A bride in the US was left in tears after family members ordered pizza instead of eating the ‘gourmet’ vegan meal served at her wedding.
The 28-year-old bride took to the popular ‘AITAH’ thread on Reddit recently to ask if she was the ‘a**hole’ for not informing guests beforehand that the reception meal would be completely vegan.
The bride and her 30-year-old husband have been vegan for three years and spent months working with an “amazing chef” to create a costly five-course meal that included mushroom wellington, truffle risotto and vegetable tarts, among other items.
“We deliberately didn’t mention the food was vegan on the invitations because we wanted people to enjoy it without prejudice. Every dish was designed to be delicious and satisfying, regardless of dietary preference,” the bride said on Reddit.
However during the reception she noticed that her brother wasn’t at his table, and 20 minutes later she watched in horror as he and her cousin walked in with 20 large pizzas, which they then shared among guests, announcing they had “real food for anyone who wants it”.
Guests then began to take photos and treat it like a joke.
“I was mortified. The caterers looked so embarrassed, and several guests hadn’t even tried our carefully planned menu yet. When I confronted Tom, he said my aunt had texted him that ‘all the food is just vegetables’ and they ‘couldn’t let people go hungry at a wedding’.”
“I ended up crying in the bathroom, and my husband asked Tom and the cousins to leave. This caused a scene, and now half the family is calling us stuck-up and saying we ruined our own wedding by ‘pushing our beliefs’ on everyone. They’re saying we should have warned people about the vegan menu,” the bride said.
While many Reddit users agreed that ordering pizzas at someone else’s wedding was out of line, most respondents (some of whom were also vegans) criticised the bride for not revealing beforehand that the menu would be 100% vegan.
“Honestly, there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to serve a vegan meal at your wedding, but you didn’t disclose that because you KNEW folks were going to have responses to it. A heads up would have been the right move here,” said one user.
“Such a clever move to keep it a secret. How did that work out for you? Total d**k move by Tom and The Cousins tho,” said another.
A self-confessed ‘carnivore’ also weighed in: “Carnivore here. I absolutely do not need to be ‘warned’ that a meal I’m invited to doesn’t contain meat. I’ll try whatever food is on offer. Sometimes people give me food I don’t care for. That’s fine. I appreciate the hospitality. I’ll live through a meal I wouldn’t have chosen.”
Another user added: “You tried to trick them, they tricked you. But how hard is it to eat a vegan meal once in your life!?!?”
