Bride Backed for Kicking Sister Out of Engagement Dinner Over Her 'Antics'

A woman has been praised online for kicking her sister out of her engagement dinner because she wouldn't stop taking photos.

In a post on Reddit's popular r/AmITheA****** forum, user u/Different_Maybe_7047 shared details of the argument that had started at her celebration dinner.

"I'm blessed to be marrying the love of my life," wrote the poster. "My engagement party was booked at an upscale restaurant and prior to the day, I sat my sister down and told her that I wanted the party to be focused on the wedding and to please not go above and beyond to take photos for her social media page."

She explained that her sister is an aspiring online influencer and spends much of her time working on this endeavor.

"My sister is trying really hard to become famous online. I've never said anything to her because she's an adult and this is her life, but for my wedding I really didn't want her to pull any of her antics," said the bride-to-be.

"She's the embarrassing (in my opinion) caricature of the perpetually online influencer. She'll order two dishes at a restaurant: one to take photos of because it's prettier, and the second to actually eat. She stopped traffic before to take outfit photos in the street. She also staged fake things to post online—one time she started crying in a Starbucks and made a fake story up about how the barista bullied her."

Influencers are people who create marketing content to sway audiences to make purchase decisions based on their social media activity. Promoting brands in fashion, beauty, experiences, travel, and more, influencer culture has grown with the internet as celebrities, industry experts, bloggers, and other content creators make a living from curating content to sell and promote products.

Today, influencers make thousands from posting videos and photos about their lives on social media. This bride-to-be was sick of her sister's influencer behavior which she said got quickly out of hand.

"I want to make it clear that I did not bar my sister from taking photos. I just didn't want her doing something that would embarrass me," said the poster.

"Everything was OK until she literally stood on top of her chair to take a top-down photo of her meal. Everyone was staring and in shock, and a waiter had to come and ask her to sit down. She refused to, and started to loudly argue with the waiter, saying that she was the sister of the bride, and then started to loudly sob that she was getting bullied," the woman wrote.

Mortified, the bride-to-be had the groomsmen escort her sister out of the room and away from the dinner. Her sister was left upset over being ousted.

"She's since blasted me on social media calling me an a****** for not handling the situation with more 'grace and empathy'. She says that I could have given her a warning instead of kicking her immediately out," said the poster, who then explained, "I was kind of panicking so I wonder if I could have handled it better."

Linda Kaye is a U.K.-based expert in cyberpsychology and has an extensive research background in how the online world impacts our everyday experiences and behavior. She told Newsweek: "One of the challenges around social media is context collapse. When you're on social media, you're speaking to lots of different audiences which often doesn't happen in the real world. Here, you have a disconnect where someone is behaving to an audience that isn't present at the time, and her family finds that really odd."

Kaye explained that social media often creates certain behavioral responses. "With social media, there is an element of self-presentation that is particularly prominent. You're presenting to certain audiences, you've created a following and you're marketing yourself in a specific way," she said. "The way you present online might also be quite different from your real-world behavior or how you typically interact with people like family and friends."

In hundreds of comments, Reddit users backed the bride-to-be and said she was completely reasonable to kick her sister out of the meal.

One user wrote: "She's an attention addict—and the sort that always makes herself out to be the victim when she knows she was the one who effed up."

"She made herself a spectacle for no reason, embarrassed you, and decided basic restaurant etiquette didn't apply to her," said another commenter. "I'm not really sure why a grown woman needs a warning to please not stand on her chair? And plus, she caused a scene and argued like a spoiled baby when the waiter tried to ask her nicely to stop."

Others expressed concern that her behavior may be even worse when the wedding rolled around. "I am wondering if your sister can't even behave for an engagement dinner, how bad will the actual wedding be?" asked one commenter.

"Influencers generally are seen in negative terms in society, and as a result of this, people are more likely to be upset by these behaviors that they might not understand or find odd," said Kaye, who suggested that people struggling with a close friend or family member's behavior as a result of the internet have a frank conversation with them.

"It is a good idea to explain this and what impact this is having on someone," she said. "Giving an explanation about why it is problematic in more specific terms and thinking about the tangible outcome of them not doing it as much. It also helps to be clear on boundaries. You can say, 'This is our time together and I want you to be present.'"

Newsweek reached out to u/Different_Maybe_7047 for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.

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