Buckle up, besties, because you're in for a tale.
Recently, Redditor u/Only-Yam1500 shared a now-deleted post to the AITA subreddit, titled "Am I the asshole for refusing to wet myself for my sister-in-law's wedding?" The post, which made its rounds on Twitter as well, is straight-up wild to read. Here's the story:
"The wedding happened in a little river — and I mean in the river, in the water. The minister, bride (who's my husband's sister), and groom stood on a little strip of land so they were not wet, but all attendants were expected to stand in knee-deep rushing water for the whole ceremony. I'm sure it made for great photos, but I personally really dislike mud, germs, insects, and whatever diseases are found in that stream."
"The kids who couldn't easily stand in water that might be as tall as their whole body was left in ankle-deep water nearby with a couple older women. When I refused to remove my shoes, socks, and pull up my dress pants, my husband offered that I stay with the kids. I said no, I refuse to walk into that water, even if it's 'just' ankle deep. Apparently, most people there knew about the water thing, but I didn't. My husband knew, but claims he 'forgot to tell me.'"
"The ceremony could have easily move forward with me standing on the shore, just a few feet away from the kids, but noooooOOOoo. The bride and groom apparently refused to start until every person was in the water, and my husband waded in the water back and forth between his sister and me to mediate."
"My husband was becoming visibly angry at me the longer it went on and kept acting like I was in the wrong. The bride and groom eventually relented and the ceremony went on, delayed by maybe 30 minutes. At the after party, I felt that I was being avoided by everyone else, including my husband."
"That was nearly two weeks ago. My husband was stone-faced and refusing to talk to me about it or about anything at all for several days. When he started talking again, he refused to address the wedding beyond telling me that I 'humiliated' him in front of his family and he refuses to talk about it any longer. Things like 'I will get really angry if you keep bringing up this topic. Put it to rest and I will try to forget what you did.' BUT I FEEL LIKE I DID NOTHING WRONG! I feel blindsided because if I'd been told in advance what the wedding entailed, I'd have faked a stomach bug and not attended the damn thing at ALL!! Am I the asshole?"
Between Reddit and Twitter, people were certainly not shy to share their opinions. In case you're not familiar with how AITA works, there are four options and what they mean:
YTA means the person who wrote the story is the a-hole. NTA means the writer isn't in the wrong, and someone else in the story is. ESH means everyone sucks here, and everyone is a little in the wrong. And finally, NAH means nobody here is necessarily the a-hole.
Many people called out the husband for not telling her about this obviously crucial detail that the wedding is literally in the middle of a river, possibly hoping that she'd just ~go with the flow~ instead of having to have a confrontation about it:
"NTA. And frankly, I don’t think he forgot to tell you. He purposely didn’t tell you figuring they’d get you to go along with it when you found out in the moment."
"Let’s not forget the fucking BALLS on your husband to not only give you the silent treatment, but to harbor anger towards you for not accepting a stupid fucking wedding demand. If he is still mad at you two weeks later, he’s the one who needs to let it go. Honestly, if anyone is the AH here, it’s your husband who didn’t even give you a chance to not go."
"Major NTA. That's information you need before the wedding. Like, well before the wedding. Firstly, whatever clothes you wear will probably be ruined. Secondly, you need to bring towels and a change of pants. Thirdly, it's perfectly reasonable not to want to stand in river/creek water for any reason at all.
Your spouse is a massive AH for not telling you in advance, and the couple are massive AHs for refusing to go on without you in the water. Don't feel guilty, this is on them (mostly your spouse) and not on you."
Lots of people were simply gobsmacked that this was a actual, literal wedding ceremony idea and that the bride and groom absolutely wouldn't budge on being in the water:
"NTA. It’s one thing to have a wedding by the river, but in it??? And expecting only that the guests should be in the water? That’s too much. They can have their wedding however they want, but not at the inconvenience of the guests. It sounds like your husband didn’t 'forget' to tell you, he refused to because he knew you wouldn’t go."
And finally, some people decided that everyone involved was being a bit of an asshole, TBH:
