Teen Backed for Refusing to Give Stepsister Her Mom's Wedding Dress

A teenager's panic over her stepsister's insistence on wearing her mother's wedding gown has won the sympathy of the internet.

The 16-year-old's mother wore the dress while marrying her late father, she said in Reddit's "Am I The A**hole" forum on Monday, quickly garnering 11,700 votes.

"My dad passed away shortly after I was born, leaving my mom in mountains of debt," the teen wrote. "The one thing she refused to sell was her wedding dress. She always talked about how it was her dream for me to get married wearing her dress or at least her veil."

Her dad had the dress handmade and designed for her mother before their wedding, said the teen. When her mother remarried a man named Brad last year, she still wouldn't sell the dress, buying a new dress for her second wedding.

Brad's 26-year-old daughter Tessa recently became engaged, the teen said. While discussing her wedding with the family, Tessa suggested wearing the long-treasured dress, proposing that it would "save us so much money."

"My mom brought up the fact that she wasn't comfortable with that since she was saving the dress for me," said the Redditor. "But Brad said my mom should agree since she now has two wedding dresses and I can wear the other one."

Although her mom was still unconvinced, Brad pulled the dress out of storage and handed it to Tessa.

The teen said, "I freaked out and grabbed the dress out of her hands. I told her she wasn't allowed to wear my mom's dress and that she can get her own mom's dress or buy her own but she wasn't allowed to wear the dress my mom is saving for me."

Running to her room, the girl locked herself in together with the dress. Her mom texted and called her to come out all day, while Brad called her "spoiled and selfish." Tessa cried outside, demanding an apology from her stepsister and asking for the dress back.

"I just can't let some stranger wear the only thing of my dad I have left," said the girl.

Internet readers were stirred by the teen's emotional attachment to a piece of clothing that represented her late father and a family lost to her, replaced by "strangers."

"It's sentimental to you, and Brad is really over here trying to bully your mom into ignoring your feelings," said a comment with 21,000 votes.

"She is trying to pull a power move," another reader agreed. "Sneak the dress out to someone you can trust to hold onto it for you. Your mum needs to take the lead here and tell them no. Shut the argument down."

The average cost of a wedding dress in 2021 was $1,800, according to a survey from the wedding planning website The Knot. Most female respondents—93 percent—said they bought a new dress for their wedding.

In total, the average wedding in the U.S. last year cost $28,000, or $34,000 including the engagement ring, reported The Knot. For comparison, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) put the national average wage in 2021 at $58,260.

The extravagant costs and high emotional pressures tied to weddings can notoriously strain family relationships, as demonstrated by stories that regularly captivate the internet.

Earlier this month, a furious bride went viral for uninviting her sister-in-law from her nuptials after the relative damaged her wedding dress during a seizure. Meanwhile, a teenager sparked fury in June for hosting a party in which a drunk friend tried on and ruined her sister's wedding dress.

Newsweek reached out to u/-Sun-2462 for comment.