The Last Straw
When she walked in and saw that awful woman writhing around with her wedding dress, she could barely believe her eyes. She’d put up with her demands, endless nitpicking, and personal insults for months -- this was the very last straw.
What she’d been caught doing was so disturbing that it put an end to all the bride’s wedding plans. But what could the future mother-in-law have done that was so terrible?
Wedding Plans
Every woman hopes to have a happy and healthy relationship with their future mother-in-law. Tracey Rhode was no different.
After dating for a year, the love of her life, Rick, finally proposed. Of course, Tracey said “yes,” and happily began with the wedding preparations. Everything seemed to be falling into place in the year leading up to her big day. But Tracey had no idea that a certain someone was determined to get in the way.
The Perfect Dress
Naturally, Tracey had dreamed about her wedding dress since she was a little girl. It was her day, after all, and she wanted to look perfect. She was smitten with one particular dress with a gorgeous, sheer back and beautiful beading detail.
Even though the price came to a whopping $11,000, she dipped into her savings and ordered it from Galia Lahiav -- a prestigious and world-renowned designer of luxury bridal gowns. Of course, she never imagined that this dress would be at the center of an incident that ultimately ended her wedding.
Destination Wedding
Rick and Tracey wanted their wedding to be a unique and memorable occasion. They agreed that, instead of holding the ceremony close to home, they wanted to splash out and have a destination wedding.
“We’re planning to be married in December in Colombia and of course, I’m beyond pumped,” Tracey wrote on Reddit. “It’s going to be a destination wedding for us, and I was very happy that I was able to talk him into having one.” But when Gina, Rick’s mother, heard about it, she couldn’t help herself.
Endless Criticism
Gina immediately made it very clear that she wasn’t on board with Tracey and Rick’s plans to get married so far away from home. She made a point of complaining about the fact that “no one speaks English” in Columbia, and then went out of her way to criticize their choice.
She complained about every aspect of the wedding, from safety to how much it would cost their guests to get there. Although her complaints seemed valid on the surface, Tracey was beginning to think that Gina was concerned about more than just their wedding plans.
No Pleasing Her
Tracey was beginning to suspect that there was no pleasing her future mother-in-law. She had a feeling that Gina would have found a way to oppose her wedding plans, no matter the location. It was no secret that Gina and Tracey had never really seen eye-to-eye.
“I always knew that she wasn’t really my biggest fan,” Tracey confessed. “She’s polite and very ‘fake’ friendly.” But Tracey was learning that it wasn’t just a personality clash that was driving her future mother-in-law’s behavior.
The Problem
At the root of Tracey and Gina’s problematic dynamic was Rick, who regards both women as the most important people in his life.
Tracey noticed fairly early on that the relationship between Rick and his mother was rather… unusual. “She’ll do things like sit on my fiance’s lap, or tuck his hair behind his ear, and cut his food for him,” she wrote. “On one occasion I actually saw her actually feed him….in public.”
A Request
For Tracey, getting to the bottom of the issue between Gina and herself before the wedding was very important. She didn’t want any nasty surprises from her future mother-in-law before the day of her wedding.
So, Tracey asked her fiancé to step in and have a word with his mother. Thankfully, it seemed to work and Gina ceased her strange behavior. After that, Tracey did her utmost to limit Gina’s involvement in the wedding plans. Then she learned that Gina was complaining about being excluded to Ric -- behind her back. It wasn’t long before the situation reached a boiling point.
Setting Boundaries
Tracey had a heart-to-heart with her fiancé, asking him to have a firm talk with his mother. She reiterated how important it was for them to set some boundaries.
This put Rick in a difficult position, but he knew he had to do something to put his fiancé at ease. After all, she was the woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with. “To my fiancé’s credit, once I told him that I thought that was beyond weird, it never happened again,” she said. As far as she knew, anyway.
The Day It Came To A Head
The day that saw Gina and Tracey’s relationship completely blow up had started as an ordinary day. Tracey and Rick had invited Gina over to excitedly show her their new home.
The house signified a new chapter in their lives and they expected Gina to be excited for them, too. However, as soon as she stepped in the front door, the criticism began -- with most of it being directed at Tracey.
Snide Remarks
As soon as she walked in, Gina only had nasty things to say. She began by chastising Tracey about the engagement ring that Rick had picked out for her. She gawked and gasped that there were “children starving in Africa,” and that “people die for these rocks.”
According to her, the ring was over-the-top and a completely unnecessary waste of money. Tracey quickly corrected her, patiently explaining that the stone was, in fact, moissanite -- far cheaper than a genuine diamond. But once Gina got started, there was no stopping her.
"Extravagant"
Instead of being happy for the couple and their new home, she leveled scathing criticism at Tracey. Again, she was annoyed by how much money had been spent.
She said that the house “‘is an extravagant display of wealth and just ‘isn’t us,'” Tracey recounted. Again, Tracey explained that the house was, in fact, a townhouse, and they had been able to purchase it at a bargain price. But even after all the venom, Gina wasn’t done.
Insult To Injury
After attacking Tracey’s engagement ring and the couple’s new home, Gina decided it was time to get personal. What she said next left Tracey reeling. In an extraordinary display of self-constraint, Tracey kept her cool when Gina made a snide comment about her weight.
“You’re getting fat,” she spat, “you need to watch those calories so you can fit into your dress!” Then, Gina proceeded to tell Tracey about how well her own diet was going, bragging about how svelte and chic she was going to look at the wedding. But, of course, it didn’t end there.
What Was Her Problem?
Tracey was deeply offended by her future mother-in-law’s comments, but this wasn’t the first time Gina had stepped over the line.
In fact, she made a point of constantly demeaning and berating Tracey in front of her son. Despite her obvious contempt for her son’s fiancé, Gina made a show of keeping in contact with Tracey. But Tracey had always suspected that there was more to the whole situation…
Diffusing the Situation
Rick, seeing that the animosity between his mother and fiancé was escalating, valiantly swooped in to diffuse the situation.
“Love, please help me put the bed in the spare bedroom together?” he asked. Tracey, relieved to be taken away from Gina, happily complied -- leaving her future mother-in-law to her own devices. But, when Tracey walked into the master bedroom just half an hour later, she couldn’t believe what Gina was doing.
An Unbelievable Sight
Tracey walked into the bedroom to use the en-suite bathroom and spied Gina doing something so audacious that she completely lost it. Lo and behold, her future mother-in-law was standing there, trying to squeeze into Tracey’s wedding dress!
“What do I find but Future MIL struggling to yank my dress over her head BUT WAS FREAKING STUCK,” she wrote on Reddit. “I blurted out “what the heck?!” and she immediately started stammering “Oh my God! OH MY GOD! OH GOD!” And, from there, the situation only got worse.
"Take It Off!"
Tracey didn’t have the time to even process what was happening to her beautiful Galia Lahav wedding gown. She ran over and ordered Gina to take it off, immediately!
But Gina was completely and utterly stuck. “At that point, my number one concern was her tearing the sheer backing of my dress, so I rushed over to help her,” she explained. Then, the unthinkable happened.
The Result
After struggling to get Gina out of her expensive dress, the end results were completely devastating.
“It was all for nothing as she managed to scratch her way through the back of the dress and completely destroy the sheer material,” Tracey wrote. “She burst the side zipper of the dress and got a dirty footprint on the train.” Tracey couldn’t believe what was happening.
Trying Not To Scream
Tracey stood and stared in utter disbelief. Her gorgeous gown was destroyed. All she could do was hold her face in her hands and try not to scream.
After all the nastiness she had endured from her future mother-in-law, this was the worst thing she could have done. What had she been thinking?! Furious and shaking, Tracey asked Gina why she had done it. If the situation had made her furious, the answer only enraged her more.
Why Did She Do It?
Tracey demanded an answer. This time, Gina had gone too far. “She responded that she was just trying to make sure the dress would fit me; because if the dress fit her, then it absolutely fit me too,” she wrote.
“If it didn’t fit her, then I obviously had some work to do.” But the answer didn’t check out. Tracey had obviously had the dress professionally fitted before she bought it. But what would Rick say about his mother’s appalling behavior?
"So Wrong"
Well, both Tracey and Rick were highly “disturbed” by the whole incident.
“Mostly because I doubt she was trying to just try on the dress for funsies; there was also a bouquet of dried flowers on the bed that wasn’t there before,” Tracey wrote. “I think [she] was actually trying to pretend she was the bride…which for so many reasons, is so wrong.” But, unfortunately, Gina’s behavior only got worse from there.
Another Blow
Now, it was more than reasonable for Tracey to expect Gina to pay for the damage she had done to the designer dress. But Tracey was in for another surprise.
“She hasn’t offered to pay for any of the repairs to the dress. A section of the train is ripped,” she vented on Reddit. “I have no idea how much it’s going to cost until I can get to the seamstress tomorrow.” But even after all Gina had done that day, she still wasn’t done.
No Remorse
When Tracey confronted Gina about paying for the damage that she had done, she unbelievably tried to shift the blame onto Tracey. She said that she shouldn’t have spent so much on a dress to begin with!
“In the meantime, in lieu of an apology, she’s lecturing me on spending so much money on a wedding dress,” Tracey wrote. “Clearly, the trouble she had getting into the dress was a sign to get something less dramatic and ostentatious.” That was the final straw for Tracey. She needed a plan.
Seeking Advice
Tracey took to Reddit once more -- but this time she was seeking legal advice. She asked the online community about whether it was feasible and reasonable for her to take legal action against her future mother-in-law.
In her mind, she deserved some sort of compensation for the damage to her wedding dress. “I know it’s just a dress, but this goes beyond the dress,” she wrote. Many users encouraged her to take action, but many shared their own opinions about Gina’s shocking behavior.
Comments Pour in
Soon enough, the Reddit post went viral, attracting many comments and reactions from the online community.
“This may be a bit scorched earth, but I would personally tell her that either she pays for the repairs, or she is uninvited,” one person wrote. Many expressed their disgust at the incident. One person even claimed that what Gina did made them throw up. But was Tracey able to get some sort of justice? And did she end up getting the happy ending she deserved?
Uninvited
After a couple of months of uncertainty, Tracey once again took to Reddit. Having previously asked Rick to tell Gina that she was uninvited to the wedding, Tracey later learned that he had caved in and gone back on his word.
Although they have canceled the wedding, the couple are still together and want to make it work. “I want to be able to go the distance with him, but while she is in the picture I just don’t think I can,” she said.
An Update
A few months passed and Tracey was ready to update Reddit users once again about the situation surrounding her fiance’s mother. One positive thing she was able to take away from the time that had passed was that Rick seemed to be keeping his distance from Gina, as promised.
“My fiance has kept his end of the bargain; he’s had no contact with FMIL,” she wrote. “How do I know? I’m religiously checking his accounts.” However, things have also taken a turn for the worse…
Nightmare Mother-In-Law
Tracey was also quick to share how Gina has continued to act inappropriately, in a variety of ways. For example, she is incessantly trying to contact Tracey.
Some examples include missed calls during the early hours, finding “nasty notes” under her door and text messages. “Fiance and I typically go shopping on Wednesday nights,” she wrote. “Guess who was waiting for us in the parking lot at 7 PM? We didn’t get out of the car after we saw her pacing around the entrance.”