Uncle Praised for Walking out of Niece's Wedding and Retracting Her Gift

A man has been praised for taking back his niece's wedding gift and leaving the reception early.

Weddings are meant to be a happy occasion where families can come together to celebrate, but, in this particular case, it appeared to have the opposite effect. In a viral Reddit post, user Illustrious-Sun9714 wrote that he went to his 22-year-old niece's wedding and that the "family is blowing up with drama" following the event.

The 45-year-old uncle added that the Catholic wedding ceremony was at 3:30 p.m. The reception would be held at a brewery about 15 minutes away from the church and was due to start at 5 p.m.

When the service ended at 4:30 p.m., everyone was told to go to the venue, but the young newlyweds decided against having family in the wedding party.

By 5:45 p.m., the bride and groom had still not appeared, and the wedding coordinator was also getting upset as there was no food or drinks for the 150 guests who were "all standing around."

The uncle wrote: "Someone was able to get a hold of the maid of honor around this point and apparently the bride and groom told the limo driver to stop at a liquor store and then drive around on the highway for an hour so the wedding party could get trashed. At around six, the maid of honor said they should be arriving in the next 20 minutes.

"My wife and I looked at each other and said 'we are out.' We thought it was horribly disrespectful for them to do that to all their guests," the uncle added. "I told my brother that we were leaving and taking the gift with us. He tried to plead by saying 'they're just kids, let them have fun' but I was having none of it."

The Reddit user wrote: "A few days after, I got an apology text from [my] niece followed by an ask for the gift again. I said that I felt very disrespected and I didn't want to give a gift anymore. She snapped and called me an *******."

Wedding expert and editor at Hitched.co.uk Zoe Burke told Newsweek: "I would say that you're well within your rights to leave a wedding early if you're not enjoying it. You're invited, and there is no obligation to stay for the whole thing. There are lots of reasons why you might want or need to leave early, but to take back your gift is quite rude.

"A gift is not given in exchange for an invite. It's not a transaction. Even if you can't attend the wedding, or aren't invited, if you like the couple, it's polite to send a gift or a card. To take it home because the experience wasn't enjoyable can come across as petty and can cause rifts.

"When hosting a wedding, it's really important to set the expectations for your guests, especially if you aren't following a traditional setup. Make sure everyone knows what the plan is. Wedding websites and orders of service are great for this. Think about how it will flow for your guests," Burke added.

"You might not want to follow the traditional aspects or need to cut some corners, but it's polite to make sure that your guests are looked after, comfortable, and know what's happening. That is the base of being a good host."

The average cost of a wedding in 2022 was estimated to be $30,000, which represented a $2,000 increase from the year before. This was according to the wedding planning website The Knot.

Since being shared on Thursday, July 20, the post has been upvoted more than 15,000 times and attracted over 2,500 comments. The overwhelming majority of those who wrote under the post were supportive of the uncle's decision.

EmpressJainaSolo posted: "While I would have probably left the gift I don't blame you for taking it. What they did was incredibly selfish and disrespectful."

E_hatt_swank added: "I'm fascinated by this. How did she ask for the gift? Like I'm trying to picture in my head how that conversation would go, and I just can't do it. 'I am so sorry, our behavior was thoughtless and inconsiderate. So, are you going to give me the money?' Crazy."

Tytyoreo commented: "They were disrespectful to the guests. They [were] lucky no one else left. People could have had other things to do later that evening."

Newsweek has contacted Illustrious-Sun9714 for comment via email.

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