My MIL Ruins My Honeymoon in the Most Selfish Way Possible

A future MIL used her son’s phone to call the hotel, pretend to be the bride, and sabotage their honeymoon. When confronted, she fumbled through excuses and was finally caught in the lie. What was meant to be a joyful celebration turned into a nightmare of deceit. Now, the internet is urging the couple to go no contact—and for good reason.

She and my FIL were visiting Chicago (where we live) for 10 days to see their son. My fiancé mostly stayed home during their visit to make the most of their time together. A few days ago, after breakfast, MIL asked to borrow his phone for an urgent call to her church, claiming her network was out of range. Nothing about it seemed off, so obviously he handed it over.

Our best guess is that’s when she called the hotel, pretending to be me, and told them we had to cancel because we were postponing our trip. Since the call went from my fiancé’s number, and she claimed to be me, the hotel had no reason to question it. The cancellation went through, and they even sent a confirmation email to his email (which was used at the time of booking).

We’ve been super caught up in the thick of our wedding preparation, so he hasn’t been getting time lately to actively check his emails every day. Then, this morning, while looking through his email inbox for a vendor detail, a hotel cancellation email caught him off guard. For the first half hour, we were absolutely dumbfounded with 1,000 questions on our minds. When we called the reception to check, they informed us of everything that I mentioned above.

They said that I (who apparently called them) even told them the reservation number and check-in dates for final verification. It was a very straightforward answer. It’s MIL, because there has been no one over at our place in the past 10 days who could’ve pretended to be “me” and pulled this off. My SIL and her 6 y/o kid are staying with us because of her marriage issues, but she’s been at her friend’s place for five days now.

When we planned our honeymoon last year, my FIL was the one who suggested this very hotel, so MIL obviously knew about it. But we kept on wondering how she got the reservation details that the reception had asked for. After this, Nathaniel (my fiancé) rang her thrice, but she didn’t answer, so I texted her. She responded like the weirdo she is, and my last message didn’t even get delivered in blue. Three hours later, she finally called us.

She tried to red herring us with her nonsense, but after realizing we were on the verge of disinviting her from the wedding, she finally accepted what she did. When we asked her about the reservation details, she said she got it from Nate’s email when he gave her his phone, unlocked for making the call. The fake story she tried to sell us was that she wanted to surprise us with a honeymoon suite at an even better hotel as a wedding gift.

Of course, none of us bought that nonsense, and Nate counter-questioned her for details of this supposed new hotel. She started fumbling, spat out the name of some godforsaken random hotel in Rome, and dodged the call, saying she’s babysitting our nephew at the moment. We just called the hotel, which is our “wedding present,” and why am I not surprised there’s no room booked under either of our names, let alone a suite.

We tried booking ourselves again at hotel ‘X,’ which we originally booked, and our suite was already gone to the person next in the queue. We tried settling for other rooms, but they said it’s the peak season in Europe, so they can’t accommodate us at the moment and will notify us if something opens up later. I really want to hop on the next flight to Ohio right now and go nuclear on her.

Most commentators sided with the woman, suggesting she go no contact immediately:

• I would never speak to this person again, blood or not. Hopefully, your fiancé sees that too. © Alert-Fee5079 / Reddit

• This was meticulously planned right from asking for the phone, giving an excuse on why she needed the phone, planning on getting the details from the email, and then secretly calling the hotel, pretending to be you.
  All of this was planned well in advance, which tells you how dangerous and wicked she is. There is absolutely no excuse. No matter how good things appear to be in the future, please never trust her. © Vegetable_Tutor_621 / Reddit

• I don’t say this lightly, but this is a case where you 100% need to go no contact with this person. She did this to hurt you. To punish you. Think about that.
  Do you want someone like that in your life? Around your kids/future kids? I get that it’s difficult because it’s family, but what will it take if not this? © Dismal_Rice_7282 / Reddit

• I wouldn’t even marry into this crazy family if it were me... Your husband is behind you 100%? Not making excuses? © Aromatic-Arugula-896 / Reddit

• Honest question: has this made you rethink your relationship? Because my MIL hated me from day one and made my life hell until I divorced her son 13 years later. I’m so happy I’ll never have to deal with her again. © Brilliant-Willow-506 / Reddit

• Yeah, you now have a taste of what your future will be. Cut her off now and ask your fiancé to make a choice. © Bride1234109 / Reddit

Some others worried about the future wedding, claiming that the couple needs to settle on a password with all vendors to avoid any further sabotage:

• Call every wedding vendor, including the officiant and all buildings booked, explain the situation, and have a password to confirm identity. Disinvite her from the wedding and have a couple of big friends watching for her. She WILL try to sabotage more. © Mission-Painter9885 / Reddit

• If she did this before the wedding, imagine all of the evil things she could do to ruin your actual wedding day?!!
  NOR, and you should seriously uninvite her and your SIL, or you will not enjoy your wedding. You’ll be too busy wondering what she’s going to do to sabotage it. © PJpittie / Reddit

• At this point, you need to be 100% more concerned about the sanity of the rest of your married life and 100% less worried about what people think and being polite.
  Uninvite your MIL. This behavior is absolutely only going to escalate. She’s absolutely going to cause drama if she’s there and for the rest of your life together, if this is any indicator. Set boundaries with her immediately. What people think of this or how it looks is not at all important here.
  Call and double-check every single vendor and set up a passcode or code word for any future changes to plans or reservations. She’s absolutely not done, especially once she’s been uninvited. Assume your SIL may join in on the revenge, and be cautious with her, too. © badwolff345 / Reddit

• This sounds like a wonderful thing to crowdsource. On Facebook. And Instagram stories.
  “Hey, y’all! Funny story, Nate’s mom called our honeymoon hotel from his phone while visiting us and canceled it. Sounds like the hotel she was planning to surprise us with doesn’t actually have a reservation under our name. Anyone have any GREAT hotel recommendations over there? Help a bride out! Thanks, friends!”
  Then everyone will also know why she’s not at the wedding 😊 © 10Kfireants / Reddit

Stories like this are sadly not one of a kind. In fact, another mother shared how she once left her daughter with her own mother-in-law for just 30 minutes, thinking it would be a harmless break. But what followed was every parent’s worst fear.