a babysitter. “He said he really couldn’t find a babysitter and didn’t want to miss his best friend’s wedding.”

Lauren continues that the staff eventually escorted Leo and his children to the exit, but this didn’t go smoothly. “He kept insisting that he wanted to be there with his children. This led to a few of Leo’s and my husband’s friends coming up to me to say that Leo is a widower and should be an exception to my rule. They also said it was my fault for not arranging a babysitter for my guests.”

Angry
Lauren shares that the wedding went on, but her husband was angry with her. “According to him, his best friend missed his wedding because of me. He told me today that Leo doesn’t answer his calls or messages. My husband is now convinced that I ruined his friendship with Leo and thinks I should have made an exception for Leo because the children were already there that day.”