Woman Gains Widespread Support After Leaving Wedding To Go To McDonald’s
It's not uncommon for the headline to seem utterly ridiculous, only to make a surprising amount of sense once the rest of the story becomes clear. While far more people argue they were taken out of context than they actually are, it does nonetheless happen.
So when a Reddit community heard that a woman had skipped out on a wedding to eat at McDonald's instead, one could naturally predict that commenters would be horrified. And while they were, it wasn't for the reason that any of them expected.
It started as great news
A 25-year-old woman started off her Reddit post by mentioning that her 31-year-old coworker invited her to her wedding, which happened the day before her post.
And her excitement and happiness for her colleague was palpable.
A reasonable question
But while the woman was excited, she wasn't so overcome that more practical considerations slipped her mind.
In her words, "Just in case, I asked her if there was any guest fees."
Trying to be thorough
In a supplementary comment, the woman mentioned that her aunt had to pitch in for the catering at a wedding she had previously attended.
And while that's not the norm where she lives, the woman nonetheless thought it was worth asking.
An encouraging answer
When the woman asked the bride about any fees, she received an answer that couldn't be misinterpreted.
As she relayed, the bride's exact words were, "No, you don't need to pay me anything."
Mostly without incident
When the woman attended the wedding, everything seemed normal, and the ceremony went off without a hitch.
But the problems would come once the wedding party and guests reconvened for the reception.
A surprise at dinner
Indeed, the woman's dilemma began right as dinner started, and she had a look at the menu.
That's because she was surprised to see each option had prices listed next to it.
She was completely blindsided
As if it wasn't bad enough that the bride had steered her wrong, the woman saw that everything on the menu was prohibitively expensive.
One example she gave was $50 for a four-ounce steak, but the prices for the vegetarian options were similarly steep.
An uncomfortable situation
Naturally, the woman wanted to confront the bride for lying to her about what she was expected to pay for. This urge was especially powerful given how expensive her meal would be at the best of times.
At the same time, she didn't want to spoil the bride's wedding and embarrass her in front of everyone.
The lie threw so much off
Since the woman had expected that she'd need to save space in her stomach for the meal at the wedding, she skipped lunch that day.
So by the time the truth had been revealed, she was starving.
No biting the bullet
So while it seemed like the only option was to acquiesce and pay the heft fee, this wasn't an option for the woman either.
Since she didn't expect to pay for her meal, she wouldn't have enough money to get home if she satisfied her hunger there.
She saw only one option
While the woman wondered what to do, she remembered that she had seen a McDonald's restaurant about five minutes away from her hotel.
And while she wanted to make her next movie as politely as possible, she would soon learn this would only get her into trouble.
An ill-fated chat
The woman told the bride that she hadn't brought enough money for the meal and asked if it would be all right if she disappeared to make her quick McDonald's stop.
She assured the bride that she'd be back in time for the cake-cutting and gift ceremony.
The bride didn't take this well
In response, the bride angrily told her she had gone to the trouble to arrange "Michelin-star restaurant service" for her guests.
And so, she said, she was incensed to learn that this wasn't good enough for the woman to the point that she'd rather eat at McDonald's.
Taken the wrong way
The woman was horrified and told the bride that that wasn't what she had meant at all.
When she reiterated that she didn't have enough cash, the bride simply retorted, "Who's fault is that?"
She hit the limit
Although the woman had intended to keep her anger, the bride's refusal to admit her lie sent her over the edge.
So in response, she said, "You were the one who lied that I didn't need to pay anything!"
Moving the goalposts
The bride became even more enraged at this, saying that this meant she wasn't going to charge the woman an attendance fee.
She also believed the woman should have expected to pay for her meal.
A snide remark
In the bride's words, "You literally assumed that you'd get a free five-course dinner."
And as an added barb that only compounded the woman's embarrassment, she added, "Wow, you're cheaper than I thought!"
A public humiliation
With that, the bride asked the woman to leave her wedding with a glare.
She did, but felt dumbstruck and hurt at the embarrassment she had just been subjected to.
Finally, something to eat
But while the pain in the woman's heart persisted, she at least had an opportunity to take care of her stomach's needs.
So she did end up going to McDonald's and sated her hunger with a Big Mac.
No sympathy at home
After the woman told her boyfriend what had happened, he thought she was in the wrong despite finding the story funny.
As the woman put it, "If I didn't have the money, I could always pay her back later. In his exact words, he said, "You chose the wrong time to be stingy."
Her friends agreed
Although her friends acknowledged that the bride lied, they didn't think it was tactful for the woman to approach the bride with her intentions.
Relaying their feelings, the woman wrote, "I should have just brushed it off instead of dampening her happy spirits."
A second opinion
Although these opinions made the woman feel guilty and embarrassed, she still wanted to see the consensus view on Reddit since the bride had so blatantly lied to her and publicly humiliated her.
And the response was swift and baffled. As one user wrote, "I've never been to a wedding where the guests pay for their meal."
Too honest for her own good
Although almost everybody was bewildered by the bride's wedding planning, many did agree the woman shouldn't have stated her intentions to the bride.
Instead, they believed that she should have just sneaked off to McDonald's without telling anyone and made an excuse if anyone asked.
Seeing the forest for the trees
But as commenters considered the bride's unprecedented wedding and her rude response, the woman's tact seemed like the least of this scenario's problems.
And they didn't buy the bride's claim that she thought the woman was asking about an attendance fee either.
Lies on top of lies
Not only had they never heard of wedding guests having to pay for their dinner, but even the bridezillas they had encountered never had the gall to charge people just to attend.
As one user put it, "'Attendance Fees' are not a thing at weddings. You asked, and she said there was no cost. The misunderstanding is on her."
The bride did all of this on purpose
In the words of one user, "If there's a food fee, she should have told you, or it should have been clarified in the invitation."
The fact that she didn't — and her invention of an unprecedented "attendance fee" to justify and obfuscate this decision — made the wedding seem like a bizarre scam.
The invitation itself becomes fishy
Considering how the bride's wedding was structured and how deliberately she seemed to trap her guests into an awkward situation, commenters started to wonder if this ruse was the reason for the woman's invitation in the first place.
As one person noted, "I'm guessing the reason you were invited was to fill out numbers when her other guests refused to pay to attend her wedding."
Back at the office
This person also warned the woman about the possibility of the bride bringing her personal grievances to work.
They advised preparing a statement for management explaining the situation in the event any professional retaliation occurs.
The woman explains
After enough people asked why she told the bride she was going to McDonald's, she said she didn't want to be "caught lying."
As she continued, "She was also going around asking the few people who didn't order why they weren't eating, so I figured I'd rather be straight-up."
Total absolution
Once this detail came to light, it was hard for people not to feel as though the bride was shaking people down. As such, there was no way for the woman not to upset the bride aside from spending money she didn't have.
Or, in one person's words, "Okay, so, good news; the meltdown wasn't your fault."
