Parent Backed For Paying For Daughter's Wedding But Not Son's

A parent has been widely backed after admitting to paying for their daughter's wedding and not their son's.

In a viral post shared on Reddit's "Am I The A******" forum user mookday233 explained they have a son and a daughter.

The commenter said their son was a teenage father and that a lot of their time went into helping the young family which led them not to focus on the daughter.

But the parent admitted to having paid for the daughter's wedding and justified it by helping the son's young family with their child.

The Reddit user then stated this had caused a rift within the family and that the son had been "slandering" his sister and the parent.

They added: "I understand feeling a bit bitter but I've spent way more money keeping his family and him afloat than I have on my daughter's wedding. Honestly paying for her wedding doesn't even seem enough for what I did."

Wedding expert and editor at Hitched.co.uk, told Newsweek that weddings can put enormous strain on a family.

She added: "This is a really tough situation, and I feel for the poster. The context she's given seems fair and valid, but weddings can bring lots of pressure to a family and it can be difficult to see both sides when you're so close to it.

"It is traditional for families to pay for their daughters' weddings, but not their sons— however, this tradition is really outdated, sexist and evidently, the cause of family dramas."

According to the wedding planning website The Knot, the average cost of a wedding in the U.S. in 2022 was $30,000. That represented a $2,000 increase from the year before.

Burke explained that Hitched.co.uk found that the majority of couples get some financial help toward their wedding.

She added: "In a modern world, couples typically pay for the weddings themselves, but our National Wedding Survey revealed that 63 percent of couples received some form of financial contribution for their wedding, from family members or friends. This is actually up 2 percent from the previous year, showing a growing trend.

"With nearly a third of couples saving for a house alongside their wedding, it's easy to see why nearly weds lean on their families to help them fund it all. Millennials are the first generation to be worse off than their parents and with the cost of living spiraling, it can be hard to afford it all.

"I would recommend broaching the subject of financial support early on—on both sides! If you plan to ask your parents for wedding money, do so politely and with no obligations or expectations. If you're the ones being asked for money, offering it or not, make sure you have your boundaries in place and explain why you can or can't do it. If everyone approaches it calmly with good reasons and no expectations, it doesn't have to turn into a row."

Since being shared on May 7, the post has attracted an estimated 9,700 upvotes and 799 comments.

The overwhelming majority of those who commented on the post supported the parent and their decision.

Reddit user Select-Anxiety-1557, whose comment was upvoted more than 29,400 times said: "NTA (not the *******). Tell them you used his wedding fund to raise their child for them."

Naive_Possibility668 added: "The son sounds really unappreciative of how OP (original poster) has contributed to their everyday life."

Reginaa-Phalange commented: "Paying for the daughter's wedding is a B******* tradition but raising and paying for a child for one kid and paying for a wedding for another is more than fair."

Newsweek has contacted mookday233 for comment via Reddit.

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