A bride-to-be has been condemned for firing her best friend as maid of honor after discovering she is pregnant.
All eyes are supposed to be on the bride and groom during a wedding day. However, this soon-to-be-married woman said she was concerned her friend's baby bump would end up stealing the limelight—so took drastic action.
Writing in a post shared to Reddit's "Am I The A**hole?" subreddit, the woman explained how her friend of 17 years revealed she was "six months pregnant" during a meeting with her fellow bridesmaids to "finalize the wedding plans."
While the other bridesmaids rushed to congratulate her, the would-be bride was not so forthcoming. "I felt a little uneasy as to how she will steal my thunder during the wedding since 95 percent of my guests know her," she explained.
Despite her friend insisting to the others that the occasion "isn't about her," the bride contacted her later that day to say she "was upset" with her for keeping it a secret and expressed concerns it would "steal" her "thunder" during the wedding.
Though her friend sought to reassure her that "all focus" would be on the bride, she decided to take drastic action.
"I told her that I don't want her in the wedding as she will steal the show and will definitely look very pregnant walking down the aisle and might not be able to run her maid of honor duties," she wrote.
Not only that, she uninvited her friend from the wedding entirely. Though her now ex-maid of honor insisted it was "fine" in the days that followed, several of the other bridesmaids pulled out saying they didn't want to be part of the wedding where she had uninvited her best friend.
It subsequently emerged that they discovered her planned snub after meeting with the friend to plan a "surprise" bachelorette party and they were far from impressed. "Now, most of my bridesmaids wont be a part of my wedding and they're calling a selfish mean b**** just because I don't want her to steal my thunder," she wrote.
It would appear that the bridesmaids were not alone in their disdain for the soon-to-be-married woman's actions either. Responding to her story on Reddit, which has garnered over 10,000 upvotes, one user branded the bride a "vicious insane jerk" over her actions.
"I usually side with brides in these situations. Most of the time 'it's your day you get to invite who you want' covers most a**hole transgressions to at least some extent," ThrowawayforMILBS wrote. "Not you. All of this was your doing."
Reasonable_Tea5937 noted the maid of honor "literally did everything possible" not to steal her thunder while the bride "showed everyone what a selfish self-centered person they are."
GoodGirlsGrace accused the bride-to-be of "projecting her own jealousy and insecurities" in her response. "That's not how you treat your best friend, especially one who's done so much for you."
Others like Typical-Garlic-7308 had harsher words to say. "Grow up and realize that people can live their lives and the world doesn't revolve around your wedding," they wrote. "My sister was pregnant at my wedding and she was my MOH and I was thrilled."
Elsewhere, Stellablue925 noted: "I would be more upset that my BEST friend of 17 years didn't want to share her joy with me, especially after six months. But I see why she kept it to herself."
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment.
Though her actions may be extreme, the bride's behavior could be attributed to the ongoing stress associated with big events like weddings.
Stephen Buckley, head of information at mental health charity Mind, told Hitched: "Being under pressure is a normal part of life and can be useful in small amounts. But if you become overwhelmed by stress, these feelings could start to be a problem. Stress in itself is not a mental health problem, but prolonged, unmanageable stress can lead to mental health problems like depression or anxiety.
"Unmanageable stress affects us all in different ways, but there are signs to look out for, such as feeling irritated, drinking or smoking excessively, finding it hard to sleep or struggling to concentrate.
"You may feel really upset and emotional, or feel like crying. You might also notice some physical signs, like headaches, upset stomach, or difficulty breathing. Severe stress can affect your blood pressure too."
