Bride Wants to Seat Her Fiancé's Grandma at the Back of Wedding Ceremony Due to Her 'Off-Putting' Cough
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11/13/2024 05:30 PM
"[She] has this disgusting cough and does not try to cover it, nor try to hold anything back, even if it's a special moment," the bride wrote on Reddit
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A bride and groom at a church wedding (stock image)A bride is considering seating her fiancé's grandmother in the back at their wedding ceremony because she's concerned her cough will disrupt the day.
In a post on Reddit's wedding planning forum, the bride began by admitting that she feels like "a bad person" for her stance on the issue but explained that her future grandmother-in-law has "this disgusting cough."
Making matters worse, she "does not try to cover it, nor try to hold anything back, even if it's a special moment." The bride said she has already had an unpleasant experience with the grandmother's cough.
"When my fiancé and I got engaged, she coughed the phlegmy-est cough, pretty much directly into my eyeballs, as we were announcing the news," she recalled.
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Wedding guests seated in pews (stock image)Now that the wedding is approaching, the bride is keen to prevent the grandmother's cough from spoiling her special day. "I want to sit her at the back of the ceremony and far away from us during the reception because it's genuinely so off-putting. I also want to keep her away from my brand new nephew who's at higher risk of issues from infections," she wrote.
"Apparently it's nasal drip that causes her issues, and while I do feel bad she has to live with it, she's also not always been that kind to me and I don't want to be reminded of nasal drip every 5 minutes," she added.
The bride concluded her post by asking the Reddit community how she should "approach" the dilemma and whether she is "just being an a------."
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Many commenters offered the advice that the bride should let her fiancé step in and delicately handle the situation with his own grandmother. "This has to come from your fiancé, not you. The family could take offense having it come from you, so I would have a discussion with your fiancé on how to approach this," one person wrote.
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Chairs set up for a wedding ceremony (stock image)"Grandparents are traditionally front row (or second row) at weddings, so it may need to be a delicate conversation to explain why it's preferred she sit in the back," they added.
"Have hubby take grandma aside privately and explain that for the wedding HE really hopes she can quiet her cough," someone else wrote, suggesting that the fiancé encourage his grandmother to "take a non-drowsy antihistamine" or other similar remedy prior to the wedding. "Any tickle in her throat should be muffled and any cough should be covered under her elbow to soften the sound."
Still, other people told the bride to just let the issue go.
"Sounds like it isn't contagious, so there's not much to do. Have compassion for her health. I'm sure she wishes she didn't have a nasty cough at all times," one Redditor commented.
"She's a grandma and she's sick," another person chimed in. "I don't think you can make her change."
