Member- tigerbalm
- 5 years ago
Hi everyone, new here! So my boyfriend and I have been seriously talking about getting married and he’s planning to do a surprise formal proposal soon. I’m very excited and can’t wait to marry him!
However, the wedding itself is starting to pose a problem, as I always knew it would. This is because my parents are divorced and hate each other. My dad is remarried with two kids – my half-sister and half-brother. The kids are 10 and 13, old enough to pick up on tension and awkwardness. My mom hasn’t dated since the divorce.
The common wisdom seems to be to seat the parents far away from each other and have people distract them. However, we are planning to have a very small wedding with family only, and to all go out to lunch afterward (or something similar). The rest of my family will also be from my dad’s side, as my mom’s side lives extremely far away. I’m concerned that the 7-8 of them versus one of my mom will make for a very tense dynamic. My dad’s mother, my grandmother, will of course be there and my mom passionately hates her as well.
My boyfriend’s family will probably amount to three adults and one baby – not much of a buffer.
Eloping would of course be the easy way out, but my boyfriend really wants our families to be present, and he also thinks it’s important for them to meet. In my heart I feel the same way – but I’m not sure what to do about my family situation.
Any suggestions are welcome, thanks in advance for your advice!
