My Wedding is coming up going to invite parents and siblings what to do????

by zamora251978 41 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • sass_my_frass
    sass_my_frass

    Firstly congratulations! And welcome to the board, and I hope that you're having heaps of fun planning what's supposed to be a fun day for you. I recommend you think of it this way; the only thing that can really go wrong is that you don't end up getting married. Everything besides that is just frosting, so just let it go and enjoy yourself.

    Re siblings: my four siblings didn't come to my wedding, and that did something to me. I knew they wouldn't be there but I was actually expecting to get say a mobile phone text message from them, just quietly wishing me a good day. Nothing. It was such a special day for me and they weren't there even in thought, even as a sibling privately hoping the best for me. That switched something in me; I stopped thinking of them as people who care about me and realised that they're capable of manipulating my attachment to them to their advantage. They will use this emotional blackmail to draw me back, and don't see anything wrong with that. Since that day I have rejected that kind of 'love', and I don't want people who would treat us that way in our lives. I don't think they'll ever understand that what they're doing is achieving the exact opposite of what they were going for.

    Re handling your mum: give her something to do with the wedding. She wants to feel involved, and as if her opinion is important. Ask her opinion on things - you don't have to go with her suggestions but it will make her feel valued; just on the details that mums seem to get hung up on; cake, dress, hair, makeup, music, menu, that kind of thing.

    My mum has done the flowers for every JW wedding in her circuit for twenty years so it was an easy way to get her into it, although I found that she was far less involved than I thought she would be, and didn't really give a stuff. It turned out a couple of years later that they were upset that my getting married was 'presented to them as a fait accomplis'; I hadn't asked them if I could get married, I just told them I was. I was in my thirties and hadn't lived with them for ten years, but they still wanted a say in my life. It was such a warped situation and the disfellowshipping possibility came up within seconds of my telling them that I was engaged, so there was never an appropriate time for Mr Frass to 'ask for their permission' as people like my parents still consider it necessary. Apparently they didn't really get over that.

  • Hortensia
    Hortensia

    My mother and her husband came to my wedding, wouldn't enter the church so watched the wedding through the window. How do you think that looked to the "worldly people" at the wedding? However, my friends are nice folks and they all just thought it was more JW strangeness.

  • Scully
    Scully

    It sounds as though you are anticipating a negative response from them.

    If they say they aren't going to come, no matter how nasty they are, tell them "I'm sorry you won't be able to attend, but I respect your choice. Thanks for calling to let me know personally. It's been nice talking to you." *click*

    Keep it short and sweet. Keep it calm and professional. If they want to pitch a fit, let them, but don't be drawn into the drama.

  • Trevanian
    Trevanian

    Lu, I wish you a truly wonderful day.

    Have fun.

    Love your husband as hard as you can.

  • sass_my_frass
    sass_my_frass
    I'm sorry you won't be able to attend, but I respect your choice

    ... everything but 'I respect your choice'. Nobody would respect their choice.

  • Scully
    Scully
    ... everything but 'I respect your choice'. Nobody would respect their choice.

    True, but when we tell them that, and reinforce that this is "their" choice, the problem remains theirs and makes it somewhat easier to not get drawn in to the emotional guilt trips etc. that they try to put on us. And it defuses the potential for a heated confrontation, because they are expecting that the non-JW family member is going to beg and plead and carry on in order to get them to attend, only to use the opportunity to berate life choices and try to make the non-JW family member feel as horrible as they possibly can. Acknowledging that it is "their choice" and respecting their right to choose the way they do, effectively pours water on the flames instead of gasoline.

    This also applies to the things that happen at the wedding and after the wedding:

    Like, when it comes time to send wedding photos and they aren't on the list of recipients: it was their choice to miss out on the event itself, so why would they want to observe it vicariously by way of photographs?

    Or when someone asks why aren't the parents in attendance? It was their choice to put their religious principles ahead of this important milestone in their child's life.

    This makes them rightly appear to others as the fanatics, since they were the ones unable to open their hearts to their own child and be happy for them and enjoy this occasion with them. Additionally, it puts the accountability for the emotional abuse squarely where it belongs: on the abuser, not on the subject of their abuse.

  • sass_my_frass
    sass_my_frass

    Indeed. I just try to avoid saying anything that validates their position or hints at something they're desperate for; they want the respect and admiration of outsiders for 'taking a stand' and they actually think they have it. The easiest way to disarm my parents is to tell them what Mr Frass and his family think of the way my siblings treat me.

    But that wasn't the question here and in a situation like this I shouldn't be worrying the bride with semantics. Deliver the invitation, smile, be cheerful, leave. If they tell you they won't be there, smile, thank them for the rsvp, tell them it's a shame that they made that decision but you know that there's nothing you can do to change their mind, and end the conversation. When they want out, let them out. They want us to beg them to stay. To do that you'd need to want them to.

  • unbeliever
    unbeliever

    I sometimes wonder why xjw's subject themselves to this kind of mental abuse. I have read your past posts and if I were in your position they would not get an invite from me. They would read about it in the local newspaper.

  • jgnat
    jgnat

    I wonder why you want to hand deliver the invitation? It might be opening you up to more nastiness.

    I do notice that JW parents try and drag out the torture. After all, you are supposed to be "punished" and feel "bad" that you are doing all this outside the organization. I've noticed JW parents will sometimes accept the invitation and then shortly before the day of the event, pull out for "conscience" reasons. Or they may ask for conditions for attendance. Or boycott if this or that person will be there. I say all this to prepare you for what might happen. Don't get pulled in to any of it. Either they are coming or they are not. Either way, you will have a great day.

    Knowing that they may or may not show up, and that they could change their minds at any time, I'm hoping you can just lay aside that hope and look forward to the great people who WILL be at the wedding and WILL support you and your fiancee through it all.

    Remember, this wedding is not about THEM. Don't let it be about THEM.

  • lisavegas420
    lisavegas420
    I'm sorry you won't be able to attend, but I respect your choice

    ... everything but 'I respect your choice'. Nobody would respect their choice.

    what about..."I'm sorry you won't be able to attend, maybe next time" My parents didn't come to my wedding, Well, I didn't really invite them the first two times, but the third time I did, they said the had more important things to do. (They took my brothers to Watchtower Building, she said, "We have to show them what's important", whatever, neither one of my brothers attend the meetings anymore, and I'm still married to number three 15 years later) Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. lisa

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