My Brother Proposed at My Wedding, a Year Later I Got Revenge on Him

Proposing at someone’s wedding is a popular but controversial practice. Some people think that such a gesture is “special”, others think that it takes away from the bride and groom’s day. This is what has happened to a Reddit user. He was angry to watch a proposal at his wedding but didn’t miss his chance for revenge.

What has happened?

My brother had mentioned he wanted to propose at my wedding. I firmly declined, explaining it was a day for my wife and me, and we didn’t want any distractions.

My mom exploded. She argued he wanted distant family to witness the proposal. I didn’t care and warned him he’d be asked to leave if he went ahead.

He did it anyway. My mom threatened to leave if I kicked him out.

I was seething.

At my brother’s wedding last weekend, instead of a typical toast, I announced we were expecting our first baby.

My mom was upset, but my grandmother silenced her. We spent much of the reception discussing our coming baby with family we hadn’t seen in a while.

Later, my mom accused me of stealing attention from my brother. She was furious when I reminded her of her threat to leave my wedding. I have the text messages to prove it.

The story went viral online.

The author’s post went viral on Reddit and gathered more than 40k comments. Most of the users supported him:

• It’s blatantly obvious which one of you is the golden child. Good job to Grandma for shutting Mom down. But your bro! He asked, and you said no, he did it anyway. What did his wife say when she found out he didn’t get your permission to ask? cthulularoo / Reddit
• Personally, if a guy proposed during a wedding, I would feel cheated out of my own special day. He proposed on someone else’s dime instead of doing it on his own. Also, all of HIS family was there, but hers wasn’t and someone’s in-laws were there too... weird. KSknitter / Reddit
• As much as I love my husband, if he had proposed to me in public, I would have run away and never spoken with him again. I hate being the focus of attention, the bad or good kind. I didn’t even want to go up on stage to accept my diploma. I would never have wanted a private subject to be brought up in public.
  Fortunately, we spoke about that way in advance, and he respected my concerns. Proposing in public feels so manipulative, as if putting pressure on the one being proposed to would guarantee an acceptance. Ick, just ick. LoosenGoosen / Reddit

However, some netizens think no one is right in this situation:

• You’re not right for doing something you found rude just to be petty and get back at him. But he’s not nice for violating what you had wanted in the first place with your wedding. Consistent-Syrup-69 / Reddit
• That was bad of him to do, and for your mom to back it. But knowing how that made you feel, you did the same thing. You intentionally made someone feel bad because they made you feel bad.
  They weren’t nice to you, and you were one back. Everyone sucks here. Except Grandma. MarshalTim / Reddit
• I’ll be honest...lol, while I do feel this is more hilarious than anything. Let’s be clear, you intentionally did this, just like your brother did. You aren’t right both, and yes this is just a little petty revenge... but last time I checked petty revenge is a choice, and a bad one at that.
  Honestly, though, people are way too self-absorbed when they care about things like this. Yes, it’s your special day, but it’s also everyone else’s day. Like we don’t own time. That_Possible_3217 / Reddit

In another story, the heroine treated this special day with indifference because the path to the proposal had been excessively challenging for her. She shared her story, seeking reassurance about her lack of emotion after her beloved finally took this step.