He No Longer Wants To Pay For His Son’s Wedding After Finding Out His Stepson’s Excluded From The Guest List
This 52-year-old man has two sons, a 28-year-old named Alex and a 26-year-old, Jake.
However, Alex is his biological son from his first marriage; meanwhile, Jake is technically his stepson from his wife’s past relationship.
He and his wife, who is 48, tied the knot while both of their sons were just teens, and they tried their best to blend their families.
“But Alex and Jake never really bonded. They were civil, but there was always tension, mostly from Alex, who felt like I was replacing him when I remarried,” he detailed.
That’s why he always made sure to treat both of his sons equally. He footed the bill for both of their college tuitions and helped them both get their first cars.
He also views Jake as his own son, and his wife looks at Alex the same way.
Now that Alex is currently engaged and planning a large wedding, though, it’s become clear that his son still holds some resentment toward Jake.
That is because he recently found out Alex has actually opted not to invite Jake to the event at all, and he’s since begun considering pulling his financial support unless his stepson is included in the celebration.
To provide some context, a few months ago, Alex approached him and asked for some money to help fund the nuptials. He was happy to lend a hand and provided a nice chunk of change to pay for most of the wedding expenses.
opolja – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
Afterward, he and Alex had regular meetings regarding the planning, and everything was fine until just last week – when he saw the guest list and realized Jake’s name was missing.
He obviously asked Alex about that, but his son only shrugged and stated that he didn’t want Jake there.
“I was shocked and asked for an explanation, but Alex wouldn’t give me one. He simply said it was his wedding, and he didn’t feel obligated to invite anyone he didn’t want there,” he recalled.
He tried to point out how Jake was part of the family, and it would cause unnecessary drama by excluding him. Nonetheless, Alex didn’t seem to care – claiming that he and Jake were never close and that he didn’t want to “fake” a relationship on his wedding day.
So, Alex wound up saying that the plan was to have a smaller event without any awkwardness, and he could accept that or not.
This made him question his own role in the planning, as he didn’t feel comfortable funding an event where Jake was left out without a clear cause.
After he said that to his son, Alex apparently became defensive and claimed it wasn’t fair of him to use the money as an excuse to control the guest list.
“Alex accused me of never putting him first and always favoring Jake, which I found completely unfair considering everything I’ve done for him,” he revealed.
His wife has obviously heard about the drama, too, and she is extremely upset. She supposedly believes Alex is trying to punish them for getting married and merging their families.
As for Jake, his stepson is staying out of the drama.
“But I can tell he’s hurt. Jake’s acting like it doesn’t bother him, but I know it does,” he explained.
“He’s never caused any problems and has always been respectful of Alex’s space.”
Regardless, with him and Alex at an impasse over this, Alex’s fiancée ended up calling him and attempting to mediate the situation. According to her, Alex is just stressed and overwhelmed with the wedding coming up.
Plus, she begged him not to take back his money because the venue and vendors were already booked.
“She said she understood how I felt but also reminded me that this was Alex’s day, not a family reunion,” he noted.
The rest of his family is divided on this as well. Some relatives think he’s overstepping and should let Alex decide the details of his own wedding, while others agree that he has a right to stand up for Jake.
“I’m torn. I don’t want to damage my relationship with Alex, but I also feel like this is a slap in the face to Jake and our entire family,” he vented.
This has left him wondering if refusing to pay for Alex’s wedding anymore unless Jake is included would be the wrong thing to do or not.
How would you navigate this sticky situation? Should Alex get to choose who’s invited to his nuptials?
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